Region Archives: United States

Business & Politics

MPs urge Canada to appoint “softwood lumber emissary”

By Zi-Ann Lum
PoliticoPro
November 22, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

OTTAWA — Lawmakers are urging Canada to appoint a “softwood lumber emissary” and give them the mission of getting American officials onside to resolve the decades-long trade dispute. That’s one of seven recommendations the House international trade committee shared in a new report released Monday afternoon. MPs spent two meetings ahead of summer focused on the anti-dumping and countervailing duties the U.S. has slapped on Canadian softwood lumber. The current combined duty rate on Canadian imports is 7.99 percent. MPs want Ottawa to take “immediate action” to ensure softwood lumber products from private forests are exempt from anti-dumping and countervailing duties. …Structural differences between the American industry (where products are mostly from private lots) and the Canadian (a majority of production comes from publicly owned land) have driven five softwood lumber disputes since 1982. The current one, which started in 2016, is the longest. [This publication requires a subscription to access the full story]

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Report on Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties On Canadian Softwood Lumber

By Standing Committee on International Trade
Government of Canada
November 24, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

On January 30, 2023 Canada’s Standing Committee on International Trade adopted a motion to study again the United States’ anti-dumping and countervailing duties on certain Canadian softwood lumber products. Released Monday, their report recommends that the Government of Canada:

  1. Continue with and enhance its engagement with the Government of the US. 
  2. Continue with and enhance its collaboration with sectors in the US that support an end to the anti-dumping and countervailing duties. 
  3. Appoint an official softwood lumber emissary for Canada to engage with US officials to enhance Canada’s efforts designed to encourage the U.S. administration to negotiate a resolution
  4. Acknowledge that achieving an agreement with the US regarding trade in softwood lumber products ultimately will occur only through direct head-of-government negotiation.
  5. Establish a strategy for investment in value-added transformations of wood within Canada.
  6. Ensure recognition of the specific characteristics of Quebec’s forestry regime, which… has established
    a market-based system for the pricing of timber
  7. Take immediate actions designed to ensure that products from private forests in Canada are not subject to U.S. anti-dumping or countervailing duties.

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Drax applauds the government of Canada’s commitment to biomass technologies

Drax Group plc
GlobeNewswire
November 24, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, US West

VANCOUVER, BC — Drax commends the Government of Canada on the inclusion of biomass-using technologies in the Clean Technology and Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credits. …Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax said, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is vital to energy security. Drax’s ambition through BECCS is building large-scale carbon removal facilities, creating thousands of jobs in new clean energy technology and generating dispatchable, renewable power using sustainably sourced biomass for homes and industries – while supporting the growth of the forestry sector and other intermittent energy sources. …Drax believes that Canada could be an ideal location to deploy BECCS, given its access to one of the world’s greatest fibre baskets, well-established sustainable forestry sector, and suitable geology for CO2 storage. …In Canada, Drax has invested over $830 million in the Canadian forestry sector, supporting more than 10,000 jobs and contributing $1.1 billion to the nation’s GDP in 2021.

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November Lumber Shorts

The Southern Forest Products Association
November 28, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

In this edition of Southern Forest Products Association’s Lumber Shorts:

  • 2023 SFPA Value Report Now Available: Driving Value for the Southern Pine Lumber Community
  • Member News: Highlights from Westervelt, Weyerhaeuser, Andritz, Captis Aire, Hyster, Wood-Mizer and YellaWood.
  • ThinkWood Captures Student Interest for Wood Products: learn more about how students seek out information
  • Optimize Productivity with Industrial Video Monitoring
  • The International Report: an expanded look at Q3 2023 Southern Pine exports

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The Home Depot Enters into Agreement to Acquire International Designs Group

By The Home Depot
Cision Newswire
November 20, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

ATLANTA — The Home Depot® has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire International Designs Group (IDG), a platform company that owns and operates Construction Resources and other design-oriented subsidiaries. Construction Resources is a leading distributor of design-oriented surfaces, appliances and architectural specialty products for professional (Pro) contractors focused on renovation, remodeling, residential home building and multi-family. The Pro spend represents a $475 billion addressable market. …With showrooms across the East Coast and Southeast, Construction Resources allows The Home Depot to expand the capabilities it offers Pro customers, many of whom rely on showrooms as part of their consultative approach to complex renovation and remodel jobs. …The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2023.

