Daily Archives: October 10, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

Environmentalists have a new target: Charmin toilet paper

October 10, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

Canada’s boreal forests are in the news as environmental groups pressure toilet paper manufacturer Procter & Gamble to use more recycled materials in their tissue. In Haida Gwaii, local artists are seeking to halt logging of old growth trees outside Masset and in Prince George, conservation group Enough is Enough is speaking out against old growth logging in the North.

In Business news: margins are down for BC sawmills; the Independent Wood Processors Association speaks out in support of the BC Premier’s value-added plan; a Miramichi lumber mill is closed indefinitely because of fire; and a paper mill in Maine is investing in significant upgrades to increase pulp capacity and paper quality. 

Finally, Tree Frog editors got a lesson in spelling from a reader yesterday. Grizzly bears in BC may be emancipated, but what biologists are concerned about are those who are emaciated. Thanks Diana!

Sandy McKellar, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Independent Wood Processors support Premier’s vision, have plan to replace lost sawmill jobs

By Russ Cameron
Independent Wood Processors Association of BC
October 9, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The Independent Wood Processors Association (IWPA) represents BC’s community based value-added enterprises.  We are in complete agreement with the Premier that we need to replace lost sawmill jobs with jobs that add more value to the lumber that comes out of our sawmills. BC’s family owned non-tenured wood processors have the ability to do that, but only if we can get access to a share of the BC Public’s resource and get access to the US market. Unfortunately, neither of these requirements have been met for the last 15 years and the result is that 54 of the 107 member companies that we had prior to the Forest Renewal Act (FRA) of 2003, have gone out of business. …We believe there is a fix, but the big tenure holders aren’t going to like it. Making the Premier’s vision of the future into a reality is going to require guts and resolve on the part of the BC Government. [Part 1 of 2]

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North America sawmill margins drop to 15 year low

Wood Resources International LLC
The American Journal of Transportation
October 9, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lower lumber prices and only small adjustments in sawlog costs in the 2Q/19, sawmills in North America saw their profit margins decline again after a short-lived improvement in the 1Q/19. Although margins have fallen quite substantially in the US South the past year, reaching a three-year low, they are still higher than the 15-year average as tracked by the WRQ. Small changes in log costs together with lower income from lumber and residual sales have taken the gross margins for sawmills in British Columbia down to their lowest levels since the Global Financial Crisis back in 2009. In the 2Q/19, these margins areless than half of their ten-year average

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Future uncertain for Miramichi lumber mill, woodlands manager says

By Elizabeth Fraser
CBC News
October 9, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The future is uncertain for the former Miramichi Lumber Products mill after an overnight fire destroyed the building this week. “It’s a big loss for our community, and it’s 100 jobs for the Miramichi that will probably never happen,” said Hal Raper, chief financial officer and woodlands manager for Maritime Lumber.  A fire broke out around 6:30 p.m. behind the shut-down mill on Monday, and firefighters were able to put it out quickly.  But a second fire broke out almost three hours later, destroying the building. Raper…believes the cause was arson.  “I came down and the middle of it was engulfed in flames,” he said.  It took firefighters four hours to get the second fire under control. Raper said it would cost about $15 million to replace the building and its equipment, which was owned by Miramichi Lumber. 

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ND Paper will make ‘substantial’ investment in its Rumford paper mill

By Christopher Burns
The Bangor Daily News
October 9, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

RUMFORD, MAINE — ND Paper announced Tuesday that it will invest in significant upgrades to its Rumford mill in the coming year. The company will shut down its No. 9 machine in early 2020 for a rebuild to increase its pulp capacity, while its three paper machines — Nos. 10, 12 and 15 — will undergo significant upgrades as well to increase capacity and quality. The No. 12 machine will be converted to focus on specialty packaging products, while the increased capacity to the other paper machines will allow the Rumford mill to maintain its current paper production with two machines, ND Paper said. ND Paper also plans upgrades to its mill in Biron, Wisconsin.

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Foreign forestry companies could face ‘oil and gas’ style ban, Shane Jones warns

By Guyon Espiner and Kate Newton
Scoop Independent News
October 9, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in conversions of farmland to forestry after a rural backlash. He has also warned foreign owned forestry companies – which make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry – that unless they provide more access for local processors to get timber they could face an “oil and gas” style ban. Jones, who is also regional economic development minister, conceded he felt the tension between his roles of promoting forestry and managing fears that forestry conversions are stripping the life out of smaller towns. “I feel it deeply. I do,” Jones said. Farmers and local body politicians from regions including Tararua, Wairoa and Wairarapa have told RNZ they worry about job losses and population decline after blanket planting of pine on productive sheep and beef farms.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Environmentalists have a new target: Charmin toilet paper

By Irina Ivanova
CBS News
October 9, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, United States

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble faces pressure from environmentalists to clean up its act. More than 150 groups are pushing the maker of Charmin toiler paper and Bounty paper towels to use recycled materials in its products. Currently, neither of those products uses recycled paper, and about one-third of it is sourced from Canada’s boreal forest — a large swath of virgin forest that… acts as a critical check on climate change. …The NRDC likens Canada’s vast forests to “the Amazon of North.” …P&G offers a simple reason for not using recycled wood pulp: It doesn’t make for good toilet paper. Instead, P&G promises to source its paper from forests that are well-managed. …About 40% of its product line today comes from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

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How Reclaimed Teak Can Offer Versatility to Your Project

By Valerie Dennis Craven
Interiors + Sources
October 9, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

When seeking more natural looks and solutions for projects, you might be drawn to products described with such words as “reclaimed” or “certified.” Earlier this year, Anthology Woods launched its Sakhay Teak old-growth reclaimed material, which is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. The reclaimed teak is old-growth wood from vintage structures—including pole-houses, warehouses and industrial buildings in Southeast Asia. Once the buildings are carefully deconstructed, the teak is stacked, sorted and milled, and objects like nails are removed and any holes are filled. Holes 1/8 inch and larger are pre-filled with teak and/or teak sanding dust mixed with glue. Wood is then trimmed, re-milled and surfaced, and the desired profile is added. “It’s a delicate process, but the quality is definitely worth the effort,” explains Christina Lubarsky, marketing director for Anthology Woods. 

