Daily News for June 02, 2020

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Today’s Takeaway

Nova Scotia buys forest land, may appeal species at-risk order

June 2, 2020
Category: Today's Takeaway

Nova Scotia is buying up forest land—to assist owners struggling with the Northern Pulp closure, while taking action on (and considering an appeal of) a court order to better protect at-risk species. In related news: BC approves logging in spotted owl habitat; North Carolina State looks to breed a better forest; and the climate resilience of tropical forests depends on keeping forests intact.

In Business news: due to falling demand, Sappi (Westbrook and Summset, Maine) joins Blandin paper mill (Grand Rapids, Minnisota) in temporarily laying off employees; US residential construction falls in April; COVID-19 boosts the DIY and handyman segments of US economy; and an update on China’s wood, construction and real estate industries.

Finally, the GHG solution to concrete and steel wind towers—wooden wind turbines.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Update on China’s wood, construction and real estate industries

By Holly Wang, Canada Wood Group
Canada Wood Today
June 1, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, International

FII China has released a policy briefing to inform Canadian Stakeholders on a variety of updates relating to China’s wood, construction and real estate industries. The report includes information on China’s green building initiatives, plans to renovate old communities, restrictions on the development of Super-tall buildings and how the country is recovering from recent setbacks relating to COVID-19. …As of April 30, 2020, the results of the prevention and control of COVID-19 in China had very positive effects with a major reduction of new cases. …The economic data for the first quarter… shows that China’s economy experienced a deep contraction. Additional government policies were issued to…strengthen domestic demand by stimulating consumption and investment. [Including:]

  • Enhancing revovation of old residential communities
  • Restricting development of super-tall buildings
  • Following green building and energy efficiency policies
  • Pursuing a development plan for the forest healthcare industry

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City of Kelowna clarifies purpose behind $100,000 forestry grant

By Laura Brookes
Castanet
June 2, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

An $100,000 provincial grant the City of Kelowna received to help people affected by the slowdown in the forestry sector has been directed as an investment into general community services, and not specifically the affected workers, as per the provincial guidelines.   …Eligible activities for use of the Community Support Grant, which the City of Kelowna received at the end of May, included financial support information services, community meetings or support for community services.  It did not include retraining facilities such as educational colleges, or career assistance. Instead, it was to be directed at organizations assisting whole “communities” impacted by the closure of a major forest employer, and not “individuals.”  The grant was distributed to three different community organizations in Kelowna – $45,000 to the Kelowna Community Food Bank, $30,000 to the Elizabeth Fry Society and $25,000 to the Kelowna Community Resources (KCR) Crisis Line.  

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Province to buy land from struggling forestry sector members

By Michael Gorman
CBC News
June 1, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Iain Rankin

Nova Scotia’s Lands and Forestry Department is focusing all of its budget for buying land this year on people connected to the industry who might need help following the closure of Northern Pulp.  Each year, the department has $1.5 million to buy land from a variety of sources, but this year it will focus entirely on people in the forestry sector who have land to sell. The land must be appraised by an accredited third party and sold at fair market value.  Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin acknowledged it’s a small step to help a reeling industry, but said it’s part of a broader effort.  “It may help with some businesses, it may not help with others,” he said in an interview.  The fact that land purchased through the program would become Crown land doesn’t mean it would automatically be designated for harvesting, said Rankin. 

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What a surge in decks, paint sales in the middle of a pandemic says about economic recovery

By Grace Schneider
The Louisville Courier Journal
May 28, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Stuck at home in a paralyzing health crisis, people across America finally tackled long-delayed, home-improvement projects that are giving a boost to the do-it-yourself and handyman segments of the U.S. economy. In Louisville, Kentucky, the COVID-19 crisis has been a completely unexpected boon for Max Daugherty’s outdoor living contractor business. New decks, patio upgrades, backyard spruce-ups — the calls are pouring in. …The pandemic has led many homeowners across the country to pounce on DIY home improvement projects during stay-home orders. And as a result, hardware, home improvement and farm supply stores — which the federal government deemed essential businesses — have seen a massive surge in demand for tools, paint, lawn and garden goods and treated lumber. …But analysts and marketing experts in the home and hardware industry are cautious. 

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Blandin paper mill in Grand Rapids will temporarily shut down

By Jimmy Lovrien
Duluth News Tribune
April 21, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

The UPM Blandin paper mill in Grand Rapids will temporarily shut down as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hurt the economy. In an emailed statement to the News Tribune, UPM Blandin General Manager Scott Juidici said the economic toll of COVID-19 is slowing demand for paper. UPM Blandin produces coated magazine papers. “The global response to the coronavirus pandemic has led to an overall slowdown of the economy,” Juidici said. “We are taking short-term measures to respond to market conditions. We rely on our global network of modern paper mills to meet customer demand.” It was not immediately known how many employees would be laid off or how long the shutdown would last. The mill employs 240 people, according to the company’s website.

