Blog Archives

Today’s Takeaway

President Biden proclaims National Forest Products Week

The Tree Frog Forestry News
October 21, 2024
Category: Today's Takeaway

President Joe Biden proclaimed Oct 20-26 National Forest Products Week in the US. In related news: Wisconsin notes Stella-Jones’ economic contribution, Missouri’s School of Natural Resources points to forest products’ carbon benefits; North Carolina State researchers highlight lignin’s ability to replace petroleum; US NGOs question the legality of Cambodian hardwood imports; and Paris celebrates Europe’s newest timber tower. Meanwhile: China looms over the US-Canada trade pact; North American lumber prices are up; and Canadian interest rates are coming down.

In Forestry/Climate news: amid dire claims, COP16—the UN’s Biodiversity Conference—kicks off this week; Ontario expands its wildland fire program; Nova Scotia reports its least active wildfire season on record; California employs controlled burns to build fire-resilient communities; and Team Tahoe accelerates forest heath in the Tahoe basin.

Finally, a new book on Paul Bunyan—Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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More closures expected in 2025 as softwood duties set to double

The Tree Frog Forestry News
October 18, 2024
Category: Today's Takeaway

Raymond James’ anticipates more mill closures as lumber duties are set to double in mid-2025. In other Business news: San Group curtails its Port Alberni operations due to log shortage; and Portland’s Westrock mill may be the source of a foul smell. Meanwhile: Canada’s investment in buildings is up; US builder confidence edges higher; US housing starts are mixed; the US economy is on a firmer footing; and Trevor Cutsinger joins the US Endowment for Forestry & Communities.

In Forestry/Wildfire news: a new study points to a global rise in forest fire and related carbon emissions; after death of firefighter the Northwest Territories’ coroner says more training is required; debate continues about role of beetles in Jasper wildfire; Nova Scotia expands its helicopter fleet; 2024 is called the year of wildfire in Idaho; Montana looks to a new forest model; and ENGO’s bemoan the EU Deforestation Regulation delay.

Finally, the Discovery Channel’s latest reality show: Lumberjacks put their lives on the line.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Interfor to exit Quebec, sells mills to Chantiers Chibougamau

The Tree Frog Forestry News
October 16, 2024
Category: Today's Takeaway

Interfor is selling its two Quebec sawmills and one reman plant to Chantiers Chibougamau. In related news: International Paper is cutting 650 jobs; True Value hardware is selling to Do It Best; Drax is found to have burnt wood from old forests; and Canfor Pulp appoints Stephen Mackie as its new President and CEO. Meanwhile: Canadian housing starts rose 5% in September; BC’s manufacturing is nearing crisis levels; and if elected, BC Conservatives’ plan to return 20% of BC’s forests to First Nations.

In Forestry/Climate news: despite pushback—Europe is fast tracking its Deforestation Regulation delay; the American Forest Foundation will auction carbon credits for family forests; Oregon plans to put Elliot State Forest in a carbon market; and Brazil engages Indigenous communities on carbon offsets. Meanwhile: the Canadian Forest Service is celebrating its 125th B-day; and resilience and renewal stood out at Alberta Forest Products Association’s 82nd AGM.

Finally, the biophilic properties of wood are reaching Space Station design levels.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Record disaster claims raise concern over the future of Canadian insurance

By Stefan Labbe
The Times Colonist
October 21, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

Storms, floods and wildfires have led to Canada’s most expensive year for catastrophic losses on record, costing the insurance industry more than $7.6 billion so far in 2024. That’s according to a report from Aon, a data analytics firm that advises businesses on their exposure to risk. Craig Stewart, the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s VP for climate change, said the scale of insured losses so far this year was never expected to come so soon. The report says five major catastrophic events — a Calgary hail storm, flooding in Quebec and Ontario, a wildfire in Jasper, Alta., and winter storms across B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan — combined to outpace annual losses in every year on record, including 2016, the year a wildfire tore through the community of Fort McMurray. …Federal data shows Canadian homeowners are already facing a two-decade surge in the cost of home insurance. 

