North Carolina allows Enviva Pellets to expand in exchange for new air pollution controls. In other Company news: West Fraser’s Hinton Pulp Mill transition update; Mercer’s Peace River pulp mill is a Top Employer; Kruger’s Kamloops mill get’s Union nod; International Paper on Fortune’s Most Admired List; Paper Excellence supports Ducks Unlimited Canada; and Rayonier reports positive Q4, 2022. Meanwhile, some trend-stories on lumber and forestry costs, building permits, and new-home lot inventories.
In Forestry/Climate news: addressing Ontario’s forest sector labour shortages; praise for increased freight data in Canada; Thunder Bay to promote its resource sector; and an Indigenous forester says using biomass for energy can help the carbon balance.
Finally, according to Vox, palm oil is actually not that bad (anymore).
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Transport Canada in January said the Canadian government approved amendments to the transportation information regulations that would require major railways to supply additional freight rail data. This data will be published weekly. …“The real sort of advantage to having more of this granular information about the railways’ performance and their operations is that it gives us a better line of sight,” said Joel Neuheimer, at the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC). …Neuheimer also maintains this will also help shippers with the ability to manage their supply chains better because they will have a better glimpse into what sort of rail capacity is available. Furthermore, the data will differentiate commodities even further, so it’s not just “forest products” but lumber versus pulp and paper products, according to Neuheimer.
PRINCE GEORGE, BC — Any displaced forestry workers looking to get back into the sector are in luck. Mercer International is hosting a two-day career fair in Prince George, looking for skilled workers to join their operations in Peace River and Castlegar. …Megan Cook explained… “We’re always looking for talented, energetic people to join our team and the Prince George/central interior region is well-known for innovative people, particularly in the forest industry… so it seems natural to us to be here to share our vision to, hopefully, prospective employees. We are excited to be here,”. Cook mentioned Mercer had previously planned the career prior to some of the recent shakeups in the forestry sector in the north. …“While we are aware that there has been some displacement of workers in our industry recently, attending career fairs to expand our network is important to us.”
Zonda’s New Home Lot Supply Index (LSI) for the last quarter of 2022 shows lot supply loosened year over year across the U.S. The residential real estate indicator, which is based on the number of single-family vacant developed lots and the rate at which those lots are absorbed, came in at 49.1 for Q4 2022, representing a 27.5% increase from Q4 2021. The LSI is now back to late 2020/early 2021 levels, according to Zonda. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, supply increased by 24.9%, up from the third quarter. Despite the increase, the data still reflects a “significantly undersupplied” market nationally. …Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda said, “With both sales and starts lower than the frenzied pace seen over the past few years, there are early signs that availability for lots, materials, and labor are improving. 
Open science and open data are increasingly important tools for addressing global challenges such as forest and climate change. The Forest Declaration, adopted in 2022 at the XV World Forestry Congress in Seoul, encourages wide uptake of technologies for the provision of and equitable access to accurate information on forests. Knowledge enables evidence-based decision making and drives positive forest and landscape changes. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) is working to promote the use of open science and open data in the forest sector. Over the last three years, FAO led the implementation of the ‘
A new business innovation network is launching on the West Coast, aimed at helping British Columbia transition to a clean, net-zero economy. “Foresight’s Net Zero Innovation Network will help support the adoption and growth of clean tech in B.C. This will help to meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets, drive economic growth, and enhance industrial competitiveness,” said Adam Walker, Parliamentary Secretary for the Sustainable Economy. Foresight Canada, with $2.3 million in support from the Province and $5.2 million from Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan), is creating the BC Net Zero Innovation Network to support clean-tech innovators and adopters to compete, attract investment and talent, and help them grow faster while bringing their products to market. …A final report released in June 2020 recommended the development of a new clean-tech cluster organization with focuses on water, mining and agriculture alongside energy, transportation and forestry.
John Manitowabi’s wood-pellet stove comfortably heats his home throughout the winter in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory in northern Ontario. His old diesel furnace has been relegated to backup status, where he’s happy to leave it; this new stove, which uses pellets made from regional logging scraps, saves him an estimated $400 per year on diesel. Forest biomass — the practice of burning forestry byproducts to generate energy — isn’t perfect. Some environmentalists warn that it still generates carbon emissions and puts forests at risk of overharvesting. But it is nevertheless a viable option, and one that can have positive impacts for Indigenous communities. Manitowabi is the director of the Wiikwemkoong Department of Lands and Natural Resources. With the rise of fuel costs and concern about the climate crisis, the Wiikwemkoong Development Commission launched a project in 2020 to install wood- pellet heating systems in the community.