The Tree Frog News

Forest industry backs accelerated caribou recovery that respects jobs and communities

by Forest Products Association of Canada

OTTAWA - The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is telling Environment Canada that it can both fast track caribou conservation and also ensure a prosperous forest industry. FPAC submitted a brief to the government today, the deadline for public comment on the draft Boreal Caribou Recovery Strategy required under the Species-At-Risk Act. FPAC members companies have been working in concert with environmental groups through the landmark Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) on conservation measures to protect boreal biodiversity while also ensuring forest sector competitiveness. A significant component of the CBFA is accelerating action plans to safeguard healthy caribou populations across Canada while ensuring a robust forest sector.

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Exploiting Canada’s resources can be a fool’s game

Everywhere in Canada, the news is about natural resources: forestry and mines in British Columbia; oil and coal in Alberta; potash in Saskatchewan; hydro in Manitoba; the “ring of fire” minerals in Ontario; hydro and Old Harry oil and shale gas in Quebec; offshore oil and hydro in Newfoundland. Canadians are so damn lucky. We just dig and pump and cut and ship, and we never seem to run out. We just hope commodities prices remain high. All those resources can be a fool’s game. Pumping and digging and cutting can keep the country comfortable, but they do little to address the country’s biggest challenge – a sagging competitive position. All those natural resources soak up capital; they usually don’t require much innovation or processing.

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Saving all caribou herds may not be feasible: study

A University of Alberta study suggests it may be futile and economically unfeasible to try to save all the caribou herds in the province because of the high level of energy development in some regions, such as the oilsands. ..."I think the vast majority of scientists feel we have plenty of evidence that caribou are rapidly disappearing and current actions are having little to no effect," said Boutin, who has been involved in this issue for more than two decades. "There needs to be a new approach."  Woodland caribou are in decline all across Canada for a variety of complex reasons. But the animals in Alberta are being especially hard hit by oil and gas and forestry developments.

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Wildfire management plans step in right direction

by BC Forest Practices Board

VICTORIA – An investigation into the state of fire management planning has found that fire management plans have been prepared in all forest districts in the province, and that they provide the basic information needed to help plan a response to a wildfire, according to a report released today. “The plans prepared to date identify values at risk, such as dwellings, infrastructure, wildlife habitat and timber,” said board chair Al Gorley. “However, the initial plans are narrow and need to be improved to include local priorities for protecting values as well as areas where fire may be allowed to burn under certain conditions. It will be important to involve First Nations, local governments and the public in setting these priorities.”

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Destroying bear cubs tough, but right decision, says biologist

Putting down two black bear cubs roused from their den by unsuspecting loggers was “tough” but the right thing to do, a Kamloops wildlife biologist said Tuesday. Doug Jury, with B.C.’s ministry of forests, lands and natural resource operations, said he decided the animals had little future, after consulting with other biologists and a vet in the Kamloops ministry office. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said. “It was extremely tough.”

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Dispatch from Alberta's War in the Woods

It was St. Valentine's Day, but the concrete square at Premier Redford's Calgary office offered cold comfort to 150 people, there to rally against clear-cut logging in Alberta's Castle Mountains. It was my turn to speak and I began with a question: "Do you realize that it's against the law for me to stand on this publicly owned land and talk to you today?" The crowd seemed confused by this gambit, though most of them were aware that some citizens, mostly grey-headed types like myself, had been trying to block logger access to the sublime mountain forests of southwest Alberta. It is a priceless watershed and an area famed for wildlife and rare plants, designated by the government as the Castle Special Place protected area.

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25-cent coin may be last preserve of woodland caribou threatened by development

OTTAWA - The iconic image of the woodland caribou has graced one side of Canadian quarters since 1937 and environmentalists are worried that may be the only way to see this endangered species in the future. Public consultations on a caribou recovery strategy come to an end Wednesday but Environment Minister Peter Kent said he will likely extend the time the government has to sift through what its heard by an additional 30 days beyond the usual 30-day period.

