CN Rail maintains operations after negotiations fail with their signal and communications workers. In other Business news: the UK concrete lobby lays into the world of wood, mass timber leads a renaissance in construction; and a US coalition seeks an injunction against Brazilian plywood. Meanwhile: the US Conference Board’s economic index fell in May, lumber markets slowed; and US packaging shipments are up 1%.
In Forestry/Climate news: Ottawa directs the RCMP to curb its protest intervention tools; a judge declines to block a redwood logging project; and ENGOs take aim at Swedish forestry. On the wildfire front: the US and BC are upping their funding; forest management helped out Oregon; a New Jersey wildfire hits 2000 acres; and Spain struggles amid record heatwave.
Finally, using gamma rays to determine the structural integrity of a standing tree.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 750 Canadian National Railway Co. employees, says signal and communication workers have walked off the job across the country. IBEW’s Steve Martin confirmed in a text that workers were legally on strike as of 11 a.m. local time on Saturday. The IBEW gave a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday morning. …CN spokesman Jonathan Abecassis says the company has implemented an “operational contingency plan,” noting that operations are continuing “safely and at normal levels.” The Montreal-based company says it continues to encourage the union to resolve sticking points on wages and benefits through binding arbitration.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI)for theU.S. decreased by 0.4 percent in May 2022 to 118.3, following a 0.4 percent decline in April 2022. The LEI is now down 0.4 percent over the six-month period from November 2021 to May 2022. “The US LEI fell again in May, fueled by tumbling stock prices, a slowdown in housing construction, and gloomier consumer expectations,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director of Economic Research at The Conference Board. “The index is still near a historic high, but the US LEI suggests weaker economic activity is likely in the near term—and tighter monetary policy is poised to dampen economic growth even further.”
TORONTO — 100-unit mass timber affordable housing development – the first of its kind in Toronto – is being planned as a pilot on a parking lot along Dundas Street. The project is expected to get underway in 2024 and could become the model for future mass timber housing developments. The goal is to see if it can be replicated on other city-owned sites in Toronto. …Daniel Woolfson, manager of development at CreateTO… “This is another opportunity to create a sort of prefabricated off-site construction process.” …Although the project is in the early stages, the plan is to build an eight-to-10-storey affordable rental housing development using mass timber and prefabricated forms. …Mass timber is being used for the build because there was clear direction from the city under the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy. …also allowing the city to rapidly scale up the supply of affordable housing.
OREGON — A move by a coalition of conservation groups to topple a decision made by the Trump administration that negated a rule that banned logging of large trees on national forests is ultimately a sad reminder that little progress has been made regarding nonlegal solutions to environmental challenges. At the heart of the issue is what is known as the 21-inch rule — an edict that restricted logging of live trees larger than 21 inches in diameter. …The rule was created to address concerns about the safety and viability of old growth timber. The suit is yet another example of failure for both the conservationists and government. Most — but not all — environmental lawsuits over flashpoint issues should never end up in a courtroom. That’s because both sides of any such issue not only carry the capacity to work these challenges out but also hold a responsibility to do so.
Every year around this time environmental doomsdayers attempt to convince readers the only way to address catastrophic wildfires is to batten down the hatches of our homes and bank on a strategy of reversing climate warming. These arguments ignore forest leaders and experts who view active forest management strategies like selective logging and prescribed burns as one most effective tools forest managers have right now to make forests more resilient. …This was the tact recently taken by 
…objections to the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed land management plan for Pisgah and Nantahala National forests, released in January after a decade of analysis and collaboration with the public, are leading the agency to take more time than expected to evaluate the issues and concerns raised. The objection phase is the final step of the planning revision process, which has invigorated debate about the best way to manage Western North Carolina’s million acres of national forest. The plan revision, however, may not resolve long-standing grievances with public forest management, ranging from the protection of old-growth forests to serving the economic needs of rural counties. The Forest Service released the proposed management plan and an environmental impact statement in January. …The sheer volume of objections — from local governments, organizations and individuals — is evidence of the friction among elements of the Forest Service’s multiuse mandate, which includes timber harvesting, recreation and conservation.
The precipitous decline of the monarch butterfly population over the past three decades — estimates place it at more than 80 percent from the 1990s — has won a reprieve. Data on monarchs overwintering in Mexico in 2022 show a sharp increase in their numbers, with researchers estimating monarch swarms covering 2.84 hectares (7 acres) compared with just 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres) the previous year. Craig Wilson is director of the USDA Future Scientists Program and a senior research associate at Texas A&M’s Center for Mathematics and Science Education. He’s also an expert on the monarch butterfly. “The numbers came up 350 million,” Wilson said. “So there were pessimistic thoughts that it would not increase, but the 35 percent seems to be correct. The numbers were late coming out because I think data was being held up because of COVID down in Mexico or something, but they’re out there now.”
Tropical deforestation is a cost our planet pays every day for the food we eat. The palm oil, steaks, and the soy — so much of what we depend on comes at the expense of forests, including those irreplaceable, old-growth bastions of biodiversity, stored carbon and much more. Major global consumers like the U.K., the U.S. and the EU are debating how best to reduce the amount of tropical deforestation resulting from the production of the commodities they import. Some experts argue that laws should restrict any products tinged with deforestation, while others say regulations should allow in imports that come from areas that were deforested legally in the countries in which they were produced. The debate involves questions around sovereignty, equality, and, ultimately, what strategy will best address the urgent need to stem the loss of some of the world’s most important repositories of carbon and biodiversity.
Flames licked roads and coloured the sky orange as firefighters in northern Spain scrambled to contain dozens of blazes fuelled by one of the earliest heatwaves on record. In the Sierra de la Culebra mountain range in the north-western province of Zamora, flames devoured more than 25,000 hectares, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from 18 municipalities. Emergency officials said on Sunday that cooling temperatures had enabled them to make gains. …More than 600 firefighters had fought to temper the blaze, which tore through a mountain range that ranks as one of Spain’s green jewels. …Days of