Daily News for July 28, 2020

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Today’s Takeaway

West Fraser, PotlatchDeltic report Q2 earnings

July 28, 2020
Category: Today's Takeaway

Second quarter sales and earnings reported by West Fraser and PotlatchDeltic bolstered by strong solid wood prices. In other Business news: Kalesnikoff Timber shows off its new CLT plant, Fast + Epp completes its new mass timber headquarters; Corner Brook, Newfoundland has a new Centre for Forest Research and Innovation; and the Retail Hardware Association names its Top Guns Award winners.

In Forestry/Climate news: BC’s wet summer prompts slow fire season; fuel buildup puts Arizona communities at risk; a U of New Hampshire study improves drones ability to identify tree crowns; and an ENGO study on UK support for wood biomass is called “incredibly leading“. 

Finally, a new study says millennia trees have tricks to stay youthful but there’s no immortality.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Special Feature

Project Learning Tree launches Green Jobs Quiz

Project Learning Tree
July 24, 2020
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, United States

Find Your Green Job! Take this quiz to learn about your personality and some green jobs that might suit you best. This one-time free trial is intended for adults to test out PLT’s Green Jobs quiz. You’ll receive information about how to administer this quiz to youth you work with. By clicking submit, you agree you are over 18, and you agree to have your results emailed to you along with marketing information from PLT.

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Business & Politics

West Fraser reports earnings of $48M in Q2

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.
Cision Newswire
July 27, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

VANCOUVER, BC — West Fraser Timber reported results for the second quarter of 2020. Sales of $1,276 million; up 7% on previous quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $184 million, operating earnings were up to $83 million and earnings were $48 million. …Our lumber segment generated operating earnings in the quarter of $66 million. The improvement was due primarily to higher SYP prices and SPF shipment volumes, partially offset by lower SPF prices. Our panels segment generated operating earnings in the quarter of $17 million. Improved plywood pricing was offset by lower shipment volumes for plywood, MDF, and LVL, resulting in lower overall sales. Our pulp & paper segment generated operating earnings in the quarter of negative $1 million.  Increased pulp prices were offset by lower net shipment volumes and higher fibre costs. 

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Fast + Epp’s mass timber headquarters hits major construction milestone

The Journal of Commerce
July 28, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER — Construction of Fast + Epp’s four-storey mass timber hybrid office located near Vancouver’s Broadway and Cambie intersection has been completed. The new building was erected at 7th Ave. and Yukon St. in four weeks using cross-laminated timber floor and wall panels, glulam beams and steel posts. Exterior wall panels including firewall at the property line were pre-clad with membrane and insulation. …The office building uses Tectonus devices, an earthquake-resistance technology being used for the first time in North America, according to a Fast + Epp statement. The connectors act as shock absorbers and are installed at the base of the CLT shear walls and will be left uncovered as part of the design esthetic along with exposed timber in the building’s interior. …The office is being designed by Fast + Epp in collaboration with f2a architect ltd. and HCMA. Move-in by the firm is anticipated for late 2020.

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Kalesnikoff updated website shows mass timber venture

By Karl D. Forth
Woodworking Network
July 27, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

CASTLEGAR, B.C. — Mass timber company Kalesnikoff has announced the launch of their redesigned website, www.kalesnikoff.com. The new site places an emphasis on the West Kootenay region company’s 80-year history as wood experts in the forest sector and features the company’s past and present stories, detailed product line, service offerings, forest stewardship information and a blog which will include stories featuring the company’s people and community as well as company news. The redesign will ensure customers, partners, community and others can more easily access the information they want, the company said. Kalesnikoff worked closely with B.C.-based agencies, The Vacuum and Tamarack Media Co., to create a modern design, clear information, images and videos.

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Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic partner with Corner Brook Pulp and Paper to expand Corner Brook operations

CBC News
July 27, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Darren Pelley

“Partnership” was the most common word in the announcement of the new Corner Brook Centre for Research and Innovation on Monday. The new centre will be operated by Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic, with Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited putting up a vacant building and future maintenance. The goal is to transform the company’s vacant human resources building into a leader of research for the forestry sector and help further the life of the town’s mill. “This allows the building to have new life, and certainly as part of that is training for our employees, which is a very important aspect,” said Darren Pelley, vice-president of Kruger, which operates CBPPL. “But it also allows for the research to occur, which really brings all the key players together.” …three levels of government have stitched together $8.9 million to turn the old building into something new. 