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Saanich home to experts on pine beetle blight

Kathy Bleiker slides a chisel beneath the bark on a chunk of infested lodgepole pine. When she lifts the bark from the specimen, she immediately hones in on a black speck no bigger than a few millimetres long. With her index finger, she points out a mountain pine beetle, the focus of her bark beetle ecology research within the Pacific Forestry Centre. “It’s really amazing that something that small can do that,” she says, noting the insect’s destruction of 726 million cubic metres of timber in B.C. As the pest eats its way east, Bleiker is among the leading experts on the potential carnage awaiting Alberta’s northern woods. “Basically the beetle ate itself out of house and home (in B.C.),” she says.

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Saanich-based forest research measures pine beetle's threat to Canadian forests

The B.C. government doesn’t have enough information about its forest management to deal with the long-term results of widespread beetle kill and fires, B.C. Auditor General John Doyle concludes in a report released Feb. 16. ...While Doyle called for immediate action and a follow up of his report in April, the full impact of the pine beetle’s spread into new habitat outside B.C. may not be seen until decades down the road, said Kathy Bleiker, a research scientist based out of the Pacific Forestry Centre in Saanich.  Bleiker measures the developmental rate, survival and reproductive success of the beetle’s immigration east during extended field studies in Grande Prairie, Alta.

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Warm weather: Maple syrup flows weeks ahead of schedule

Ask syrup producers to tap into the future and predict this season’s yield and you usually put them a in a sticky situation. “Our favourite joke is ‘We’ll tell you in May,’” said Ray Bonenberg, president of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association. Even his 45 years of experience can’t compete with numerous weather variables that may help or hinder the making of our sweetest national symbol. But one thing is already certain for the 2012 season: it’s well ahead of schedule.

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Secretary Salazar Proposes Expansion of Ecological Forestry in Western Oregon to Provide Sustainable Timber, Healthier Habitat

BLM to Schedule 5 Additional Ecological Forestry Sales and Update Resource Management Plans with Latest Science and Forestry Principles

MEDFORD, Oregon--. During a visit today to one of three ecological forestry pilot projects in Oregon, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will apply ecological forestry principles on a broader landscape to restore forest health and to provide sustainable timber harvests for local mills and the communities who rely on the timber industry for jobs and economic strength. “It is time to move beyond the endless lawsuits and court battles that have tied Oregon forests in knots for decades, and instead focus on how we can restore healthy habitat and provide sustainable timber harvests and revenues,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

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Timber group blasts Interior Sec. Salazar Oregon visit

Ken Salazar, President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, was in Medford, Oregon this week to tour the “Pilot Joe” demonstration project and hold a Town Hall meeting where he sought to downplay the impact of a new Northern Spotted Owl critical habitat designation and announced yet another lengthy administrative forest planning process for 2.5 million acres of western Oregon forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), including the Oregon & California (O&C) Grant lands. This latest announcement comes nearly 2 ½ years after Secretary Salazar illegally withdrew the 2008 Western Oregon Plan Revisions. Ever since, Oregonians have heard a host of unfulfilled promises. “This latest bunch of PR is just another example of this Administration’s inability to grasp the realities facing the forests and rural communities of western Oregon,” said Tom Partin, President of the American Forest Resource Council (AFRC). “Instead of taking concrete steps to implement a meaningful timber program based on sound science, Secretary Salazar has outlined a flawed strategy based on one failed pilot project.”

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Blackfoot project reduces fuel for forest fires near subdivision

POTOMAC - Joe Heffner packs a chain saw, but he wields it like a gardener's shears.
Walking through the woods of the Forest Park subdivision above Bear Creek Road, he cuts down Douglas fir and lodgepole pine trees seemingly at random. Then he and fellow logger Clay Beier pile the results - everything from small sawlogs to doghair brush - in 6-foot-high piles for burning. "I call it fire prevention landscaping," Heffner said. "It's a lot more labor-intensive than logging. But I like it. I've found a little niche."