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Boise Cascade curtails lumber operations in Chapman, Alabama

By Boise Cascade Company
Business Wire
November 28, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

BOISE, Idaho–Boise Cascade Company today announced an indefinite curtailment of its lumber production in Chapman, Alabama. The curtailment will affect approximately 80 positions. The plywood operations at the Chapman location are not part of the curtailment. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notification was provided to impacted employees and specifies that operations will cease on January 28, 2024. “The team has worked diligently every day; however, a combination of challenges, including required future investments and overall profitability, has led to this decision,” said Chris Seymour, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Operations. “It was a difficult and unfortunate decision, but after evaluating a number of factors over the past year, it is not feasible to continue operating at an efficient level.”

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Woodland Pulp strike ends as union accepts amended contract

By Ethan Andrews
Bangor Daily News
November 24, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

MAINE — After more than a month on the picket line, union workers at the Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville voted Friday to accept the latest offer from the company, ending a strike that started Oct. 14. In an announcement, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers highlighted gains in the new tentative contract, including general wage increases of 3-4 percent, with the potential for an 11.6-percent increase for current journeymen maintenance workers, through reclassification. A tiered vacation system will be removed, employees will be eligible for 20 hours of earned paid sick leave, usable in 1-hour increments. …The strike involved members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 1490, along with 20 millwrights and 38 oilers and steam and water plant operators from Service Employees International Union Local 330-3 and Millwrights Local 1121.

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Trudeau says Canada joining EU research program, makes water bomber deal

By Sarah Smellie
Canadian Press in Global News
November 24, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, US East

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off a two-day summit with the top two heads of the European Union on Thursday night in a small brewpub on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in Newfoundland and Labrador’s capital city of St. John’s. …He said Canada is joining the European Union’s $100-billion scientific research program, called Horizon Europe, which he called “the greatest research and innovation mechanism in the world right now.” Canada has also worked out a deal to build water bombers and ship them to the EU, after both regions faced devastating forest fires this past summer, Trudeau told the crowd at the Quidi Vidi Brewery. …This year’s EU-Canada Summit in St. John’s is the 19th such meeting between Canada’s prime minister and the heads of the bloc of 27 countries. 

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The Trade That Backfired for America’s Biggest Wood-Pellet Exporter

By Ryan Dezember
The Wall Street Journal
November 22, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

A wrong-way bet on the price of wood pellets has jeopardized America’s biggest exporter of the fuel, even though demand has never been higher among the European and Asia power plants burning wood instead of coal. Enviva said its gambit to buy pellets from a customer, and resell them for more, backfired when prices fell, and that nine-figure losses could trigger a default with its lenders by year-end. Enviva’s shares are down about 60% since it warned investors the trade risked its ability to remain a going concern. The stock has fallen more than 97% this year and recently traded below $1. …“Absent a significant and near-term increase in wood-pellet market pricing, we expect [the trade] will continue to have a negative impact through 2025,” Glenn Nunziata said. …It should have been a great time to be the world’s largest pellet exporter. Prices and exports were running high following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [to access the full story, a WSJ subscription is required]

Related coverage in Paper Advance: Enviva at a Crossroads: Navigating Choppy Waters

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Finance & Economics

Paper, Packaging & Forest Products – What We Learned This Week

By Paul Quinn, Analyst
RBC Capital Markets
November 26, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Lumber and OSB up w/w. According to Random Lengths, the Framing Lumber Composite increased $3 w/w to $376 and the OSB Composite increased $5 w/w to $419. For next week, RBC ElementsTM forecasts that the RL Framing Lumber Composite will increase $10 w/w to $386 and that the RL OSB Composite will decrease $9 w/w to $410.

Existing-home sales fall to the lowest level in 13 years. The U.S. National Association of Realtors reported October existing home sales of 3.79MM (SAAR) units, which was down 4.1% m/m and 14.6% y/y to the lowest level since August 2010.

