Daily Archives: January 18, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Truck Loggers Association kicks off 75th convention in Victoria

January 18, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

The BC Truck Loggers Association (TLA) dominates today’s news with the start of its 75th convention in Victoria. A sampling of the headlines include: Softwood lumber dispute top of mind at this week’s TLA convention; Despite lumber dispute there remains a sense of optimism among contractors; TLA members waiting for word on review of the viability of logging contractors; and [says David Elstone] “we’re in it for the long haul“.

In Business news: Federal Minister Jim Carr announced funding for forest sector innovation and diversification at the BC Natural Resources Forum; BC Premier John Horgan says the sector “can still do wonders” even though it’s facing hard times; Nathalie Des Rosiers is Ontario’s new Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry; and coverage on Tolko, JD Irving and Port Hawkesbury Paper.

Finally, Oregon celebrates America’s first “domestically fabricated CLT building” and the wood fibres in China’s thin-walled Flamenco Ice Tower make the ice “three times stronger than ice alone”.

— Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

It’s a ‘very, very aggressive agenda’

By Les Leyne
Victoria Times Colonist
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Premier John Horgan

The year 2018 will be as jam-packed with political adventures as 2017 was. So says Premier John Horgan, who listed a few of them in a news conference Tuesday that preceded his planned departure Saturday for an Asian trade trip. The Chinese part of the itinerary includes some appearances to promote 2018, the Year of Canada-China Tourism. …Horgan will also hit Japan and South Korea in an obligatory mission to meet major trading partners. The futility of the softwood-lumber negotiations with the U.S. adds emphasis to the need to build markets elsewhere. Horgan acknowledged B.C.’s stance on lumber exports to the U.S. shifted this week, with the resignation of David Emerson as a special adviser, and the absence of any replacement.

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Six projects receive federal support

By Arthur Williams
The Prince George Citizen
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Jim Carr

Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr announced $6.45 million in funding for six resource projects on Wednesday during the B.C. Natural Resources Forum at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre. Funding for the two industrial and four First Nations projects comes from the Investments in Canada’s Forest Industry Transformation program and the Indigenous Forestry Initiative. “Our government believes in the forest industry,” Carr said. “Today we see what happens when the resources of the country are matched with the resourcefulness of the people.” The largest grant, $3.19 million, went to local wood pellet producer Pacific BioEnergy Prince George Limited Partnership. Pacific BioEnergy vice president Paul Kalil said the company has developed a system to clean rocks, dirt and other debris from forest residues left behind by conventional logging operations so that it can be used to create wood pellets.

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Mill fire at Tolko caused by spark

By Melanie Law
The Quesnel Cariboo Observer
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

A fire at Tolko Mills on Two Mile Flat had Quesnel Volunteer Firefighters out in force at 2:30 a.m. today. A total of 18 fire department personnel attended, along with three engines and one ladder truck, says director of emergency services Sylvain Gauthier. The fire was in the main sawmill, and was contained to this area by the mill’s sprinkler system. …Representatives at Tolko have said they are doing their best to get the mill back up and running as quickly as possible. This could happen as early as this afternoon or tomorrow.

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Premier Horgan says forestry sector hit with hard times

By Kyle Balzer
My Prince George Now
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Premier John Horgan

Premier John Horgan spoke at the BC Natural Resources Forum in Prince George this afternoon. Meeting before industry leaders, local politicians, and the general public, Horgan touched on topics from BC Hydro and ICBC rates, to softwood lumber and the forestry sector. He admits the region is facing challenges with NAFTA negotiations and the softwood lumber trade dispute with the United States. …In his keynote speech, the Premier described the unprecedented wildfire season in 2017, the pine beetle epidemic, and failed NAFTA negotiations as part of what the province has experienced of recently. However, he claims the industry can still do wonders in the midst of a ‘bad run.’ “It continues to be an employer in communities like Prince George and others in Northern BC. 