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Forestry company exec laments loss of harvesting

PORT ANGELES — An executive with a local forestry company blames a drop in timber harvest in the Olympic National Forest on a “migration of values” that has left the U.S. Forest Service uninterested in aggressively managing the forest. That has left logging activities about one-eighth of what they could be, Tom Swanson, area manager and vice president of northwest operations for Green Crow Corp., told about two dozen people Tuesday at the Port Angeles Business Association breakfast meeting. “There’s a value system that has infiltrated the management ranks of our public agencies, the Forest Service, the Park Service,” Swanson said.

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Secretary Salazar Visits Oregon To Promote Ecological Timber Sales

MEDFORD — Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar announced Tuesday he wants the Bureau of Land Management to expand an experimental timber project that incorporate ecological principles. “We are moving forward with what we call active management of these forests that allow logging to move forward” Salazar told a group assembled at logging site on BLM land in southwest Oregon’s Applegate Valley. Salazar said he wants the BLM in Western Oregon to develop five new ecological timber sales by the end of the year.

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West Coast log and lumber exports jumped in 2011, with China as the major destination for both West Coast log and lumber exports jumped in 2011, with China as the major destination for both

West Coast log and lumber exports increased 42 percent in 2011 over the previous year, continuing a trend that has seen China become the biggest customer for the raw material and finished products coming from the forests and mills of Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Alaska.  While total log and lumber exports were not a record, the amount going to China did set a record, said Xiaoping Zhou, an economist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. 

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Secretary Salazar Proposes Expansion Of Ecological Forestry In Western Oregon To Provide Sustainable Timber, Healthier Habitat

MEDFORD, Oregon - During a visit today to one of three ecological forestry pilot projects in Oregon, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will apply ecological forestry principles on a broader landscape to restore forest health and to provide sustainable timber harvests for local mills and the communities who rely on the timber industry for jobs and economic strength. “It is time to move beyond the endless lawsuits and court battles that have tied Oregon forests in knots for decades, and instead focus on how we can restore healthy habitat and provide sustainable timber harvests and revenues,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. 

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Crapo, forest chief tout benefits of collaboration

BOISE, Idaho — U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and the head of the nation's federal forests say a new approach for helping resolve thorny land use issues on public lands is already paying dividends in northern Idaho. The Idaho Republican teamed up with U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell in Boise Monday to tout the benefits of collaboration. The model, which has been used to develop new policy in the Clearwater National Forest, brings together groups that may not always agree on the best way to use federal forests.

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Counties compensated for encumbered state forest lands

Some local governments in Southwest Washington have dealt with sporadic timber revenues and therefore uncertain budgets due to a lack of access to portions of state forest lands encumbered by endangered animal species. Now these governments are on the path toward fiscal sustainability. House Bill 2329, which was unanimously voted out of the Senate Energy, Natural Resources and Marine Waters Committee on Friday (Feb. 17) after it passed through the House Feb. 9 without dissent, is the second step in a process that began three years ago. It’s an attempt to create more dependable revenue streams for counties dependent on timber harvests from state forest land now protected under state and federal endangered species laws.

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Beetles spur increased Bitterroot National Forest timber sales

The Bitterroot National Forest's timber program will near levels not seen for a decade this year, as the agency responds to a growing threat from mountain pine beetles. Agency officials expect to sell about 14.5 million board feet of timber in 2012, up by 5 million board feet from 2011. Over the past few years, the Bitterroot National Forest has seen increased tree mortality from an aggressive bark beetle that has killed large expanses of trees across the Northern Rockies. "We've seen that train coming our way for years," said Bitterroot Forest vegetation manager Andrew Tasler. "A couple of years ago, we started looking for areas where we wanted to do some management that could impact the effect of beetles coming our way."