Pulp shipments to China slow m/m in October. Pulp shipments in October were up 4.5% y/y (hardwood +8.7%; softwood +0.1%). On a m/m basis, shipments were down 12.7%, driven by a 3.3% decrease in softwood and a 19.5% decrease in hardwood. …Despite the steep m/m decline, we note that October was still the fourth-strongest month for shipments to China

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US Home Prices Continue to Rise in September

By Jing Fu
NAHB – Eye on Housing
November 28, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

National home prices continued to increase in September. Despite rising mortgage rates, limited inventory and solid but weakened demand provided solid support for home prices. Locally, all of 20 metro areas had positive home price appreciation in September. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 8.1% in September, slightly slower than a 9.8% increase in August. It is the eighth consecutive annual gain since February 2023. National home prices are now 69% higher than their last peak during the housing boom in March 2006. On a year-over-year basis, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index posted a 3.9% annual gain in September, following a 2.5% increase in August.

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US small properties multifamily construction remains low, built-for-rent remains elevated

By Robert Deitz
NAHB – Eye on Housing
November 28, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The missing middle construction sector includes development of medium-density housing, such as townhouses, duplexes and other small multifamily properties. The multifamily segment of the missing middle (apartments in 2- to 4-unit properties) has disappointed since the Great Recession. For the third quarter of 2023, there were just 3,000 2- to 4-unit housing unit construction starts. This is down from a year prior. 

According to quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts remained elevated during the third quarter of 2023. For the quarter, 104,000 multifamily residences started construction. Of this total, 101,000 were built-for-rent. The market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts was near an all-time high of 98% for the third quarter as the already small condo market remained held back due to higher interest rates. 

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US new home sales weaken in October

By Robert Dietz
NAHB – Eye on Housing
November 27, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Elevated mortgage rates depressed buyer demand and pushed down new home sales in October. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in October fell 5.6% to a 679,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, following a notable downward revision in September. …The pace of new home sales in October was up 17.7% from a year ago. Despite the challenging conditions, sales are up 4.6% on a year-to-date basis due to a lack of inventory in the resale market. …New single-family home inventory in October increased to the highest level since January, up 8.3% from the previous month, to 439,000. This represents a 7.8 months’ supply at the current building pace. A measure near a 6 months’ supply is considered balanced. …The median new home sale price in October was $409,300, down 3.1% from September, and down 17.6% compared to a year ago.

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The US housing market is flashing fresh signs of recovery as rising listings and sales point to a possible thaw

By Jennifer Sor
Business Insider
November 24, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The US housing market is seeing a positive shift in sales, inventory, and construction – all possible signs the ice age in the residential real estate market could finally be nearing its end. Pending home sales ticked higher 1% on a monthly basis in October, according to Redfin data, reaching the highest seasonally adjusted level seen in a year. Meanwhile, mortgage applications jumped 6% on a monthly basis and soared 40% from levels last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. …Builders also appear to be revving up their pace of construction, though total home building still remains below 2022 levels. …Those are all positive signs for the housing market, which has been at a standstill for much of the past year as sky-high mortgage rates have sidelined both buyers and sellers. …Other experts, though, have warned more trouble could be on the horizon, especially as the US economy begins to decelerate.

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US home size trends down to 10 year low

By Robert Dietz
NAHB – Eye on Housing
November 22, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

An expected impact of the virus crisis was a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Home size correspondingly increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022 and 2023, and housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended lower. According to third quarter 2023 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, median single-family square floor area came in at 2,221 square feet, close to the lowest reading since the end of 2010. Average (mean) square footage for new single-family homes registered at 2,430 square feet. Since Great Recession lows, the average size of a new single-family home is now more than 2% higher at 2,442 square feet, while the median size is more than 5% higher at 2,216 square feet.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Cool School: A New England Eco-Academy Tackles Carbon + Climate with Timber

Think Wood
November 29, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

In the November ThinkWOOD news, you’ll find:

  • Timber Tutelage: The Ecology School Is a Lesson in Super-Sustainable Wood Construction Vernacular light-frame meets modern mass timber in this eco-friendly, nearly all-wood, prefabricated environmental educational center in New England dedicated to hands-on learning.
  • Centennial Park Pavilion Is a Refreshing New Spin on Arkansas’ Agrarian Tradition: The wood-framed park structure, designed by Modus Studio, pays tribute to the region’s roots while elevating the amenities in a cycling-focused city park.
  • Chicago Community Center Showcases Bold Use of Mass Timber
  • Wood products news and events
  • Online education and more…

