US dock workers and port operators have reached a tentative deal to end the East Coast port strike. In other Business news: an Ontario mayor pushes back on First Nation call for Dryden mill shutdown; Wisconsin’s Besse Forest Products puts six hardwood mills up for sale; Hancock Lumber curtails its Madison lumber mill; and one of Australia’s largest sawmills switches back to biomass power generation.
In Forestry news: the European Union claims to be on-track with its biodiversity pledge despite deforestation u-turn—and it defends regulation delay despite pushback; BC ENGOs call for a new BC Forest Act; BC court denies bid to halt tree felling in Vancouver’s Stanley Park; USDA Chief Randy Moore celebrates his partnership with America’s loggers; Wisconsin groups urge Biden to protect more old-growth; and Brazil secures support for a forest fund to protect trees.
Finally, wildfires, drought and heatwaves are now the second-most-costly US insured loss.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
BC’s forest industry stands at an important juncture and crossroads of its future prosperity and the high standard of living it imparts to individuals, communities, and society. Much has been written, documented and analyzed about its massive contribution to the gross domestic product, taxes and revenues to all levels of government, the 100,000 jobs dependent on its success, and the absolute reliance for so many of BC’s resource communities. In fact, BC’s forest sector is one of a few “profitable” job segments that drive our economy and government services through above average wages and consequential higher tax revenues. …Today we find a forest sector under significant (or severe) stress with uncertainty being the predominant constant from initiatives at the federal and provincial levels. This uncertainty arises from the flood of programs, policies, and initiatives each arising without any apparent consistency, coordination, or weighing of economic impacts among them.
BRITISH COLUMBIA — The platform announcement from the BC NDP includes a range of promising initiatives that signal a commitment to the future of B.C.’s mining and forestry industries says the United Steelworkers union (USW). …Scott Lunny, USW Director for Western Canada… “We have been sounding the alarm for months, the forestry industry is still in crisis after nearly two decades of neglect from John Rustad’s previous B.C. Liberal government. While the platform offers promising solutions, the urgency of the situation cannot be overstated,” said Lunny. “Restricting log exports, stabilizing fibre supply, striving for more jobs per cubic metre of timber harvest and tying the trees to mills that employ British Columbians is the right direction, but will mean little if not swiftly backed by real action. The industry is hemorrhaging jobs and families and communities need to see changes on the ground – not just in policy.”
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON — U.S. dock workers and port operators reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a crippling three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the two sides said Thursday. The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years. …That would raise average wages to about $63 an hour from $39 an hour over the life of the contract. The union had been seeking a 77% raise while the employer group had previously raised its offer to nearly 50%. …The union and the port operators said in a statement that they would extend their master contract until Jan. 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all outstanding issues. …Among key issues that remain unresolved is automation that workers say will lead to job losses. The port strike hit just as southeastern states were struggling for supplies following a deadly hurricane.
FORT MILL, South Carolina — Paper Excellence Group companies Domtar Corporation and Resolute Forest Products announced $100,000 in financial support to assist four local communities following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Several communities where Paper Excellence Group operates facilities were in the path of the powerful storm, affecting employees and their loved ones. Company representatives worked in collaboration with community officials to identify four charitable organizations that provide direct aid to hurricane victims in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Additionally, Resolute Tissue is donating 10 pallets of tissue products for eastern Tennessee residents. Company employees in Fort Mill and Bennettsville, South Carolina, are organizing food and supply drives to support communities in western North Carolina and other areas. …When rebuilding begins, the company plans to donate several truckloads of lumber in the Cross City, Florida, area.
A looming unknown is the potential impact from the European Union’s deforestation regulation (EUDR). If this policy requirement is implemented as currently planned on December 30, 2024, it will cause total trade chaos in world markets. Simply put, many countries will not be ready to meet the stringent requirements of the policy. While the markets may be lacklustre for the rest of 2024, the EUDR could quickly change it all with the potential of huge dislocations in global trade flows. …A quick pro-forma analysis on the lumber revenue versus the costs of lumber production of four major producing regions in North America plus Central Europe yields a very clear story. …The results are essentially negative in all regions of North America given their higher costs. …Permanent mill closures at high-cost mills have also been occurring in BC, the US Pacific Northwest regions and the US South. 
Southern Pine dimension mills have attempted to keep supplies more in line with sluggish lumber demand in recent months, but perceptions remain mixed whether it has ultimately been effective in tempering downward price pressure. Several mills reportedly curtailed production through the summer months without making public announcements to indicate cutbacks. Most of the measures were modest, often limited in scope to simply reducing shifts, according to sources. …Production curtailments by Western S-P-F mills have also contributed to rebalancing supplies and demand, as buyers in northern-tier markets who purchase both species have encountered dwindling availability. However, some SYP traders are unsure whether the quiet production cutbacks have had any true effect on the overall market. New mills in some producing zones came online in early summer and ramped up output.
After last year’s off-the-charts, record-breaking wildfire season in 2023, this year may have felt like a reprieve — at least in some parts of the country. But this past summer was still far above normal by several measures — and experts say what transpired holds clues for what’s to come as the climate changes, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. …By the numbers, the 2024 wildfire season is on track to be the second-worst wildfire season in terms of area burned since 1995, with more than 5.3 million hectares burned so far. That trails far behind last year, when more than 15 million hectares burned. …In contrast with 2023, where much of the country had major wildfires, this year the bulk of them broke out in Western Canada. …About 70% of the total area burned was in British Columbia, Alberta, Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan, officials said in a briefing last week.
The European Union’s chief negotiator on a United Nations compact to reverse biodiversity loss denies postponement of anti-deforestation law undermines credibility just weeks ahead of crunch summit in Colombia. The European Commission’s proposal to delay implementation of the Deforestation Regulation will not undermine the EU’s position in upcoming UN biodiversity talks, its lead negotiator has claimed, saying the postponement was a recognition that further preparatory work with trading partners was needed. The 16th conference of parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity later this month will be the first since the landmark COP15 in Montreal two years ago that yielded an agreement to place 30% of land and sea under conservation status by 2030. Environmental groups were outraged when the EU yielded to pressure for a delay to the law, which requires proof that no forests were cleared in the production of a range of goods from coffee to beef and timber.
While many of the daily activities we all deal with in this business can take years to accomplish, it doesn’t mean things move slowly when it comes to industry reaction to forest policy change. …Were they aware that losses of literally billions of dollars in GDP contributions to the Province is a direct result of the forest industry revenues falling by an harvest decline? And what about the loss of 34,000 rural, community-based forest industry jobs and all the taxes they will no longer pay? …It is hard to believe government did not understand the consequences of their actions given the plethora of analysis and forecasting that has been made available to them. …Can the path we are on change? Perhaps, but it will require that political leaders realize the problems and demonstrate a willingness to tackle them decisively with all interests, including the forest sector.
Wildfires are burning through the carbon budget that humans have allocated themselves to limit global heating, a study shows. The authors said this accelerating trend was approaching – and may have already breached – a “critical temperature threshold” after which fires cause significant shifts in tree cover and carbon storage. …Forests are going up in smoke in Brazil, the US, Greece, Portugal and even the Arctic Circle amid the Earth’s two hottest years in recorded history. Each fire has a double impact on the global climate: first, by emitting carbon from the burned trees, and second, by reducing the capacity of forests to absorb carbon dioxide. …Other research showed the Amazon is undergoing a “critical slowing down”, with more than a third of the rainforest struggling to recover from drought after four supposedly “one-in-a-century” dry spells in less than 20 years. These compounding impacts are turning forests from carbon sinks into carbon sources.