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Arkansas Senate Approves $2.6M For Forestry Agency

The Arkansas Senate has approved using $2.6 million from the state's surplus to keep the financially troubled Arkansas Forestry Commission operating and to repay federal money state official say the commission improperly used to prop up its budget.

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Lake Holcombe considering logging, selling school forest

With an expected 2012-13 budget hole of about $260,000, the Lake Holcombe School Board is looking into any potential ways to balance the district budget. The newest suggestion being considered by the board is to log and sell the timber from the school’s two forest parcels. Or even sell the land parcels themselves. “So long as there is nothing on the deed preventing a sale, the state said we could sell (the land),” board President Corey Grape said at the board’s Monday meeting.

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Disease threatens Illinois' walnut trees

Black walnut trees are known for their lumber, a sturdy, attractive wood that is used to make furniture and for veneers. Because of their height, a well-maintained tree can fetch a pretty penny: Before Jim Kuch of rural Mendota started planting walnut trees, he was told a mature, 20-year-old tree could be worth $10,000.  “In an acre, you can plant 500 black walnut trees. That’s spacing them 10 feet apart… When you get to 15 and 20 years, the value could be $10,000 a tree,” he said. “There is no better retirement program.”

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Frequent power cuts hurting timber industry – Workers Union

The Timber and Woodworkers Union (TWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has raised concern about the frequent power cuts which, it says, is badly hurting the timber and wood industry. Frequent outages and power surges, the Union observed, were crippling production, causing damage to machines and equipment of the timber mills and in some instances, triggering fire outbreaks. The Union warned that the situation, if not quickly addressed, could have dire consequences, by way of job losses.

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Can logging and conservation coexist? | Forest Carbon Asia

When it comes to deforestation, loggers have usually received the bulk of the bad press. Armed with chainsaws, they are the bogeymen typically blamed for doing away with not only our forests, but also the biodiversity which inhabits them. But ... in the tropical regions ... the demise of natural forests usually comes in the form of a double whammy: first come the loggers but then come the settlers who turn the land into farms or plantations, preventing the re-growth of natural forest. Now a new paper published recently in Conservation Letters seeks to quantify the actual impact of logging on biodiversity in the tropics – specifically in Indonesia, one of the world’s main battlegrounds over the timber industry. 

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Experts warn WA's northern jarrah forest under threat

WESTERN Australia's jarrah forest has been included in a list of Australia's ten most endangered landscapes revealed today by a team of leading ecologists. According to a team of 26 leading ecologists from the Innovative Research Universities, our grandchildren may never get to see the the northern jarrah forest, which runs from the Perth Hills south to Collie. Murdoch University ecosystems expert, Professor Bernie Dell, said many of Australia's coral reefs, dry rainforests and the Murray-Darling Basin were at risk of reaching tipping points where they may change rapidly and irreversibly into alien landscapes, often dominated by introduced or unfamiliar species. "In ecological terms, a tipping point is a threshold beyond which major change becomes inevitable," Prof Dell said.

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Forest activists behind bars

An environmental campaigner has been sentenced to three months jail for breaching a suspended sentence by continuing to protests against logging. Ali Alishah, 28, appeared in the Magistrates Court in Hobart charged with breaching a suspended three month jail sentence. Alishah spent five weeks and four days in Risdon Prison last September for breaching his bail conditions. His lawyer told the court that jail had a sobering effect on his client.

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Ludwig retreats as arbiter on Tasmanian forests

BOTH sides in Tasmania's forest debate have been warned by the Gillard government that it will not intervene to impose a peace deal if they fail to reach agreement. Federal Forestry Minister Joe Ludwig told The Australian he would not support a government-adjudicated outcome if negotiations between timber and green groups failed to reach agreement. The stance is at odds with the understanding of key players in both the green and timber camps who had expected the state and federal governments to impose an outcome if they failed to reach an agreed one.