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Cities and Buildings Need to Start Acting More Like Trees

By Dickson D. Despommier, professor emeritus, Columbia University
The Daily Beast
November 25, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Today, cities contribute 60 percent of the total amount of greenhouse gases that pollute our atmosphere and are a significant player in generating rapid climate change. The construction materials currently used to build skyscrapers—concrete, steel, and glass—are responsible for nearly 20 percent of the total greenhouse gases cities create. For practical solutions to these problems, we need to look no further than trees. The same survival characteristics found in trees and forests can be applied to developing new cities. Cities emulating natural processes is an example of “biomimicry.” …But how could a city, simply by choosing a specific construction material, help it to store carbon? It sounds improbable, but everything changed with the invention of a building material called cross-laminated timber (CLT). …The future of cities is bright if we can learn from nature and base urban design on something as useful as a tree.

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NBBJ Architecture Studio releases concept for modular mass-timber lab building

By Ellen Eberhardt
Dezeen Magazine
November 23, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

International architecture studio NBBJ has proposed a conceptual design for lab buildings that features a modular interior layout as one solution to underutilized infrastructure in cities. The concept proposes a science building that can adapted to fit other use cases, such as residential, and then be converted back into laboratories if needed. …The concept seeks to mitigate underutilized spaces throughout cities by exploring infrastructure that can adapt to changing needs and real estate markets. …The Regenerative Lab could make use of steel and a cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure paired with an interior made of modular cube units. “The hybrid steel and CLT structure ensures the permanent steel elements will endure for hundreds of years while the adaptable wood elements can be easily disassembled and reconfigured for a range of flexible lab layouts,” said the team.

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300-foot buildings in Sugar House? That’s one developer’s idea

By Taylor Anderson
Building Salt Lake
November 27, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Chicago-based development firm seeking to redevelop the Wells Fargo building in Sugar House wants to rewrite a portion of the zoning code to allow Downtown heights in the neighborhood’s urban core. In its applications, Harbor Bay proposed creating a new zone for the neighborhood that would allow buildings up to 305 feet tall as long as they include a majority of sustainable materials. …A conceptual rendering included in the rezone application shows Harbor Bay may be looking to build what would be by far the tallest building in Utah outside of Downtown… a 34-story high-rise. Harbor Bay is known for its focus on buildings made from mass timber. The firm build a 505,000-square-foot mixed-use building in Cleveland that was the largest mass timber project in the nation when it opened last year

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Innovation in food packaging boosts Maine’s struggling forest industries

By Kelley Bouchard
The Press Herald
November 27, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Melissa LaCasse

When Tanbark Molded Fiber Products began producing wood pulp-based packaging for Luke’s Lobster shacks in October, the Saco startup took Maine’s centuries-old pulp and paper industry into innovative and uncharted territory. But Tanbark CEO Melissa LaCasse had an inkling early on that she was heading in the right direction, becoming one of the newest players in a struggling legacy industry. Her instincts were affirmed as she raised $3.2 million in seed funding. …Now, Tanbark is poised to replace thousands of pounds of single-use plastic foam, rigid plastic and plastic-coated containers …with little or no plastic parts or packaging. LaCasse is already looking to expand to a second manufacturing site in one of Maine’s empty mills, possibly even a paper mill shuttered by flagging demand. And she plans to answer growing need for research and development to produce additional climate-friendly alternatives to plastics from Maine’s commercially managed forests.

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The tallest mass timber building in the world is in Milwaukee

By Evan Casey
Wisconsin Public Radio
November 23, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Like many luxury apartment buildings, Milwaukee’s Ascent has several special features. Heated floors. A sky deck. An indoor swimming pool. A pet spa. But its unique feature is the material the building was constructed with — mass timber. Many larger buildings are constructed using concrete and steel, but the 25-story building in downtown Milwaukee was built with mass timber, a newer process that consists of multiple wood panels nailed or glued together. The building, which opened last year, is now officially the tallest mass timber building in the world, standing 284 feet above ground. But from the outside, you’d likely never know it. Tim Gokhman, the managing director of New Land Enterprises, the developer of the building, said they didn’t set out to achieve that accolade. …”Once we saw a modern application of mass timber in high rise, right away we understood … this creates a really special built environment that we have never seen before,” Gokhman said.

