Daily News for March 27, 2024

Today’s Takeaway

The Mother Tree idea is everywhere — but is it real?

The Tree Frog Forestry News
March 27, 2024
Category: Today's Takeaway

The journal Nature explores the Mother Tree idea as some ecologists say its been oversold. In related news: the US Supreme Court declines a challenge to California-Oregon’s National Monument; ENGOs say US consumption of palm oil is linked to deforestation; an EU group exposé on biomass as a renewable energy; and the EU’s Nature Restoration plan is deadlocked.

In Business news: International Paper creates bidding war over DS Smith; Montana mill closures a symptom of broader challenges; the looming shortage of Canadian wooden utility poles; Quebec supports FPInnovation’s truck platooning effort; US wood pallet industry secures exemption from EU requirement; Canada may precede US on interest rate cuts; and US consumer confidence remains stable in March.

Finally, a conversation with BC Forest Industry Leaders is coming to COFI in April.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

COFI announces: A Conversation with BC Forest Industry Leaders

Council of Forest Industries
March 27, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Interest in the present and future of BC’s forest industry has never been higher, and neither have the stakes. The current drop in harvest levels due to insects, fire, market conditions and new policies extends beyond what could have been expected. There is an urgent need for collaboration on solutions across government, Indigenous and local communities, workers, and companies. To navigate the transition now happening in the BC forest sector, new partnerships are taking shape, with industry and First Nations leaders working together to stabilize fibre supply and attract the investment that can help build a more predictable and sustainable path forward. Join us as Laura Jones, President & CEO of the Business Council of BC moderates a panel of industry leaders, with Sean McLaren, President & CEO, West Fraser; Steven Hofer, President & CEO, Western Forest Products; Dallas Smith, President, Nanwakolas Council; Robert Dennis Sr., Former Chief Councillor, Huu-ay-aht First Nations; and Nick Arkle, CEO, Gorman Group.

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Finance & Economics

Bank of Canada likely to lead the U.S. Fed in rate cuts

By Promit Mukherjee
Reuters in Yahoo! Finance
March 26, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

OTTAWA -The Bank of Canada (BoC) is likely to move ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve on its first rate cut, as tepid economic growth and cooling inflation are priming up conditions to ease borrowing rates sooner, economists and analysts said. The Canadian central bank may also need deeper cuts in the current cycle. …Usually, a strong economy south of the border is good news for Canada, since about three quarters of Canada’s international trade is knitted to the U.S. But with the Canadian economy clocking growth of 1% in the fourth quarter, compared with a 3.2% annualized increase in the U.S., the Bank of Canada may chart its own course. …Money markets are pricing in a 70% chance of a quarter point cut at the BoC’s June 5 meeting. …The Fed is widely expected to cut rates for the first time at its June 11-12 meeting.

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Ontario home construction levels up, but still far off pace for 1.5M target

By Allison Jones
The Canadian Press in Yahoo! News
March 26, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada East

TORONTO — The pace of new home construction is picking up in Ontario, though it is still far off the levels needed for the government to achieve its pledge to build 1.5 million homes by 2031, the budget released Tuesday shows. In last year’s budget, projections for housing starts had Ontario building fewer than 80,000 new homes in 2024, but that number is now expected to be nearly 88,000. Those figures are set to continue rising slowly but steadily over the next few years, up to 95,800 in 2027, according to the projections in the budget based on the average of private sector forecasts. However, Ontario needs to be building at least 125,000 homes this year, ramping up to at least 175,000 per year to get to 1.5 million homes, since the first few years of the 10-year period also saw below-needed levels.