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Conservation is priceless for Kenyan forest

The conservation of forests in Kenya has been a challenge to policy makers. The majority of the rural population rely on charcoal and firewood for domestic use. Illegal logging, land grabbing, and human encroachment are some of the challenges facing the whole country. There's one area that is an exception: Arabuko Sokoke, where the people of Kilifi County have conserved the largest indigenous coastal forest in East Africa. Arabuko Sokoke is the remnant of the largest block of coastal indigenous dry forest on the continent, which once stretched from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique. The forest, which covers 420 sq km and measures 41,765 hectares, is in Malindi, 110km north of Mombasa. It borders the Indian Ocean.

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Paulson fund sued over Sino-forest

John Paulson's US$23-billion hedge fund was sued by an investor over Paulson & Co.'s reported US$468-million losses in Sino-Forest Corp. last year. Hugh Culverhouse seeks class-action status on behalf of all investors who lost money in the hedge fund, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Miami. "

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John Paulson firm sued over Sino-Forest bet

His lawsuit seeks class-action status for fund investors, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint does not say how much Culverhouse and other investors lost. In its statement, Paulson said its funds lost just C$105 million (now US$105.3 million) on Sino-Forest because it had sold much of its stake from early 2010 to May 2011. "As in all our investments, Paulson has access to the same information that everyone else in the securities markets does," it said.

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Independent log sellers concerned about the future

According to Hampton Affiliates chief economic officer Steve Zika, logs recently sold by Babine Forest Products to Canfor in Houston and Vanderhoof, as well as West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. were sold at a fair market price. Zika said to Lakes District News that the logs were sold following the Jan. 20, 2012 explosion and fire at the Babine Forest Products sawmill. "We have sold cut logs from the woods only, the sale is still being finalized," Zika said, adding that while he couldn't release competitive information such as how much the logs were sold for, he said Hampton Affiliates considered the price to be fair and reasonable, and what would have been expected from the sale prior to the tragedy.

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Company advances mill plans

A MAJOR player in the northwest logging industry is bringing in engineers to further plans to build a sawmill and a pellet plant in Terrace. One team of engineers will concentrate on a sawmill first and will be followed by a second team to work on a pellet plant, says Wayne Drury, the general manager from Coast Tsimshian Resources. Both would be built on what is known as the Poirier log yard, the large piece of property by the Frank St. level crossing west of town which Coast Tsimshian now uses as a log sort yard.

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Interfor mill projects ahead of schedule

The progress of upgrades at the Grand Forks and Castlegar sawmills of International Forest Products Limited (Interfor) is one reason for optimism for the forest company as they enter a new fiscal year. In their quarterly results announced today, president and chief executive officer Duncan Davies noted that the 2011 year ended with market improvements for the company. “We’re starting to see a better tone in the North American market on the basis of improving economic news,” said Davies. “This has translated into housing starts in the fourth quarter running at an annualized rate of 650,000 units, more than 20 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2010. We’ve also seen increased interest from China in recent weeks.”

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Conifex Announces Fourth Quarter 2011 Results

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA  -- Conifex Timber Inc. CA:CFF -2.67% today reported a net loss of $7.5 million or $0.49 per share for the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to a net loss of $3.9 million or $0.26 per share for the fourth quarter of 2010. The net loss for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $16.9 million or $1.11 per share compared to a net loss of $10.8 million or $1.02 per share for the year ended December 31, 2010.

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US hardwood lumber exports up 11% in 2011

US hardwood lumber exports rose by a total of 11% in 2011 to 2.802m m³. Above-average growth in Asia coincided with reductions in deliveries to EU countries and North America. At 1.517m m³, roughly 54% of the USA’s total exports of hardwood lumber went to Asia. China took delivery of 1.032m m³ of this volume, making it by far the most important export market for US hardwood lumber producers. Above-average growth rates of +19% and +26% were achieved in Japan and Taiwan as well, however. A total of 52,106 m³ of hardwood lumber was shipped from the USA to Japan and 30,479 m³ to Taiwan in 2011.
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West Coast log and lumber exports jumped in 2011, with China as the major destination for both West Coast log and lumber exports jumped in 2011, with China as the major destination for both

West Coast log and lumber exports increased 42 percent in 2011 over the previous year, continuing a trend that has seen China become the biggest customer for the raw material and finished products coming from the forests and mills of Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Alaska.  While total log and lumber exports were not a record, the amount going to China did set a record, said Xiaoping Zhou, an economist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. 