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Forestry

USDA Forest Service seeks public comment on proposed policy for monitoring health of national forests and grasslands

By The Forest Service
US Department of Agriculture
November 27, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is seeking public input on a proposed policy for monitoring the health of national forests and grasslands. The proposed policy is designed to provide a framework that supports and strengthens current monitoring policy, minimizing inconsistencies and improving government-to-government relationships with Tribes. …The proposed policy builds on the agency’s foundation of science-based monitoring and provides guidance for developing efficient, transparent monitoring programs, based on both science and Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge. “The proposed monitoring policy is a framework that supports strategic thinking about what questions to ask and how to most efficiently use the answers to conduct adaptive management,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore.

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Idaho wolf-killing proposals prompt petition for feds to ban ‘barbaric’ aerial hunts

By Nicole Blanchard
Idaho Statesman
November 28, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A group of environmental organizations has submitted a petition to the federal government to ban wolf killing by shooting from helicopters, calling the practice “barbaric.” The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and International Wildlife Coexistence Network in Tuesday news releases said they were prompted by Idaho’s Wolf Depredation Control Board’s October decision to approve the scope of proposed lethal wolf control plans at two Wood River Valley ranches. The proposals, which included plans for aerial gunning, were submitted by Trevor Walch, the owner of a predator control corporation, without the knowledge of the ranches involved. The petition, which cited the Idaho Statesman’s reporting on the decision, asks the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit aerial gunning on national forest land. The petition noted that five proposals submitted to the wolf board included control efforts in Idaho Fish and Game management units that overlap five of the seven national forests in Idaho.

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‘Groundbreaking’ bill introduces tribal partnership in Mt. Hood National Forest

By Michaela Bourgeois
KOIN 6 News
November 27, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon lawmakers reintroduced a bill that would create a partnership between the United States Forest Service and the Confederated Tribes of The Warm Springs to co-manage designated areas in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The Wy’east Tribal Resources Restoration Act would direct the United States Forest Service to work with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs to create Treaty Resource Emphasis Zones that would be co-managed by the federal agency and the tribes. The bill would establish one of the first place-based co-management models in the nation. The legislation would create a co-management plan in the Mt. Hood National Forest that aims to “enhance Tribal Treaty resources and protect the Reservation from wildfire,” including a wildfire risk assessment and retaining large trees for historic forest structure and fire resiliency.

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Mora selected for future reforestation center

By Danielle Prokop
Source New Mexico
November 28, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

NEW MEXICO — Lawmakers will be asked to give $47.5M more during 2024 session to help replant New Mexico forests. Agencies and universities selected a site in Mora to host a new multimillion-dollar center to replant millions of trees across the state. A board in charge of siting the New Mexico Reforestation Center determined last week that the center will be built at the current John T. Harrington (JTH) Forestry Research Center in the northern New Mexico community. The center is jointly operated by an agreement between the state’s forestry agency and three universities: New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University and the University of New Mexico. …The program has $8.5 million to spend on land and engineering fees for the new center, which was appropriated by state lawmakers during the 2023 session. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department oversees the forestry division. 

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Managed forests needed to fight climate change

By Brian Gawley
Peninsula Daily News
November 28, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORT ANGELES, Washington — Wood products and managed forests are necessary for climate mitigation, a 20-year forest management researcher told the Clallam County commissioners. Dr. Edie Sonne Hall of Three Trees Consulting in Seattle gave a presentation on the role of forest management in climate mitigation. She was invited by Commissioner Randy Johnson. …Hall said 74% of annual resource extraction is of non-renewable resources. Since 1970, the Earth’s population has doubled while global extraction of materials has more than tripled and is expected to double again by 2050, she said. Hall has a Ph.D. in forestry from the University of Washington, where she specialized in forest carbon accounting and life cycle assessment. …Several wood products could replace existing fossil fuel-based materials, Hall said, giving the following examples: Engineered wood… Wood foam… Textiles made from wood pulp… Bioplastics made from pulp byproducts… and Composites made from wood chips. 

