Daily Archives: January 8, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Opposition to US duties on Canadian Newsprint gains support

January 8, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

Eight US senators joined a campaign to tout the virtues of US community newspapers as the US Department of Commerce prepares to announce its countervailing duty decision on Canadian newsprint. The implication of a duty is “a big deal”, according to the Newspaper Association representing 320 daily and weekly newspaper members.

In softwood news, the Canadian government is seeking a Chapter 19 dispute panel to “order the Commerce Department to reverse course” and, a WTO ruling that rejects the US use of “zeroing” in its anti-dumping duty calculation, which serves to [unlawfully] increase the duties. 

In other news: the UK plans to create a “northern forest” by planting 50 million trees, whereas planting trees in Ireland for carbon credits is being opposed because, once planted, the land “can never again be brought back to support food production”. Closer to home, Ontario researchers believe climate change will impact the “boreal forest most“; and Virginia’s cap-and-trade plan is being criticized for not covering emissions from biomass power plants.

Finally, the UK will have the world’s first wood chip acetylation plant—which will guarantee its wood panels for 50 years in outdoor use, and the world’s first “fire and wood roller coaster“; neither of which will surprise David Bengston, given his USDA blog titled “the revolutionary role of wood in our future“.

— Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Froggy Foibles

The 280 million-year-old forest in the South Pole

By Katy Scott
CNN
January 5, 2018
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

Antarctica as we know it is a frosty wilderness covered in thick compacted ice. But a recent scientific discovery suggests that the vast white continent was home to leafy forests, some 280 million years ago. During the last Antarctic summer, geologist Erik Gulbranson and a team of polar scientists chanced upon fossils from the oldest polar forest found on the continent — before the first dinosaurs walked the Earth. Now the team is braving the land of ice once more to uncover clues as to how forests once flourished there. …According to Gulbranson the southernmost part of the continent would have been carpeted in seed ferns extending up to 40 meters tall. These trees would have been able to survive approximately four to five months of absolute darkness, followed by four to five months of continuous light.

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Business & Politics

U.S. senators join chorus opposing proposed duties on Canadian newsprint

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
January 7, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Eight American senators have joined a campaign by politicians and publishers to tout the virtues of U.S. community newspapers as the Department of Commerce prepares to announce its decision Tuesday on whether to impose countervailing duties against Canadian newsprint. The senators warn that U.S. newspapers, especially those in towns and small cities, would be hurt by duties if the department decides to punish Canadian producers of newsprint and other types of uncoated groundwood paper. …Georgia senator Johnny Isakson signed the letter, along with seven of his colleagues. The group joins a wide range of senators and members of the House of Representatives – Republicans and Democrats – who have sided with newspaper publishers instead of newsprint producer North Pacific Paper Co., also known as Norpac.

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Trade dispute involving newsprint causing heartburn for many U.S. newspapers, printers

By Tom Meersman
The Star Tribune
January 7, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

A petition by a paper maker in Washington state has set off alarm bells at newspapers and printing plants across the country whose leaders say the outcome could drastically increase newsprint costs, adding more financial pressure to an industry already struggling with the drain of advertising and subscription revenue in recent years. …”It’s a big deal if it happens,” said Lisa Hills, executive director of the Minnesota Newspaper Association, a trade group that represents about 320 daily and weekly newspaper members, including the Star ­Tribune. …”Newsprint is one of the largest expenses that a newspaper has, probably second to labor costs.” …Many newspapers don’t print in their own facilities, so an increase in newsprint prices would also affect the printing industry… because it would further stress the financial viability of newspapers.

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Canada calls for stop to U.S. softwood-lumber duties

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
January 5, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The U.S. Department of Commerce has ignored trade rulings on softwood lumber that favour Canadian producers, and a NAFTA panel should order duties that were introduced last year to be reversed and the money refunded, Canada says. Two months ago, Canada served notice that it would use one of the most controversial elements of the North American free-trade agreement – Chapter 19, which sets up trade panels to settle disputes – in its battle against U.S. lumber duties. … Canada is counting on a binational NAFTA panel expected to be formed within months to overturn the Commerce Department’s determination in 2017 that provincial governments subsidize Canadian lumber producers, which the United States says dump softwood into the United States at below market value. In its 18-page letter sent late on Thursday, the Trudeau government said the binational panel should order the Commerce Department to reverse course.