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US Consumer Confidence Remains Stable Despite Concerns About Future

Fan-Yu Kuo
NHAB – Eye on Housing
March 26, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer confidence held steady in March, with optimism about current conditions offset by concerns about the future economic outlook. This pessimism was primarily driven by persistent inflation, especially elevated food and gas prices. The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, stood virtually unchanged at 104.7 in March, the lowest level since November 2023. The Present Situation Index rose 3.4 points from 147.6 to 151.0, while the Expectation Situation Index fell 2.5 points from 76.3 to 73.8. Historically, an Expectation Index reading below 80 often signals a recession within a year. Consumers’ assessment of current business conditions fell slightly in March. …Meanwhile, consumers’ assessments of the labor market were more positive. …The Conference Board also reported the share of respondents planning to buy a home within six months increased to 4.9% in March. Of those, respondents planning to buy a newly constructed home remained at 0.3%.

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International Paper stirs up possible biding war over DS Smith

Reuters
March 27, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International

International Paper has stirred up a potential bidding war over British paper packaging firm DS Smith making a takeover offer that sent the shares of the FTSE-100 target over a two-year high. DS Smith said on Tuesday it was in discussions with International Paper over an all-stock offer from the U.S.-listed company. …The proposal comes less than three weeks after DS Smith reached an in-principle agreement with its UK-listed rival Mondi, which made an all-share takeover offer valuing DS Smith at 5.14 billion pounds. Under the terms of the U.S. group’s proposal… that would will give them 33.8% of the combined company – a smaller slice of the emerging entity than under Mondi’s proposal. …”The Board is progressing its discussions with International Paper regarding the Proposal,” DS Smith said. It said it was continuing talks with Mondi.

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US housing costs are slowing down the US climate transition

By Joseph Webster
The Atlantic Council
March 26, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The US housing shortage has profound economic consequences. Less discussed is the fact that it is slowing down the US climate transition. Many regions of the United States, especially California and New York, are failing to build dense urban housing which is associated with lower emissions. But there is another, indirect way that the housing shortage is sabotaging efforts to decarbonize the US economy. Inadequate housing is stimulating inflation and lifting interest rates, which hurts the economic viability of clean energy projects. California, New York, and other states should move heaven and earth to authorize and construct new housing rapidly, especially in dense urban areas. If these states and others prioritize building houses, emissions and interest rates could fall substantially, providing a major economic and climatological boost to the United States. …Expanding dense, urban housing options should be a top policy priority.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Health Canada banned this chemical used on hydro poles. Now power producers say they’re running out

By Peter Zimonjic
CBC News
March 26, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

In a newly published report, electricity providers across the country warn a looming shortage of wooden utility poles is threatening the reliability of Canada’s electricity grid. That warning comes just as Ottawa invests billions of dollars in expanding transmission and production to meet the demands of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The problem stems from a Health Canada decision to ban pentachlorophenol (PENTA), a chemical pesticide used to protect and preserve some utility poles, without approving an alternative treatment to take its place.  “An orderly phase-out of [PENTA] could have been planned alongside a scale-up of alternatives,” says a new report from Electricity Canada, the industry association representing energy companies. …”While several oil-borne wood preservatives that can serve as alternatives to PENTA are available in other countries, they have either not been approved by Health Canada or are not easily accessible in Canada,” Ontario’s Minister of Energy Todd Smith wrote.

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A Carbon-Neutral Mass Timber First at Bowdoin College

Think Wood
March 26, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Mass timber has gone Maine-stream. Bowdoin College’s new Barry Mills Hall and John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies are the first commercial mass timber projects completed in Maine. Designed by Minneapolis-based HGA, the two-building complex is located on the eastern edge of the private liberal arts school’s campus in Brunswick. See how the project’s design tells a story about Maine’s forestry legacy and upholds Bowdoin’s dedication to environmental stewardship in our latest project profile. …The two new buildings share a similar glulam post-and-beam mass timber structure. The typical floor assembly comprises a CLT deck with an acoustic isolation mat and concrete topping with a polished finish supported by glulam beams and columns.