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Why environmentalists are suing the National Park Service to prevent it from planting trees

By Jonathan Park and Janna Van Vranken
CBS News Sacramento
November 27, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — The National Park Service wants to replant sequoia groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, where wildfires in 2020 and 2021 inflicted lasting damage on the iconic sequoia forests. Environmentalists in California say it’s a huge mistake. Four groups filed suit against the NPS on November 17, saying the agency’s effort violates the law as it includes planting in designated wilderness areas, where human involvement in the ecosystem is explicitly prohibited. The NPS announced the seedling-planting project earlier this fall, saying it was “concerned that natural regeneration may not be sufficient to support self-sustaining groves into the future, particularly as the fires killed an unprecedented number of reproductive sequoia trees in the groves themselves.” …Chad Hanson, the director of the John Muir Project, said “Nature doesn’t need our help”. “We are not supposed to be getting involved with tending it like a garden.”

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New project more than doubles size of fire reduction work in Stanislaus National Forest

By Guy McCarthy
The Union Democrat
November 27, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

California — The Stanislaus National Forest and the U.S. Forest Service have a new plan to more than double what they’ve already called the largest green forest management project in the forest’s 126-year history, and this time they’re including goats and sheep to do targeted grazing to reduce fire threats in some fuel break areas. The first Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape, or SERAL, project is taking place in an area that totals 118,795 acres of public and private lands, including 94,779 acres in Forest Service jurisdiction, Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken said. It could take until 2030 to complete fuel breaks, road building, road maintenance, thinning logging, fuels reduction, mastication, piling, prescribed fires, and biomass removal, all intended to reduce fire threats in the South Fork Stanislaus and Middle Fork Stanislaus watersheds.

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Forest modeling study reveals new insights into carbon sequestration

ByChrissy Sexton
Earth.com
November 22, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A forest modeling study has revealed important insights into how harvest rotations can be optimized for maximum carbon sequestration, a critical factor in the fight against climate change. The study was led by Catherine Carlisle as a graduate student, alongside Temesgen Hailemariam and Stephen Fitzgerald from the OSU College of Forestry. The researchers determined that a site’s productivity, reflecting the rate of tree growth and biomass accumulation, is a key determinant in establishing the ideal time period between timber harvests for maximizing above-ground carbon storage. …The researchers utilized the Forest Vegetation Simulator, a software suite, to predict vegetation changes in response to different management activities or natural disturbances. …The study revealed that for highly productive stands, 60-year rotations with a low-intensity thinning at 40 years maximized carbon storage.

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Timber Wars Redux

By Jim Petersen, Founder/President, Evergreen Foundation
The Lincoln County Western News
November 21, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Anusha Mathur’s Nov. 1 Flathead Beacon essay [The Yaak Valley is Ground Zero for Montana’s Environmental Future] was a jarring reminder that the timber wars of the 1980s are still with us. The interchangeable anti-forestry narratives haven’t changed much since 1985: the old growth is almost gone, save charismatic megafauna, save endangered species, stop clearcutting, loggers are logging without laws and, more recently, climate change is real, climate deniers are wrong, the science is settled and where is the climate justice? The Yaak Valley is one of many ground zeros is the long running and exceptionally well-funded political war to end all forms of science-based management on public forestlands in the United States. Who provided the airplane that flew Mathur over the Kootenai National Forest? …There is an entirely different narrative that could have gone with the Yaak Valley flight. Had I been in charge … those on board could have also spent some time on the ground.

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Droughts are causing die-offs of iconic red cedar in Pacific Northwest, scientists say

KRVZ TV
November 21, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

OREGON — Deep inside a forest in Oregon’s Willamette Valley stands a dead “Tree of Life.” Its foliage, normally soft and green, is tough and brown or missing altogether. Nonetheless, the tree’s reddish bark identify it as the iconic western red cedar. Christine Buhl, a forest health specialist for the Oregon Department of Forestry,  extracts sample of the tree’s inner growth rings. The rings become thinner over time, indicating the tree’s growth slowed before the tree finally died, a sign that this red cedar, like thousands of others in Oregon and Washington, died from drought. …Last year, Buhl and colleagues reported that red cedars were dying throughout the tree’s growing range not because of a fungus or insect attack, but due to the region’s “climate change-induced drought.” Red cedars aren’t alone… at least 15 native Pacific Northwest tree species have experienced growth declines and die-offs.