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Government of Canada Takes Action to Support Innovation in British Columbia’s Forest Sector, Sustain Middle-class Jobs for Canadians

Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Jim Carr

PRINCE GEORGE, BC – Innovation in the forest sector will help to combat the effects of climate change, create new markets for Canadian forest companies and sustain good, middle-class jobs for Canadians. Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jim Carr, today announced funding of $6.45 million for six projects in British Columbia to promote innovation and diversification in forestry and support collaboration with Indigenous communities. The Minister made the announcement during the B.C. Natural Resources Forum. The funding delivers on the Investments in Canada’s Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program and the Indigenous Forestry Initiative (IFI) through the Strategic Partnerships Initiative for Indigenous Economic Development. The recipients are: Pacific Bioenergy Prince George Limited Partnership: $3.19 million… Structurecraft Builders Inc.: $1.93 million… The Tsay Keh Dene CHP Biomass Energy project: $25,000… Gitxsan Development: $1.165 million.

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Sussex-based woodlot marketing board files appeal in JD Irving case

By Connell Smith
CBC News
January 18, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The Southern New Brunswick Forest Products Marketing Board is turning to the courts as it continues trying to regain control over timber sales in its region. The Sussex-based board has filed an appeal of a recent decision by the provincial Forest Products Commission in a case that pitted the board against J.D. Irving Ltd. and several other forestry companies and contractors. …The outcome of the appeal could determine whether New Brunswick’s seven woodlot marketing boards still retain powers to control timber sales in their respective territories. This particular dispute dates back eight years to when JDI began to bypass the SNB marketing board to buy timber directly from private woodlot owners or contractors. …The commission’s order would have required JDI and all other wood buyers and sellers dealing with private woodlots in SNB territory to be licensed by the Sussex-based board.

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Strait paper mill quiet as energy prices soar

By Aaron Beswick
The Chronicle Herald
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Port Hawkesbury Paper has been shut down for nearly two weeks over the past month. The shutdowns haven’t resulted in layoffs and are caused by high electricity costs, said Archie MacLaughlan of Unifor Local 972, which represents the mill’s 300 workers. “When the load is high we have to pay big rates,” said MacLachlan. “We could have run, but our bill would be three or four times the cost.” Port Hawkesbury Paper is generally sold electricity at a discount by Nova Scotia Power – paying the cost of producing the electricity it consumes plus making a marginal contribution to the fixed costs of this province’s grid. The cold temperatures that have hit the northeastern seaboard of North America have resulted in skyrocketing natural gas prices over the past month as supply into the Boston market has been limited by a shortage of pipeline capacity.

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Nathalie Des Rosiers is the new Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry

Kawartha Now
January 17, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Nathalie Des Rosiers

Nathalie Des Rosiers is the new Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. The Ottawa-Vanier MPP is one of three new female ministers in a Cabinet shuffle announced by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. Five other women in Cabinet were moved to other positions. A newcomer to Cabinet, Des Rosiers replaces Kathryn McGarry, who becomes the new Minister of Transportation. …While Des Rosiers will be working at Queen’s Park in Toronto, the ministry’s headquarters is located at Robinson Place on Water Street in downtown Peterborough, which houses more than 1,000 government employees. … Canadian Lawyer magazine named her as one of Canada’s 25 most influential lawyers in 2011 and in 2012.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Lever Architects Elevates Lumber Construction to an Art Form

By Ian Volner
Surface Magazine
January 17, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Thomas Robinson

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about building with wood, much of it infused with a certain back-to-the-land, eco-idealism. Not without reason: Wood can be sustainably harvested and easily recycled, and it sequesters carbon, the primary atmospheric agent behind man-made climate change. Especially in a place like Portland, Oregon—Stumptown, as it’s been known since the mid-19th century. In a city long-famed for its environmentally friendly political culture it seems only natural to turn to timber, and for local firm Lever Architects, working with the material has helped bring its energy-efficient projects to national attention. But for founding principal Thomas Robinson, there’s another advantage to lumber construction. “For us it’s really about creating a rich experience,” the architect says. “Materials are the medium for creating that.”

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Welcome to Albina Yard

By Think Wood
Architect Magazine
January 17, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Albina Yard has attracted hundreds of inquisitive visitors to its Portland, Ore., address since its opening in September 2016. …What has drawn the interest of the curious isn’t the façade’s distinctive 4-foot cantilever extensions. Albina Yard is America’s first building assembled with domestically fabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT) as the primary structural element. Underscore the word “domestic.” U.S. architects, developers, and builders were once dependent on European or Canadian sources for CLT panels and beams. No more. The Douglas fir that forms the structural heart of Albina Yard was grown and prefabricated to ANSI/APA standards just down the road in Riddle, Ore. “There’s an understandable hesitation to specify a major building component from outside the country,” says project architect Thomas Robinson, principal at Portland’s Lever Architecture.