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Light at the end of the tunnel?

Efforts being pushed by shippers and the state of Oregon could lead to a major expansion of Southern Oregon's railroad tunnels — and a corresponding increase in business traveling through those tunnels. Bob Ragon, spokesman for the Coos Siskiyou Shippers Coalition, said an application for a federal grant to improve tunnels on the tracks connecting the Rogue Valley and Northern California is in the works. ...The grant applications coincide with increased rail operations in Southern Oregon. "A lot of the rail activity we're seeing through Roseburg is from trains originating in Medford, Grants Pass and Glendale, picking up cars along the way," Ragon said. "It shows there has been some improvement in forest products shipments."

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Shippers hope for grants to improve rail tunnels

MEDFORD, Ore.—Shippers such as lumber mills in southern Oregon are seeking millions of dollars in government grants to improve railroad tunnels and increase freight capacity in a region that state officials say is heavily dependent on trucks and planes. One project would provide $4 million in state money to raise the heights on four tunnels near Glendale, just north of the Josephine-Douglas county line, according to The Medford Mail Tribune. That would permit taller, high-capacity box cars.

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West Coast Log, Lumber Exports Jump 42 Percent

China Top Customer

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Log and lumber exports from Washington, Oregon, Northern California and Alaska both increased 42 percent in 2011, totaling 1,992 and 1,015 million board feet, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station. Oregon and Washington are again the largest log exporters in the U.S. since 2000.

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Mercer invests roughly €40m in Stendal

In the first few weeks of 2012, and in connection with a planned extension of pulp and energy production, the pulp producer Mercer International announced extensive investments at its Stendal site and a takeover offer for the Canadian pulp producer Fibrek. The takeover offer for all Fibrek shares, which was announced on 10 February 2012, offers shareholders three possibilities. They can either receive Can$ 1.30 per share in cash, equivalent remuneration in the form of Mercer shares in the ratio 0.154:1 or Can$ 0.54 in cash plus Mercer shares in the ratio 0.903:1. The takeover sum implied by the Mercer offer totals roughly Can$170m and is therefore 30% above the offer of Can$1/share made to Fibrek shareholders by Resolute Forest Products, formerly AbitibiBowater, at the end of November 2011.

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USA: Asia became number one sales region in 2011

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the USA imported a total of 5.586m m³ of softwood lumber. The 7% increase against the year before is mainly the result of the growth in imports from Canada, which, according to the US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) turned out to be roughly 8% higher than in the same period of the year before at 5.415m m³. Softwood lumber imports from Europe, on the other hand, fell by roughly 4% to 50,513 m³, whereby imports from Germany dropped 19% to 27,227 m³ while those from Sweden were raised by 44% to 16,133 m³. 

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Putt slams timber mission

Former Tasmanian Greens leader, Peg Putt, has questioned the wisdom of the State Government's bi-partisan trade mission to Asia to promote the forest industry. Deputy Premier Bryan Green and Liberal leader Will Hodgman are in Tokyo on the third day of the mission, which is also aimed at drumming up support for the state's mining, agricultural and wind energy sectors.

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Wood fibre costs declined in Q4, likely to continue dropping

Global demand for pulp has declined and pulp prices fell during the second half of 2011. As a consequence, prices for wood fibre, the highest cost component when producing pulp, were down throughout the world, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. The organization’s Global Wood Fiber Indices for softwood and hardwood fiber declined 3.5% from the third quarter of 2011. There has been a long-term trend in the pulp industry of wood costs increasing as a percentage of the total production costs. In the third quarter of 2011, this share had reached 63.5% on a worldwide basis, up from only 53% in 2005, according to Fisher International.