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Milling or burning? Two experts offer differing views on managing eastern red cedar

By Ryan Herzog
The North Platte Telegraph
November 27, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

NEBRASKA — The most cost-effective way to manage eastern red cedar is fire management, says Andy Moore, Loess Canyons coordinating wildlife biologist with Pheasants Forever. Not so, according to saw mill operator John Peterson. When he sees a controlled burn, he says, “There goes a couple hundred thousand dollars down the drain, or more, you know.” …Moore’s job as a wildlife biologist involves working with ranchers, mainly in the Loess Canyons south of Brady, to manage stands of eastern red cedar. …Peterson owns Peterson Sawmill Services. He and his wife, Rebecca, operate a sawmill and wood barn east of Stapleton. They have been in the lumber business since the 1960s. Both men’s jobs involve removing eastern red cedar off the land, but take very different approaches to how the trees are removed.

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LILYSILK Partners with One Tree Planted for Thanksgiving Reforestation Initiative

By LILYSILK
Cision Newswire
November 28, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

NEW YORK — LILYSILK, the world’s leading silk brand with a mission to inspire people to live spectacular, sustainable lives, is proud to announce its Thanksgiving Tree Planting Initiative, an endeavor aimed at showing gratitude to our planet. In collaboration with leading reforestation non-profit One Tree Planted, LILYSILK will plant 20,000 trees across regions worldwide heavily impacted by deforestation and wildfires. This initiative follows LILYSILK’s successful reforestation project in Pontal do Paranapanema, São Paulo State, Brazil, where earlier this year, 500 hectares of land were rejuvenated through the planting of 15,000 trees. This year alone, LILYSILK has planted 35,000 trees, benefiting the environment and local communities worldwide.

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Officials issue stark Tennessee fire warning: Drought and wild winds could spell disaster

By Tyler Whetstone
Knoxville News Sentinel
November 20, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

In some of the starkest language they’ve used since the deadly 2016 wildfire season, Southern Area Coordination Center officials are warning East Tennessee and Western North Carolina counties about the extreme fire risk this week. The ongoing drought combined with high winds could spell disaster but rain has come as predicted and that’s making a difference. Counties all along the Tennessee-North Carolina state line continue to be under a red flag warning until noon Nov. 21, meaning the region has an increased risk of fire danger. A high wind warning is in effect until 4 p.m. Still, in addition to ongoing burn bans, officials are warning residents and visitors to stay alert and be prepared to move quickly if a fire starts up. The Southern Area Coordination Center listed the Tennessee mountains as having “significant fire potential” with gusts predicted to blow up to 90 mph.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Counting Carbon in US Forests, with David Wear

By Daniel Raimi
Resources Radio Podcast
November 28, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

David Wear

David Wear at Resources for the Future, talks about the ability of US forests to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Wear discusses how US forests fit into emissions-reduction efforts, different approaches for estimating the amount of carbon dioxide that US forests can sequester, the implications of using different modeling approaches in designing policy, and the potential of afforestation and forest protection as carbon offsets. …Notable quotes: US forests help offset carbon dioxide emissions: “If we look at the standing inventory of carbon in forests today, it’s about 52 times the annual emissions from the US economy. Now, if we look at how that reservoir of carbon is changing over time, it’s evolving at about half a percent per year.” (3:08). …Federal government may be overestimating how much carbon US lands can sequester (13:47). …Protecting existing forests is an effective strategy (19:29).

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Washington state’s cap-and-trade system may go up in smoke without reforms

By the Editorial Board
The Seattle Times
November 26, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Washington’s “cap-and-invest” carbon pricing system faces a precarious future. …Voters might well send the auction system up in smoke — and billions of dollars in future proceeds to help decarbonize the state. Washington voters twice before rejected initiatives to tax carbon. The Times editorial board endorsed the 2021 Climate Commitment Act that created cap-and-trade here, with the caveat its efficacy must be closely monitored. Clearly, “cap-and-invest” will need reforms to survive. First, Washington needs to disarm those who want to crash the system. Leaders must find ways to rein in the cost of the market’s allowances, those permits companies must buy to cover their emissions. …Second, Washington needs a bigger carbon market. To that end, the state Ecology Department recently announced a plan to merge Washington’s auctions with the California-Quebec system. …Third, the Legislature should consider whether a limited amount of the allowance proceeds should go back to motorists.