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Naked Sprout disputes findings its toilet rolls contain just 4% bamboo

By Niamh Leonard-Bedwell
The Grocer UK
March 20, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Naked Sprout has disputed the results of an investigation that found its bamboo toilet roll to contain just 4% bamboo. In a report published this month, consumer watchdog Which? tested toilet rolls from five brands that were claimed to be made solely of bamboo [November 2023]. It used a TAPPI T 401 test, which breaks down a sample of paper into its constituent fibres, and found that three of the five rolls tested contained “low or very low levels of bamboo-like grass fibres”. Bazoo was found to contain 26.1% bamboo fibres, while Naked Sprout was found to contain just 4% bamboo. Bumboo toilet rolls were found to contain the lowest proportion of bamboo of the five brands, at just 2.7%. The toilet rolls in question were “mainly composed of virgin hardwoods”, such as eucalyptus and acacia, the Which? report alleged. Toilet tissue from Cheeky Panda and Who Gives A Crap (WGAC), meanwhile, contain 100% bamboo as claimed.

Additional coverage in BNN Bloomberg (may require a subscription to open), by Olivia Rudgard: Some Bamboo Toilet Paper Contained Very Little Bamboo, Tests Find

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The National Wooden Pallet & Container Association Secures Win in New EU Packaging Regulation

By National Wooden Pallet & Container Association
Cision Newswire
March 26, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NWPCA today announced a significant victory for wooden pallet manufacturers worldwide following the finalization of the European Union’s (EU) Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). NWPCA’s successful advocacy efforts secured an exemption from the regulation’s reuse requirements for wooden pallets entering and leaving the EU under load. The PPWR aims to tackle the pressing issue of packaging waste by introducing rules for all packaging placed on the EU market. Key objectives of the regulation include reducing packaging waste through recycling and reuse initiatives. As wood is a natural and fully recyclable material, NWPCA fully supported the PPWR’s aims to reduce waste and promote recycling. However, concerns arose regarding the prioritization of reusability over recyclability and the interpretation and implementation of the pallet reuse requirements, which posed a significant challenge to manufacturers and stakeholders.

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Forestry

The ‘Mother Tree’ idea is everywhere — but how much of it is real?

By Aisling Irwin
Nature
March 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

It was a call from a reporter that first made ecologist Jason Hoeksema think things had gone too far. The journalist was asking questions about the wood wide web — the idea that trees communicate with each other through an underground fungal network — that seemed to go well beyond what Hoeksema considered to be the facts. …The idea has enchanted the public, appearing in bestselling books, films and television series. It has inspired environmental campaigners, ecology students and researchers in fields including philosophy, urban planning and electronic music. …But in the ecology community there is a groundswell of unease with the way in which the ideas are being presented in popular forums. …The dispute offers a window into how scientific ideas take shape and spread in popular culture — and raises questions about what the responsibilities of scientists are as they communicate their ideas more widely.

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The Government of Québec announces financial assistance to FPInnovations on major projects

FPInnovations
March 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

The Québec Minister of Natural Resources and Forests and Minister Responsible for the Bas-Saint-Laurent Region and the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine Region, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, today announced a maximum financial assistance of $2M, over three years, to FPInnovations to support the next phases of a truck platooning project aimed at modernizing forestry operations and mitigating the shortage of qualified drivers, during a visit to FPInnovations’ Québec laboratories along with president and CEO Stéphane Renou. The project aims to operate highly automated platooning trucks on low-traffic forest roads. Platooning involves connecting two or more trucks in convoy, using connectivity technology and automated driver assistance systems. The truck at the head of the platoon, with driver, acts as leader, with the vehicles behind it automatically adapting to changes in movement.

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Montana can’t have healthy forests without a healthy timber industry

By Dawn Terrill, Duane Simons & Roman Zylawy – Mineral County Commissioners
Clark Fork Valley Press
March 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The recent closures of Pyramid Mountain Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula County is a warning for Montana and a symptom of broader challenges threatening the region’s forest and wood products sect of which is pivotal for thousands of private sector jobs and crucial for federal efforts to improve forest health, mitigate wildfire risks, and cater to the escalating demand for carbon-friendly wood products. Montana’s timber industry, an integral component of the state’s identity and economy, faces a multitude of challenges – from workforce shortages and affordable housing crises to the whims of volatile markets. However the underlying issue driving mill closures across the west is a declining supply of raw material to manufacturers, a critical concern given that Montana’s wood products manufacturers are surrounded by federally owned forests. …Currently, the milling demand in Montana, spurred by the public’s demand for wood products, surpasses the available and projected log supply.

