Daily News for May 30, 2023

Business & Politics

Resolute Forest Products signs deal to sell pulp and paper mill in Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Canadian Press in BNN Bloomberg
May 30, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Resolute Forest Products, a subsidiary of Domtar and a part of the Paper Excellence Group, has signed a deal to sell its pulp and paper mill in Thunder Bay, Ont., to an affiliate of U.S. company Atlas Holdings. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available. The sale of the mill is a requirement under an agreement between Domtar and the Competition Bureau in connection to the company’s acquisition of Resolute, which will continue to operate its sawmills and woodlands operations in northwestern Ontario. Resolute says once the sale of the mill is complete it expects to enter into a long-term wood chip and biomass supply deal that will see it continue to provide chips and biomass to the operation. The agreement is expected to close in the second half of the year. …Paper Excellence completed its acquisition of Resolute through its Domtar subsidiary on March 1.

Original press release by Resolute Forest Products Inc.

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Canfor closure fall out continues with remanufacturing plant closure

By Rod Link
Houston Today
May 26, 2023
Category: Business & Politics

John Brink

HOUSTON, BC — Pleasant Valley Remanufacturing is closing its doors for now because Canfor, the provider of the rough inventory it uses to produce value-added products, has stopped operating. It means the loss of 75 direct and as many as 150 indirect jobs, said John Brink, the founder of Prince George-based Brink Forest Products which purchased the business 20 years ago. Pleasant Valley, like other remanufacturers, does not have timber of its own so it relies on larger primary lumber producers such as Canfor to supply them with what they need. “We have not closed. But I am pausing. …Brink said the Houston situation is symptomatic of a much broader province-wide picture where secondary manufacturers lack access to low-grade lumber for conversion into value-added products. …He has also cancelled plans to spend $50 million to build a plant in Prince George that would add value to wood by producing mass timber.

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Finance & Economics

Russian Timber Exports Witness Steep Decline as EU Sanctions Take Effect

MENAFN
May 29, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

RUSSIA — According to recent data from Roslesinforg, foreign sales of Russian timber have continued to decline in the first quarter of 2023, dropping by over 20 percent to 4.5 million cubic meters, primarily due to EU sanctions imposed on Russia following its military operation in Ukraine. …The latest data reveals a continued decline in foreign sales of Russian timber, mainly attributed to the EU sanctions imposed on Russia following its military operation in Ukraine. The EU had been a major market for Russian timber, but the embargo led to a complete halt in sales. Additionally, other countries such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea also reduced their imports of Russian wood products during the first quarter of 2023. This ongoing decline in foreign sales poses challenges for Russia’s timber industry and its export sector as a whole.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Rebuilding Notre Dame’s fire-ravaged roof transports workers back to Middle Ages

ABC News Australia
May 30, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be amazed to see how woodworking techniques they pioneered while building Notre Dame Cathedral more than 800 years ago are being used again today to rebuild the world-famous monument’s fire-ravaged roof. Certainly the reverse is true for the modern-day carpenters using medieval-era skills. Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tonnes of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame’s new roof has, for them, been like rewinding time. It’s given them a new appreciation of their predecessors’ handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope back in the 13th century. “It’s a little mind-bending sometimes,” one of the carpenters, Peter Henrikson, said. He said there were times when he was whacking a mallet on a chisel that he found himself thinking about his medieval counterparts who were cutting “basically the same joint 900 years ago”. …Some 1,200 trees have been felled for the work.

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How (and why) wood is making a comeback in yacht building

By Robert Holmes
Yachting World
May 30, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Photo: Paul Wyeth

Why would a naval architect and structural engineer used to working with cutting edge materials for America’s Cup teams be excited about working with wood? “It’s quite simple for me,” says French designer Thomas Tison, “Modernity does not neglect where we all come from – on the contrary it makes the best of it. In a way a boat is a heritage, so to ignore wood would be to ignore the essence of yacht design and building. …The enthusiasm naval architects young and old have for wood/epoxy composite construction is striking. Many of today’s stand-out new designs on both sides of the Atlantic are built this way and it’s often the best option for one off builds and short production runs. Key advantages include stunning aesthetics, stiff, lightweight structures and excellent longevity. …These boats will also be more sustainable than their contemporaries built using glass fibre or composites.