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If A Canadian Softwood Falls in the Woods

By Veronica Nigh
The Farm Bureau News
January 5, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

When it comes to the NAFTA discussion, one topic that has been brewing the longest, without permanent resolution, is trade in softwood lumber between the U.S. and Canada. …Like in previous rounds of this fight, Canada has been quick to hit back. In November 2017, Canada filed a NAFTA challenge to the CVD duties and in December 2017, filed a NAFTA challenge to the AD duties. Canada also followed up with a challenge at the World Trade Organization in November 2017, claiming that the U.S. used a controversial methodology know “zeroing” in its AD duty calculation. Zeroing is a calculation methodology where in situations that the foreign domestic prices minus the U.S. import price would result in a negative number, a zero is used instead. The use “zeroing” increases the AD duty higher than it would otherwise be. The use of “zeroing” has been struck down as inconsistent with WTO law in previous cases.

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Truck Loggers Association seeks new Director of Communications

Truck Loggers Association
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Truck Loggers Association is seeking a Director of Communications, who must be able to effectively craft and deliver TLA perspectives and positions to the membership, government, industry stakeholders, media and the public. The position also includes the editorial management of the Truck LoggerBC magazine. The position is based out of downtown Vancouver where you will be a key member of a small professional staff.  Some minor travel is required to attend TLA functions and events around BC.  A detailed job description can be found on the TLA’s website. 

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Tolko targets Jan. 2 as full start-up

By Richard Froese
South Peace News
January 5, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Tolko Industries is on target to re-open its High Prairie oriented strand board mill. “The mill is poised to start a 24/7 operational schedule beginning Jan. 2, 2018,” plant manager Doug Stangier says. It would enable the company to produce OSB, most commonly used for sheathing in walls, flooring and roof decking for markets around the world. “We have hired a total of 145 employees spread across salaried and hourly roles throughout the mill,” Stangier says. “We are still recruiting for a few maintenance positions, but we should have all roles filled early January.” Tolko announced in June 2016 that production was expected to start in the first quarter of 2018 as markets improve and optimism that housing starts will maintain momentum. At the time, Tolko projected the company would hire up to 175 direct employees and create 225 indirect jobs.

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Natural resources minister in Alward government says Irving letter got him fired

By Connell Smith
CBC News
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Bruce Northrup MLA

Pressure from Jim Irving led former premier David Alward to switch natural resources ministers, says Bruce Northrup, speaking for the first time about how he lost the portfolio in a cabinet shuffle four years ago. The shuffle came months after Irving, the co-CEO of J.D. Irving Ltd., sent a frankly worded letter to the Progressive Conservative premier, expressing frustration that Northrup seemed opposed to increasing how much Crown land should be made available to industry. …In a province where about half the wood supply comes from publicly owned Crown land, Northrup’s story raises questions about how much control industry has over government decision-making. At the time, the province was under pressure from J.D. Irving to decrease the amount of Crown conservation land protected from timber harvesting to 23 per cent from 28 per cent.

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Oregon mills can’t keep up with demand

By Rick Shohn
Natural Resource Report
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Log prices continue to rise, in record territory. Starts in single family homes are the highest levels in 10 years, per Random Lengths. Recent trends of lumber, logs, home construction, and housing markets, are compared. This a great moment to be in the log selling business, or a business supporter of logging. The #2 Mill Douglas-fir log price this month set a new record, at least since 2005, at $810. Sometimes, logs are sell above $900. Stud prices are trending lower, month to month, while log prices are heading up month to month. While this is not a good trend, some strengthening of the product prices can be expected as we head into January and orders are filled for the Spring. …As reported last month, there are some grey linings to these silver clouds of high prices. The high prices are symptomatic of a general log shortage. 

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Governor’s Bill Aimed at Growing Manufacturing Jobs

Associated Press in US News
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s Republican governor is behind a bill to promote forest products and wood manufacturing jobs through incentives. Democratic Sen. James Dill is sponsoring Gov. Paul LePage’s bill, which is set for a Tuesday hearing. An energy project such as biomass energy from manufacturing residue that provides three jobs per installed megawatt capacity could be eligible for a long-term energy contract or renewable energy credits. LePage has railed against long-term contracts for solar power and claims they end up raising long-term costs for consumers.

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Fire at lumber mill in Juneau County causes roughly $2 million in damage

NBC News
January 7, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

LYNDON STATION, Wis.  — A massive fire at Stan’s Industrial Woodwork in Juneau County Sunday morning caused roughly $2 million in damage. That’s according to Lyndon Station Fire Chief Larry Whaley. …Whaley said no one was inside the building when crews arrived. Fire officials were on the scene until it was cleared around 5:00 p.m. Sunday night. …the cause of the fire will go as undetermined because the State Fire Marshal determined the building was too destroyed to be able to find out what happened. …According to Whaley, the owner says he plans on rebuilding.