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Three conservation groups challenging Bureau of Land Management forest plan in Medford federal court

By Luke Doten
KDRV ABC Newswatch 12
March 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MEDFORD, Ore. – On April 2, three organizations are taking the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to federal court in Medford. The three conservation organizations — Klamath Siskiyou Wild, Cascadia Wild and Oregon Wild — are fighting to prevent BLM from what they consider excessive logging in a forest in Josephine County. They are specifically fighting BLM’s Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) in Josephine County, about two miles northwest of Williams. According to BLM’s website, the purpose of IVM is to “promote and develop: safe and effective wildfire response opportunities that reduce wildland fire risk to Highly-Valued Resources and Assets; Fire- and disturbance-resilient lands and fire-resistant stands; and habitat for Special Status Species and unique native plant communities.” 

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School district sues Oregon in attempt to undo forest habitat conservation plan

By Alex Baumhardt
Oregon Public Broadcasting
March 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

One of the smallest school districts in Oregon is suing the state in an attempt to send a landmark forest habitat conservation plan back to the drawing board. On behalf of the Jewell School District in the heart of the Clatsop State Forest in northwest Oregon, a Portland law firm filed the suit on March 20 against the Oregon Department of Forestry, State Forester Cal Mukumoto and state forest chief Mike Wilson. The suit, filed in Clatsop County Circuit Court, alleges that the recently passed Western State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan will drastically reduce revenue for the school district, forcing it to cut staff and services. …Under the plan, the volume of wood permitted for harvest from state forests in Clatsop County will drop 35% and, in turn, cut 35% of the funding to the district, according to John DiLorenzo, a lawyer with the Portland-based law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, which filed the suit.

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National monument on California-Oregon border will remain intact after surviving legal challenge

Associated Press
March 25, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

ASHLAND, Oregon — The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a remote expanse of wilderness along the California-Oregon border, will not lose any of its acreage after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up two challenges to its expansion. Logging interests and several counties in Oregon had asked the high court to strike down a 2017 addition to the monument. Their lawsuit claimed President Barack Obama improperly made the designation because Congress had previously set aside the land for timber harvests. By gaining monument status, the area won special protections, including a prohibition on logging. The challenges to the expansion raised the additional, and broader, question of whether the president’s authority to create national monuments unilaterally under the Antiquities Act should be restricted, the Chronicle said. …The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was created in 2000 to protect what is considered an ecologically valuable juncture of the ancient Siskiyou Mountains and the younger volcanic Cascades. 

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Palm oil and other commodities linked to US’s deforestation footprint

Global Witness
March 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: International

As the world’s biggest importer, trillions of dollars’ worth of products from around the globe find their way into the US every year – with the amount of food imports growing in recent years. According to new analysis provided to us by Trase, US imports of seven everyday commodities were linked to the destruction of 122,800ha of tropical and subtropical forest – equivalent to an area the size of Los Angeles – in just two years. Imports of palm oil were the most significant contributor, linked to 41,500 hectares of deforestation – and making up more than a third of the US’ total exposure in this analysis. This palm oil was overwhelmingly imported from Indonesia, where deforestation trends have begun to tick back up over the last two years following a decade of decline.

