Economists Jock Finlayson and Ken Peacock opine on BC’s forestry decline and how to reverse course. In related news: why BC’s forests are an election issue; and the inaugural Global Wood Summit — what’s next for forest products. In Company news: Mercer’s Peace River, Alberta mill is fined for a Fisheries Act violation; PowerWood launched its new facility in Agassiz, BC; Kruger Kamloops employs AI technology; Rayonier (RYAM) reported a fire at its Jesup, Georgia mill; Enviva’s bankruptcy wipes out its shareholders; and International Paper’s shareholders approve acquisition of DS Smith.
In Forestry/Climate news: Bjorn Lomborg says despite green investments the world uses more fossil fuels than ever; Manitoba’s Interlake forests are back from the ashes; Stanley Park embarks on the next round of looper moth recovery; Ontario needs more Indigenous participation in forestry; Nebraska Tribes secure Arbor Day Foundation grants; and Oregon debates logging’s role in wildfire resiliency.
Finally, going back in time—the Pacific Northwest and Arizona logging history.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
The forest products sector has long served as B.C.’s leading source of exports and a key driver of jobs and other business activity across the province. …A host of policy changes adopted by the province have slashed fibre supply, sterilized an ever-growing portion of the Crown land base, increased operating costs for logging contractors and lumber companies, and created endless delays and uncertainty across all segments of the industry. …Current policy directions point to further pain in the next few years. What can be done to improve the outlook for B.C.’s foundational forest industry? The near-term priority should be to stabilize and then gradually increase the accessible fibre supply. …A second priority is to advance agreements with First Nations to increase their role in the forest sector. Another policy commitment should be to accelerate innovative management and regulatory models to expedite land use planning, speed up regulatory decision-making, improve wildfire mitigation and pursue biodiversity goals.
The state of B.C.’s forest sector and the global forest products industry and market overall will be the topic of the first Global Wood Summit in Vancouver. B.C. forestry consultant Russ Taylor and ERA Forest Products Research have teamed up to organize the two-day summit which takes place Oct. 29 and 30. Industry experts on markets in the U.S., Sweden, Russia, China and Japan will discuss global forest products and pulp and paper markets and trade, and emerging sectors such as engineered wood manufacturing. …The summit will include a panel on the Chinese and North American lumber markets, and sessions on pulp and paper. Panel experts will include John Brink, the B.C. wood manufacturing veteran who recently announced plans to acquire shuttered Canfor mills. …“Companies are bleeding ink right now,” Taylor said. “The third quarter results have come out – they’re going to be horrible. But prices are now picking up, so we’re trying to figure out what’s next.”
Despite huge enthusiasm for shifting from fossil fuels to green energy, this transition just isn’t happening. Implementing a significant change in our current trajectory would be prohibitively expensive. A major policy overhaul is needed. On a global scale, we are investing nearly $2 trillion annually to create an energy transition. In the last 10 years, solar and wind power use has reached unprecedented levels. However, this increase hasn’t led to a reduction in fossil fuel consumption. In fact, fossil fuel use has grown during this period. Numerous studies show that adding renewable energy adds to energy consumption instead of replacing coal, gas or oil. …Solar and wind are entirely deployed in the electricity sector, which makes up just one-fifth of all global energy use. We are dealing with a small part of a vast challenge and ignoring all the “too hard” problems like steel, cement, plastics and fertilizer.