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North American Retail Hardware Association announces Top Guns Award Honorees

By Melanie Moul
Hardware Retailing
July 27, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

For 13 years, the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) has recognized retailers who are leading their operations in innovative ways through the Top Guns Awards. The 2020 Top Guns Award Honorees:

  • Patrick Goebel, President, Star Lumber – Star Lumber is a key industry player based in central Kansas. 
  • Kevin Hancock, President and CEO, Hancock Lumber – Hancock Lumber owns timberland and operates sawmills to source its lumberyards. 
  • Kirby Scales, General Manager, Russell Do it Center – In central Alabama, Kirby Scales is heading up a focused growth strategy for Russell Do it Center.
  • Will Aubuchon, CEO, W.E. Aubuchon Co. Inc. – the fourth generation to lead W.E. Aubuchon Co. Inc.

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PotlatchDeltic reports net income of $2.6M in Q2

By PotlatchDeltic
Businesswire
July 27, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

SPOKANE, Washington — PotlatchDeltic Corporation reported net income of $2.6 million on revenues of $181.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Net income was $17.1 million on revenues of $215.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2019. Second Quarter 2020 highlights include… $35.3 million of Total Adjusted EBITDDA and Total Adjusted EBITDDA margin of 19%… announced agreement to sell ~72,000 acres in Minnesota for ~$48 million. “Our employees did an excellent job managing through the constraints and challenges imposed by the COVID pandemic and our three business segments performed well during what is typically our seasonally lightest quarter,” said Mike Covey, chairman and chief executive officer. 

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Victorian Government must provide certainty for native timber industry with Code review

The Mirage News
July 28, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

The Australian Forest Products Association has cautiously welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement of a review of the Code of Practice for Timber Production to address the relentless tide of vexatious litigation waged by anti-forestry groups. In making the announcement, Victorian Minister for the environment Lily D’Ambrosio recognised the need to “minimise the risk to short-term supply obligations arising from third-party litigation”. AFPA CEO Mr Ross Hampton said the Victorian Government must act urgently to address the uncertainty created by last month’s Federal Court decision against VicForests. …However, Mr Hampton condemned Premier Daniel Andrews for persisting with his flawed plan to shut down the Victorian hardwood timber industry. …“Victoria’s hardwood timber industry is completely sustainable, and managed to the highest environmental standards, harvesting the equivalent of just 4 trees in every 10,000 and regenerating after harvest.”

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Finance & Economics

Shift from Condos to Houses and from Big Cities to Suburbs?

By Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
July 24, 2020
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

…It may be another tidbit in the larger saga of potential shifts in the housing market that were either triggered by, or accelerated during the Pandemic: a shift from condos toward houses, and particularly a shift from condos in large urban centers toward houses in the suburbs, and a focus on new houses, perhaps motivated by the issues and complexities surrounding the viewing and purchasing of an existing home from a homeowner during the Pandemic. …I’m still waiting to see if this shift from condos to houses and from urban centers to the suburbs is the early phase of a long-term trend in line with the shift to work-from-home and demographic dynamics, or just a knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic that will blow over and reverse in a few months.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Case goods producer DCI Inc. receives $75,000 state grant

By Thomas Russell, senior editor
Furniture Today
July 28, 2020
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

LISBON, N.H. – Contract furniture manufacturer DCI Inc. has received a $75,000 grant from the State of Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiative, which supports organizations that contribute to the state’s forest products industry. The company primarily supplies universities and military installations. However, it is looking to expand its solid wood line of bedroom, office and occasional furniture to the residential side of the business, fulfilling demand at a time when retailers are eager to replenish goods on their floors. The $75,000 grant was among the $1.4 million in grants the Working Lands Enterprise Board provided to some 35 agricultural and forestry related businesses in the state of Vermont this year. DCI will use the money to invest in new equipment for its sawmill in Royalton, Vt., which supplies its parts/wood furniture production/assembly facilities in New Hampshire, North Carolina and California.

