Citing fibre shortages and supply chain challenges, Sinclar Group is temporarily shifting to a 4-day work week. In other news: Northern Pulp accuses Nova Scotia of abdication of obligations; Catalyst Paper signs MOU with Port Alberni First Nation; GreenFirst CEO’s growth plans; Weyerhaeuser acquires Carolina timberlands; and Huhtamaki plans to divest its Russian operations. In Market news: US homebuilder confidence falls for 4th month in a row; and mortgage rates hit 5%.
In Forestry/Climate news: Police investigate tree spiking in Fairy Creek old growth; hunger strikers fail to secure meeting with BC premier; the looming crash facing BC’s interior; Nova Scotia professor on glyphosate usage; logging threatens endangered Atlantic whitefish; and a new video series on the power of pellets.
Finally, the world’s tallest residential building to reach 30-storeys in Zurich, Switzerland.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Part of understanding the current market situation and then taking a position on how things could turn out in the future depends on evaluating history. Dr. Shawn Baker, Forisk’s VP of research, recently evaluated the current high pulpwood prices in the U.S. South within the context of forest supplies since the Great Recession 14 years ago. …We revisit this timeframe because 14 years is the average age of a first thinning on intensively managed southern pine plantations. This begs the question of how echoes of the Recession may reverberate today across pulpwood markets. …Direct impacts on wood demand translated into indirect impacts on timber supply, first through a surplus of sawtimber and now declining pulpwood. Pulpwood harvesting, inventories and planting have evolved during this time to help create a current situation that can be seen in prices for pulpwood and residuals.
IndexBox has published a new report: ‘World – Recovered Paper – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights’. …In 2021, the global recovered paper market was finally on the rise to reach $46.4B after three years of decline. The market value increased at an average annual rate of +2.0% over the period from 2007 to 2021; the trend pattern remained relatively stable, with only minor fluctuations being observed in certain years. Global consumption peaked at $47.5B in 2011; however, from 2012 to 2021, consumption failed to regain the momentum. …China (67M tonnes) constituted the country with the largest volume of recovered paper consumption, accounting for 28% of total volume. Moreover, recovered paper consumption in China exceeded the figures recorded by the second-largest consumer, the U.S. (29M tonnes), twofold. Germany (22M tonnes) ranked third in terms of total consumption with a 9% share.
Shoppers are being warned that the cost of a new sofa and other furniture is to race higher as the Russia-Ukraine war pushes up the cost of key materials such as timber. “We have never seen anything like this in terms of across-the-board price increases for materials,” said Sean Holt, the managing director of the British Furniture Manufacturers, the industry’s trade body. “It is putting a lot of pressure on manufacturing in the UK and that will have to be shared with retailers and consumers.” Higher furniture prices are already feeding into higher living costs in the UK. Inflation is running at 7%, the highest level in three decades, with furniture prices up 17%. …At the end of last year, Ikea, the UK’s biggest furniture retailer, said it was putting up prices as it struggled to absorb a significant increase in costs.
MONTREAL — FPInnovations, a private non-profit specializing in creating solutions that support the global competitiveness of the Canadian forest sector, today launched the 2022 Edition of its Technical Guide for the Design and Construction of Tall Wood Buildings in Canada. This state-of-the-art, nearly 700-page handbook has been updated from its 2014 edition with the most up-to-date information and is aimed to assist architects, engineers, code consultants, developers, building owners, and authorities having jurisdiction to understand the unique context to be considered when developing and constructing tall wood buildings. Providing actionable data and tools to construction industry professionals is a way to foster increased wood use in non-residential construction. In doing so, wood can replace carbon intensive materials like steel and concrete, and store carbon in the long term. 
… A recent study conducted in an aspen forest near Barrier Lake, Alta., found that insect populations had dropped significantly as a result of an overabundance of earthworms — an invasive species in North America. The researchers found that in areas with the highest mass of earthworms, there were 61 per cent fewer individual insects, 18 per cent fewer insect species and a 27 per cent reduction in the total mass of insects on average. …Findings showed that earthworms are a formidable foe for many insects when it comes to food and habitat resources in the studied forest, said Dr. Jochum, particularly those that must compete with them to eat the dead plant and animal material found on forest floors. …policymakers also need to consider earthworms when managing natural ecosystems, which includes taking care to ensure developers are mandated to implement checks-and-balances that consider potential earthworm spread.