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Belarus increases exports of softwood lumber by 54%

EUWID Wood Products and Panels
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

In the third quarter Belarusian sawmills exported 594,082m³ of rough-sawn and planed softwood lumber at a value of US$68.9m. In terms of volume and value this corresponds to an increase of 54% and 65% respectively vis à vis the comparative quarter of the preceding year. The notional value per exported cubic metre of softwood lumber, at US$116/m³, was 7% higher. According to Belstat, deliveries to EU countries increased by 45% to 514,427m³ between July and September.

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World’s First Tricoya Wood Chip Acetylation Plant Breaks Ground

By Bill Esler
The Woodworking Network
January 7, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

HULL, UK – Tricoya Technologies Ltd. broke ground recently for the first phase of construction at the site of the world’s first Tricoya wood chip acetylation plant at Saltend Chemicals Plant, Hull in England. Tricoya, an MDF specially processed for outdoor usage and warranted 50 years, was introduced to the U.S. market at AWFS Fair 2017. Tricoya is produced in the Medite Smartply engineered wood operations in Ireland. The new plant is being funded, built and operated by a consortium of companies formed in March 2017 including Accsys Technologies, BP Ventures, BP Chemicals, Medite, Business Growth Fund (BGF) and Volantis. …Tricoya acetylated wood elements (including chips, fibres and particles) are a revolution in modified wood fibre technology. [Unlike pressure treatment,  acetylation chemically modifies wood].

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

The Revolutionary Role of Wood in our Future

By David Bengston
USDA Blog
January 5, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Some people are just way ahead of their time. In the mid-20th century, when most people thought of wood as an archaic and low-tech material, Egon Glesinger foresaw the revolutionary role it would play in our future, described in his book The Coming Age of Wood. Scientists in the Northern Research Station’s new Strategic Foresight Group developed a horizon scanning system to identify emerging issues and trends that could be game-changers. A theme that has emerged is the wave of amazing innovations in wood products that could prove Mr. Glesinger right. For example, wood-based nanomaterials have been produced at the Forest Products Lab (FPL) for more than five years… Tall wood buildings, or plyscrapers, are sprouting up across the globe today …Power-generating wood flooring is being tested at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The list of high-tech innovations in wood products goes on. 

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Spiraling timber temple revealed for Burning Man 2018

By Lucy Wang
Inhabitat
January 8, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

A massive spiraling temple of timber is set to rise in the middle of a Nevada desert for Burning Man2018. Designed by London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani of Mamou-Mani Architects, the winning 2018 Burning Man Temple design is titled Galaxia as a nod to the cosmos from which the structure takes inspiration. The 65-foot-wide temporary pavilion will be made of timber modules twisted and lifted to converge into a central tower rising 200 feet in height. …The trusses are twisted to frame a central space where a large 3D-printed mandalawill be placed. Burning Man attendees will be able to enter the temple and sit in small alcoves built into the timber structure. …Galaxia will be ritually burned at the end of the event. Burning Man 2018 will take place August 26 to September 3 in Nevada’s Black Rock City.

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University of Tennessee Architecture Students Design Tall Wood Structure for Nashville

LP Building Products Press Release
Business Wire
January 5, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

NASHVILLE, Tenn.–As the construction boom continues, sustainable urban building practices should be incorporated into every step of urban planning and development. Fourth year architecture students in the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design participated in the Nashville Civic Design Center’s (NCDC) Urban Design Studio challenge to design a wood-framed, high-rise multi-use structure. …“The opportunity to collaborate with community, industry and technical experts on this project has been crucial to the students’ experience,” said Ted Shelton, associate professor in UT’s School of Architecture.

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Modern construction methods a recipe for disaster

The Hour
January 6, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

NORWALK — The multi-story apartment buildings springing up across Norwalk have alarms, sprinkler systems and other features aimed at preventing fires from spreading. But like many single-family homes, they’re often largely built of wood and remain a pile of matchsticks full of combustible materials, no more impervious to flames than the Titanic was to icebergs. Current state building codes allow up to four stories of apartment buildings to be built with materials such as wood that has not been treated to be fire retardant. …In the aftermath of two fires in Norwalk, some residents have questioned whether the types of materials being used for construction has made buildings more susceptible to a blaze. For example, when it comes to vinyl siding, a petroleum-based product, Norwalk Chief Building Official Bill Ireland says, “It’s like putting gasoline on the building.”