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Company behind Gunns' deal breaks silence

The company considering buying a 40 per cent stake in Tasmanian timber company Gunns has broken its silence on the proposed deal. Gunns told the stock exchange earlier this month it had reached a proposed $150 million deal with the Richard Chandler Corporation. In return, the Singapore-based company will receive a 40 per cent stake in Gunns which will be able to clear its debt by the end of the year. Nearly two weeks after the announcement, the Richard Chandler Corporation has made its first public statement.

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Opposition: Asia wants Tasmanian woodchips

Tasmania's Opposition Leader says day one of the joint trade mission to Asia has shown there is a strong market for Tasmanian woodchips. Will Hodgman issued an update of his trip after meeting South-East Asian woodchip buyers in Singapore with the Deputy Premier, Bryan Green. The Opposition Leader says the meetings highlighted the foolishness of protecting more forests under the forest peace deal because, unlike Thailand and Vietnam, Tasmania can offer an ongoing guaranteed woodchip supply.

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BC Slams Lid on Education, Revisits Carbon Tax

'Great budget for the one per cent' says BC Fed's Sinclair, 'Unrealistic,' says NDP's Ralston, 'Smoke and mirrors': Cons' Cummins

The British Columbia government is sticking to its plan to balance the budget before the May 2013 election, but it will raise taxes and increase the debt to do it. ...Falcon said the planned July 1, 2012 increase to the carbon tax will go ahead, but the government will review the tax before deciding whether to make changes to it in next year's budget. ...Green Party leader Jane Sterk said she's concerned about the plan to review the carbon tax. "It seems to me like that's a clear indication from this government that they're going to back down on their commitments," she said. "I would not at all be surprised to see the outcome of that be the removal of the carbon tax."

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Budget signals waning of BC's climate change leadership: eco-group

Today's unveiled budget will harm the BC Liberal government's reputation as a leader on climate change policies, says Ben West, spokesperson for the Wilderness Committee, a B.C.-based environmental group claiming Canada's largest membership. In a press release, West calls the budget "alarmingly short-sighted and irresponsible. There are no new ideas here, just the outdated policy emphasis of exploiting B.C.'s resources with little regard to living up to the province's commitments to tackle climate change."

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BC Liberals announce review of province's carbon tax

B.C. Liberals are questioning a key tenet of North America’s only carbon tax, enacted into law by former premier Gordon Campbell. With the first budget of Mr. Campbell’s successor – Premier Christy Clark – the Liberals are committing to a “comprehensive” review of using carbon-tax revenues to pay for tax breaks. ...But Mr. Falcon rejected a reporter’s suggestion on Tuesday that he is laying the groundwork for the demise of the tax. “I wouldn’t make that leap,” he said at a news conference during the budget lockup.

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New Bioenergy Company Launches Biochar Sales at BC Farmers' Market

By Out of Ashes BioEnergy Inc.

PRINCE GEORGE, BC - Scott Scholefield, president of Out of Ashes BioEnergy Inc., is pleased to introduce Turtleback BioChar®, an organic soil enhancement. Greenhouse operators and gardeners have shown a keen interest in biochar due to its ability to improve soil moisture and nutrient availability. Derived from an ancient Amazonian method, Biochar also reduces nitrogen losses and provides habitat for beneficial soil microbes and fungi. Scholefield, a registered professional forester, is quick to point out the process diverts wood waste while capturing carbon. Interested gardeners can find Out of Ashes BioEnergy Inc. at the Prince George Farmers' Market each Saturday beginning February 25th.