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In the review of Canada’s U.S. trade pact, the most important factor is China

By Wolfgang Alschner, associate professor, University of Ottawa
The Globe and Mail
October 18, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Regardless of who sits in the White House, the 2026 review over USMCA, the extension of the North American free-trade pact, will be dominated by a country that does not sit at the bargaining table: China. Yes, Canada’s dairy market, softwood lumber duties and Canada’s digital service tax will be thrown into the mix. But… In 2018, Canada was caught off guard by U.S. preoccupations with competition between the great powers. That resulted in USMCA’s “China clause,” discouraging free-trade agreements by the USMCA members with non-market economies. …In 2022, Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, outlined the American economic security policy vis-à-vis China as a “small yard, high fence” strategy. …Canada can help keep the fence high, but only if the yard stays small. That maxim should ultimately appeal to both Canada and the U.S. …The USMCA review therefore provides an important opportunity to demarcate the yard and to reinforce the fence. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]

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Lumber sector expected to be hit with increased duties, more closures

By Jordan Fleguel
BNN Bloomberg
October 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Daryl Swetlishoff, at Raymond James, said that wildfires are just one of the many headwinds Quebec’s lumber industry is facing. “Quebec has challenges in their forest industry… there’s a shortage of wood fibre,” he said, citing the recent “terrible fires” in the province. …Interfor announced that it’s exiting the Quebec sector to focus on other parts of its business in Canada and the U.S. Another challenge Interfor is the fallout from an ongoing trade dispute between Canada and the U.S. over softwood lumber duty charges. “In August we saw the duties roughly doubling to 15% for Canadian (companies), on average, shipping to the U.S., and that’s been a big factor along with just the low lumber pricing environment that we’ve seen,” he explained. “Duties are set to double again by our estimates in August 2025, so they’re going to be running on average at 30%. We think there’s more closures to come in Canada, and more closures to come specifically in B.C. and Quebec.” [If embedded video below doesn’t show on your browser, please click the Read More link for full access on BNN’s website]

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San Group is curtailing operations at its sawmill and value-added manufacturing plant in Port Alberni

By Carla Wilson
The Times Colonist
October 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

PORT ALBERNI, BC — The San Group is ­temporarily shutting down its large-log sawmill and value-added manufacturing plant in Port Alberni, affecting about 75 workers, due to a shortage of logs. The company is seeking more supply in the hopes of resuming operations by early November, Kevin Somerville, company VP of operations, said Thursday. …San’s adjacent small-log saw mill has enough supply for one or two weeks and has been sourcing some logs on Vancouver Island. The value-added plant, which relies on lumber from the sawmills, is shutting down on Monday for a minimum of two weeks. This facility turns out engineered cedar products using ultra-thin sheets of veneer. …San Group buys logs on the open market through timber sales and First Nations. …But the fibre supply is “lean” at the moment. …“We remain overly concerned about the long-term outlook for log supply and economic ­viability of operating in B.C.”

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A Proclamation on National Forest Products Week, 2024

By Joe Biden, President
The White House
October 18, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON, DC — Our forests are central to our country’s heritage, history, and economy. Forests support livelihoods across Tribal Nations, rural towns, and big cities — from foresters and loggers to mill workers and carpenters — while also sustaining the health of our environment and our communities. During National Forest Products Week, we recognize that conserving our bountiful forests is critical to sustaining our economy and ensuring that Americans can enjoy the wonder of our forests for generations to come. As a Nation, we rely on our forests for so much — from cleaning the air we breathe and the water we drink to providing the lumber and paper we use every day. …Conserving our forests is good for our economy, the planet, and the soul of our Nation. This week, may we recommit to responsibly stewarding our forests and the abundant resources they provide so that we may all enjoy their benefits and beauty for years to come.

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Norfolk Southern rail line near Asheville will be out for months

By Chris Oberholtz
Progressive Railroading
October 16, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

ASHVILLE, North Carolina — Norfolk Southern Railway track running through Asheville, North Carolina, will be out of service for at least three months due to damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The deadly Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26, severely flooding and damaging infrastructure and homes across multiple southern states. Hundreds of NS railroaders have been working to restore rail service on impacted rail lines as quickly as possible, NS said on its website. The railroad’s AS Line runs between Morristown, Tennessee, to Salisbury, North Carolina. Knoxville, Tennessee-based WBIR-TV reported yesterday on the status of the AS Line and its impact on the Asheville community. Service has been restored to AS Line track between Morristown and Newport, Tennessee, and between Salisbury and Old Fort, North Carolina. Track between Newport and Old Fort, which run through Asheville, will require significant repair and replacement.

