Progress is reported on efforts to contain major wildfires in California, Oregon and Central Newfoundland, while a new fire in Spain forces the evacuation of 1500 people. In related news: Oregon’s wildfire map will not increase insurance rates; and a meteorologist on increasing safety in aerial firefighting. Elsewhere: US Congress bets on nature to tackle climate change; while Australia and Japan look to using more timber.
In Business news: Arkansas celebrates surge in mill upgrades; Mondi sells its Russian packaging mill; James Hardie announces succession plan; and lower earnings by Taiga Building Products. Meanwhile: Paul Quinn on the latest lumber stats; and NAHB on rising building materials prices.
Finally, Nick Offerman plays Smell That Wood; and Finland’s Tree Hugging Championship.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
ARKANSAS — In the last 15 months, forest products companies operating in Arkansas have announced at least $309 million in improvements to sawmills in the state, in addition to a $10 million investment to restart a paper machine in Ashdown. What’s behind this surge in announced sawmill updates and expansions? Historically high lumber prices. “It’s the crazy market that we’ve had for the last two or three years now, the roller-coaster prices that have generated unprecedented profits in the sawmill business,” said Steve Anthony, president of Anthony Timberlands. “There’s been some 4 billion board feet of announcements over the U.S. South in the past year,” said Matthew Pelkki, at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. “There’s a lot of activity going on, not just in Arkansas. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama have all seen some substantial mill announcements. That’s largely looking at capturing those lumber prices. [to access the full story an Arkansas Business subscription may be required]
The Western Wood Products Association (WWPA) released May 2022 softwood lumber stats. North American softwood lumber production in May was up 2.8% m/m but down 1.2% y/y – Production in May was down 1.3% y/y in the US and down 1.0% y/y in Canada. US production decreased 2.7% m/m, due to a 4.8% m/m decrease in the US South (-0.4% y/y), and a 2.8% m/m decrease in US Other (-1.4% y/y), partially offset by a 0.7% m/m increase in the US West (-2.6% y/y). In Canada, production was up 12.3% m/m, driven by a 13.0% m/m increase East of the Rockies (+4.5% y/y), and an 11.2% m/m increase in British Columbia (-9.5% y/y). While we think the data likely still reflects a certain amount of logistics constraints, we think it is notable that production in the US South was lower y/y and m/m in May, and will watch this trend closely given expected capacity increases in the region through the balance of 2022.
Different name, same face. The Vancouver chapter of Extinction Rebellion has spawned another protest sub-brand that threatens to disrupt traffic Monday for an anti-shale gas march from Vancouver city hall to the CBC studios, via the Cambie Bridge. The central coordinator of Stop Fracking Around (SFA) is Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq, the Save Old Growth (SOG) co-founder. The 21-year-old Pakistani Simon Fraser University student was detained by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in June for allegedly violating terms of his student visa. Haq was freed after a closed-door Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) hearing on June 23, but neither IRB nor CBSA will comment on the outcome. …SOG’s website says the group receives most of its funding for recruitment, training, capacity building and education from the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), a California-based charity whose board includes an heiress to the Getty oil fortune. …Haq did not respond for comment.
The landmark Inflation Reduction Act that passed Friday includes $369 billion in climate- and energy-related funding — much of it aimed at high-tech solutions to help nudge the world’s biggest historical emitter toward a greener future. But beyond those headline-making investments, the legislation acknowledges a less-heralded but essential part of the effort to combat climate change: nature. …Tom Cors at the Nature Conservancy called new funding to protect forests and boost climate-friendly agriculture practices a “once-in-a-generation investment.” The money set aside for “nature-based” climate solutions includes about $20 billion for agricultural conservation and $5 billion to safeguard forests around the country. …To slow Earth’s warming, humans will have to rely on a major assist from trees, wetlands, peatland and other landscapes that soak up massive amounts of carbon dioxide each year. But land also releases greenhouse gases back into the atmosphere as wildfires burn, forests are razed, permafrost melts or wetlands are drained.
The evolution, emergence and spread of novel pathogens has been widely discussed even before the first case of COVID-19 was reported in 2019. A team of researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received a $2.75 million grant to identify disease mitigation strategies that will minimize the risk of amphibian pathogens spreading from captive pet populations to wild populations and negatively impacting biodiversity. The project, “Socioeconomic and Epidemiological Drivers of Pathogen Dynamics in Wildlife Trade Networks,” is being funded by the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program… The goal of the study is to identify how socio-economic decisions and pathogen dynamics impact each other in a wildlife trade network. …Many infectious outbreaks, like that of monkeypox, chronic wasting disease and COVID-19, have been linked to wildlife trade. These outbreaks cost economies trillions of dollars, cripple biodiversity and result in substantial loss of human life.
As wildfires begin to be something of a year-round hazard for hotspots around the world, the spotlight on safety in aerial firefighting operations is increasing in intensity. Understanding wildfire behavior is a key element to safe operation, and to best understand wildfire behavior, you need to know how various weather conditions impact wildfires. Specific wildfire weather elements are provided by government meteorological services. Helicopter pilots working a wildfire will check these wildfire weather forecasts, as well as following their own individual routine for getting weather information prior to takeoff. …Significant fires require a multifaceted response directed from a command center, typically located close to the fire site. In an almost military-type operation, both land crews and aerial support will be engaged in the control effort. …Aerial operations (or air ops) will have their own briefing, with special emphasis on the weather conditions that will affect aircraft assignments.
CALIFORNIA — Crews on Sunday were close to fully containing the McKinney Fire, the largest fire in the North State this year. Firefighters had a containment line around 95% of the 60,392-acre fire Sunday. The blaze, which broke out July 29, is burning about 15 miles west of Yreka in Siskiyou County. The fire has destroyed 185 structures and killed four people, mostly in and around the tiny community of Klamath River. The Alex and Yeti fires, which also are burning along the Klamath River west of Yreka, have also been nearly encircled by a line to contain the fire, according to the U.S. Forest Service. …So far this year, 181,252 acres have burned across the state. In 2021, more than 1.3 million acres had burned in California, as of Aug. 8. Over the past five years, the average number of acres burned in California is 623,202 acres.
MADRID —