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3 little-known reasons why plastic recycling could actually make things worse

By Pacal Scherer
The Conversation AU
May 28, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

This week in Paris, negotiators from around the world are convening for a United Nations meeting …to find a globally binding solution for plastic pollution. …Governments and industry are introducing rules and incentives to help businesses stop using single-use plastics while also encouraging collection and recycling. …In Australia, plastic is largely “downcycled”, which means it is recycled into lower quality plastics. This can seem like an attractive way to deal with waste-plastic stockpiles… but downcycling risks doing more harm than good: 1. Replacing wood with recycled plastics risks contaminating our wildest natural spaces; 2. Taking circular plastics from their closed loop to meet recycled-content targets creates more waste; and 3. Using “compostable” plastics in non-compostable conditions creates still more plastic pollution. At the right temperature with the right amount of moisture, compostable plastics breakdown into soil. But if the conditions are not “just right”, they won’t break down at all.

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Forestry

Horsefly group calls for review of logging after concerns about watershed, habitat loss raised

By Monica Lamb-Yorski
100 Mile Free Press
May 29, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Horsefly River Roundtable and stakeholders are requesting an immediate moratorium on all industrial forest-related activities in the Horsefly River Fisheries Sensitive Watershed. “Obviously we don’t want logging to stop but we would like to put on some pressure to have the area assessed by boots on the ground,” said Helen Englund, a member of the roundtable. A meeting focused on concerns about forestry activities in the area will be hosted by the roundtable on Saturday, June 10 at the Horsefly community hall. Englund has invited both industry and the ministry of forests as well as local residents to attend the meeting. Last year, the Horsefly River Roundtable held a community meeting in May with Tolko Industries Ltd. representatives present. More than 100 residents, property owners and concerned citizens attended the meeting and filled out a survey.

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Quesnel Ex-MLA calls for swift action to save industry, communities

By Frank Peebles
The Quesnel Cariboo Observer
May 28, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bob Simpson

The Quesnel Future of Forestry Think Tank… showcased a stellar collection of industry minds, all focused on how the city in B.C.’s heart of gold could take the forest sector to whatever its next levels might be. …Bob Simpson, former MLA and mayor for Quesnel, started off with a written statement: “The City of Quesnel is at the epicentre of the beetle epidemic, and to illustrate the depth of this problem, it will be useful for the members of this Legislature to hear what this community faces in the next few years.” …The four big asks of government, with the help of opposition parties, said Simpson, is to quickly streamline regulations, invest heavily in the new forestry realities, establish programs to ensure it won’t sputter after initial launch, and start buying mass-timber-construction buildings for schools, social housing, public offices, etc.

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Fairy Creek’s fate is shrouded in silence — as logging deferrals set to expire

By Arno Kopecky
The Narwal
May 29, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

On June 8, a pair of old-growth logging deferrals protecting Fairy Creek on southwest Vancouver Island are set to expire. …But, despite having two years to prepare for the white-hot political deadline, the B.C. NDP government has yet to reveal any hint of a post-deferral plan. The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a written statement; “We continue to work together with the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations on the long-term strategy for managing old-growth in the area. An extension of the Fairy Creek watershed and central Walbran deferrals is under consideration and an update will be available soon.” …None of the three First Nations whose territory encompasses the deferral areas responded to The Narwhal’s interview requests. …Teal-Jones’ director of Indigenous engagement, told The Narwhal. “We also don’t know what the province might do with the deferred areas. They have not been communicating with us.”

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A wetter spring in Oregon has forecasters worried about an extended fire season

By Monica Samayoa
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 29, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Oregon could see a much hotter July and August as the region shifts to an El Nino weather pattern later this year. State researchers predict Oregon could experience a much warmer summer than previous years as the climate shifts to a warmer pattern later this year. But a cooler and wet spring could lead fire season to run longer throughout the year. Oregon State University researchers recently predicted the state could see a much hotter July and August as the shift from La Niña to El Niño weather patterns begin this year. The shift from La Niña, a naturally occurring cooler weather pattern associated with ocean temperatures an the equator, to El Niño, its warmer counterpart, already has shown signs of its emergence. …Over the past decade, Oregon summers have already been warmer and drier due to climate change, according to O’Neill, and those trends are expected to continue. 