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Faced with less demand, Sappi temporarily laying off employees

By Jimmy Lovrien
Duluth News Tribune
June 1, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Employees at Sappi’s Cloquet paper mill are being temporarily laid off in rotations as demand for the mill’s products wane amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Due to market conditions, Sappi North America is taking periodic market curtailment on some of its operations at Westbrook, Somerset (Maine) and Cloquet to balance our product supply with demand,” Sappi North America said in an emailed statement to the News Tribune on Monday. “As part of this process, employees associated with the curtailed machines are being temporarily laid off consistent with the process defined in their collective bargaining agreements.” Sappi said the layoffs will be on a “rotational basis” and last one to two weeks. During that time, employees can receive unemployment insurance and an extra $600 per week from the federal CARE Act. A drop in demand from the COVID-19 pandemic also caused the UPM Blandin paper mill in Grand Rapids to temporarily shut down in April.

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Finance & Economics

US single family construction down 6.6% in April after 1.5% drop in March

US Census Bureau
June 1, 2020
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

US Census Construction Spending data shows total private residential construction spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $536.8 billion in April. It was down 4.5% in April, after a 0.2% dip in March. The monthly declines are largely attributed to the slowdown of spending on single-family and multifamily construction. Spending on single-family construction slid down 6.6% in April to $281.0 billion, after a decrease of 1.5% in March. Multifamily spending plunged 9.1% in April, following a dip of 0.1% in March. Private residential improvements, which include spending on remodeling… stayed flat at a $202.2 billion annual pace in April.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Mass Timber Rear Expansion Proposed at 1067 Yonge in Rosedale

By Jack Landau
Urban Toronto
June 1, 2020
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

A Site Plan Application submitted to the City of Toronto in mid-May seeks to add a modern expansion behind an early 20th century converted home—currently housing commercial space—on Yonge Street, just north of Rosedale subway station. The Dewson Architects-designed proposal at 1067 Yonge Street would create an expanded footprint for the owner and developer behind the proposal, Dancap Realty Inc. The application calls for a new four-storey mass timber structure with a gross floor area of 1437.4 m², and a height of 16.5 m to rise behind the existing 1914-built, three-storey house-form building. The heritage building facing Yonge Street is set to undergo an extensive restoration overseen by ERA Architects as part of the plan, while the new building behind would replace an existing 1950-built three-storey addition. 

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Modvion erected first 30-meter wooden wind power tower in Sweden

By Amit Malewar
Inceptive Mind
June 1, 2020
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Critics predict that wind farms will produce more greenhouse gases in the production of concrete for their foundations and steel in their construction than they will produce electricity. The Swedish cleantech startup Modvion wants to change that.  The company has installed Sweden’s first wooden wind power tower on Björkö outside Gothenburg. The 30-meter wooden tower is intended for research purposes. The first commercial wooden wind turbines are to be built in Sweden as early as 2022.  “This is a major breakthrough that paves the way for the next generation of wind turbines. Laminated wood is stronger than steel at the same weight, and by building in modules, the wind turbines can be taller. By building in wood, we also reduce carbon dioxide emissions in manufacturing and instead store carbon dioxide in the design“, says Otto Lundman, CEO of Modvion AB.

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Forestry

B.C. approves 312 new logging clearcuts in habitat of endangered spotted owls

By Sarah Cox
The Narwhal
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The B.C. forests ministry has approved new clearcut logging in habitat for highly endangered northern spotted owls, including in the Fraser Canyon, where biologists sighted the last three spotted owls known to exist in Canada’s wild.   The ministry issued more than 300 logging approvals — totalling almost 2,000 hectares — in the spotted owl’s range from October 2018 to May 2020, according to recent maps produced by the Wilderness Committee.  The maps show new logging approvals along the southern boundary of Nahatlatch Provincial Park, threatening to fragment one of the largest intact unprotected areas of spotted owl habitat in the province.

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No tax breaks for log exports

Letter by Chris Crowther
Cowichan Valley Citizen
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

It is beyond offensive that Mosaic and USW would seek tax breaks to enable further log exports from Vancouver Island. It isn’t a stretch to frame the E&N Land Grant as the greatest experiment in industrial forestry the world has ever seen. And what is the result after over a century of professional management? The public is being asked to simultaneously subsidize the company that manages the E&N lands, and come up with another $500M-plus to rebuild the railway that was the consideration for the grant in the first place. Industrial forestry is failing the people and ecosystems on Vancouver Island. Where are the jobs? Where are the trees? Where are the salmon? Where is the water?