Related coverage in the NY Times: Why Palm Oil Is Still a Big Problem

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Logging to resume after koala welfare outcry halted clearing of Kangaroo Island plantations

By Selina Green & Caroline Horn
ABC News, Australia
March 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: International

South Australia’s environment minister says the clearing of Kangaroo Island’s Tasmanian blue gum plantations can resume, after work was halted following the release of footage showing koalas being injured. Susan Close said she had approved a new koala management plan submitted to her by AAG Investment Management (AAGIM), the timber company clearing the plantations on behalf of owners Kiland. …Under the new plan, AAGIM will increase the number of spotters on the ground as trees are felled and report any incidents to the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) within 24 hours. The company will need to advise the department of planned harvest activity two weeks before commencement. It will also implement strategies to manage fatigue in the workers operating the harvesters and improve communication between them and the spotters. …

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

What’s So Green About Burning Trees? The False Promise of Biomass Energy

By Sam Davis, Partnership For Policy Integrity
Eurasia Review
March 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, International

Renewable energy comes from matter that nature produces and replenishes constantly. The power generated through this source does not significantly threaten the environment, especially in comparison with fossil fuels… according to the United Nations. Renewable energy derived from wind, solar, geothermal, hydrokinetic, and hydro energy has a much lower environmental impact than fossil fuels. It harnesses the power of readily available elements and does not diminish with use. …And because wind and sunlight are inherently free, there are no ongoing feedstock costs. Bioenergy, otherwise known as biomass energy, is, however, different. This kind of power involves using living matter or matter that was recently been alive. …Trees are also used, most oftenfrom the forests of the U.S. South, including pine and hardwood species. …Supporters argue that bioenergy is a climate-friendly, sustainable power source that helps local economies. The truth is that wood pellet plants are as dirty and problematic as coal plants. 

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A major European nature protection plan stumbles at the final hurdle. ‘How could we give that up?’

By Raf Casert
Associated Press in Herald and News
March 25, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

BRUSSELS — A European Union plan to protect nature in the 27-nation bloc and fight climate change was indefinitely postponed Monday, underscoring how farmers’ protests sweeping the continent have had a deep influence on politics. The deadlock on the bill, which could undermine the EU’s global stature on the issue, came less than three months before the European Parliament election in June. The member states were supposed to give final approval to the biodiversity bill on Monday following months of proceedings… But the rubber stamp has turned into possible perpetual shelving. …The Nature Restoration plan is a part of the EU’s European Green Deal to establish ambitious climate and biodiversity targets, and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. The bill is part of an overall project for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, demanding short and medium-term changes and sacrifices from all parts of society…

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‘Pretending to grow forests in the desert’: New research questions integrity in safeguard mechanism scheme

By Krishani Dhanji
ABC News, Australia
March 26, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

A major Australian study has found some of the nation’s biggest polluters are meeting their emissions obligations using carbon credits that have not actually resulted in emissions reductions. …Andrew Macintosh, one of the lead authors of the paper and an environment law and policy professor at the Australian National University first sounded the alarm two years ago, calling the carbon market “largely a sham”. His calls were rejected by a government-commissioned review, but Professor Macintosh said the new research shows further evidence that human-induced regeneration – a core part of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme – hasn’t worked. …Researchers monitored 182 Human Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects, which make up about 30 per cent of all ACCUs and have cost taxpayers nearly $300 million over their lifetime. They found many of the projects to grow native forests were claiming to be regenerating them in uncleared desert and semi-desert areas.

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Health & Safety

Labour ministry continues probe into Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper explosion

By Gary Rinne
The Thunder Bay News Watch
March 26, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada East

THUNDER BAY — Ontario’s labour ministry has issued numerous instructions to Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper and one of its contractors following a fiery explosion Friday that injured four people, including two who were flown to a Toronto hospital burn unit for treatment. Video of the incident obtained by TBnewswatch shows that a fireball – lasting two or three seconds – erupted from a building where the hog fuel feed system is located. …The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development revealed Tuesday that it has issued 11 “requirements” to the mill owner, and 10 requirements to Skyway Canada, a contractor that offers a variety of industrial services. But the ministry said no further details will be released while the investigation is still underway. A Thunder Bay Fire Rescue spokesperson has said he was told a bearing overheated prior to the explosion.

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