A tentative deal was reached for Canada’s border workers—averting job action at ports of entry. In other Business news: Madill equipment manufacturing returns to British Columbia; AF&PA supports New York decision to shelve recycling legislation; and Vancouver implements (previously announced) bylaw to allow 18-storey mass timber buildings. Meanwhile: US inflation eased in May; and Canadian and US interest rate policies are diverging.
In Forestry/Climate news: Canada introduces new heat wave attribution system; BC supports clean energy investments by Canfor and Paper Excellence; drought conditions spur changes to wildfire suppression tactics; and more from BC’s Wildfire Coexistence Symposium. Meanwhile, the 2024 Global Wood Summit announces Remi Lalonde as panel speaker; and registration is open for DEMO International 2024 in Venosta, Quebec.
Finally, how Artificial Intelligence can revolutionize how we design and build with wood.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Prince George, B.C. – DC Equipment proudly announces the opening of its new manufacturing facility in Prince George, marking the return of Madill equipment production to British Columbia. The first machines to be produced at this facility will be the Madill 3000B Log Loaders, heralding a new chapter in Madill’s rich history and strong heritage in B.C. “We are excited to bring Madill manufacturing back to its roots in British Columbia,” said Dale Ewers, Owner and Managing Director of DC Equipment. “This is more than just a strategic move for us; it’s about preserving and continuing the legacy of Madill, which has been a cornerstone of the logging industry for over a century.” …DC Equipment’s expansion into British Columbia is part of a broader strategic initiative to enable manufacturing at a local level whilst catering for global demand.
A closely-watched report on US inflation showed consumer price increases cooled during the month of May, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday morning. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained flat over the previous month and rose 3.3% over the prior year in May — a deceleration from April’s 0.3% month-over-month increase and 3.4% annual gain in prices. Both measures came in lower than economist expectations. It was the lowest monthly headline reading since July 2022. A decline in energy prices, led by a drop in gas prices, contributed to further downward pressure on headline CPI. …”The CPI release for May is very good news for the Federal Reserve and it is going to be even better news for the PCE price index, which will be released at the end of the month,” Raymond James’ Chief Economist Eugenio Aleman said.
Colorado School of Mines professor Shiling Pei’s research is helping lead the way for a revolution in construction using strong, lightweight, renewable timber. “We submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to ask, ‘can we build a resilient, tall wood building in seismic regions made of mass timber?'” Pei explained. Pei was part of a group that made history in San Diego. …Pei’s research tackled one key component: how a mass timber skyscraper would handle an earthquake. …This research, according to Pei, is invaluable for establishing that this building type, a carbon-storing renewable resource, can exist on the West Coast of the U.S. and become a preferred building type for skyscrapers. But what about Denver — an area without much seismic activity? According to Greg Kingsley, president of KL&A Engineers, the Mile High City has been at the forefront of mass timber building technology.
Concrete is perhaps the most commonly used building material in the world. With a bit of tweaking, it could help to power our homes too. On a laboratory bench in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a stack of polished cylinders of black-coloured concrete sit bathed in liquid and entwined in cables. To a casual observer, they aren’t doing much. But then Damian Stefaniuk flicks a switch. The blocks of human-made rock are wired up to an LED – and the bulb flickers into life. …Despite some new discoveries of lithium reserves, the finite supply of this material… has driven the search for alternative battery materials. This is where Stefaniuk and his concrete come in. He and his colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way of creating an energy storage device known as a supercapacitor from three basic, cheap materials – water, cement and a soot-like substance called carbon black.
GATINEAU
British Columbia’s CleanBC Industry Fund invests carbon taxes paid by large industries back into clean-technology projects that reduce emissions. …In 2023, 12 projects were approved under three funding streams for a total of $32.6 million. The recipients include… Skookumchuck Pulp in the Kootenbay region will demonstrate the direct firing of pulverized wood into its lime kiln to displace the combustion of natural gas without compromising lime production, quality or reliability. …Skookumchuk Pulp will also investigate the use of high-temperature pyrolysis on waste forestry residuals to produce high-quality/caloric content syngas while producing high-quality biochar….Canfor Pulp will explore the potential of renewable diesel as an alternative fuel to reduce emissions in the pulp industry’s transportation of raw materials. …Catalyst Paper will investigate options to enhance biofuel delivery at its Port Alberni site. Catalyst Paper will also investigate the opportunity of installing a heat-recovery system in the power boiler exhaust at its site. 
Cities concentrate problems that affect human well-being and biodiversity. Exploring the link between mental health and biodiversity can inform more holistic public health and urban planning. Here we examined associations between bird and tree species diversity estimates from eBird community science datasets and national forest inventories with self-rated mental health metrics from the Canadian Community Health Survey. We linked data across 36 Canadian Metropolitan Areas from 2007-2022 at a postal code level. After controlling for covariates, we found that bird and tree species diversity were significantly positively related to good self-reported mental health. Living in a postal code with bird diversity one standard deviation higher than the mean increased reporting of good mental health by 6.64%. Postal codes with tree species richness one standard deviation more than the mean increased reporting of good mental health by 5.36%. Our results suggest that supporting healthy urban ecosystems may also benefit human well-being.