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US Forest Service starts revision to Blue Mountains Forest Plan — again

By Sage Van Wing
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 29, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman national forests, collectively known as the Blue Mountains, have been operating under a forest management plan developed over 30 years ago. The most recent effort to revise the plan failed in 2019. Now, the U.S. Forest Service is restarting the process. “The 15 years of investment that went into the prior effort, which was withdrawn, really just kind of doubles down on why it’s so important to get it right this time,” Eric Watrud, the Umatilla National Forest supervisor said. The National Forest Management Act of 1976 requires that the Forest Service develop and revise a Land and Resource Management Plan for every national forest every 15 years. The plans broadly cover everything from grazing, logging, fire management, tribal use and recreation. The Forest Service will begin an assessment process this June and will open that assessment up to public comment before next fall.

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Three national forests in Colorado receive nearly $47 million for wildfire barriers

By Shannon Mullane
The Colorado Sun
May 30, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

DURANGO, Colorado — This month, the federal government announced it is sending $46.7 million, from trillion- and multibillion-dollar packages passed in 2021 and 2022, to Colorado to fund fuel breaks around the state. A $13 million chunk of that funding is landing right back in southwestern Colorado, where the U.S. Forest Service and its local, state, tribal and federal partners in other sectors are primed to use it in high-risk areas. “(The Plumtaw fire) is a very good example of where … strategic fuel breaks in real life have a direct impact on saving a watershed,” said Jason Lawhon, the Forest Service’s shared stewardship program manager for the San Juan National Forest. Work is happening across the state, but treatments are not at the pace and scale needed to match the size and impacts of wildfires today, Lawhon said. …Colorado’s $46.7 million will be split between national forests and grasslands around the state. 

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A forestry mystery: What’s attacking Arkansas’ state tree?

By Josh Snyder
Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
May 30, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The loblolly pine is a trademark feature of south Arkansas’ landscape, but something is attacking and, in some cases, even killing Arkansas’ state tree. This threat has consequences not only for the pine, but for the timber industry that planted large swaths of the tree decades before. Forestry experts from across the region say they have several ideas about what’s responsible for this new affliction. They’ve yet to establish concrete answers, though. The mystery has kept researchers busy and timber companies anxious, as all wait to hear what testing of the affected trees might reveal. Symptoms of the ailment appear to include a browning and dropping off of a pine’s needles, and sometimes it ends in the death of the tree. Similar indicators have been seen in trees outside of Arkansas, including in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. …The state Department of Agriculture hasn’t yet determined the scope of pine mortality.

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After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria’s rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue

By David Lindenmayer and Chris Taylor – Australian National University
The Conversation
May 23, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: International

David Lindenmayer

Chris Taylor

By the end of the year, Victoria’s trouble-plagued native forest industry will end – six years ahead of schedule. The state’s iconic mountain ash forests and endangered wildlife will at last be safe from chainsaws. And there will be no shortage of wood – there’s more than enough plantation timber to fill the gap. The announcement by Premier Daniel Andrews is excellent news for forests, the state’s economy, and its threatened species. …Ending native forest logging is long overdue. For decades, we’ve known of how much damage it does to biodiversity. Logging vast areas of Victoria’s native forests over the past several decades has pushed many once-common animals, such as the greater glider, to become endangered. …Our research has catalogued the damage done to produce low-value products such as woodchips and paper pulp. … The state-owned logging company, VicForests, has been running at a loss for many years. 