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Health & Safety

‘It should never have happened’: death of boy, 16, at sawmill highlights rise of child labour in US

By Eric Berger in Wisconsin
The Guardian
November 28, 2023
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

Michael ShulsMichael Schuls died after getting trapped in dangerous machinery at a mill in Wisconsin. But across the US conservative groups are pushing to loosen laws that protect children in the workplace. …According to a sheriff’s office report, a conveyor machine became jammed and Michael stepped on to it to try to straighten the wood, but he had not pressed a safety button to turn it off. The conveyor started to move and he was trapped in the machine for 17 minutes before a supervisor discovered him unconscious. …Michael died two days after the incident, the cause of death identified as traumatic asphyxiation. …It happened at a time of debate across the US about the role of children in the workforce. …The Foundation for Government Accountability claims that eliminating work permits for teenagers would help solve the labour shortage in the US and would not undermine health and safety protections already in place.

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Fire hazards and spontaneous combustion risks in wood pellet cargoes

Safety4Sea
November 28, 2023
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

The US Coast Guard (USCG) published a safety alert about … two unmanned and uninspected hopper barges loaded with wood pellets containing binders that caught fire while awaiting transport at a Mississippi River fleeting facility. …The ignition source was spontaneous combustion, which is not common, but also not unprecedented. The International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code notes that “wood pellets containing additives or binders may ferment over time if moisture content is over 15% leading to generation of asphyxiating and flammable gases which may cause spontaneous combustion”. Assessment of other fleeted wood pellet barges revealed the presence of several hazards that can lead to spontaneous combustion, including visible moisture, cargo decay and discoloration, elevated cargo hold temperatures (168°F), and carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide gas generated by cargo decomposition. …Heat from the smoldering cargo melted the hopper covers, introducing oxygen to a volatile situation, and supporting rapid and uncontrollable fire growth.

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“Christmas Tree Syndrome” Sends Woman To The Hospital

By Monica Robins
WKYC
November 20, 2023
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

PARMA, Ohio — Angela Presti couldn’t wait to decorate her first real Christmas tree with her daughter. She found the perfect one at a Northeast Ohio tree lot, brought it into the house and started decorating.  Except a few hours later she noticed one side of her face was swollen.  …Angela’s father rushed her to UH Parma Medical Center. She collapsed when she got there and medical staff gave her epinephrine. “They knew it was an allergic reaction right away and kept asking me what I had eaten, but I knew, it was the Christmas tree,” she said. That didn’t surprise them. It’s estimated about 7% of the population suffers from what’s known as Christmas Tree Syndrome. It’s an allergic reaction, not to the tree, but typically mold spores that come from the tree. University Hospitals allergist Samuel Friedlander, MD, says he frequently sees allergy cases regarding Christmas trees this time of year.  

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Forest Fires

All Virginia wildfires except Matt’s Creek contained, say officials

By Sarah Vogelsong
The Virginia Mercury
November 22, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US East

After an unusually active fall fire season that has seen responders struggle to get multiple blazes under control, all of Virginia’s wildfires except for the Matt’s Creek Fire in Bedford County have been contained. As of Monday night, the state had “no active wildfires” besides Matt’s Creek, said Virginia Department of Forestry spokesman Greg Bilyeu in an email. Virginia’s fall fire season runs from Oct. 15 to Nov. 30, a period when dead leaves provide ample fuel for any spark. This year has proved especially challenging, with the Department of Forestry responding to 113 wildfires that have burned more than 12,000 acres since the season began. By comparison, the agency has said the average annual acreage affected by wildfires in Virginia is 9,500. “We need no further proof that fall fire season has arrived with a vengeance,” said Chief of Fire and Emergency Response John Miller in a Nov. 16 statement. “We will remain vigilant to protect people and property.”

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