Canada’s federal budget is pouring billions into clean energy development, and recognizes benefits of forest sector. In other Business news: Prince Rupert port to provide BC some supply chain relief; Drax Group asked to drop BC Timber Sales; Hoover Treated Wood breaks ground in Texas; ND Paper is curtailing Old Town Maine pulp mill; Maine’s top polluters include four paper mills; and New York’s Pallets Inc. is sold to Quebec’s Damabois Group.
In Forestry/Climate news: a new study says conserving wildlife can help mitigate climate change; BC First Nation declares a large protected area; Washington employs prescribed burns ahead of fire season; Montana timber management mimics natural processes; and Alice Palmer asks—can we log our forest and conserve it too?
Finally, the Canadian Wood Council’s 39th annual Wood Design Award Winners.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
The Forest Products Association of Canada was pleased to see Minister Chrystia Freeland signal renewed support for Canada’s forest sector and its workers and communities. She clearly outlined the leadership role forestry and forest products can play in growing Canada’s green economy. Minister Freeland pledged $368.4 million over three years toward Indigenous leadership in the sector, forestry research and development, low-carbon building construction, and support to bring more sustainably sourced Canadian forest products to the world. …In the face of worsening and more catastrophic fire patterns, today’s budget recognized that we need to do more to build new markets for stranded wood fibre and wood waste, realize the climate benefits of our biomass here at home, and help maximize carbon sinks in our forests. The budget rightly noted that forest biomass and biofuels provide a critical energy source and create much-needed economic growth for forestry businesses
B.C.’s Asia-Pacific Gateway needs more than port infrastructure upgrades to deliver an efficient flow of imports and exports. …The good news is that B.C. ports are spearheading several major projects aimed at improving cargo-handling capacity. Earlier this month, the Prince Rupert Port Authority announced that its $250 million Ridley Island Export Logistics Project had passed the federal government’s environmental review process. …The complex, which will take an estimated two years to complete, will provide the Port of Prince Rupert with bulk and breakbulk transload facilities, an intermodal rail yard and a container storage yard. The project’s first phase will create an estimated 400,000 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of additional port capacity to move everything from plastic pellets and cereal grains to lumber and pulp in containers directly from railcars to ships. …The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is also waiting for a federal cabinet decision on its proposed $3.2 billion Terminal 2 expansion project at Roberts Bank. 
A major shareholder in Drax Group Plc is pushing the UK utility to drop some licenses to harvest trees for biomass in Canada. Drax, whose biomass sustainability was scrutinized in a documentary last year, was asked by Schroder Investment Management Ltd. to transfer or dispose of its existing so-called Category Two licenses within the next 12 months, according to a public letter by Schroders to the chairs of the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee. The licenses allow access to plots of land in British Columbia and are issued by BC Timber Sales, a government agency that manages about 20% of the province’s allowable annual cut for public timber. The pressure is a sign of heightened investor concerns around companies’ environmental impact and the use of biomass in power production just as European Union policymakers debate what types of fuel can contribute to renewable energy goals. 
The complexity of the U.S. housing market continues to yield headwinds and tailwinds for lumber into 2023. …For a decade, these supply-side and demand-side factors brewed a perfect storm of high lumber demand and low supply to be unleashed during the Covid-19 Pandemic, as Americans sought more expansive accommodation under lockdown, boosted by low interest rates. …Despite extraordinary prices and demand, Canadian lumber exports have yet to return to pre-recession levels. The availability of lumber is a limiting factor for home building and the lumber supply chain is highly inelastic to demand. …In 2023, lumber supply and demand has somewhat returned prices to pre-Pandemic levels. There is sufficient supply sitting with wholesalers, and housing completions have exceeded expectations recently, meaning fewer projects are demanding lumber. It is unknown how long this dynamic will last, as sawmills have announced curtailments and building season will be underway.
Ottawa, ON – The Canadian Wood Council has announced the winning projects of the 39
We are pleased to share our annual report and encourage anyone interested in getting an understanding of all we accomplished in 2022 to have a look. Last year was the first year of work toward implementing AWC’s five-year Strategic Plan to ensure wood products are properly recognized in building codes and standards, while also providing strong advocacy support to protect the industry from overreaching federal environmental regulations and embarking on new opportunities to expand wood use through an emerging carbon-conscious built environment. AWC has quickly assumed a leadership role in shaping and driving our industry’s engagement on climate change and carbon in the built environment. We launched our life cycle inventory database and outperformed our year one collection goal with 87% of member company mills completing surveys. There is also a downloadable compilation pdf at the end of the report that can be shared with colleagues and friends. 
Solving the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis are not separate issues. Animals remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. Restoring species will help limit global warming, new science reveals. Protecting wildlife across the world could significantly enhance natural carbon capture and storage by supercharging ecosystem carbon sinks, 