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Nova Scotia’s lands and forestry minister says he’ll strengthen conservation work

By Taryn Grant
CBC News
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Iian Rankin

In the wake of a Nova Scotia Supreme Court order to better protect at-risk species, Nova Scotia’s minister of lands and forestry said his department will do its best “to get the work done.” Minister Iain Rankin said he was still reviewing the decision, released Friday, and wouldn’t say whether the province might appeal. …Rankin said much of the work ordered by Justice Christa Brothers last week is already underway. Brothers said the minister had failed to live up to his duties under the Endangered Species Act in chronic and systemic ways, and specifically in the cases of six at-risk plant and animal species. …But Rankin said it wasn’t actually the judicial review that prompted the work. Rather… the auditor general reported in 2016, and again after the 2018 Lahey Report on ecological forestry advised the province to better implement the Endangered Species Act.

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Millson Forestry prepping for busy summer

By Andrew Autio
Timmins Today
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

This could have been a disastrous year for Millson Forestry Service, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the shutdown of many industries and businesses. It was a big boost for the Timmins-based company when on April 2, the provincial government declared the forest industry an essential service throughout the pandemic “At the time of the pandemic, we already had a greenhouse full of trees. So we couldn’t just let them die,” said Jenny Millson, owner of Millson Forestry Service. “For a little while, we kind of just maintained what we had until we had a better idea of just how strict everything was going to become, as far as what was shutting down or not.” Despite the turbulent times amid the pandemic, Millson Forestry is gearing up for a busy summer and growing plenty of saplings for planting locally and beyond.

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Flathead National Forest Propose Logging, Fuel-Reduction Project

By Aaron Bolton
Montana Public Radio
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Flathead National Forest is proposing a fuels-reduction project in the northwest area of the Flathead Valley. The project includes commercial logging and road building.  The Stovepipe Project would take place in the Tally Lake Ranger District west of Whitefish and Kalispell. The U.S. Forest Service hopes to open up nearly 5,000 acres to commercial timber harvest, while non-commercial thinning would take place on about 2,300 acres.   The project would require about 17 new miles of temporary and permanent roads. Nearly three miles of existing roadways would be closed to offset new roads intended for year-round use.  In a press release, Tally Lake District Ranger Bill Mulholland said the project’s objective is to reduce fire intensity in and around neighborhoods near the project area.

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North Carolina State Spin-off TreeCo To Breed a Better Forest

By Mollie Rappe
North Carolina State University News
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

A company founded by two NC State researchers is setting out to revolutionize the forestry industry by combining insights from tree genetics with the power of genome editing. …Unlike farmers, foresters have been slow to adopt new technologies such as genome editing that can mitigate these challenges. And breeding long-lived trees takes significantly longer than breeding annual crops. Rodolphe Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor in Probiotics Research, is a pioneer in new technologies for safe, efficient and non-GMO genome editing. He is a co-founder of TreeCo. …“We believe that the challenges that are lying ahead of us … warrant the use of disruptive technologies — like genome editing — to speed up the enhancement of tree traits that are beneficial to the environment, and valuable commercially,” said Barrangou. “We will combine our expertise in tree genetics and in genome editing technologies to democratize that technology for forestry.”

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Two-thirds of tropical forests ‘under threat in next decade’

By Bruno De Pierro
Phys.org
June 1, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Tropical forests can develop resistance to a warmer climate, but 71 percent will come under threat in the next decade if global average temperatures reach two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a new study warns.  Forest-dependent communities and the global climate will be affected if tropical forests are further degraded, experts say.  Led by scientists at the University of Leeds and published in Science, the study involved 226 researchers from around the world. The cohort analysed carbon stock data in 590 permanent forest plots in South America, Africa, Asia and Australia, with most in the Amazon region.  The Amazon rainforest acts as a huge carbon sink, absorbing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) and helping to cool global temperatures. Even under high temperatures, trees remove CO2—a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming—from the atmosphere.

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Forest Fires

Sawtooth Fire in the Superstition Mountains at 2,500 acres, 0% containment

By Alana Minkler
AZCentral
June 1, 2020
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

A lightning-caused wildfire in the Superstition Mountains is estimated to cover 2,500 acres and is burning in all directions, according to a tweet by the Tonto National Forest.  The fire is 0% contained and has closed the Peralta Trailhead.  No structures have been burnt or threatened yet. The wildfire is northwest of Gold Canyon, located on state and Tonto National Forest land, right on the “scar” of the 2019 Woodbury Fire, which began on June 8 in the Superstition Wilderness and burned more than 123,800 acres, causing the evacuation of homes, road and campground closures, endangered wildlife habitats and the destruction of hiking trails.  

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