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Thin-walled Flamenco Ice Tower rises high in China

By Adam Williams
The New Atlas
January 17, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

With winter in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, ’tis the season for frozen architecture projects, such as the Icehotel and SnowVillage. Similarly, a team of Dutch and Chinese students and professors have built a 31 m (101 ft)-tall ice tower in China that features walls with an average thickness of just 25 cm (9.84-in). …Its design is inspired by traditional Chinese architecture and the shape of the Andalusian flamenco dress, which is reflected in the billowing section nearest the ground. The team refers to the tower as the “world’s largest ice shell.” However, it’s not made from frozen water alone. Crucially, construction involved mixing wood fibers and cellulose into the ice, which reinforces it. Indeed, the team says that the added fibers makes the ice three times stronger than standard ice.

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Forestry

Tall trees draw renowned artist to Saanich

By Travis Paterson
The Peninsula News Review
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The tall trees of Vancouver Island have drawn renowned visual artist Kelly Richardson to relocate from England. Richardson was a lecturer at New Castle University the last 14 years, and was here to speak at the University of Victoria last year. During that trip she was brought to Avatar Grove, as she always visits the most unique and surreal natural landscapes whenever she travels. …“I was overwhelmed by the fact [Avatar Grove] exists at all,” Richardson said. …Richardson is one of five artists commissioned to produce a large-format digital film short for the 50th anniversary of the invention of IMAX. For that, Richardson will partner with cinematographer Christian Kroitor (grandson of IMAX inventor Roman Kroitor). They’ll focus on the Island’s famed old-growth and ancient forests near Port Renfrew.

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B.C. coast loggers celebrate history, hope for improvement

By Tom Fletcher
BC Local News
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Truck Loggers Association celebrates its 75th anniversary in Victoria this week, with coastal logging contractors waiting for the NDP government to put its stamp on forest policy and help a struggling industry. Premier John Horgan speaks to the convention for the first time Thursday, and members are waiting for word on the provincial review of the viability of logging contractors that was promised by former premier Christy Clark at last year’s convention. …The convention opened with a keynote address by Patrick Moore [who] recounted the history of his family company, W.D. Moore Log Co., which shut down last fall after 90 years of operation at Winter Harbour on northern Vancouver Island. …High U.S. lumber prices have the remaining loggers running full tilt, but current conditions for the industry leave them with the narrowest of operating margins, he said.

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Truck Loggers Association kicks off 75th convention in Victoria

By Andrew Duffy
Victoria Times Colonist
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Despite the softwood lumber dispute and uncertainty over the future of the province’s forest industry, there remains a sense of optimism among the industry’s contractors as they prepare for their annual convention in Victoria this week. …TLA executive director David Elstone said the convention aims to celebrate the industry’s resiliency, even though it can’t answer some of the more pressing questions it currently faces. “I think what’s top of mind and what overrides almost everything is the contractor sustainabiity review,” he said. …The review is designed to improve the competitiveness of forest-sector contractors and strengthen relationships between logging contractors and licensees. “I can’t tell you how much anticipation there is for the report. From a contractor’s perspective, it is undoubtedly the biggest thing to happen to the sector in terms of forest policy since the early 2000s,” he said.

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City shows how it will try to defend $437M worth of trees from the emerald ash borer

By Alexandra Paul
Winnipeg Free Press
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…The city’s insect and forest experts have doubled down on training to track the destructive green beetle’s spread since it was first spotted at the end of November. City of Winnipeg forester Martha Barwinsky has been preparing for such an onslaught for a decade, ever since the beetle, originally from China, started eating its way through ash forests in southern Ontario. …A team of Natural Resource Canada experts are in Winnipeg training some 30-odd forestry and insect control scientists and technicians. …”One thing in Winnipeg’s favour is the cold temperatures. We have a couple of research projects we’ll start in Winnipeg,” said Krista Ryall, a forest ecological entomologist and head of the federal government team of experts that’s visiting Winnipeg. …”It’s very cold here in the winter, and you might have larvae that are more susceptible to the cold. That might kill off a lot of them,” she said.