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

How big are Canada’s carbon emissions? Compared to China, we’re a rounding error

By Tony Keller
The Globe and Mail
May 30, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

The statement from the most recent Group of Seven meeting in Japan… [includes] a long section on climate change, and the urgency of lowering global emissions. As there should be. …When it comes to greenhouse gases, the G7′s contribution is surprisingly small and shrinking. …Despite a growing population and a sharp rise in oil output in the early 2000s, Canada’s carbon emissions have fallen from 2.2 per cent of the planet’s output at the start of the century to just 1.5 per cent today. …China is now the biggest polluter, by far. Its emissions more than doubled between 2002 and 2010, as Canada’s flatlined. …India’s emissions, barely higher than Canada’s in 1990, now equal those of the EU. Indonesia, whose emissions were a third of Canada’s in 1990, is now a bigger polluter than us. The cause? Skyrocketing demand for electricity, with most of that new demand met with coal. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]

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Ontario’s Forest Sector Welcomes New Forest Biomass Program

Ontario Forest Industries Association
May 29, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

The Ontario Forest Industries Association (OFIA) was in Atikokan last week, standing with the Hon. Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, who announced the creation of a new $19.6 million Forest Biomass Program. The new program will support implementation of Ontario’s Forest Sector Strategy and Forest Biomass Action Plan. “Increased use of biomass will assist Ontario’s transition to a net-zero economy, reduce pressure on landfills, support the ongoing sustainable management of Ontario’s public forests, improve industry competitiveness, and strengthen the circular bioeconomy,” said OFIA’s President and CEO, Ian Dunn. Forest biomass electrical generating facilities are integral to Ontario’s forest sector and sustainable management framework. These facilities provide clean, green electricity and energy while benefiting forest operations, regional industrial clusters, and the environment. 

Additional coverage in Northern Ontario Business: Province prepared to fund biomass innovation

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Health & Safety

Are safety leaders underestimating impact of climate change?

By Shane Mercer
Canadian Occupational Safety
May 26, 2023
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada

Technical Safety BC has unveiled its highly anticipated 2022 State of Safety Report. It sheds light on the safety challenges facing the province, which are heavily influenced by the risks and hazards created by climate change. …”I think we all are underestimating the impact of climate change on our work settings,” says Phil Gothe about health and safety professionals. “It’s human nature. We tend to normalize it and become desensitized to it.” Gothe is the president and lead executive officer at Technical Safety BC. …Gothe believes there is an urgent need to understand and mitigate the consequences of climate change on various aspects of workplace safety. During his 14 years with Technical Safety BC, he says wildfires and flooding have gone from being novel occurrences, to expected annual events. He says safety leaders need to reassess and adapt approaches to safety considering changing environmental conditions.

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Forest Fires

Northeastern B.C. wildfire grows as evacuations return north of Fort St. John

Canadian Press in Victoria Times Colonist
May 29, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The British Columbia Wildfire Service says a blaze north of Fort St. John has grown significantly, forcing renewed evacuation orders and alerts. The Donnie Creek wildfire charred an additional 275 square kilometres over the weekend. The fire, approximately 160 kilometres north of Fort St. John, remains out of control and is estimated to have burned a total of 1,575 square kilometres of trees and bush since it was sparked by lightning on May 12. Evacuation orders were issued Sunday by both the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and the Peace River Regional District for remote areas primarily used by oil and gas industry infrastructure and camps. …Large sections of coastal B.C., the central Interior and the northeast are now rated at a high to extreme wildfire danger as the weather office calls for a sunny, drying trend, and the wildfire service warns of possibly “significant fire activity” this week.

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New forest fires include one east of Hwy. 144

The Timmins Daily Press
May 29, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

TIMMINS, Ontario — There were five new forest fires, including one near Timmins, reported across the region, as of early Sunday evening. Timmins 5, located 15 kilometres east of Highway 144 just south of Mamie Lake, was confirmed on Sunday and is listed as “not under control,” and was two hectares. Cochrane 1, also confirmed Sunday afternoon, is currently listed at 45 hectare fire and is “being observed.” Three other new fires were confirmed on Sunday, as well. Sudbury 4 is located 1.5 kilometres east of Highway 69, 0.5 kilometers north of Round Lake. It is listed as 1.5 hectares and it is “not under control.” Algonquin Park 2 is located on the north shore of Whitefish Lake. It is 0.1 hectares and is “not under control.” Parry Sound 5 is located six kilometres east of Highway 69 and three kilometers south of Cantin Lake. 0.1 hectares and is “not under control.”

