The Forest Products Association of Canada announced its 2024 Awards of Excellence, recognizing TOLKO’s Brad Thorlakson. In other Business news: Georgia Power looks to International Paper to expand its wood energy business; a BC arbitrator upholds Western Forest Products’ post-incident drug and alcohol test; Columbia Falls Weyerhaeuser MDF plant celebrates 50 years; and more on One Sky Forest Products’ OSB mill announcement.
In Forestry/Climate news: Canada’s GHG emissions dropped in 2023; municipal leaders say’s Canada’s caribou plan will hurt rural communities; and more on Stanley Park’s dead-tree logging plan. In Wildfire news: Canada and BC invest in wildfire resilience; BC FireSmart efforts saved homes; more of northeast BC burned in 2023, 2024 than previous 60 years combined; Montana highlights impact of fuel reduction work; and Peru and Portugal declare states of emergency.
Finally, Japanese scientists unlock nature’s wood-eating secrets.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
VANCOUVER, BC – West Fraser Timber announced that it will indefinitely curtail its sawmill in Lake Butler, Florida by the end of this month. Today’s decision is the result of high fiber costs and soft lumber markets. The indefinite curtailment of Lake Butler Sawmill will impact approximately 130 employees and reduce West Fraser’s U.S. lumber capacity by approximately 110 million board feet. West Fraser expects to mitigate the impact on affected employees by providing work opportunities at other company operations. High fiber costs at Lake Butler and the current low-price commodity environment have impaired the ability to profitably operate the mill. The indefinite curtailment of Lake Butler sawmill better aligns our U.S. lumber capacity with demand. West Fraser anticipates taking an impairment charge in the third quarter of 2024 associated with the announcement.
VANCOUVER, BC – British Columbia’s forestry workers will take part in the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference as part of a campaign to strengthen and secure good paying jobs in the industry. …Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle said, “We invite municipal leadership to be a part of the solution.” Since 2001, the industry has seen a staggering 45% drop in employment, translating to lost livelihoods for nearly 35,000 workers. Last year alone, the forestry sector saw the loss of 3,750 jobs. Earlier this year, three unions representing the majority of forestry workers (Unifor, United Steelworkers, and the Public and Private Workers of Canada)… co-published a research paper that reviewed the history of the sector, the real human cost of policy failures, and outlines comprehensive fixes for B.C. forestry. …The City of Kamloops submitted a motion for debate greater support for the forestry industry.
The Federal Reserve (Fed), the US central bank, will be in the spotlight on Wednesday, 18 September at 6:00 p.m. UTC, as they announce their latest interest rate decision. The Fed has kept its federal funds rate (FFR) unchanged for over a year. It last raised its base rate in July 2023, citing inflationary pressures. In the current environment of lower inflation and increased concerns about the labour market, reducing the interest rate is possible. According to Reuters, most economists expect the Fed to cut the key rate by at least 25 basis points (bps). Octa analysts believe that the stock market may perceive a 25 bps reduction in the interest rate negatively, and they are clearly expecting a more significant decline. Octa analysts do not expect an interest rate change of more than 25 bps at the upcoming meeting but believe that a rate cut of 50 bps is possible.
US housing starts bounced back in August after tumbling a month earlier, illustrating uneven residential construction as builders weigh inventory levels against brighter demand prospects tied to falling borrowing costs. Beginning home construction increased 9.6% last month to a 1.36 million annualized rate, the fastest since April, according to government figures released Wednesday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 1.32 million rate. The report showed overall building permits, a gauge of future construction, rose 5% to a 1.48 million annualized rate, while single-family authorizations increased to a four-month high. New construction of single-family homes increased nearly 16% to an annualized 992,000 pace, the first monthly advance since February. Starts of multifamily projects declined for the first time since May. Builders are awaiting a sustained pickup in demand to help work down an inventory of unsold homes that’s hovering near the highest level since 2008.
Toilet paper is a waste of Canada’s boreal forest, a U.S. environment group says. And now, more green options are hitting the market, according to its latest tissue and toilet paper 
VICTORIA, BC — Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, with Bruce Ralston, BC’s Minister of Forests, announced a joint investment of $950,122 through the Government of Canada’s Resilient Communities through FireSmart (RCF) Program. …This joint investment through the RCF Program will further support B.C.’s efforts to prepare its residents and communities for wildfires and reduce risks before they occur through the continued adoption and implementation of FireSmart initiatives in B.C. The funding will support FireSmart BC in increasing the province’s resource capacity to manage wildfire risks and provide training to wildfire practitioners. The funding will also support the development and implementation of educational programs in schools that teach students how to make homes and communities more resilient to wildfires and increase province-wide FireSmart awareness through media campaigns, encouraging British Columbians to take proactive action to reduce the negative impacts of wildfires.
OSLO — Norway said on Wednesday that elevated levels of radioactive caesium (Cs-137) it had detected near the Arctic border with Russia were likely due to a forest fire near Chornobyl in Ukraine, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident. The Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) said in a statement on Tuesday that it had measured “very low” levels of radioactive caesium at Svanhovd and Viksjoefjell near the Arctic border with Russia. The authority detected elevated levels of radioactive caesium at Svanhovd from Sept. 9-16 and at Viksjoefjell from Sept. 5-12, but the levels didn’t pose a risk to humans or the environment, it added. …”This time it is most likely that the forest fire around Chornobyl is to blame.” …On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. Four of the Soviet Union’s Chornobyl nuclear power plant… released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.
In 2001, 
Georgia Power plans to tap one of the Savannah area’s industrial stalwarts for enough energy to serve the equivalent of more than 3,000 homes for a decade. State regulators approved the utility’s request to buy additional electricity generated by the burning of so-called biomass, including from International Paper’s Port Wentworth Mill. International Paper will supply Georgia Power with 4.6 megawatts of power for a period of 10 years. …International Paper says it generates 70% of power used at its mills by burning “bark and biomass residuals” rather than fossil fuels like natural gas and oil. The deal with Georgia Power will “allow us to make additional energy with upgrades to existing equipment at the (Port Wentworth) mill,” International Paper spokeswoman Kristie Inman said. …The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has embraced that notion in its reporting on greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s largest polluters by discounting biomass-related carbon releases. 
GEORGIA — State regulators on the Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a Georgia Power plan to source more energy from burning wood known as “biomass,” despite criticism from consumer advocates about its relatively hefty price tag. An independent evaluator found the trio of contracts for which the monopoly utility was seeking approval would cost customers two to three times more than other sources of energy. The biomass proposal had been opposed by environmental and consumer advocates, who said it would cost Georgia Power customers billions of extra dollars on top of already-approved rate hikes. …In hearings about the biomass proposal over the past few weeks, regulators acknowledged the high cost for Georgia Power customers, but said they were motivated by a desire to give an economic boost to rural parts of the state that rely on the timber industry. The vote Tuesday was 4-1 in favor.