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‘In it for the long haul’: TLA convention kicks off amid ongoing lumber dispute with US

By Marcella Bernardo and Hana Mae Nassar
News 1130
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Elstone

VICTORIA – The head of a group representing nearly 500 independent forest contractors is expecting Canada’s softwood lumber dispute with the United States to be top of mind at this week’s 75th annual Truck Loggers Association convention in Victoria. “The US market is our, a natural market for BC forest product, and is our largest market for of course our lumber,” says TLA Executive Director David Elstone. …“We’re in it for the long haul. We’re not really feeling the full impacts that we are being hit with these duties. I mean lumber prices are at pretty darn high levels. …Elstone admits he is worried about what happens when the markets do change and prices are no longer so high. …Other topics on the agenda include wildfire management, First Nations interests and how contracts are awarded across the forest industry.

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Alliance Between First Nations, Municipal Leaders, and Industry Formed to Defend a Way of Life

Ontario Forest Industries Association
January 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

An Alliance of First Nation and non-First Nation leaders representing rights holders, stakeholders, municipal leaders, unions, and Ontario’s forest sector has been formed to defend our way of life, with a mandate to grow the responsible use of natural resources in northern and rural Ontario. …The Alliance was recently formed in response to the potential negative impacts of proposed species at risk (SAR) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) policy on communities and the forest sector across northern and rural Ontario.  “We’ve looked after the land for hundreds of years,” said Chief Joe Ladouceur, from Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. “We know how to manage our own forests. The government is taking food off the tables of First Nations.” The Ontario Forest Industries Association, stated, “Workable provincial and federal policy developed with input from … professional foresters will maintain and grow good paying jobs in northern and rural Ontario.

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Montreal to chop 4,000 ash trees on Mount Royal sickened by emerald ash borer

By Sidhartha Banerjee
Canadian Press in the National Post
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

MONTREAL — The City of Montreal will chop down 4,000 ash trees on picturesque Mount Royal because they have been attacked by an invasive strain of beetle from Asia. “This isn’t a decision we’re making lightly, cutting trees on Mount Royal, 4,000 is a lot,” Coun. Luc Ferrandez, the executive committee member responsible for parks, said Wednesday. “It isn’t good news, but the way we’re responding is good.” Natural Resources Canada says the emerald ash borer has killed millions of ash trees in southwestern Ontario, Michigan and surrounding states and “poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas in both countries.” …Ferrandez said the cutting won’t leave any visual effect on the landscape and that the city will plant 40,000 replacement trees, mainly red oaks and maples.

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100 million dead trees in the Sierra are a massive risk for unpredictable wildfires

By Brett Israel
UC Berkeley
January 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

…The [drought] problem is so severe in the central and southern Sierra Nevada that some areas have experienced greater than 90 percent tree mortality. The study authors caution that these dead trees have created unprecedented levels of fuel, which could create dangerous wildfires in the near future that are beyond the predictive capacity of current fire models, making fire behavior and its impact on structures and public safety difficult to manage and predict. Forest managers have already been struggling to determine whether the massive number of dead trees will increase wildfire intensity and/or severity, what the near- and long-term effects on forest communities will be and how land management agencies should respond.

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Wildfire salvage projects underway

By Augusta McDonnell
KPAX.com
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MISSOULA – 700,000 acres burned on National Forest land in this summer’s wildfires, and there are plans now in place proposing to salvage about 30,000 of those acres, according to Julia Altemus, Executive Director of the Montana Wood Products Association, who spoke in front of hundreds of business people on Tuesday. The Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce event “Rising From the Ashes” was packed with people there to learn about the impact of 2017’s fires and how to prevent destruction in the future. Altemus says that the wood products industry is hoping to access timber that could be harvested this summer, as certain types of trees begin to lose their value over time.

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Weston Snowboards Launches Freedom of the Forest Campaign to Support Public Lands

Shop-Eat-Surf
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Weston Snowboards Colorado company known for its award-winning splitboards and signature traveling tiny house showroom, today announced the launch of Freedom of the Forest, a new campaign in partnership with the National Forest Foundation and designed to support public lands and raise funding for our National Forests. …”For the last year we at Weston Snowboards have watched tragedies befall our National Forests, Parks and Monuments – from wildfires, to trail closures and park closures. These are the places that we play, where we snowboard, and where we go to find our little bit of peace and freedom,” said Weston Snowboards co-owner, Mason Davey. “The root cause of these tragedies is that the U.S. Forest Service is underfunded to continue to preserve our lands.

