Paper Excellence, through its subsidiary Domtar, has entered into an agreement to acquire Resolute for $20.50 per share. In other Business news: CellMark expands recycling operations in Virginia; Via Rail issues strike mandate; and BC government negotiations break down with public service employees. On the Market front: US total construction is up, while global softwood trade slowed in early 2022.
In Forestry/Climate news: perspectives on BC’s forest policy by the TLA’s Bob Brash; writer Ian MacNeill; BC Minister Josie Osborne; and Climate Hub’s Rob Miller. Meanwhile, two perspectives on Oregon’s wildfire risk map; and wildfire updates from BC, the Yukon, and California.
Finally, Japan’s forestry industry tests robots to address chronic labour shortages.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
There are many times when I’ve been frustrated by the headlines sensationalizing protests about forest management in BC. The relentlessness of the attacks on our forest sector becomes, right or wrong, numbing. …I’m not talking about the legal and passionate protests and dialogue about the future of forest management in BC. This is about those that flout the law, discourage real discussion, discourage democracy, and have a new brand of colonialism. One protest group dumped a pile of manure at the front door of Premier Horgan’s constituency office. Wow, that is really mature. Next, Minister Conroy’s home phone number was published online and both she and her family members received threatening messages. Wow, what kind of person does that?
The Province is releasing the third annual report on efforts to ensure B.C. is a place where the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples are respected, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit people can thrive. The 2021-2022 Declaration Act Annual Report highlights progress made in implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration) and advancing reconciliation in B.C. Highlights include:
Construction spending during May 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,779.8 billion, 0.1 percent (±0.8 percent)* below the revised April estimate of $1,782.5 billion. The May figure is 9.7 percent (±1.3 percent) above the May 2021 estimate of $1,621.9 billion. During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $686.9 billion, 11.0 percent (±1.0 percent) above the $619.0 billion for the same period in 2021. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,436.0 billion, virtually unchanged (±0.7 percent)* from the revised April estimate of $1,435.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $938.2 billion in May, 0.2 percent (±1.3 percent)* above the revised April estimate of $935.9 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $497.8 billion in May, 0.4 percent (±0.7 percent)* below the revised April estimate of $499.9 billion.
Global trade of softwood lumber slowed in early 2022, in particular lumber headed to China, the US, and Germany, where import volumes were down in the range of 6-20% from the same period in 2021. Wood trade will likely continue to slide in 2Q22 due to inflation going up in Europe and the US, as this impacts consumer spending. In addition, China is reducing new housing construction, the ongoing war in Ukraine is causing changes in trade flows and increasing energy costs, and general consumer sentiment in the marketplace is getting more anxious. The sanctions against trade with Russia by Europe, Japan, South Korea, and a few other countries in Asia will considerably impact the global trade of lumber in the second half of 2022. In 2Q22, lumber was still being shipped from Russia to many European countries, but this trade will end when many contracts expire in early 3Q22. 
For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples lived in and around the forests of BC. …When taking from the forest, they held ceremonies to ask permission and only took what was needed, being careful to cause as little damage as possible. With this care and respect, they acted as an integral part of nature and the ecosystem thrived indefinitely. …There’s a strong backlash due to fear that climate action will threaten existing socioeconomic systems and those who benefit from them. Forestry corporations and their workers are aggressively fighting any change that results in restrictions on their harvests of high-value timber. They threaten layoffs, loss of government resource revenues and play down the future financial risks of continuing with the current method of forest management. …The time has come to adopt a more Indigenous worldview where our connection to nature is of greater importance than our connection to consumer products.
EAGLE POINT, Oregon — The Oregon Department of Forestry has many ways to spot lightning-caused fires. This becomes vital when thunderstorms are rolling in. With recent fires that were started by a strike of lightning, ODF has the ability to spot smoke in remote areas. Their detection center is set up with monitors for employees to keep an eye out for any columns of smoke. This tool helps ODF allocate the correct resources in a more strategic way. “Our detection center is a very valuable resource in that aspect as well,” says Oregon Department of Forestry’s Public Information Officer Natalie Weber. She says that lightning-caused fires have the potential to spread faster as crews have a harder time getting to remote areas. Searching for the specific area where lighting hit is a time when ODF would search in the air.
Wildfires are breaking out across Yukon as lightning pummels the territory and a heat wave wears on, a fire information officer says. Mike Fancie of Yukon Wildland Fire Management says about 20 fires a day have been sparked beginning on the long weekend, bringing the total this year to 155 wildfires that have burned 45,000 hectares. Fancie described the proportion of fires caused by lightning as “stupendously high” at 97 per cent, compared with about 70 per cent in a typical year with the remainder being caused by humans. On Monday alone, there were more than 3,000 lightning strikes, 484 of which were positive strikes that carry with them increased fire danger, he said. “The sheer volume of lightning activity and new fires over the past few days have totally obliterated that statistic,” he said. The fires come as Environment Canada issued a heat warning for much of the territory…