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International Paper to close San Antonio plant and lay off nearly 100 people

By Madison Iszler
The San Antonia Express-News
October 16, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Global packaging and pulp producer International Paper is closing one of its San Antonio plants and issuing pink slips to 89 workers. The Memphis-based company told the Texas Workforce Commission it is shuttering its plant at 610 Pop Gunn St. on the city’s East Side in mid-November. Equipment operators, mechanics, shipping staff and electricians at the cardboard production plant, also known as a sheet feeder plant, are among those being laid off, according to a list International Paper sent to the commission. They were notified in September and can apply for positions at other International Paper facilities, the company said. International Paper also operates a container plant at 1111 AT&T Center Parkway. The status of that facility was unclear Wednesday. …International Paper is laying off about 650 employees company-wide, including 400 in Memphis.

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International Paper cutting about 650 jobs, 400 in Memphis

By Cierra Jordan
Fox News 13
October 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — International Paper confirmed Wednesday the company will cut about 650 total positions, including around 400 in Memphis. The company said it will provide severance packages, outplacement assistance and mental health resources to all affected employees. “International Paper is undergoing a transformational journey to become a stronger, more profitable sustainable packaging solutions company. A critical step in this journey is to organize our teams and resources to create the most value for customers and shareholders,” a spokesperson said. …According to the Memphis Business Journal, International Paper was the 23rd largest employer in the Memphis area this year with about 2,500 employees. …The company said it has about 39,000 employees around the world.

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Finance & Economics

With inflation below target, Bank of Canada expected to deliver supersized rate cut this week

By Nojoud Al Mallees
The Canadian Press in CP24 News
October 20, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

OTTAWA — Forecasters expect the Bank of Canada to speed up the pace of interest rate cuts and lower its policy rate by half a percentage point this week. The central bank’s interest rate announcement on Wednesday comes after Statistics Canada reported the annual inflation rate in September tumbled to 1.6% — below the Bank of Canada’s two per cent inflation target. Nathan Janzen, an assistant chief economist at RBC, said the latest consumer price index report reinforced his expectation for a supersized rate cut. “You have an economy that’s probably performing worse than necessary to get inflation under control and still interest rates (are) at restrictive territory,” Janzen said, adding that the central bank needs to lower interest rates to a level that doesn’t hinder economic growth. …The Bank of Canada has lowered its key interest rate three times so far, bringing it down to 4.25%.

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Framing lumber prices continue to climb as supplies tighten

By Joe Pruski
RISI Fastmarkets
October 18, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Steady sales and tightening supplies drove framing lumber prices higher in many species. Traders balanced news of rising mortgage interest rates with growing positive sentiment among single-family homebuilders. The Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite Price notched its third consecutive weekly increase, rising $8 to $411. That is the composite’s highest level since April. Western S-P-F buyers padded light field inventories and procured occasional insurance loads amid a perception that supplies were less available. …In the South, upward price momentum eased as the week progressed. Sales moderated to a steady, but less fervent pace compared to recent weeks. Hurricane Milton’s aftermath generated a modest increase in demand for items needed to rebuild fences and make other repairs in the storm’s peripheral path.

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Canadian investment in building construction edged up in August

Statistics Canada
October 17, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

Investment in building construction edged up 0.2% to $21.0 billion in August, after a 1.6% decrease in July. The residential sector edged down (-0.1%) to $14.6 billion, while the non-residential sector was up 1.0% to $6.4 billion. Year over year, investment in building construction grew 7.2% in August. On a constant dollar basis (2017=100), investment in building construction was virtually unchanged at $12.8 billion in August, compared with the previous month, but grew 4.2% year over year.