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Napa needs all the forest it has left

One of the four pillars of the Green Party is ecological wisdom; and, the Napa County Green Party is concerned that the county of Napa continues to allow the ruinous practice of clear-cutting and bulldozing of land, converting it to new farms. Napa County is submitting a grant application to the state Strategic Growth Council to establish a Napa County Carbon Reserve Program to offset and mitigate carbon emissions. The overall purpose of local carbon action plans is to reduce and account for the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

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The Carbon Conversation

During the second-day plenary session of the Pacific West Biomass Conference & Trade Show in San Francisco, the hot topic was wood-to-energy carbon cycles and their relation to forest management.
Session speakers presented and dissected new research and the most recent studies relating to biomass carbon accounting, including a widely publicized report authored by Oregon State University College of Forestry researchers. Titled “Regional Carbon Dioxide Implications of Forest Bioenergy Production,” the study concluded that production of bioenergy from U.S. West Coast forests would increase carbon dioxide emissions from 2 to 14 percent over the next 20 years.

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Burning trees for power in the Southeast would increase carbon pollution for decades

A new study examining the climate impacts of using biomass to produce electricity in the Southeast adds to a growing body of science challenging the notion that all biomass is carbon-neutral, concluding that burning trees in the region's power plants would increase carbon emissions for decades. The study, conducted by the Biomass Energy Resource Center in partnership with the Forest Guild and Spatial Informatics Group, looks at the energy demand of 22 existing and proposed biopower facilities in the Southeast and asks how the carbon emissions impacts of meeting that demand by burning biomass would compare to using coal or natural gas.

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FRA Claims Protecting Indigenous Rights Is Vital to REDD+ Scheme

by Forest Research Associates

Bainbridge Island, WA – Forestry Research Associates (FRA) claims that the REDD+ project is more than just about preventing deforestation and has backed a statement from a high profile member, who talks about the importance of helping those living in and around the forests. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, one of the leaders of the REDD+ task force in Indonesia, has spoken out to highlight the fact that the campaign should be just as much about safeguarding the rights of indigenous people as preventing deforestation.

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Wood frame apartments take shape in Nanaimo

A new wood frame apartment building is taking shape in Nanaimo B.C. Tri Shur Holdings Ltd. is the construction manager on Terminal Heights. Robert Boyle Architecture is the architect on the 121 unit apartment building. Contractors working on the project include Mayco Mix Ltd. (structural), Kasjac Contracting (concrete) and Gemini Mechanical (mechanical). The consulting engineers are Rocky Point Engineering Ltd. (mechanical), London Mah & Associates Ltd. (structural) and RB Engineering (electrical).
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KHR plans to build library with wood

A presentation to the Killaloe-Hagarty-Richards council last Thursday detailed the benefits of using wood as the primary building material for the new Killaloe & District Public Library. Long-time resident Jeff Muzzi urged council to consider using local wood for the new building. He has been working in the forest industry for the past 38 years and when he heard that KHR was going to build a new library he wondered why they would even consider “using anything other than wood” since it is an “intrinsic part of our community.”

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Faux Log Cabin Siding: A New Exterior Home Design Option

This press release opens with a sound file - so be ready for it!

Deer Park, NY - Say good-bye boring home siding and hello to the rich, historic look of a cozy cabin, thanks to Faux Wood Beam’s new line of vinyl log siding. With four colors, homeowners can achieve a variety of authentic looks for their exterior home design. “People hate cookie cutter looks,” said Steve Barron, president of Faux Wood Beams. “Vinyl siding maybe easy and affordable, but every house looks alike. No one wants that. Our log cabin siding instantly gives a home character while still keeping it low maintenance.”

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A golden opportunity for green timber

AN urban sustainability expert can see a golden opportunity for the state in timber. UniSA sustainable design Professor Steffen Lehmann, originally from Germany, wants to use cross-laminated timber for urban infill and says we could set up a green supply chain from Mount Gambier to Adelaide, with a high-tech manufacturing plant set alongside sawmills. "If you want people to swap backyards for balconies, you are going to have to deliver something that's attractive and different," he said. "Cross-laminated timber delivers a lot of advantages. And it creates jobs where those forests will be logged."

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