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IKD has pioneered hardwood cross-laminated timber

By Matthew Messner
The Architects Newspaper
January 5, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Thanks to a two-year, $250,000 Wood Innovations Grant from the United States Forest Service, and with further support from the National Hardwood Lumber Association, Indiana Hardwood Lumberman’s Association, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, IKD is currently working on an advancement that may completely change the cross-laminated timber (CLT) market. Currently, CLT is made primarily of softwoods, which have the advantage of being fast growing and inexpensive. IKD believes the future of CLT should also include hardwood, and now it just might. As a proof of concept, IKD has constructed a large installation, which stands as the first hardwood CLT structure in the United States.

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Alton Towers’ wooden rollercoaster to open in spring

BBC News
January 8, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

A new rollercoaster is set to open at Alton Towers – believed to be the first wooden track in the UK for 21 years. The Wicker Man ride will feature a 57.5ft (17.5m) flaming structure, and claimed to be the first rollercoaster to combine wood and fire. …The new £16m rollercoaster is due to open in the spring. Sharing the same name as the 1970s film, the ride will appear to burst into flames as it races through the wicker man structure three times, the theme park said. However, on social media people have been quick to highlight the use of fire on a wooden rollercoaster. …The theme park has also been quick to champion its safety, saying it had undergone “rigorous testing and hundreds of training hours for ride operators”.

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David Tweedie on how prefabrication is changing the building industry

By Branko Miletic
Architecture and Design Australia
January 8, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

David Tweedie

AUSTRALIA — Hayball director David Tweedie talks about how prefabrication and the increasing encroachment of technology is changing the way architects design and build in an environment where sustainability is a major focus. …Prefab is definitely on an upward growth curve, and I think looking back, we’ll see a spike in the current era. …With Hayball being part of the Australian integration of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) since 2013, there is no doubt in my mind that prefab materials like CLT and glulam will become core parts of design here in years to come –having already influenced the residential market in Europe in recent decades. Part of what makes CLT so innovative is its low environmental impact, direct savings, faster delivery, ease of transport and installation, and reduced foundations/infrastructure.

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Forestry

Where forestry and gaming intersect: a need for better internet in rural B.C.

By Andrew Kurjata
CBC News
January 5, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Randal Stark

Visiting his home in northern British Columbia for Christmas, Randal Stark noticed a problem: the internet was slow. “Comparing the internet to anywhere else in the world, it’s pretty laughable. …Will Cadell, the founder of an online mapping company and chair of Prince George’s Innovation Central Society said access to the internet and cloud computing was becoming increasingly important, even in traditional resource industries. …He used the example of forestry companies monitoring how well their machines and workers perform in sub-zero temperatures as a way of deciding when it no longer becomes worthwhile to operate. …Tim Caldecott of FPInnovations… said much of the industry was operating the same as it had in the 1980s. …”If you want to see the next major leap in the forest industry in B.C., I think that will be one way to make that happen.”

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Logging truck driver killed near Fort St. James

The Prince George Citizen
January 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A logging truck driver was killed last week near Fort St. James, according to the B.C. Forest Safety Council. The driver was behind the wheel of a loaded truck on December 29 when it struck another logging truck that had stopped after losing traction on a hill. The driver’s truck consequently left the road and the load of logs shifted forwarded and partially crushed the cab. “The road conditions were reported to be icy,” the agency noted in a posting on its website. It said the RCMP, Coroners Service and WorkSafeBC are investigating what was the 10th logging-related death in the province in 2017. The name of the driver was not provided. [END]

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Changes to logging, wildlife management are in new proposal for Custer Gallatin forest

By Brett French
Montana Standard
January 7, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Logging, bison management and carbon sequestration are just some of the diverse items outlined in the hundreds of pages that make up the revised Custer Gallatin National Forest plan, which was released to the public last week for a comment period that extends to March 5. Public meetings are planned across the region to discuss the document, which hasn’t been updated since the 1980s and has been two years in the making. A lot has changed in the 30 years since the forests each crafted their own plans: The two national forests have been combined administratively to be managed as a single 3 million-acre forest, new Forest Service planning regulations, laws and policies have been adopted, demographics have shifted and “new threats” have emerged that are not addressed in the current plans. Once completed, the plan will guide forest management for 10 to 15 years.