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Mercer reports preliminary Q3, 2024 net loss of $17.6 million

Mercer International Inc.
October 16, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

NEW YORK, NY — Mercer International reported its preliminary financial results for the third quarter of 2024. For the third quarter ending September 30th, 2024, Mercer reported revenues of $502.1 million, up from $499.4 million in the second quarter of 2024, and a net loss of $17.6 million, compared to a net loss of $67.6 million in the second quarter. …Mr. Juan Carlos Bueno, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We continued to see strength in softwood pulp markets with relatively flat fiber costs in the third quarter of 2024. However, our operating results for the quarter were constrained due to the occurrence of several unrelated events that impacted pulp production, including the previously announced unscheduled downtime of 23 days (approximately 35,500 ADMTs) at our Mercer Peace River mill, a slower than normal maintenance start-up and other production upsets at our Stendal Mill.

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Canadian housing starts up 5% in September compared to August

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
October 16, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

OTTAWA – The six-month trend in housing starts decreased 1.9% from 246,972 units in August to 243,759 units in September. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada. The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada increased 5% in September (223,808 units) compared to August (213,012 units), according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). …”Growth in actual year-to-date housing starts has been driven by both higher multi-unit and single-detached units in Alberta, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. By contrast, year-to-date starts in Ontario and British Columbia have decreased across all housing types. Despite the increase in housing starts in September, we remain well below what is required to restore affordability in Canada’s urban centres.” said Kevin Hughes, CMHC’s Deputy Chief Economist.

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U.S. Economic Footing Firmer Than Previously Thought, Projected to Expand 2.3% in 2024

Fannie Mae
October 17, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON, DC – Following annual revisions to the national accounts and an improvement in payroll employment growth in both August and September, the economy now appears to be on firmer footing than previously thought, according to the October 2024 commentary from the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. While the ESR Group still expects economic growth to slow from the robust 3.2% pace recorded in 2023, the degree of expected slowing is smaller; growth in 2024 and 2025 is now expected to be 2.3% and 2.0%, respectively, near the long-run trend growth rate. The improved economic outlook stems in large part from significant upward revisions to recent personal income data. …While the general low level of homes available for sale is expected to continue to exert upward pressure on prices, the ESR Group expects ongoing affordability constraints and rising inventories of homes available for sale to help moderate the magnitude of home price growth moving forward.

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US Builder Confidence Edges Higher Despite Affordability Headwinds

By Robert Dietz
The NAHB Eye on Housing
October 17, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

With inflation gradually easing and builders anticipating mortgage rates will moderate in coming months, builder sentiment moved higher for a second consecutive month despite challenging affordability conditions. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 43 in October, up two points from a reading of 41 in September, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Despite the beginning of the Fed’s easing cycle, many prospective home buyers remain on the sideline waiting for lower interest rates. We are forecasting uneven declines for mortgage interest rates in the coming quarters, which will improve housing demand but place stress on building lot supplies due to tight lending conditions for development and construction loans. However, while housing affordability remains low, builders are feeling more optimistic about 2025 market conditions. A wildcard for the outlook remains the election.

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US Single-Family Starts Trend Higher in September, Multifamily Decrease

By Robert Dietz
The NAHB Eye on Housing
October 18, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

With the Federal Reserve beginning an easing of monetary policy and builder sentiment improving, single-family starts posted a modest gain in September while multifamily construction continued to weaken because of tight financing and an ongoing rise in completed apartments. Overall housing starts decreased 0.5% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million units. …The September reading of 1.35 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts increased 2.7% to a 1.03 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. On a year-to-date basis, single-family construction is up 10.1%. …The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, decreased 9.4% to an annualized 327,000 pace. This marks the weakest pace since May. Multifamily construction will remain weak as completions of apartments are elevated.

