Canadian shippers fear a strike by railworkers that would halt freight traffic and clog ports. In related news: Wisconsin’s Besse Forest Products closes permanently; pushback on Georgia’s Telfair Forest Products expansion plan; and Boise Cascade and BlueLinx report positive earnings. Meanwhile: the Softwood Lumber Board announced new funding for mass timber; FSC expressed concern over bamboo supply chains; Paper Excellence appointed Luc Theriault President of Wood Products; and lumber dealer leader Walter Foxworth died August 2 at 89.
In Wildfire news: a firefighter died fighting the Jasper Alberta wildfire, as evacuees get first look at damage; two perspectives on Park fires and who/what’s to blame; boreal forests said to emit carbon long after they burn; and wildfire updates from Manning Park and Princeton, BC; Alberta, Washington, Oregon, and California. Meanwhile: ENGOs push New Brunswick to triple protected areas; and an Oregon study may help northern forests weather climate change.
Finally, wildfire smoke could interfere with the safety of surgeries, a new US study warns.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
MONTREAL – Shippers and producers are holding their breath ahead of a possible strike by thousands of railworkers this month that would halt freight traffic, clog ports and disrupt industries. “The railways are two ribbons that go east to west, and there’s not much alternative if you cut those two ribbons,” said John Corey, president of the Freight Management Association of Canada. “The ports become useless. Nothing moves anywhere.” Canadian railways haul more than $350 billion worth of goods and more than half of the country’s total exports each year, according to the Railway Association of Canada. … In May, then-labour minister Seamus O’Regan, in an apparent move to delay the disruption, asked the country’s labour board to review whether a work stoppage would jeopardize Canadians’ health and safety. Either way, observers says the possibility of a strike will likely remain on the table after the decision — expected this Friday.
VANCOUVER, BC — Canfor Corporation announced the completion of the acquisition from Arkansas Resolute El Dorado, of its lumber manufacturing facility in Union County, Arkansas. The transaction, previously announced on May 1, 2024, is a strategic complement to the Company’s existing regional operations, including its adjacent El Dorado Laminating Plant and its nearby Urbana sawmill. Renamed as the Iron Mountain sawmill, this acquisition will create operational synergies with Canfor’s existing facilities, provide vertical integration opportunities with its two glulam plants and build further capacity near customers and markets in the US South. …Lee Goodloe, President, Canfor Southern Pine., said “As a growth-oriented forest products company, we see this as an opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of our manufacturing capabilities in Arkansas’ rich, high-quality wood basket.”
Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.2% in May, following a 0.3% increase in April. The goods-producing industries grouping (+0.4%) was the main contributor to the overall growth with four of five sectors increasing in May. Services-producing industries edged up 0.1%. Overall, 15 of 20 sectors expanded in May. …The manufacturing sector (+1.0%) led the growth in May, up for a second consecutive month. The increase in May was the largest since January 2023 as both durable and non-durable manufacturing rose in May 2024. …Advance information indicates that real GDP increased 0.1% in June. Increases in construction, real estate and rental and leasing and finance and insurance were partially offset by decreases in manufacturing and wholesale trade. …With this advance estimate for June, information on real GDP by industry suggests that the economy expanded 0.5% in the second quarter of 2024. 
VANCOUVER, BC — Western Forest Products reported a net loss of $5.7 million in the second quarter of 2024, as compared to a net loss of $20.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, and a net loss of $8.0 million in the first quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was $9.4 million in the second quarter of 2024, as compared to negative $12.0 million in the second quarter of 2023, and negative $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2024. Other highlights include: Lumber shipments of 173 million board feet (versus 153 million board feet in Q2 2023); Japan lumber shipments of 27 million board feet (versus 21 million board feet in Q2 2023); Average lumber selling price of $1,363 per mfbm (versus $1,392 per mfbm in Q2 2023), primarily due to a slightly weaker sales mix of specialty lumber products. …At the same time, the Vancouver-based firm announced the appointment of Glen Nontell as CFO, effective today. Nontell joined the company in 2018 and was most recently VP of corporate development.
The cost of emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is set to decouple from gas prices in the European Union, marking an historic shift in the dynamic between the two markets, according to the EMEA head of natural resources research at Goldman Sachs Group. The EU is facing “a complete break from the historical relationship where lower gas always meant lower carbon,” Goldman’s Michele Della Vigna said. The development reflects the changing dynamics affecting the carbon market, including shrinking emissions caps, with industry replacing power producers as the biggest buyers of permits to pollute and “a complete change in the gas market,” he said. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a new wave of energy investment in Europe. …Goldman predicts that infrastructure investments will drive up global liquid natural gas supplies by 50% in the next five years, leading to a halving of gas prices over the period.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is seriously concerned about allegations regarding 
EDMONTON, Alberta — Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, with Todd Loewen, Minister of Forestry and Parks, announced a joint investment of over $57 million over five years under the Government of Canada’s Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program – Equipment Fund. This funding is already supporting Alberta’s efforts to purchase key wildland firefighting equipment as well as hire and train key personnel to enhance provincial readiness and capacity to prepare for and respond to wildland fires. So far, Alberta has purchased aircraft parts, general wildfire equipment including pumps and hoses, and telecommunications equipment. …The funding announced today will continue to enhance fire management efforts across Alberta by procuring and upgrading specialized wildland firefighting equipment and by hiring and training personnel to increase wildland fire preparedness and response efforts.
New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative government spent two years increasing protected natural areas from just under five per cent of the province’s land and freshwater to 10%, a doubling that was proudly announced in December 2022. But now there’s a push from conservationists for far more: to hit 30% by 2030, the vaunted “30 by 30” that the Trudeau Liberal government pledged at a United Nations biodiversity forum. …The province’s timber industry isn’t rejecting the “30 by 30” idea outright, but it has concerns that the target would zero-in on Crown or public land, where four big for-profit firms have longterm leases to cut wood – J.D. Irving, Twin Rivers, Interfor and AV Group. Kim Allen, the executive director of Forest New Brunswick, points out that New Brunswick, unlike larger provinces like British Columbia or Quebec, whose territory is more than 90% public land, only has about half of its land in public trust. The rest is private.
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 
The trade in black market timber is now the third most profitable cross-border crime after counterfeiting and drug trafficking, according to Interpol. The global fraud is destroying critical forests, undermining international sanctions and decimating indigenous lands and livelihoods. But authorities are hitting back. The Financial Times’s Madeleine Speed visits the high-tech forest detectives fighting the multibillion-dollar trade in tarnished timber. [Video story]