Things were looking up …in Revelstoke last year. COVID-19 restrictions were winding down, and demand for accommodations from restless travellers was strong. The numbers stayed strong even when nearby wildfires in mid-July covered the town in a layer of ash. But by early August tourists started looking elsewhere, like Vancouver Island, in search of fresh air and sunshine. …Tourism businesses all across the Interior are bracing themselves again for the impact of wildfires on their operations as they try to rebound from two years of pandemic restrictions. …The BC Wildfire Service says the 2022 fire season is off to an average start, and a heavy snowpack in many parts of the Interior is a positive sign. However, regions such as the Okanagan continue to experience deep drought conditions in the soil; last year’s intense blazes had a lasting impact, leaving the area susceptible to burns.
Drones flew over a wildfire-charred landscape in British Columbia last November, dropping thousands of tree seeds on the blackened ground. The flights were part of an experimental trial to reseed First Nations forests that were lost to the monumentally destructive 2017 fire season. With drones on their side, people in the area hope that reforestation can move faster — especially as wildfires continue to worsen. …“We just wanted to find another method of planting that would complement our current, traditional planting methods using tree planters,” Guichon says. …The results of the trial in British Columbia will be coming in over the next year or so and will hopefully yield some positive — and plentiful — findings. Data from these test runs will be used to shape the future of drone-seeding surveys, puck-drop techniques, and reforestation projects.
Police are investigating after 30 nails and a PVC pipe were found embedded into the trunk of a fallen old growth tree in the Fairy Creek injunction area. Sooke and Lake Cowichan RCMP were called on April 7 after security guards in Fairy Creek logging area found what appeared to be a number of nails driven through the trunk of a fallen tree. They also found a PVC pipe inserted into the middle of the log, which had been dragged from the area where it was cut. Investigators believe the nails were intentionally placed as a way to stop forestry workers from conducting their operations. …“This tactic to impede forestry operations is not only illegal, but is extremely dangerous,” said Chief Supt. John Brewer.
Port Alberni, B.C. – Effective today, C̕awak ʔqin Forestry is re-confirming its commitment to Indigenous stewardship by expanding its industry-leading protection of tall trees, and the forests around them, in Tree Farm Licence 44 (TFL 44). Trees within TFL 44 that are over 70 metres in height will be retained as part of C̕awak ʔqin Forestry’s retention standards while the two-year Indigenous-led TFL 44-wide Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP) is completed and implemented in accordance with British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. This policy change increases protection by lowering the current retention height of 80 metres to 70 metres. “For comparison, the Douglas fir tree identified as ‘Big Lonely Doug’ … measures 70.2 metres,” said Rob Botterell, Director with C̕awak ʔqin Forestry Board of Directors. “Retaining the forest around these tall trees is critical to ensuring we protect them from wind and other impacts while maintaining their integrity and ecological value.”
Do people know that they are literally flushing forests down the toilet? Tossing trees into the trash? That’s just what they are doing with their Charmin toilet paper, Bounty paper towels and Puffs facial tissues. Procter & Gamble, which supplies these disposables, is a leading driver in destroying the largest intact forest left on earth, the vast Canadian boreal forest. It is the 
Two and a half years ago, in the space of a few terrifying hours, bushfires tore through hundreds of kilometres of bushland and paddocks to the west of Biamanga. The fires destroyed hundreds of homes and flattened buildings on the main streets of Cobargo and Quaama, then climbed toward the ridge line of Biamanga mountain. The 2019-2020 bushfire season led to the declaration of koalas as endangered across most of eastern Australia. But another legacy of the Black Summer has been a surge in support for a different kind of fire. Mr Morgan is a cultural fire practitioner, working with Firesticks Alliance to return traditional Indigenous fire management to koala country, on land sacred to the Yuin people, spanning the boundaries of National Parks estate, State forests and private landholdings.
An experimental “super forest” is being planted in Oxfordshire, England to learn which tree species are best suited to combating climate change. Divided into nine sections situated along the Dorn River — a total area of about one square kilometre — the woodlands will be planted with some 270,000 trees… Many of the new trees are from seeds harvested in the area, including oak, sycamore, and hornbeam. The planting will consist of a mix of hardwoods, shrubs and conifers for maximum carbon absorption. This focus on species diversity is important and also unique. “I am not aware of anything similar in Canada. In the provinces, there is normally reforestation after logging, but it is not done with [that] sort of species mix,” said John Innes, professor of Forestry at the University of BC. “The goal in Canada is to get trees growing as quickly as possible, to harvest again,” Professor Innes added.