Louisiana Pacific surprises with strong Q2, 2024 earnings of $160 million. In other Company news: Cascades’ Q2 earnings were $1 million; and International Paper commits $15.3 million for conservation. On the Market front: Fannie Mae says US consumers are frustrated by housing costs; RISI forecasts housing to rise 11%; and global recovered paper trade trends remains in flux. Meanwhile: more on Vancouver’s six-storey wood-frame construction fire; and the 2024 FSC conference in Nashville is open for registration.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: Canada invests to conserve 1600 hectares in Ontario; a UBC Okanagan professor’s wildfire sensors pinpoint susceptible forests; ENGOs question BC’s move to expedite salvage logging after fire; the Jasper Alberta wildfire could burn for months; Arizona employs thinning to reduce risk; and Tennessee undergoes a state-wide forest inventory update.
Finally, Brazil said Amazon deforestation is down to its lowest level since 2016.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Revised Curtailment Notice has been issued for the Fort St. John Canfor sawmill. According to the notice, the mill will be temporarily curtailing its operations due to an impending rail strike. According to a report from the Canadian Press first published August 5th, the strike would involve “thousands of railworkers” and affect freight traffic across the country. The revised curtailment will run from August 19th until the 30th. Weekday shift workers will re-start their first regularly scheduled shift on September 3rd, graveyard shift workers will return on the 2nd, and weekend shift personnel will resume their work on August 30th. The notice also says that critical positions will be scheduled “as needed.”
The Washington-based Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) has been tracking a decline in recovered paper exports from the U.S. that shaped the 2023 market and has sustained throughout this year. Although China’s door is again slightly open to imports that meet specific standards, a combination of its withdrawal from the market and adjustments by U.S. mills to accept more grades of recovered paper has caused at least a temporary change in the import-export balance. In Europe, the shrinking Chinese market has been a factor, but in the past two years, that trend has been offset by different geopolitical and recycling market circumstances that have created a surplus of recovered paper on a continent that now has a higher volume moving offshore. …The increase in global recovered paper trade from Europe counters a trend seen in the U.S., where recovered paper exports dropped 18 percent last year and continue to fall in early 2024, according to ReMA.
BURNABY, BC — Interfor recorded a Net loss in Q2’24 of $75.8 million compared to a Net loss of $72.9 million, and a Net loss of $14.1 million in Q2’23. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $16.7 million on sales of $771.2 million in Q2’24 versus a loss of $22.3 million on sales of $813.2 million in Q1’24 and Adjusted EBITDA of $41.9 million on sales of $871.8 million in Q2’23. …In Q2’24, lumber production totalled 1.0 billion board feet, representing a 35 million board foot decrease over the prior quarter. This decrease partially reflects the temporary production curtailments announced on April 30, 2024 and the indefinite curtailment of the Philomath, Oregon sawmill. …In response to the ongoing market weakness, Interfor plans to temporarily reduce its total lumber production by approximately 280 to 350 million board feet between August and December of 2024, representing 15 to 18% of its normal operating stance. 
NEW YORK — Mercer International reported second quarter 2024 results. …Highlights include: second quarter sales of $499 million, down from $553 million in Q1, 2024; Operating EBITDA of $30.4 million, an increase from negative Operating EBITDA of $68.7 million in the same quarter of 2023; Net loss was $67.6 million, which included a non-cash impairment of $34.3 million against goodwill related to the Torgau facility, compared to a net loss of $98.3 million in the second quarter of 2023, which included a non-cash loss on disposal of $23.6 million related to the dissolution of the Cariboo Pulp and Paper joint venture. …Mr. Juan Carlos Bueno, CEO, stated: “The second quarter was another improved quarter for our pulp segment as we continued to benefit from strengthening markets. In the second quarter, pulp prices continued to improve in all key markets due to strengthening demand and supply-side disruption. 
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came into office in 2023 pledging to tackle deforestation in the Amazon. …But a new study indicates that deforestation alone accounts for an only fraction of climate damage involving the Amazon. Logging, forest burning and other forms of human-caused degradation, along with natural disturbances to the Amazon ecosystem, are releasing more climate-warming carbon dioxide than clear-cut deforestation, the study published on Monday in the journal 
UK — The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report. The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember. The figures show that Drax, which has received billions in subsidies since it began switching from coal to biomass in 2012, was responsible for 11.5m tonnes of CO2 last year, or nearly 3% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. Drax produced four times more carbon dioxide than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, which is due to close in September.
LAKEVIEW, Oregon— A wildfire in Lake County that was spotted over the weekend has grown exponentially from 1,500 to 17,000 acres over the course of one day. Oregon Department of Forestry’s interim assistant district forester Jennifer Case said the Warner Peak Fire is burning on lands that are treacherous for fire crews to fight. “Difficult access, steep terrain, and we did have a red-flag warning (Wednesday),” Case said. “So that’s going to contribute to fire behavior.” As of Wednesday afternoon, Inciweb reported a total of 160 personnel assigned to the fire. Case noted a lack of resources has also contributed to the sudden expansion of the blaze. …As of Thursday morning, the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge is closed. No evacuations are in place at this time.
CALIFORNIA — The Park Fire grew marginally over the weekend as containment on the fourth-largest wildfire in state history continued to grow slowly. As of Monday morning, the fire has burned 401,740 acres, about a 500-acre increase from Saturday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The fire is 34% contained. …Officials expect the area to experience more warming and dry conditions this week with daytime highs reaching the lower 100s and the relative humidity ranging from a 10% to 20%. The number of structures destroyed by the fire went up over the weekend to 640 as of Monday morning. Damage inspection teams have completed their assessments, Cal Fire said. …Evacuation warnings have been lifted in several zones in Shasta County, while officials downgraded evacuation orders in some zones to warnings, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said.