The Ontario government released its long awaited draft strategy on the future of the forest sector. In other Business news: softwood lumber prices stabilize; Japan housing starts fall; WTO’s dispute body is coming to an abrupt halt; and logging contractors and local businesses feel the pinch as WFP strike drags on.
With COP25 underway in Spain—stories on greener ways to heat your home, liquid fuels from forest residues; and under-reported deforestation from Canadian logging roads. Elsewhere: should humans intervene to save the spotted owl; Europe’s bark beetle explosion; and BC assists Australian fire fighters.
Finally, holiday gift advice from bird-friendly coffee to forest-saving chocolate.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
BEIJING — China’s forestry sector has seen continuous expansion in recent years, an official with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said Tuesday. The gross output of the industry in the first three quarters of the year hit 5.13 trillion yuan (about 730.5 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.3 percent year on year, said the head of the administration Zhang Jianlong. …In 2018, 1.6 billion eco-tourism trips were made to forests, bringing in 1.5 trillion yuan for the industry. China’s foreign trade of forest products in 2018 totaled 160.3 billion U.S. dollars, making it the largest consuming and trading nation of wood forest products. …The country has over 50 million people working in the forestry sector, with some earning 20 percent or even as much as 60 percent of their income from forest products.
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TORONTO 
Close to 100 hectares near Big White Ski Resort will be treated to reduce interface wildfire risk. The goal is to minimize potential home, resort infrastructure and business loss due to wildfire, and ensure the resort’s continued contribution to the economy. The treatments will also help to protect part of the mountain’s only egress route. “When you live in a community where there’s only one road out and you see the devastation a fire can bring, it’s nerve racking,” said Michael Ballingall, senior vice president, Big White Ski Resort. “The forest around the resort hasn’t burned for over 200 years, so we were looking for a program to help us clear around Big White.”
A major milestone was reached this week with the publication of a report assessing the potential of producing liquid fuels from forest residues. An extensive three-year project led by NORAM and the University of British Columbia showed that thermochemical liquefaction technologies offered viable routes to producing fuels, notably biojet, with significantly lower carbon intensities than petroleum-derived jet fuel. A consortium of aviation industry stakeholders, working together under the mantle of Canada’s Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN), tasked laboratories in Canada and the USA with the challenge of upgrading several different biocrudes derived from wood into a range of liquid fuels with a lower overall carbon footprint than their petroleum equivalents. The report can be downloaded for free from the 
Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, has issued the following statement regarding the deployment of BC Wildfire Service staff to Australia: “On Dec. 3, 2019, the BC Wildfire Service will send seven of its operational personnel to Australia to assist with firefighting efforts there, as part of a contingent of 22 Canadians. It’s only late spring in Australia, but an early and extreme wildfire season in the eastern part of the country has already stretched Australia’s firefighting resources and led to fatalities, property losses and the destruction of large areas of New South Wales and Queensland. Currently, Australia has about 1,100 firefighters working on its wildfires. The Australian government has reached out to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre for assistance, and British Columbia will deploy some of our highly trained wildfire services staff. …The Canadian contingent leaves for a 38-day deployment, with an anticipated return date of Jan. 10, 2020.