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European Central Bank lowers key rate to 3.25% in third cut this year

By Jenni Reid
CNBC News
October 17, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate to 3.25%, in its third quarter-percentage-point reduction of the year. The move at the October meeting had been fully priced by markets after policymakers flagged reduced inflation risks and a weakening growth outlook. The ECB’s Governing Council called the process of disinflation “well on track” in its most optimistic statement in the current cycle. “The inflation outlook is also affected by recent downside surprises in indicators of economic activity,” it said. Headline price rises in the euro area eased to 1.8% in September, coming in below the central bank’s 2% target for the first time in three years. The ECB once again forecast that inflation would “rise in the coming months, before declining to target in the course of next year.” It is the first time the ECB has reduced rates at consecutive meetings since December 2011.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

National Forest Products Week Highlights Industry’s Commitment to Sustainability and Innovation

The American Forest & Paper Association
October 21, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is celebrating the 64th annual National Forest Products Week. Throughout the week, AF&PA will highlight innovations in the paper and wood products industry that are driving our sustainability goals. Paper and wood products are an essential part of daily life. Our industry is committed to delivering essential, sustainable products made from renewable and recyclable resources. “During National Forest Products Week, we celebrate and honor those who make the forest products industry possible,” said AF&PA President and CEO Heidi Brock. “As one of the largest manufacturing industries in America, we are guided by sustainability principles that help ensure the health of forests for decades to come.” …Follow along on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram.

In related coverage of National Forest Products Week:

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Burning to learn: What wildfire research shows us about how to save a home

By Lisa Krieger
SiliconValley.com
October 18, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

RICHBURG, South Carolina — In densely built towns, wildfires can trigger a deadly domino effect, with flames leaping from home to home until an entire neighborhood is destroyed. How does construction and landscaping contribute to this catastrophic chain reaction? Is there a better way to build? To find out, a rural South Carolina research center is creating giant wind storms and burning down houses — while gathering detailed data. “We can watch failures here that you can’t watch out in the real world,” said Christina Gropp of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center, a nonprofit funded by the insurance industry. Its scientists conduct studies to better understand building materials, designs and landscaping. It also hosts research by outside experts from UC Berkeley. The Center’s work is influencing building codes, land use ordinances, architectural designs, retrofit applications and insurance coverage — changing how we construct and protect our homes.

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Will the Skylines of the Future Be Made of Wood?

By Boyd Farrow
Business Traveler USA
October 17, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Anyone considering future-proof career options may want to add woodworker or even lumberjack to their list. This is… because a growing number of architects, working with new high-tech engineered wood products as strong as steel and concrete, are already imagining tomorrow’s cities with towering timber skylines. …Data from advocacy group WoodWorks shows that America had a total of 2,115 completed, in-design or in-construction mass timber buildings as of the end of March, compared with a paltry 50 a decade ago. This figure is now rising approximately 30% a year, as local building codes are rapidly being reviewed and state and federal funding continues to pour into innovations within the forestry sector. The main driver for all this, of course, is climate change. Cement production accounts for eight percent of global carbon emissions, while steel is responsible for seven percent. …Studies suggest that using mass timber could slash emissions by almost a third.

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Forestry

Fireguards, prescribed burns necessary priority for Bow Valley, Canada

By Editorial Board
The Rocky Mountain Outlook
October 21, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

ALBERTA — The geographical landscape in and around the Bow Valley will be gradually changing in the coming years. Though new development for a growing population is often the go-to thought when change is occurring, new fireguards and prescribed burns will aim to offer greater protection to both the population and communities. One only has to look at archived photos from 100 or more years ago to see a considerably different landscape. Not only were the communities far smaller than they are now – which is true of the majority of towns and cities across the country – but the forests surrounding the valley municipalities were far thinner and more widely dispersed. …With the exception of smaller wildfires, the Bow Valley hasn’t seen a large-scale one in more than 100 years. …In the coming years, a greater priority of decision-makers in different levels of government needs to put emphasis on increased fire protection.

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I was surprised to find beauty in the aftermath of the Jasper fire

By Ted Bishop
CBC News Edmonton
October 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

JASPER, Alberta — We evacuated west in a conga line of cars and trucks to Valemount, B.C., not knowing if our old log cabin on Lake Edith outside of Jasper, Alta., was already in flames. Three weeks later, the wildfire had ripped through the Jasper townsite. The west side of the townsite looked as if the homes had not just been burned but bombed. Out at our cabin though, flying embers had scorched the grass to within five metres of the cabin. The main fire had not reached us. …Over the last decade the lake residents had worked with park wardens in the FireSmart program to create a defensive band. We cleared brush, hauled deadfall, cut branches on live trees up two metres from the ground and lopped the sweet-smelling juniper. Our line had held. I learned from a warden that in FireSmart we were essentially following First Nations fire practices.