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Forestry

Haida artist and protesters fight to protect cedar forest in Masset, court decision looms

By Alex Kurial
Terrace Standard
October 9, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Robert Davidson

A court decision is expected on Thursday with regards to the future of a planned logging project outside of Masset. Haida artist Robert Davidson filed an affidavit in B.C. Supreme Court against O’Brien and Fuerst Logging, seeking to halt progression of the logging of a growth of cedar trees which is set to take place. The logging site is located only several hundred metres away from many residences. At the same time as Davidson was presenting his evidence, O’Brien and Fuerst were also in court seeking an injunction against protesters who had established a blockade at the site that was set to be logged, known as the Blue Jackets area. The protesters were represented by independent legal counsel at the time, and since then their case has drawn the increased attention of the Council of the Haida Nation.

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“Community” Forest?

Letter by Betty Abbs
Rocky Mountain Goat
October 9, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The award of an area-based Community Forest Licence is contingent on widespread community support. …The singular difference between a Community tenure and every other form of forest tenure in British Columbia is the contingency for broad-based support.  …You will note that all Notices, Press Releases and Information released from the Shareholder/MCFC Management over the years includes the phrase “Village of McBride is sole shareholder.”  The only reason for including this phrase is to remind the community that Council asserts the right of control over the makeup of the Board and therein oversight of a major forest licence to the exclusion of the community, except as required under the BC Corporations Act. This is the antithesis of what the CF program was designed to be or provide to a community.

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Old growth forests topic of environmental group’s event

The Prince George Citizen
October 9, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Conservation North, a Prince George-based environmental group, is hosting an event in the name of protecting the region’s old-growth forests. Called Enough Is Enough, it takes place Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. start. Guest speakers include local activist Peter Ewart and woodworker James Steidle. “Allowing our region’s old growth to be turned into lumber or biomass forecloses our options for the future,” said the group’s outreach coordinator Jenn Matthews. “The prudent thing to do is protect our options, and that means protecting what remains of our old growth forests.” Conservation North was launched in 2017 to advocate for the protection of old forests and a transition towards a sustainable second-growth forest industry in the central-interior. The B.C. government announced an online portal in the spring of 2019 to take public feedback on subjects like wood innovation, forest carbon and other topics of relevance to communities in the Interior.

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Up to 2.5m Californians face days of power shutoffs amid wildfire fears

By Vivian Ho
The Guardian
October 10, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on generators. Much of northern California is facing life without electricity or gas for as many as five to seven days, after the country’s largest utility company cut power to an unprecedented swath of the state as a preventive measure against wildfires. The power shutoffs by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) may affect up to 2.5 million people by the end of the week. …PG&E was expected to shut off power to 10 more later in the day. …Swaths of wine country north of San Francisco, hit hard by wildfires in 2017 , sat in the dark for most of Wednesday …PG&E began practicing preventive shutoffs this year during red flag fire weather conditions – high winds and low humidity – after investigators found it at fault in two of the deadliest wildfires in California’s history, both within the past two years.

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Far North company Lloyd Logging was named Forestry Family of the Year

By Peter Jackson
The New Zealand Herald
October 10, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Few would have been surprised when Far North company Lloyd Logging was named Forestry Family of the Year at the Northland Forestry Awards. The company was described as a quietly competent operation that had built a solid reputation in the industry, with audited log recoveries in excess of 98 per cent and consistently of a very high standard. Isaac Lloyd was an active participant in establishing a professional standard for the local industry to enable it to attract good and retain a sustainable workforce. “There is nothing much left to say about Lloyd Logging, except that they have an awesome crew culture,” Summit Forests trainer, assessor and harvest supervisor Jason King said. They had purchased the cable harvesting operation from Combined Logging and late 2017, and since then had consistently met or exceeded all of Summit’s targets in terms of health and safety, environmental and production targets.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Scotland’s forestry sector is vital to beating climate crisis

By Amanda Bryan, head, Scottish School of Forestry, Inverness College
The Herald Scotland
October 10, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Amanda Bryan

AS the industry brings to an end a year of celebrations marking 100 years of the Forestry Act and the establishment of the Forestry Commission to restore the country’s woods and forests, attention is now sharply focussed on the next 100 years and the role this critical industry will play in shaping Scotland’s future.  A hidden gem of the Scottish economy, the forestry and timber processing sector has seen significant growth over the last decade. In 2015 a study by CJC Consulting, commissioned by the then Forestry Commission Scotland, now Forestry and Land Scotland, put the sector’s annual economic contribution at £1 billion, supporting over 25,000 jobs.The ambition is to double the sector’s contribution to £2 billion by 2030, with an emphasis on increased timber harvesting and processing, as well as woodland creation. 

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