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Perdue asks Forest Service leaders to think as OneUSDA

By Rob Chaney
The Missoulian
January 5, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Sonny Perdue

In his 2018 New Year’s message, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced an accountability initiative that left current and former federal workers scratching their heads. “So from today forward, you will hear all of USDA leadership, from the Office of the Secretary on down, begin to refer to us as OneUSDA,” Perdue said in a video released on Tuesday, Jan. 2. “Not as APHIS or as the Forest Service, not as Rural Development or as FAS, and not as distinct agencies sitting in the same office, like FSA, RMA, and NRCS. … You may ask, and fairly so, ‘What does this mean for me?’ ” Perdue said more details will come over the next days, weeks and months. A USDA spokesman said the move did not involve changing any agency names, logos or branding. 

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Bill Seeks to Insulate Timber Communities From Impacts of Marbled Murrelet Protections

The Centralia Chronicle
January 5, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Jim Walsh, Rep.

State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, is committed to going tit for tat with the Department of Natural Resources when it comes to the marbled murrelet. The DNR recently announced its intention to amp up their efforts to protect the marbled murrelet, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In response, Walsh has announced his intention to secure protections for timber economy dependent coastal communities that will be negatively impacted by those regulations. Rep. Walsh says the changes in timberland policy would create significant economic hardship for constituents in Pacific, Wahkiakum and Clallam counties, in addition to other communities with significant logging operations. Walsh went so far as to call the changes to the Habitat Conservation Plan for the marbled murrelet “the second coming of the spotted owl.”

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Lisa Murkowski, End The Assault On Indigenous Peoples And Our Land

By Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network
The Huffington Post
January 5, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Our people, the Tlingit and Haida, have lived in what is now known as the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska since time immemorial. Today our treasured forest faces one of its greatest and most immediate threats to date. As the end of the year approached, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced two legislative budget riders aimed at allowing thousands of acres of old-growth forest in the Tongass (and the Chugach National Forest) to be clear-cut. As indigenous women whose ancestors are from this forest, we vigorously oppose these attacks on our public lands. In the coming days, we urge lawmakers to reject these riders, and instead maintain the existing protections for our ancient forest and its peoples. The U.S. Forest Service and the timber industry should have stopped destroying our ancient forest a long time ago.

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Fewer loggers are dying in the Maine woods, but health risks mount as profession grows sedentary

By Meg Haskell
Bangor Daily News
January 8, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

For Mainers who work in the woods, injuries and health risks are a fact of life. …“Mechanized [logging] is exponentially safer,” logger Erik Carlson said, waiting while his skidder warmed up on a recent frosty morning. “But on the other hand, you’re just sitting there all day. You don’t get any more exercise than a truck driver.” That sets mechanical loggers up for obesity and associated illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes, as well as for back injuries, muscle sprains and other problems linked to lack of strength, flexibility and muscle tone. …Now, a new study aims to document not only the acute injuries suffered by loggers but also the less obvious, chronic health risks it poses. By following approximately 300 Maine loggers over five years, researchers hope to develop strategies to protect the safety and health of individual loggers and of the logging workforce, a critical element of Maine’s rural economy.

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Three environmentalists double down on letting forests burn

By William Simpson, retired author
Mail Tribune
January 7, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

William Simpson

Recently three men hailing from local environmentalist groups crafted an opinion piece, which was published in the Mail Tribune in an attempt to berate the value of the Natural Wildfire Abatement And Forest Protection Plan, also known as the Wild Horse Fire Brigade, and question the many intelligent people (scientists, firefighters, politicians and Americans) who already support it. The article was titled “All the king’s horses can’t make wildfires go away,” by Dennis Odion, Dominick DellaSala and Dominic DiPaolo. Grant-stream environmentalists who have gotten it wrong so often over the past three decades are worried. They have lost credibility as a result of policy failures ranging from wildfire management and sustainable timber harvest… They are doubling down on their “let it burn” policy position.

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‘Government policy makes it easier to plant trees than build a home’

By Claire McCormack
Agriland
January 8, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Marian Harkin

Government policy on forestry is “decimating the social fabric” of Co. Leitrim and requires an “immediate and effective response”. This is the view proposed by Marian Harkin, an independent MEP, following recent discussions with groups of the county’s rural residents that are adversely affected by afforestation. Those impacted have voiced their determination to challenge policy which, they contend, encourages pension funds, corporations and large farmers from outside the county to purchase native land for planting. …Harkin contends that when land is planted under current regulations “it can never again” be brought back to support food production. This is a serious issue for farmers – and their communities – who, under present government policies, cannot compete for land needed to ensure their future viability in farming and vital to the retention of population to ensure local community viability.

