Global deforestation dropped by 6.3% in 2021, short of the annual 10% cut needed to end deforestation by 2030 (per UN Glasgow pledge). In related news: a boreal deforestation film is set to screen in Ottawa; and FSC rule changes allows for certification of some cleared lands. In other Forestry news: the USFS Chief defends manager arrested for prescribed fire that went astray; and new research on forest recovery after fire in Montana.
In Business news: Paper Excellence is poised to become a pulp giant; Unifor reaches deal with Ear Falls Ontario sawmill; Alberta has a new Minister of Forests; and the Wood Products Manufacturers Association has a new board. Meanwhile, markets trend lower for US housing, lumber prices, packaging papers, and recycled cardboard.
Finally, an open access synthesis of US Wildland Fire Smoke Science is now available.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Paper Excellence, a Richmond-headquartered company, is now poised to become one of North America’s biggest pulp and paper companies. Last year, the company roughly doubled in size and international scope with the acquisition of Domtar for $3 billion and a Brazilian pulp and paper company for $2.9 billion. On October 31, shareholders with Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products will vote on a proposal by Paper Excellence to acquire the company, through its new subsidiary Domtar and its affiliates for $2.7 billion. Should the deal be approved, Domtar, with headquarters in both Montreal and South Carolina, will become Resolute’s parent company, with Paper Excellence the parent of Domtar. Greenpeace and other environmental groups are raising concerns with the acquisition, however. Paper Excellence has not yet responded to BIV’s request for an interview. But in the report itself, officials with both Paper Excellence and APP disavow any connection with each other, apart from a family connection.
A year ago, business was booming for Touchstone Living Inc. The Nevada builder had a list of 639 qualified buyers who wanted homes in its development about 15 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip. Today, that list has shriveled to about 30. Many would-be buyers are unable to qualify for loans since mortgage rates have surged to 6.94%, their highest level since 2002 and more than double the rate of a year ago. …Mr. McCormick said his new company has less debt and fewer lenders than his former company did heading into the 2007-09 recession, and has grown more slowly and bought less land. “I’ve learned my lesson,” he said. Still, he said, “I’ve never seen it change this fast,” …”How rapidly things have deteriorated is pretty remarkable,” said Ivy Zelman of real-estate research and advisory firm Zelman & Associates.
New guidance for the B.C. government from the Declaration Act Secretariat provides best practices for working with Indigenous Peoples on the development of provincial laws and policies, which advance Indigenous rights. The Interim Approach to Implement the Requirements of Section 3 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Interim Approach) is a world-leading project released by the Province’s new Indigenous-led Declaration Act Secretariat. …The Interim Approach is the first outcome delivered by the Declaration Act Secretariat, which was formed earlier this year. The secretariat is led by associate deputy minister Jessica Wood/Si Sityaawks, and was created to co-ordinate and assist cross-government actions to ensure provincial laws align with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration) as set out in Section 3 of B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act).
MANISTIQUE, Michigan — Bluesource Sustainable Forests has purchased 29,019 acres of forestland in the Upper Peninsula from The Lyme Timber Company. …This property will be part of over 90 North American forest carbon projects covering over four million acres that Anew Climate, LLC currently manages in partnership with landowners. Eleven of these locations are also located in Michigan. Anew said that acquired properties will be managed under sustainable working forest practices that prioritize carbon sequestration and long-term forest health while maintaining a level of commercial harvest that supports the local economy and the climate. When BSFC is ready, they plan to initiate a selective logging operation below annual growth levels. This will allow the forests to continue to be working forestlands to support the local economy and produce high value forest products, while also developing carbon credits.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has adopted a number of significant changes during its recent general assembly in Bali, chief among them moving its cutoff date for eligibility from 1994 to 2020. With the change, logging companies that have cleared forests since 1994, but before 2020, will be allowed to obtain certification from the body, something they weren’t allowed to do before. To qualify, companies will have to restore forests and provide remedy for social harms done in the 1994-2020 period in their concessions. The decision has sparked responses from both critics and supporters, with the former saying the new rule rewards known deforesters, and the latter saying it opens opportunities for forest restoration and remedies for Indigenous and local communities.