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Kinsol Timber Systems Bringing Wood Buildings To Life

By Kinsol Timber Systems
Business Examiner
July 27, 2020
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Mike Marshall and Steve Stevenson

MILL BAY – Each piece of wood tells a story, through its grain, beauty and where it comes from. Kinsol Timber Systems is built to highlight that in the structures it makes, working closely with customers during the design phase to feature timber and enhance the finished product. Chief Executive Officer Mike Marshall and Chief Operating Officer Steve Stevenson are partners in the company they started in 2017, purchasing the assets of a defunct construction firm they both worked for that was involved in building the famous Kinsol Trestle. Their business has exceeded expectations, and has virtually doubled in size each year of their operation. …Kinsol constructs high-end homes, and commercial and institutional buildings like the Tsawwassen Mills Mall and the new Merridale Brewery & Distillery at Dockside Green in Victoria… Mike and Steve have extended their expertise in timber to include children’s natural playgrounds, which is done under the name KinsolPlay.

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Forestry

Wet summer prompts slow fire season

Prince George Citizen
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

While the wet summer weather has put a damper on outdoor activities this year, it also has resulted in significantly fewer forest fires. The Prince George Fire Centre area has had 43 wildfires so far this year, which have burned a total of 203 hectares, according to data released by the BC Wildfire Service on Monday. The 10-year average for this time of year is 178 fires burning an average of 57,252 hectares. Last year there had already been 115 fires and 7,555 hectares burned by this time. …As of July 23, there were 218 wildfires throughout the province, burning a total of 714 hectares. The five-year average for this time period is 797 fires and 165,724 hectares burned. The 25-year average is 757 fires and 60,199 hectares burned. …In the north, the wet weather in June and July means the wildfire risk will remain lower.

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A First Nation Builds a Forestry Future from the Ashes of the Past

By Amanda Follett Hosgood
The Tyee
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…In August 2018 — the worst fire season on record … three-quarters of the Cheslatta Community Forest was lost….with a $1.25-million grant from B.C.’s Forest Enhancement Society to log and rehabilitate burned forests, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation hopes that some of the timber and economic opportunities damaged by the fires can be salvaged. Already, logging is underway in burned areas of the Cheslatta Community Forest, where timber harvest wouldn’t otherwise have been economically feasible, creating jobs for the community and spinoffs across the region. The work is being done with a view to creating healthy forests, speeding up regeneration and reducing carbon emissions by ensuring waste wood is used rather than burned. It’s also reducing the risk that fire could consume more of Southside’s forests. The partnership is a step toward correcting a history of mistrusting the provincial government by local residents. 

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Can Trees Live Forever? New Kindling for an Immortal Debate

By Cara Giaimo
The New York Times
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Many of the world’s most ancient organisms are trees, including a 3,600-year-old cypress in Chile. …But according to a paper published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, time ravages us all in the end. The paper, “Long-Lived Trees Are Not Immortal,” argues that even the most venerable trees have physiological limits — though we, with our puny life spans, may never be able to tell. Sergi Munné-Bosch, a plant biologist at the University of Barcelona, wrote the article in response to a study on ginkgo trees, which… found that 600-year-old ginkgos are as reproductively and photosynthetically vigorous as their 20-year-old peers …“In my opinion at least, there is no immortality,” he said. Those tree species that can live for centuries or millenniums have a lot of tricks for staying youthful. …For these reasons, it’s much more likely that such a tree will die of external causes than age-related ones.

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Battleground-State Polling Reveals Voters Oppose Trump Lifting Tongass Roadless Rule

ForConstructionPros.com
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Trafalgar Group, a conservative polling firm that polled for the 2016 Trump campaign, conducted a series of battleground polls commissioned by Citizens for the Republic (CFTR) in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin in June to analyze voters’ views on lifting the Roadless Rule protections in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The poll results found sweeping, across the board opposition in the four states to lifting the Roadless Rule protections in the Tongass, where the majority of raw logs are exported to China, at significant expense to U.S. taxpayers. The current proposal by the U.S. Forest Service would eliminate protections for almost ten million acres of the most pristine areas on the Tongass, resulting in more clearcutting of remaining old growth forests in Southeast Alaska. According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, U.S. taxpayers spend $30 million annually to subsidize the Tongass logging industry.

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Fuel buildup puts Arizona communities at wildfire risk

By Ron Dungan
Cronkite News
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Arizona has had a busy fire season this summer. Now, with many of the big fires out, communities are beginning to look at their wildfire risk. And for many, that risk is high, according to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management… 85% of Arizona’s communities are at moderate to high risk for wildfire. The wildland-urban interface grows as more people move to the West. …Arizona has been battling fuel buildup for decades on the local, state and federal level. On the local level, Community Wildfire Protection Plans can help. …The state began an enormous thinning project after one of the largest wildfires in the state burned about half a million acres. The project, known as the Four Forests Restoration Initiative – 4Fri… There are two ways to thin the forest. One is to cut trees, the other to burn them. 4FRI wants to do both.

