The Tyee’s Ben Parfitt concludes the last of his series on forestry in BC. In related news: International Paper to cut jobs in San Antonio; Hurricane Helene damage puts North Carolina rail line out of commission for months; and the European Central Bank lowers its key rate again this year. Meanwhile, the Canadian pulp industry struggles to replace retirees with new hires; and the benefits of building with mass timber are exhibited in Syracuse, New York.
In Forestry/Climate news: an Albertan pulp mill is fined for an unregulated release into fish-bearing waters; more transparency is needed about wildfire management; Europe is not ready for increasing climate change weather; and conservation groups in Canada celebrate a major funding milestone. Meanwhile: researchers promote assisted migration in tree-planting strategies; landslides are modelled in California with more precision; and a breakthrough in understanding the relationship between plant growth and disease resistance.
Finally, the ‘absurd’ idea of burying wood to store carbon.
Suzanne Hopkinson, Tree Frog Editor
Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad has a long association with the forest industry in British Columbia. His family ran a sawmill in Prince George and Rustad headed his own forest consulting firm. …But the industry is in trouble because it can’t get enough trees to cut down. Rustad blames government. Access to trees to log has become “a slow, complex and costly ordeal,” Rustad states on the BC Conservative website. Rustad has hammered on the image of an industry crippled by bureaucratic red tape for some time. …It is a criticism that has caught the NDP’s attention….The Conservatives assert and the NDP acknowledge that there is a problem here. BC Timber Sales is a vital source of logs for some companies that don’t hold secure government licences granting them exclusive rights of access to publicly owned timber.
ASHVILLE, North Carolina — Norfolk Southern Railway track running through Asheville, North Carolina, will be out of service for at least three months due to damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The deadly Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26, severely flooding and damaging infrastructure and homes across multiple southern states. Hundreds of NS railroaders have been working to restore rail service on impacted rail lines as quickly as possible, NS said on its website. The railroad’s AS Line runs between Morristown, Tennessee, to Salisbury, North Carolina. Knoxville, Tennessee-based WBIR-TV reported yesterday on the status of the AS Line and its impact on the Asheville community. Service has been restored to AS Line track between Morristown and Newport, Tennessee, and between Salisbury and Old Fort, North Carolina. Track between Newport and Old Fort, which run through Asheville, will require significant repair and replacement.
NEW YORK, NY — Mercer International reported its preliminary financial results for the third quarter of 2024. For the third quarter ending September 30th, 2024, Mercer reported revenues of $502.1 million, up from $499.4 million in the second quarter of 2024, and a net loss of $17.6 million, compared to a net loss of $67.6 million in the second quarter. …Mr. Juan Carlos Bueno, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We continued to see strength in softwood pulp markets with relatively flat fiber costs in the third quarter of 2024. However, our operating results for the quarter were constrained due to the occurrence of several unrelated events that impacted pulp production, including the previously announced unscheduled downtime of 23 days (approximately 35,500 ADMTs) at our Mercer Peace River mill, a slower than normal maintenance start-up and other production upsets at our Stendal Mill.
The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate to 3.25%, in its third quarter-percentage-point reduction of the year. The move at the October meeting had been fully priced by markets after policymakers flagged reduced inflation risks and a weakening growth outlook. The ECB’s Governing Council called the process of disinflation “well on track” in its most optimistic statement in the current cycle. “The inflation outlook is also affected by recent downside surprises in indicators of economic activity,” it said. Headline price rises in the euro area eased to 1.8% in September, coming in below the central bank’s 2% target for the first time in three years. The ECB once again forecast that inflation would “rise in the coming months, before declining to target in the course of next year.” It is the first time the ECB has reduced rates at consecutive meetings since December 2011.
The operator of a pulp mill in northwestern Alberta has been fined $1 million for letting almost 31 million litres of toxic wastewater flow into the Peace River. Environment and Climate Change Canada says the effluent released in April 2021 was “acutely lethal” to fish. Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. pleaded guilty last month to a section of the Fisheries Act. The conviction means the company’s name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The federal government says the pulp mill was shut down for maintenance and waste was directed to a spill pond, where it was to be stored until it could be gradually treated and released into the river. But the investigation found there wasn’t enough room in the pond for that additional effluent.
GEORGIA — Researchers at the University of Georgia have identified a promising approach to addressing a longstanding challenge for plant geneticists: balancing disease resistance and growth in plants. The breakthrough could help protect plants from disease in the future while also promoting higher biomass yields to support sustainable food supplies for both humans and animals, production of biofuels and lumber, and more. “Combating pathogens has been a top challenge in agriculture,” said C.J. Tsai, a professor in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. “Solutions that balance disease resistance and growth are much needed.” …Salicylic acid-based strategies have long been known to enhance resistance to pests and pathogens, but practical applications were hindered by the reduction in yield. This study offers a method to separate growth suppression from the defense response, opening the door to use both salicylic acid and cold-regulated genes in agriculture without compromising crop success.
Today, Jaime Battiste, Member of Parliament for Sydney–Victoria, Nova Scotia, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, along with the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) Cape Breton announced a joint investment of more than $1.2 million to plant over 208,000 trees in eastern Cape Breton through the 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program… The 2BT program helps to clean the air, create jobs and fight climate change while protecting nature. By working together with provinces, territories, local communities, non- and for-profit organizations and Indigenous Peoples, Canada continues to build a strong, healthy and green future for generations to come.
