ORONO, Maine — To recruit more women for careers in the forestry industry, particularly the bioenergy sector, University of Maine researchers have devised a road map. The team, led by Abigayl “Abby” Novak, found that attracting and retaining women in bioenergy and related-fields, including those who are young or from historically underrepresented groups, can be done by offering interdisciplinary research opportunities in higher education, having employers provide ample support and outreach, and promoting relatable success stories. Increasing gender diversity in the workforce not only helps women looking to enter into or advance careers in bioenergy or forestry, but also benefits companies. According to researchers, having more gender-diverse teams can result in better teamwork and more innovative products, services and problem solving. …For the forestry industry overall, only a little over 30% is made up of women, with a small part comprising minority women. Nationwide, 38% of forestry workers and leaders are women.
MONTICELLO, Arkansas — Canada’s Interfor Corporation, which owns a sawmill in Monticello, will reduce its lumber production output in the fourth quarter of 2022 by approximately 200 million board feet, or 17% of quarterly capacity. Current economic conditions and market uncertainty have led to reduced lumber demand. The temporary reduction in output is expected to be spread across each of the company’s operating regions, primarily timed around U.S. Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday periods, and used to accelerate ongoing capital and maintenance projects. The company’s lumber inventories are currently within normal volume parameters, and these plans are expected to maintain the balance between production and market demand through the remainder of 2022. The company currently expects to resume its normal operating schedule in January 2023, but will closely monitor market conditions and adjust its production plans accordingly. [END]
Charles Martin, a Chicago-based entrepreneur with years of experience in the forest products industry in North America, has an ambitious plan to turn a former sawmill in Bingham, Maine, into a plywood factory that could employ 100 people when at full production capacity. A major hurdle for the project is finding sufficient funding to purchase the equipment and getting it up and running. …A Martin’s goal is to get Maine Plywood USA operational by spring of 2023. To that end, Martin already has hired a general manager, project manager, and two other employees to get the factory repaired and equipment assembled and set up. Martin plans on using Maine’s abundant supply of poplar and red maple trees to provide the country with underlayment plywood.
The Southern Forest Products Association held its annual meeting at The Westin Nashville October 19-21, 2022. …As part of the SFPA 2022 annual meeting, members and staff came together to discuss international efforts as part of the Southern Yellow Pine Export Roundtable. …A wood delegation of more than 20 individuals traveled to the Dubai Wood Show, heralded as the show for doing international wood business in the Middle East, in March. Charles Trevor, who is the U.K.-based consultant leading SFPA’s presence there, said the team representing Southern Pine and American softwoods received 80+ written inquiries in four hours. The wood co-operators – the Softwood Export Council, APA, and American Hardwood Export Council – are developing the 2023 Unified Export Strategy that will be submitted for approval later this year. In the meantime, SFPA has received requests for Reverse Trade Missions from Peru, Mexico, and Pakistan.
ATLANTA — Georgia is letting voters decide if timber producers should be given a break on taxes for their machines similar to the tax break for agriculture producers. On every Georgia ballot, voters can vote yes or no to this question: “Shall the Act be approved which grants a state-wide exemption from all ad valorem taxes for certain equipment used by timber producers in the production or harvest of timber?” The Georgia state legislature passed House Bill 997 to approve the tax break unanimously with bipartisan support. Andres Villegas with The Georgia Forestry Association says… “The same tractor owned by a farmer pays no ad valorem taxes whatsoever. When it’s owned by a forester, it pays ad Valorem taxes. We just believe whether you’re producing peanuts, peaches, cotton, or timber… we want to be treated the same”.
Development plans are moving forward for two new apartment buildings with affordable housing units in Des Moines, and the City Council on Monday will consider financial incentives for both. A 33-story high-rise apartment tower [and] …a three-story, mixed-use building with 20 multifamily units and 6,500 square feet of retail space on the first floor. The $7.2 million Star Apartments would be the first in Des Moines to get a federal grant to use an eco-friendly building material called mass timber. …The $7.2 million building would be financed by construction loans and developer equity. It also would use a $250,000 grant from the US Forest Service for its use of mass timber, a sustainable product similar to wood beams found in some historic structures. …Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2023 and be finished in 2024.
ALBANY, New York — Inadequate enforcement of building codes has had tragic consequences in New York, with lives of occupants and first responders lost in deadly fires linked to unsafe conditions, according to advocates for local government inspectors. “Most municipalities look at code enforcement as the grass and garbage police,” said Steven McDaniel, chairman of the International Code Council’s building code committee and the chief code enforcer for the city of Corning. Testifying before a panel of state lawmakers, McDaniel suggested one way to ensure code enforcement operations can offer sufficient protection is to institute minimum staffing levels. …McDaniel also suggested that steps be taken to set minimum credentials for building inspectors. How well building codes are enforced can have major impacts on the quality of life in local communities. …The adequacy of building code enforcement has been a concern of lawmakers for several years.
HILTON HEAD – South Carolina Forestry Commission officials announced the economic impact of the state’s forestry sector, citing a recently commissioned 
We assessed the net impacts of a wood-dependent pellet industry of global importance on contemporaneous local forest carbon component pools (live trees, standing-dead trees, soils) and total stocks. We conducted post-matched difference-in-differences analyses of forest inventory data between 2000 and 2019 to infer industrial concurrent and lagged effects in the US coastal southeast. Results point to contemporaneous carbon neutrality. We found net incremental effects on carbon pools within live trees, and no net effects on standing-dead tree nor soil pools. However, we found concurrent lower carbon levels in soils, mixed effects associated with increased procurement pressures and large mill pelletization capacity, and possible spillover effects on standing-dead tree carbon pools beyond commercial procurement distances. There is robust evidence that although some trade-offs between carbon pools exist, the wood pellet industry in this particular context and period has met the overall condition of forest carbon neutrality.