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Chief’s Honor – Fishlake receives Forest Service’s highest award

Richfield Reaper
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Jason Kling

Fishlake National Forest earned one of the five Chief’s Honor Awards, the highest honor accorded within the U.S. Forest Service. Presented in Washington, D.C., each year, the awards are designed to recognize employees who find innovative ways to embrace the goals of the agency’s strategic plan. This year the Monroe Mountain Aspen Ecosystem Restoration Project Interdisciplinary Team was selected in the category for “Sustaining Our Nation’s Forests and Grasslands.”  Forest Ranger Jason Kling accepted the award on behalf of the Fishlake National Forest and the project’s Interdisciplinary Team, at a ceremony held at the Department of Agriculture building in Washington, D.C. Dec. 7.

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Georgia Forestry Foundation launches new brand

By Pamela Miller
Atlanta Journal Constitution
January 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The Georgia Forestry Foundation is launching a new logo and brand identity to accurately reflect the growth of the foundation since 1990, when the previous logo was introduced. The foundation has as its primary goal connecting 10 million Georgians to 22 million acres of working forests by promoting the abundant natural resource in Georgia’s backyard. Georgia is the number one forestry state in the nation, and GFF is establishing this brand to honor industry professionals, engage nature enthusiasts, and educate all Georgians about the critical role the forestry.

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Conservation groups concerned about state park logging bill

The Register-Herald
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

CHARLESTON – Conservation groups have expressed concern with a bill that would allow logging in West Virginia State Parks.  Senate Bill 270 was introduced Monday at the request of Gov. Jim Justice. The action prompted conservation groups across the state to launch an effort to oppose lifting the more than 80-year ban on logging, forming a campaign to Save Our State Parks, dubbed “SOS Parks.” “Our state park system is in distress,” said Jim Waggy, from the Kanawha Forest Coalition. “But opening them up to logging is worse than any maintenance backlog. …The bill allows the director to implement a silvicultural management plan for state parks. The director may select and sell timber located on state park lands only as part of a sound silvicultural plan. 

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Brazil seizes over 400 containers in fight against illegal logging

Reuters
January 17, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Police in Brazil have seized 444 containers in an investigation into illegal logging in the country’s vast Amazon, federal authorities said on Thursday, as the nation seeks to cut down on the widespread practice. The seizures are part of an investigation taking place at ports in the Brazilian riverside city of Manaus, a key trans-shipment point for illegal timber, police said in a statement.  Police have inspected only one-fifth of the containers so far. They were found to contain logs that, if laid in a line, would stretch for 1,500 kilometers (930 miles), the police said. About half of the logs were bound for export to the United States or Europe, they added.

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Cutting Rights proposal ‘jeopardising billion tree and climate change goals’

Voxy
January 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Forest Owners Association is against the proposal the Overseas Investment Office should approve or decline sales of forest cutting rights. The FOA says it would jeopardise the government’s ambitions of both seeing a billion trees planted and of meeting its Paris Agreement obligations to reduce carbon emissions. Treasury has invited submissions on a proposal to expand the scope of the OIO to include forest cutting rights for blocks of forestland larger than 50 hectares. But FOA President Peter Clark says overseas investors will look elsewhere if cutting rights came into the OIO. “We entirely get the idea that any investment into New Zealand is a privilege. We know and accept that overseas investors who wish to buy or lease substantial areas of land in New Zealand to plant trees for harvest have to go through the OIO application process.”

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Forestry seeing major changes

By Jeremy Muir
The Gisborne Herald
January 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Safety in the forests is a matter of huge concern, as one of the nation’s most dangerous workplaces and a major employer in this district where, tragically, we have had many young men killed — three last year, of five fatalities nationwide. The new Government wants to see improved safety measures, which in part will involve encouraging a trend already under way: mechanisation. An item on One News last night — where Minister for Workplace Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and WorkSafe boss Nicole Rosie visited a forestry site in Marlborough — said the mechanisation of tree felling nationally had gone from 23 percent to 53 percent in recent years. Despite this, fatalities have increased in each of the past four years — from one forestry death in 2014 (after a horror year in 2013 when 10 forestry workers died). Injuries have also risen, from an average of 15 per 1000 workers in September 2014 to 18 per 1000 workers by March last year.

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