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Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables renews fleet with four Airbus H125 helicopters

By Airbus
Cision Newswire
October 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

FORT ERIE, Ontario — The government of Nova Scotia has placed an order for four Airbus H125 helicopters to be used by the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, confirming a full fleet renewal. The aircraft will be used to support rapid response to wildfire fighting, search and rescue, emergency and personnel transportation in remote areas, and aerial surveillance. “Emergencies like wildfires are becoming more and more prevalent because of climate change. That’s why we’re doing all we can to be prepared,” said Tory Rushton, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables. The Department previously took delivery of four Airbus H125 in 2016. …Since 1984, Airbus Helicopters has delivered nearly 600 helicopters in Canada.

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FOREST FEUD: Washington’s fight over the old growth of tomorrow

By Lynda Mapes
The Seattle Times in the Columbian
October 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SEATTLE — Ty Abernathy tips his head back and judges where this big tree will fall as he starts cutting it with a chain saw. …For more than a century, this has been a way of doing business in Washington, cutting forests owned by the state and today managed by the Department of Natural Resources. But in an era of climate warming — and growing climate activism — there is a new war in the woods. …This fight is not over old growth, the trees sprouted before 1850 and never cut since settlers came here. The conflict now playing out across Washington is over the old-growth forests of tomorrow. These are second-growth forests originating before 1945 and never sprayed with herbicide or replanted to a dense monoculture of nursery-grown seedlings. …Suddenly, DNR timber sales that can fetch millions of dollars are being paused, canceled, litigated and protested, throwing the state’s timber business into disarray.

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The evolution of the “Timber Capital of the World”

By Drew Winkelmaier
The News Review
October 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

OREGON — Douglas County and timber often go hand in hand. An industry that gave Douglas County its name as the Timber Capitol of the World has changed. Once the catalyst for Oregon’s economy, the timber industry has been dominated by courts, legislation and reform of land stewardship regulations. These changes forced the industry to make necessary adjustments to stay viable. “Impact to the local industry came about in the ‘90s when you had the federal timber supply cratered with the spotted owl and the Northwest Forest Plan and those types of things,” said Douglas Timber Operators’ Matt Hill. “We lost half our mills then.” According to Hill, federal policies to protect the northern spotted owl and other species attributed to a nearly 90% cut to federal timber harvests locally. …CEO Steve Swanson said reinvesting money back into his company is one of the many reasons Swanson Group is still successful.

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Guiding the burn: How a Prescribed Fire Program Manager builds fire-resilient communities

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
October 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Wildfires have become an increasingly serious disaster risk in California, US. Besides the risk of death, they cause widespread damage to private property, infrastructure, and the environment. In the 2024 wildfire season so far, the US State has seen nearly 6,800 wildfires burning more than one million acres. …Cordi Craig works in Placer Resource Conservation District, an independent and self-governing special district, which occupies most of California’s Placer County. …Placer RCD provides technical assistance to anyone that wants it, and Cordi works as a Prescribed Fire Program Manager, helping to oversee the planning, implementation, and monitoring of prescribed fires, controlled fires which are used to manage vegetation, reduce the risk of uncontrolled wildfires, and maintain ecological balance. PreventionWeb spoke with Cordi to learn how her role is helping communities in California build resilience to the ever-growing threat of wildfires.

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In Northwest Montana, Private Timber is Betting the Forest on Public Access Protection

By Tristan Scott
The Flathead Beacon
October 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Land and wildlife managers, timber companies, hunters, and conservationists have stitched together a checkerboard of vulnerable working forests, using easements to protect private timberland from development. With a critical piece of the puzzle coming up for final land board approval, advocates say a new model of forest management is taking shape. …Called the Lost Trail Conservation Easement, the project shares nearly seven miles of border with the 7,876-acre U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge, and is the culmination of a partnership between FWP and Southern Pine Plantations (SPP), a real estate and timberland investment firm. …With funding from Habitat Montana, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and, primarily, the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, FWP secured the land’s development rights while SPP retained full ownership, harvesting millions of board feet of lumber per year while piping fiber into area mills.

