Mercer International curtailed pulp production at its Stendal pulp mill due to a woodyard fire. In other Business news: the pending ban on Russian wood pellets will impact lumber production; Canada’s GDP rose .3% in April; and falling commodity prices raise hopes that inflation has peaked.
In Forestry/Climate news: Lawrie McFarlane on why police hesitate to confront protesters; MNP’s Jason Fisher on the risks & rewards of forest carbon offsets; Stephan Ellerbeck on fungi’s climate change role; and Colorado researchers make carbon-neutral cement with the help of micro-algae. Meanwhile: US ENGOs sue to stop logging in Montana and Oregon, while a California court allows thinning to proceed; and wildfire outbreaks in the Yukon and Peru.
Finally, to our readers celebrating nationhood in the US, happy Independence Day!
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Mercer International announced that a fire has occurred in the woodyard at its Stendal, Germany pulp mill. We currently believe that there have been no injuries, and that mill personnel and local communities are not in danger. We are currently assessing the damage which appears to be isolated to the woodchip storage area and conveyor equipment. Due to the initial and ongoing containment activities we have commenced shutdown procedures and will be curtailing pulp production. …The fire broke out in the conveyor systems between chippers and chip piles, according to reports. The fire then spread to the entire conveyor line and one pile. According to local media, it is feared that the fire might spread to the production plant. Pulp production has been shut down and will be at a standstill for several days. 
Starting July 10, the Russian wood pellet exports to Europe will be completely stopped. From this date, EU sanctions will come into effect, limiting the supply of wood products from Russia and Belarus. This is the main market for Russian companies. …“Except for Europe, almost no one took Russian pellets,” says Valery Pisarev, general director of LHK Cherepovetsles, “So with the closure of European markets, they will have nowhere to go. You can’t deliver pellets to China – the price simply won’t allow it.” According to him, this may lead to sawmills not being able to recycle woodworking waste and will be forced to reduce lumber production. Alexander Konyukhov, Deputy Director for Production at SevLesPil, confirms. In Konyukhov’s opinion, sawdust can be supplied to panel mills for chipboard and OSB production. However, this is possible only for 15–20% of sawdust in the total volume of wood raw materials. 
Statistics Canada reported that real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.3% in April, following a 0.7% expansion in March, led by the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector and client-facing industries. …The construction sector was essentially unchanged in April, following three months of growth as subsectors were evenly split between increases and decreases. Residential building construction contracted 1.2% in April following three months of growth. Weaker activity in home alterations and improvements more than offset across the board expansions in all types of new residential building construction. Repair construction was down for the first time in four months, decreasing 1.5% in April, as contractions in both the residential and non‐residential repair activities contributed to the decline. …Non‐residential building construction also rose (+1.4%) in April, as all types of new non‐residential building construction were up.
A slide in all manner of raw-materials prices—corn, wheat, copper and more—is stirring hopes that a significant source of inflationary pressure might be starting to ease. …U.S. crude slipped from highs above $120 a barrel to end around $106. Wheat, corn and soybeans all wound up cheaper. …Benchmark prices for building materials copper and lumber dropped 22% and 31%, respectively. …Many raw materials remain historically high-price, to be sure. …Yet some investors are starting to view the reversals as a sign that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow the economy are reducing demand. …Higher mortgage rates have cooled the market for new homes and popped the pandemic lumber bubble. Meanwhile, coronavirus lockdowns in China and a shift in U.S. consumer spending from goods to services, such as travel and entertainment, have dimmed the outlook for cotton and copper demand. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
India produces gigantic amounts of plastic waste – over 3.5 million tonnes a year – & over a third of this is not recycled, creating a health and environment nightmare. As a solution to this intractable problem, India decided to ban the use of single-use plastic products such as straws, polythene bags etc. effective July 1. …It is important to note that other plastic products — like water bottles, soda bottles, chips packets, etc — aren’t covered under the ban. …The ban on single-use plastics has led to an increase in demand for wood and bamboo dealers as manufacturers are now looking to switch to eco-friendly options, according to a report by Just Dial, which helps users find all kinds of vendors through its large database. …Demand also shot up for a wide range of wooden cutlery like spoons, knives, forks, wooden trays, stirrers, ice cream spoons and bamboo sticks.
TEMAGAMI, ONTARIO—…
BAKERSFIELD, California — Two forest-thinning projects in the Frazier Park area have taken a significant step forward with a pair of recent federal court decisions not to rehear further challenges by conservation groups. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for work to begin on a 1,200-acre project above Cuddy Valley that the U.S. Forest Service says will address tree mortality and reduce a dangerous accumulation of fuels in that portion of the Los Padres National Forest. A separate but related 1,626-acre project the Forest Service plans to undertake further west at the base of Mount Pinos also received a favorable ruling. …The two court decisions, bring to a close about three years of legal wrangling over forest-thinning efforts the federal government says are necessary for wildfire safety and forest health.
On June 7, Central Oregon LandWatch and five other environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service over its decision to allow logging of large and old-growth trees across 7 million acres. For over 25 years, forest rules known as the Eastside Screens have protected our national forests across Central and Eastern Oregon. One element of the Eastside Screens prohibited logging of any tree larger than 21 inches in diameter, providing bedrock protections for our biggest trees from timber sales. …The Forest Service overstepped its legal duties to responsibly manage our forests when it rolled back the 21-inch rule’s protections for Central and Eastern Oregon’s forests. This is why we’re going to court to see those protections restored. We again call on President Biden, Sen. Wyden and Sen. Merkley to work with the Forest Service to first reinstate the 21-inch rule.
The federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) is launching an investigation after U.S. Forest Service-controlled burns that escaped caused the largest wildfire ever recorded in New Mexico. …On May 20, USFS Chief Randy Moore halted all so-called prescribed fires on its land for a 90-day safety review. ..But many fire ecologists and forestry experts are concerned that this “pause” is only worsening the wildfire risk. Critics say it’s merely masking the agency’s dangerously incremental, outdated and problematic approach to intentional burns and fire mitigation, a policy that has failed to adapt to climate change and megadrought. …Controlled burns are seen by forest ecologists as perhaps the most essential tool for reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire and helping to undo a century of fire suppression policy that has worsened wildfire conditions that now annually wreak havoc across large swaths of the West.
A rapidly growing wildfire near the Klondike Highway and a separate cluster of fires near Ethel Lake have resulted in an evacuation alert being issued for Stewart Crossing. The Yukon Emergency Measures Organization issued an alert Sunday afternoon, extending to anyone within a five-kilometre radius of the community, as well as 12 kilometres southeast to Ethel Lake Road and residences around Ethel Lake. The rapidly growing wildfire is near Crystal Creek. Smoke can be seen on the Klondike Highway. Yukon Protective Services said the Klondike Highway remains open, but urged drivers to monitor Yukon 511 for updates. Wildfires have already led to the closure of the Robert Campbell Highway. Additionally, the Alaska Highway into B.C. is closed after a washout destroyed a section of it Friday./cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/FVYYOVORYRNJZE46OAP652OTCI.jpg)