Troy Wilson & Jan Martin
KINGSPORT — Domtar’s Kingsport Mill has received the 2024 Business Recycler of the Year award from the Tennessee Recycling Coalition (TRC), the company announced in a news release. The recognition was announced in Gatlinburg on Aug. 23 during the organization’s annual Tennessee Sustainability Conference. Given to businesses that practice outstanding leadership in recycling and waste prevention, this year’s award honored Domtar’s Kingsport Mill for Project Smoky — the two-year conversion of the facility’s uncoated freesheet paper machine into the company’s first 100 percent-recycled containerboard facility. The mill, which resumed operations in January 2023, is home to the second-largest recycled containerboard machine in North America and is the largest recycled manufacturer in the state of Tennessee, according to the news release.
BURNABY, BC — Interfor announced that it will indefinitely curtail operations at its sawmills in Meldrim, Georgia and Summerville, South Carolina. These curtailments are in response to persistently weak lumber market conditions. Log deliveries will be curtailed immediately, followed by an orderly wind-down of operations, which is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2024. Both sawmills produce kiln-dried Southern Yellow Pine dimensional lumber and have a combined annual capacity of 330 million board feet. These indefinite curtailments will impact approximately 180 employees across both facilities. Interfor expects to mitigate some of the impact on affected employees. The expected impact of these curtailments on production volume for the remainder of 2024 was included in Interfor’s press release dated 
When builders complete the final touches on the Sustainable Engineering Laboratories at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, students and faculty will see a sleek building in the heart of the school’s STEM campus. “We explored 62 different structural systems, with varying criteria of cost and efficacy,” said Mark Oldham, a principal architect at Payette, which designed the building. The architects at Payette are among a handful of designers in the United States who are honing in on a green building strategy known as embodied, or upfront, carbon reduction …This year, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center held its first statewide embodied carbon reduction challenge, awarding Payette a grand prize in June for its design of the UMass research building.
Alabama’s economy is heavily supported by its forestry industry – but is facing a new challenge, with a widespread outbreak of the southern pine beetle. This native pest is known for its ability to rapidly destroy pine trees. The Alabama Forestry Commission reports that it has already affected numerous counties, particularly in the northern half of the state. Drew Metzler, forest health coordinator at the commission, said the outbreak this year is the most widespread Alabama has seen since 2001. …But these beetles aren’t just impacting Alabama. Metzler said neighboring states, such as Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina, are also experiencing outbreaks. … Metzlers said the beetles aren’t just making their way through forests, but onto private land as well. He said to combat the southern pine beetle outbreak, it’s important to consider preventive measures.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts — a forestry management plan in South County has attracted criticism from local residents and environmental activists. At issue is the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s forest cutting plan at the so-called “Cattle Barn Lot” in Mount Washington. …DCR has outlined a 275-acre project area where the agency hopes to …”produce immediate and maximize long-term income, enhance wildlife habitat, improve recreational opportunities, protect soil and water quality, or produce forest specialty products.” …We’re heartened to see state officials and local stakeholders confronting their disagreements in a healthy way to find a path of compromise for this project. In a corner of the commonwealth that often feels overlooked by the powers that be in Boston, it was refreshing to see several Healey administration environmental and forestry leaders make the trip to South County and hear residents’ concerns. 
Greenville, S.C. —A new conservation easement on the Gillette tract will protect 2,100 feet of the Nottoway River frontage in southeastern Virginia, supported by a grant from the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund (EFCF). Managed by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), this easement will preserve water quality, scenic beauty, and wildlife habitats, and reinforce protection for the river and its tributaries. The Nottoway River, a Scenic River and Blueway Trail flowing into the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound Estuary, will benefit from this effort, ensuring its ecological and scenic value for future generations. Brandi Colander, Chief Sustainability Officer at Enviva, said, “We are delighted to be a part of this significant milestone for environmental preservation and to assist with the conservation of another important easement along the Nottoway River.” Eligible for the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, the easement supports the river’s exceptional attributes and safeguards its environment.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The benefit of Michigan’s 20 million acres of forests can be seen through a variety of lenses. Michigan forests play a key role in offsetting greenhouse gas emissions through carbon storage, provide wildlife habitats and increase biodiversity, offer ample recreational opportunities to the state’s population and visitors, and supply timber resources and other forestry products — which contributed to over $26 billion to Michigan’s economy in 2022… Research from a team of Michigan State University scientists shows there’s another benefit people derive from forests, but they might not recognize it: filtering and supplying clean drinking water. …“Generally speaking, most people understood that where there are forests, there’s cleaner and more abundant water,” Emily Huff, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry said. “However, they didn’t make the functional link that conserving forests results in cleaner drinking water.”
The Enviva Biomass plant, which opened in Hamlet, North Carolina in 2019, is part of a global expansion in the use of wood — or solid biomass — to generate electricity. Pellet companies advertise their products as a renewable-energy source that lowers carbon emissions, and the European Union agrees, which has spurred many countries, including the United Kingdom, Belgium and Denmark, to embrace this form of energy. …But opposition is building on many fronts. An expanding body of research shows that burning solid biomass to generate electricity often emits huge amounts of carbon — even more than burning coal does. …In Hamlet, 45% of the population identifies as Black, and in the tiny community closest to the mill, about 90% of people are Black, says Debra David, a local resident and activist. She calls the Enviva operation a clear case of environmental racism — layering environmental burdens on an already vulnerable population.
