BC Council of Forest Industries’ Susan Yurkovich kicked off their first in-person AGM event since 2019— with a call for a balanced approach to forest policy. In other Business news: US homebuilders call for a suspension of softwood tariffs; the Biden administration wants to reform WTO’s dispute settlement system; and the US and Canadian trade ministers will talk trade on May 5-6. Meanwhile: an Oregon Court overturns $1 billion timber verdict against the state; International Paper reports positive Q1 results; and the war in Ukraine is impacting both lumber and pulp & paper markets.
In Forestry/Climate news: studies point to global forest losses, the climate risk of forest fires and the potential to curb them; BC raises revenue sharing with First Nations; Quebec compares caribou protection to cod industry devastation; and US public forests are cashing in on dubious carbon offsets.
Finally, the frogs are off to cover today’s keynotes at COFI. A full report tomorrow.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
The biggest US housing industry group (NAHB) urged President Joe Biden to help reduce the cost of homebuilding, saying soaring prices and rising mortgage rates are putting the market “under extreme duress” and driving ownership out of reach for many Americans. …Among its proposals are the suspension of tariffs on softwood imports from Canada. “The industry believes these challenges will grow worse if meaningful steps are not taken to allow builders to increase the supply of affordable housing,” said Chairman Jerry Konter. “If the housing sector falters, the economy will surely follow.” …The U.S. earlier this year announced preliminary moves to lower some trade costs. But a final decision isn’t due until August, and Canadian producers will be paying average rates of 18% until then, according to British Columbia’s Lumber Trade Council. The NAHB also asked the administration to reduce “burdensome regulations” that it says account for nearly 25% of the price of building a single-family home.
SALEM — The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday struck down a $1 billion jury verdict that was intended to compensate 14 county governments for insufficient logging on state forestlands. A law that requires Oregon to manage the forestland for the “greatest permanent value” does not create an “immutable promise” to maximize revenue for the counties, the appeals court ruled. The appellate court said that “historically, ‘value’ has myriad definitions, some of which could relate to revenue production and others that do not relate to revenue production.” The statute also directs that forests be managed for the “greatest permanent value” to the state, rather than to the counties, which means the text falls short of the “clear and unmistakable intent” of making a contractual promise, the ruling said. For that reason, a state judge in Linn County wrongly refused to dismiss the class action lawsuit against the state government, the ruling said.
According to Moody’s, the paper and forest products industry’s EBITDA will decrease by 10-12% over the next 12 months, with significantly higher energy, transport, material, and labour costs counteracting most of the growth offered by high demand in the paper packaging segment. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to exacerbate pressure on costs and demand, especially for energy. …In North America, the region accounting for over half of the companies rated by Moody’s, will see a slightly higher decline that the overall average – between 14 and 16% across the year-long outlook period. While North American corrugated packaging companies like International Paper and consumer paper packaging companies like Graphic Packaging will see a growth in earnings due to price increases in their sector, wood and pulp companies are likely to see a decline.
One immediate impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the sanctions by Western countries has been a dramatic reduction in exports of forest products from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. The total exports from these three countries were valued collectively at 17 billion dollars in 2021. …Softwood lumber accounted for almost half of the export value in 2021. The disruption in trade has significantly impacted global markets since the three countries accounted for nearly 25% of worldwide lumber trade last year. The halt in lumber shipments to Europe and some countries in Asia have had the most significant impact. Still, trade with non-sanctioning countries is also likely to change as Russian and Belarusian companies struggle to make financial transactions and secure credit.” In addition, Russian sawmills, which in the past have shipped lumber to customers in Europe, cannot quickly shift to other markets. …Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine exported 8.5 million m3 of softwood lumber to Europe in 2021, almost 10% of the continent’s total demand.
Better wildfire management in Canadian and Alaskan forests could offer a cost-effective way to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a new study says. Research published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday found wildfires in North American boreal forests could represent about three per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions under the Paris Climate Agreement’s budget to limit warming below 1.5 C. But enhanced fire management could avoid the release of up to 3.87 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, it said. Carly Phillips, researcher-in-residence on the wildfire and carbon project at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions at the University of Victoria and lead author of the study, said wildfires were a huge threat to climate change mitigation goals. …The amount of Canadian boreal forest that is burned each year could increase by between 36 per cent and 150 per cent by 2050, if mitigation levels were unchanged, the paper suggested.
The Manitoba government has announced $1.6 million to help upgrade the province’s water bomber fleet ahead of forest fire season. The money will be used in part to put new radios in three bombers to help connect to next-generation networks, while four other bombers will see new warning systems and corrosion protection installed. The province says it is also building a pair of 12-person bunkhouses at the Wekusko Falls base to help keep staff closer to where they’re needed. “Investing in our provincial water bomber fleet is essential as it plays an important role in our government’s climate resiliency strategy,” said Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Scott Fielding.
Conservationists filed three lawsuits in federal court Wednesday to stop a proposed logging project on Pine Mountain in Ventura County, roughly 30 miles north of Ojai in Southern California. The U.S. Forest Service wants to “thin” 755 acres of land, mostly within Los Padres National Forest, to reduce wildfire risk. But seven environmental groups, the city of Ojai and Ventura County say the agency violated federal law — namely the National Environmental Policy Act — by using an expedited environmental review process. The project, said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, would “significantly transform the Pine Mountain area” by allowing “an unlimited number of trees to be cut.” A spokesman for the Forest Service declined to comment.
Unprecedented wildfires raged across Russia in 2021, burning vast swaths of forest, sending smoke as far as the North Pole and unleashing astounding amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Logging operations continued. Insect infestations wreaked havoc. The relentless expansion of agriculture, meanwhile, fueled the disappearance of critical tropical forests in Brazil and elsewhere at a rate of 10 soccer fields a minute. Around the globe, 2021 brought more devastating losses for the world’s forests, according to a satellite-based survey by the University of Maryland and Global Forest Watch. Earth saw more than 97,500 square miles of tree cover vanish last year, an area roughly the size of Oregon. …The latest findings include silver linings, however modest. The recent figures represent a 2 percent decline compared with losses in 2020, researchers said.