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Forestry Corporation project will begin after road upgrade

By Nadine Morton
Western Advocate
January 8, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Bobby Burke and Paul Toole

AN extensive eight-year long logging project in the Bathurst electorate will be able to commence thanks to $1.95 million in joint funding. Forestry Corporation of NSW plan to harvest around 700,000 tonnes of pine timber from the Pennsylvania State Forest, around 66 kilometres south-west of Bathurst. But, to allow the huge project to commence, Colo Road, which is the only suitable access road, requires an extensive upgrade. Monday’s $1.95m funding announcement is made up of $1.75m from the NSW Government’s Fixing Country Roads program and $200,000 from Bathurst Regional Council. Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said forestry generates billions of dollars for the NSW economy each year and the project would improve safety for all road users.

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Jim Anderton’s legacy contribution to forest industry

New Zealand Forest Owners’ Association
Scoop Independent News
January 8, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Forest Owners Association is paying tribute to Jim Anderton for his contribution to the forest industry. President Peter Clark says Jim Anderton had a keen eye for the significance of forestry in the New Zealand economy and appreciated targeted government support was a critical factor in its development. “As Forestry Minister in the 2005 government, Jim was at the forefront of getting the different parts of the supply chain together with his Forest Industry Development Agenda. This led to the establishment of the pan-industry New Zealand Wood Council in late 2005 and then a coherent plan for the ‘NZ Wood’ campaign in 2008.”

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UK planning to plant millions of trees to create ‘northern forest’

BreakingNews.ie
January 7, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Plans to plant 50 million trees in England to create a “Northern Forest” between Liverpool and Hull have been backed with £5.7 million from the British Government. Planting is planned over the next 25 years across a 120-mile stretch of northern England along the M62 corridor to boost habitat for wildlife including birds and bats, protect species such as the red squirrel and provide more access to woodlands for millions of people living in the area. The Woodland Trust, in partnership with the Community Forest Trust and the five Community Forests, aims to plant woodland totalling 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres), in a project which is forecast to cost £500 million over 25 years. It could generate an estimated £2 billion for the economy in growth in tourism and visits to the area.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Creeping climate change brings warmer falls, drier summers to northwestern Ontario

CBC News
January 7, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Sean Murray

Drier summers, warmer falls, and unpredictable winds are among the climate change effects being experienced in northwestern Ontario, a new research project shows. Researcher and a Fullbright Scholar at Lakehead University Kelsey Jones-Casey said she spent a few months interviewing people in Thunder Bay, Ont. and the surrounding areas about how climate change has affected them, personally. Titled Boreal Heartbeat, Casey’s project focuses on the people in northwestern Ontario and the affects of climate change in our region, as researchers believe that the boreal forest will be impacted the most during this time of change.

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With biomass energy, weighing forest restoration and carbon emissions

By Emery Cowan
Arizona Daily Sun
January 5, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

When state utility regulators held a workshop last month about increasing the use of forest biomass for power, one topic did not make it into the discussion: the emissions produced from burning small trees, branches and treetops hauled from Arizona’s forests. Compared to coal, burning biomass emits lower amounts of key pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, but it generally equals or surpasses coal in the amount of carbon dioxide it emits per unit of heat. Bioenergy supporters, and many government agencies, have deemed the energy source carbon neutral, because trees grow back to replace ones that were cut, reabsorbing the carbon emitted by burning the woody matter. But many forest researchers say that description ignores the time it takes for trees that are cut down to be replaced by new ones, or the possibility that replacements won’t grow back at all. 

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A hole in Virginia’s climate plan

By Mary Booth and Seth Heald
The Washington Post
January 5, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

On Monday, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will begin accepting public comment on a draft carbon cap-and-trade plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the commonwealth’s power plants. The agency also announced that it will also hold six public hearings on the plan in March. But a gap in the proposal limits its effectiveness: The program won’t cover carbon emissions from wood-burning — “biomass” — power plants, allowing Virginia’s several wood-burners to continue polluting without mitigation and rewarding coal-fired power plants that switch to burning wood from forests. Wood-burning power plants are not clean. They emit particulate matter, smog precursors and carcinogens such as benzene and formaldehyde. Nor are they climate-friendly, pumping about 50 percent more carbon pollution per megawatt-hour into the atmosphere than coal plants.

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