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Shelburne County forest fire still out of control, local state of emergency declared

CBC News
May 29, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

Barrington Lake in Shelburne County in southwest Nova Scotia has declared a local state of emergency as a wildfire burns out of control, forcing hundreds of residents from their homes. The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) said Monday evening the fire has grown to 9,682 hectares. Some structures have been destroyed and others are threatened but there are no firm numbers yet, it said. The RCMP said Monday roughly 450 homes have been evacuated so far, affecting roughly 1,500 people in Shelburne County. In some instances, the department said flames have been as high as 200 feet. Gusts of wind between 40 and 50 km/h blowing embers aren’t helping matters. Scott Tingley, the department’s manager of forest protection said, “down in Barrington we’ve been fighting hot, dry, windy conditions since Friday – that is the main contributing factor to why these fires are growing”.

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‘I’m just devastated’: Wildfire near Halifax forces 14,000 from homes — but extent of damage unknown

By Steve McKinley
The Toronto Star
May 29, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX — Thousands of residents had been forced to flee and dozens of homes had been damaged or destroyed as a wildfire raged out of control Monday outside Halifax. Spurred by high temperatures and fed by high winds, what began as a series of structure fires in a Tantallon subdivision Sunday had rapidly developed into an uncontrolled forest fire. Thousands of Nova Scotia residents woke Monday morning with no clear idea as to whether their homes had been destroyed by a wildfire raging out of control some 20 km from the edge of Halifax. Others were on the receiving end of bad news. …Through a dark haze of smoke, sometimes with fires burning along the side of the roads, approximately 16,000 people were forced to leave their homes amid multiple evacuation orders. …At the same time as wildfires burned outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia fire crews were also battling another, larger wildfire in Shelburne County, in the southwestern part of the province.

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Wildfires in Nova Scotia are ‘out of control’ and forcing 16,000 people from their homes

By Michelle Watson and Zoe Sottile
CNN
May 30, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

Raging wildfires that have burned through thousands of acres have forced more than 16,000 Canadians to evacuate their homes and triggered a burn ban in Nova Scotia, as the region experiences record-breaking heat. Officials say the fires, which span a total of more than 25,000 acres and have been deemed “out of control” by officials, have destroyed multiple buildings and caused huge plumes of smoke to tower over the region. As of Monday, more than 16,000 people were forced to evacuate the area around Halifax, Nova Scotia’s largest city. The number of people who have been forced from their homes is about 16,429, Erica Fleck, Division Chief of Emergency Management of the Halifax Regional Municipality, said in a news conference Monday. The blazes have damaged at least 200 homes or structures, the Halifax municipality said, citing first responders’ initial visual inspections.

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Southwestern New Brunswick fire improving, but still out of control, officials say

By Sarah Smellie
Canadian Press in Global News
May 29, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

A forest fire that forced hundreds of evacuations and destroyed a home in southwest New Brunswick remained out of control on Monday afternoon, though officials said they were hopeful things would soon change. The fire raging near the towns of Bocabec and Chamcook was being pummelled from above by seven water bombers, while crews from 13 different fire departments in the region attacked the flames from the ground, said Kevin Theriault, chief of the fire department in Saint Andrews, N.B. The flames had stopped spreading upwards into the trees, and were instead smouldering close to the ground, he said. Crews hoped to have the fires under control later on Monday or some time on Tuesday, Theriault told reporters, adding: “But this will be a long, drawn-out firefight for everybody for hot spots.” New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said … the province had seen an “unprecedented” number of fires so far this year.

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Firefighters reach 75% containment on 7K Fire, Springfield brush fire extinguished

By Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick
The Register-Guard
May 29, 2023
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

Oregon Department of Forestry and local fire crews fighting the the 7K Fire, estimated at 300 acres about 10 miles southwest of Veneta, have reached 75% containment, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. The cause of the 7K Fire, named for a landmark in the area, remains under investigation. According to ODF, the fire was first reported at 1 p.m. Friday on private industrial timberland and Bureau of Land Management land. More than 300 people working the fire Memorial Day hope to complete all fire lines and plumbing the entire main body of the fire with hose, which will allow for easier water access, Natalie Webber, a spokesperson for ODF, said in press release.

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