The US inflation rate slowed to its lowest level since March 2021, but housing inflation keeps interest rates elevated. In other Business news: Western Forest Products temporarily curtails some BC production; Canada invests in International Paper’s Grande Prairie mill; Quebec holds softwood talks with US homebuilders; and PacifiCorp is found liable for Oregon wildfire. Meanwhile: mass timber shines in warehouse construction and modular homes.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: 1% of Canada’s forests just burned; wildfire season puts BC’s year-round strategy to the test; is Eastern Canada following the West on fire; Florida undertakes 532 acre prescribed burn; and updates from BC-North and West, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. Meanwhile, Montana’s Flathead Forest plan passes Appeals Court endangered species review.
Finally, wildfire smoke is said to be ‘just as safe’ as cigarettes and fossil fuels.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Western Forest Products announced plans to temporarily reduce its lumber production over the next month by approximately 19 million board feet due to weak market conditions. The temporary reduction in lumber production will be spread across certain sawmills in the Company’s British Columbia manufacturing platform through the remainder of June and into early July. Remanufacturing and shipping operations will continue uninterrupted. Lumber production at impacted sites is expected to resume in mid-July depending on market conditions and available log supply. The Company will continue to evaluate market conditions on an ongoing basis with a view to maintain a balance between production and demand.
As amber waves of charred air settled over stretches of eastern North America, with respect to the vast damage that has settled in, it could be understood how many in CRE might have a secondary concern. Would the industry find significant blows to construction supply chains beyond what the pandemic saw? Probably not, according to multiple experts. However, that’s not the same as no impact. On June 9, lumber prices were $510 per thousand boardfeet, up 6.6% from a recent low of $478.50 on May 31. “Currently the Canadian fires have created a short-term uptick in pricing when purchasing lumber products which as of recent has been a flat and slow market,” Mickey’s VP said. He added, “It doesn’t appear that the fires will have a lasting effect on the lumber supply and production in the long term.” …Domain Timber Advisors said, “While we may see a small ripple effect, we don’t believe it will be extremely consequential. 
If it seems like Western Canada has been ablaze for much of the past several years, it’s because it actually has. …At the opposite end of the country… SOPFEU, Quebec’s fire protection agency, has burned more than 300 times the province’s 10-year average. But is this apparent surge in fire activity Mother Nature’s way of putting Eastern Canada’s residents on notice that they’re condemned to follow their western countrymen into a harsher fire regime? …When putting Quebec’s active fire season into context, Sylvie Gauthier, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, warned against relying too heavily on comparisons with annual averages. …“What really drives the fire regimes are the dry periods,” Ms. Gauthier said. “We had at the beginning of the 20th century, so from 1916 to 1923, huge seasons and consecutive seasons that were really dry where the real burn was really high in Quebec.”
An appeals court has decided that the Flathead National Forest management plan adequately addresses endangered species, now that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service updated its assessment of the plan. On Friday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filed a five-page memorandum in favor of the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, agreeing with federal district court Judge Donald Molloy that the Flathead National Forest properly considered public challenges to its 2018 Management Plan so the plan can stand. “Therefore, the Forest Service did not ignore any adverse impact of the (final environmental impact statement on grizzly bears and bull trout) and took ‘the requisite hard look’ at the environmental consequences of its actions, regardless whether Swan View agrees with its scientific conclusion,” the three-judge panel wrote.
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GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta — Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced funding of over $3.6 million to International Paper Company, in collaboration with Via Separations, for the implementation of a first-of-its-kind filtration technology aimed at reducing the energy intensity and carbon emissions associated with the kraft pulping process. The project is funded through the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program. …After successful pilot demonstrations of the technology, International Paper will be the first manufacturer to deploy Via’s Black Liquor Concentration System at commercial scale. The project will help minimize the mill’s carbon emissions, improve throughput and increase the production of valuable coproducts like converting the black liquor soap into crude tall oil. …This breakthrough filtration technology will lead to major environmental benefits and has significant replicability potential, providing valuable revenue diversification opportunities for mills across Canada.
Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources says there are 68 wildfires burning across the north of the province. A spokesperson says 26 of those fires are not under control, 18 are under control, 16 are being observed, and eight are being held. Since Sunday, 14 new fires were discovered and eight were extinguished. The ministry says there is heavy smoke across northeastern Ontario due to fires both in the province and in Quebec, with the smoke travelling as far north as Timmins and south past Sudbury and Parry Sound. Most of northern Ontario is under a high or extreme risk of wildfires. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has urged people in every region of the province not to light camp fires..jpg;w=960)