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University of New Hampshire says drones & multispectral pictures *can* see the forest for the trees

By David Brooks
Granite Geek
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

In a new study, University of New Hampshire researchers have concluded that when assessing forest imagery collected by unmanned aerial systems, an alternative method of delineating individual forest tree crowns within those images is more accurate than the most commonly used method, the canopy height model. …Researchers at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station have found that the spectral (wavelengths of light) information from natural color imagery more accurately identifies individual tree crowns—the branches and leaves/needles extending from the trunk—than the traditional canopy height model when used in conjunction with unmanned aerial systems. …Improved accuracy in identifying and measuring tree crown size and shape can reveal much about the ecology and competition in the forest, according to Russ Congalton, professor of natural resources and the environment.

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Seeking summer real estate, endangered Indiana bats are running out of places to live

By Lorena Villanueva-Almanza
IndyStar
July 27, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The Indiana bat, a state and federally endangered species, spends the winter hibernating in caves. But, over time, one of its favorite springtime hangouts has increasingly become well, less bat friendly. That home? The area around the Indianapolis International Airport. …forested lands near the airport have yielded to pavement and runways. But in the crevices and peeling bark of the trees that made up these forests, large colonies of the 13 species of bats known in Indiana — including the state and federally endangered Indiana bat — made their summer homes. …Over the years, the Indianapolis Airport Authority has worked with local conservation groups and the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect the bats. And while they have been successful in stabilizing the population, they could use some help. …The most recent Purdue and Indiana State study also confirmed the need to … increase tree diversity.

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Right Tree, Right Place The Solution To New Zealand’s Afforestation Question

By Forest and Wood Sector Forum
Scoop Independent News
July 28, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: International

With discussion growing around NZ’s afforestation targets and farm conversions to forestry, like many groups, the New Zealand Forest and Wood Sector Forum is advocating for the right tree in right place for the right purpose as the obvious solution. The farm vs forest debate is not a new one, but has certainly been more heated in recent months, with industry commentary from both sectors. …the Forum is advocating for a unified approach, with the right trees, in the right places, for the right purposes as the answer. This means taking a measured approach to the question of land use. …we need to examine the land under the title, and decide what the best use is for each piece of land. In other words, some hill country farmers would benefit from having some of their land under forest, while some forest land could be better used for food production.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Saskatchewan company wants to buy flax straw as fuel

Weyburn Review
July 27, 2020
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Prairie Clean Energy (PCE) is a Saskatchewan company that has found a way to take the thousands of tonnes of Saskatchewan flax straw that gets burned or trashed on the prairies every year and turn it into something that can provide income to producers and sustainable growth for rural Saskatchewan. PCE is processing and selling flax straw for biomass fuel to Canadian and global customers. “There is a world shortage of wood fibre used to make biomass fuel and almost 670,000 tonnes of flax straw gets burned or trashed on the prairies every year. Flax straw actually burns at higher BTUs per pound than wood fibre, making it a natural alternative to wood, and most importantly, something Saskatchewan flax farmers can make money from,” said CEO Mark Cooper.

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Biomass UK responds to ‘incredibly leading’ YouGov poll

By Robin Whitlock
Renewable Energy Magazine
July 27, 2020
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Biomass UK has responded to a recent online poll by YouGov, commissioned by a number of environmental groups… The poll by YouGov was commissioned by the ‘Cut Carbon Not Forests’ campaign, which is calling on the UK Government to withdraw subsidies for large scale biomass, such as … the Drax Group. Currently, the government gives more than £2 million per day in subsidies to these power stations, and other large scale plants, that burn biomass in order to generate renewable electricity. the YouGov poll found that fewer than one in four British citizens (23 percent) think electricity generated by burning wood biomass from forests should be classified as ‘renewable energy’, while 55 percent oppose continued Government subsidies for wood biomass energy. However, Benedict McAleenan, an Adviser to the Renewable Energy Association (REA), said that YouGov poll was poorly designed and that other, more independent, surveys actually show public support for biomass.

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