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To prepare for the climate of tomorrow, foresters are branching out

By Syris Valentine, Climate Solutions Fellow
Grist.org
October 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — At a reforestation site in Washington, forest managers are experimenting with “assisted migration” — planting trees from warmer, drier regions — to boost the forest’s resilience. …“Forest geneticists spent decades and decades convincing foresters that they should use local populations of trees to get their seed from for reforestation,” said forest geneticist Sally Aitken, who has been studying the implications of climate change for trees since the early ’90s. But as the changing climate has created both new extremes and a new normal outside of what local species evolved to withstand, some forest managers are championing an approach that replants with trees adapted not to the current climate, but to the future one. …Despite the results from experiments like Stossel Creek, and others that have occurred in the Eastern U.S. as well as Canada and Mexico, assisted migration is still a controversial practice. 

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Understanding landslides: A new model for predicting motion

By Mike Peña
University of California Santa Cruz
October 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — Along coastal California, the possibility of earthquakes and landslides is commonly prefaced by the phrase, “not if, but when.” This precarious reality is now a bit more predictable thanks to researchers at UC Santa Cruz and The University of Texas at Austin, who found that conditions known to cause slip along fault lines deep underground also lead to landslides above. …In California, where slow-moving slides are constant and cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually, this represents a major step forward in the ability to predict landslide movements—particularly in response to environmental factors like changes in groundwater levels. …”At a practical level, this study provides us with a framework for understanding how much motion to expect based on a change in rainfall, which leads to a change in water pressure in the ground that then translates into motion,” said Noah Finnegan, a professor of earth and planetary sciences.

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Researchers separate plant growth and disease resistance

By David Mitchell
The University of Georgia
October 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

GEORGIA — Researchers at the University of Georgia have identified a promising approach to addressing a longstanding challenge for plant geneticists: balancing disease resistance and growth in plants. The breakthrough could help protect plants from disease in the future while also promoting higher biomass yields to support sustainable food supplies for both humans and animals, production of biofuels and lumber, and more. “Combating pathogens has been a top challenge in agriculture,” said C.J. Tsai, a professor in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. “Solutions that balance disease resistance and growth are much needed.” …Salicylic acid-based strategies have long been known to enhance resistance to pests and pathogens, but practical applications were hindered by the reduction in yield. This study offers a method to separate growth suppression from the defense response, opening the door to use both salicylic acid and cold-regulated genes in agriculture without compromising crop success.

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Environmental delegates gather in Colombia for a conference on dwindling global biodiversity

By Steve Grattan
The Associated Press
October 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: International

BOGOTA, Colombia — Global environmental leaders gather Monday in Cali, Colombia to assess the world’s plummeting biodiversity levels and commitments by countries to protect plants, animals and critical habitats. The two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16, is a follow-up to the 2022 Montreal meetings where 196 countries signed a historic global treaty to protect biodiversity. The accord includes 23 measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. In opening remarks on Sunday, Colombia’s environment minister and COP16 president Susana Muhamad said the conference is an opportunity “to collect the experience that has passed through this planet from all civilizations, from all cultures, from all knowledge … to generate livable, relatively stable conditions for a new society that will be forged in the light of the crisis.”

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Delay of EU Deforestation Regulation may ‘be excuse to gut law,’ activists fear

By Justin Catanoso
Mongabay.com
October 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Forest defenders were stunned and concerned by the European Commission’s recent proposal for a 12-month delay in implementation of the EU’s new law to reduce global deforestation and forest degradation. While the European Parliament must still approve that proposal, forest advocates battling the multibillion-dollar wood pellet industry and other commodity sectors fear that the extra time will give the biomass industry, other commodity suppliers and exporting nations an opportunity to weaken or undermine the law’s current modest requirements. “I think the biggest threat from a delay is that it’s an excuse to gut the law by giving more time to already aggressive industry opposition,” Heather Hillaker, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in North Carolina, told Mongabay. “With climate change, every month matters when we’re trying to avoid [carbon] emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.”

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

UK power stations burnt wood from old forest areas, Drax emails show

By Rachel Millard and Camilla Hodgson
The Financial Times
October 15, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Drax found that it was “highly likely” to have burnt wood sourced from old forest areas in Canada deemed to be environmentally important, according to internal emails, as the UK’s biggest biomass power station operator battled to maintain its green credentials. The wood received by pellet plants owned by Drax from its suppliers in British Columbia was traced to areas local authorities classed as ecologically significant, as well as “high-risk” private land. While the material was not illegal to use, many environmental experts said old-growth woods and forests should be protected given their ecological benefits, including absorbing and storing atmospheric carbon for centuries. A lengthy investigation by Ofgem into its reporting concluded recently after the UK regulator cleared it of a deliberate breach, and Drax agreed to pay a penalty of £25mn into a voluntary scheme for failing to record adequate data about the wood it imported.

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Health & Safety

Thousands of annual deaths are linked to wildfire smoke inhalation

By Jordan Omstead
The National Observer
October 21, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada

Climate change may be contributing to thousands more wildfire smoke-related deaths every year than in previous decades, a new study suggests. …The international study published Monday is one of the most rigorous yet in determining just how much climate change can be linked to wildfire smoke deaths around the world, said Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, an assistant professor at Dalhousie University. “What stands out to me is that this proportion is increasing just so much,” she said. The study estimates, using mathematical modeling, that about 12,566 annual wildfire smoke-related deaths in the 2010s were linked to climate change, up from about 669 in the 1960s. …The same research group is behind another study published in the same journal Monday that suggests climate change increased the global area burned by wildfire by about 16% from 2003 to 2019. …Kou-Giesbrecht said Monday’s study did not find that climate change had a major influence on the number of smoke-related deaths from Canada’s boreal wildfires. 

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Pacific Northwest residents question if wood pulp mill is to blame for mysterious stink

By Shelby Slaughter
KATU News
October 17, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Oregon — PNW residents are still on pins and needles wanting to find out what caused the ‘big stink’ in September – and some are pointing fingers at a Southwest Washington paper pulp mill, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology. …Brittny Goodsell, Southwest Region Office (SWRO) Communications Manager, named WestRock Mill as the facility locals are questioning as the culprit. WestRock is a wood pulp mill that specializes in pulp and paper products. …“We’re aware this idea is out there, but we haven’t reached a conclusion about whether the WestRock Mill in Longview was involved in the odor.” …The stink was first reported in late September, sweeping through Clark County and down into the Portland metro area. Multiple emergency sources said they’d received reports of eye and throat irritation, as well as headaches, that were possibly related to the smell.

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Forest History & Archives

Northwest Montana History Museum features timber industry exhibit

By Sean Wells
KPAX.com
October 18, 2024
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: United States, US West

KALISPELL, Montana — There’s a new exhibit at the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell that focuses on the importance of the timber industry to the region. The exhibit called “Lumberjacks, Tie Hacks and River Pigs” took months to construct and displays historic tools, clothing and even a model train layout featuring the Somers tie plant and other past and present Flathead Valley landmarks. Museum Executive Director Margaret Davis said … “Timber is the reason why many people came to this area and it’s also the reason why the trains were able to stretch across America because we were producing ties from our immense forests to make those trains run the distance, so it wasn’t just an industry important for northwest Montana, it was an industry important to the whole country,” said Davis.

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Minnesota History: Ad man turned Paul Bunyan into a folklore icon

By Curt Brown
The Star Tribune
October 19, 2024
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: United States, US East

William Barlow Laughead dropped out of high school and went to work as a lumberjack and cook in Minnesota’s North Woods in the early 1900s. But a career switch from lumbering to advertising changed his course. Still largely unknown 66 years after his death, Laughead helped popularize perhaps the biggest name in American folklore: Paul Bunyan. Tall tales of Bunyan’s exploits date back to the lumber camps of the mid-1800s… standing tall in onetime lumber boomtowns Bemidji, Brainerd and Akeley. “That lovable Paul was likely first born in the mind of William Laughead,” writes author Willa Hammit Brown. Her new book — “Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack” — will be released in 2025. …Before his death in 1958, Laughead served on the Western Pine Association in California and painted several acclaimed forest and mill scenes in oil. But it was his cartoons of Paul Bunyan that defined his career.

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