US homebuilders support a Republican proposed ‘No Timber from Tyrants Act’ that would ban wood imports from Russia and Belarus. In other Business news: FPAC expresses support for federal budget—urge gov’t to oppose US ENGO bills; Nova Scotia clarifies law at centre of Northern Pulp case; Westrock is closing its Florida paper mill; Canadian Timberframes and Groupe Lebel are expanding; and natural catastrophes are driving insurance rates higher.
In other news: BC launches mass timber plan, invests in four demonstration projects; Ontario to use leftover wood for energy; industry and environmentalists advocate against illegal logging.
Finally, Russ Taylor’s latest market update (rather than December’s—which I inadvertently posted yesterday). Sorry Russ!
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
North American lumber markets continue to strengthen from ongoing logistical problems and supply chain woes. …SPF mills in BC continue to face railcar shortages… and now the Russia- Ukraine invasion threatens lumber exports from the world’s largest exporter. This event will only tighten up the world’s lumber supplies and push prices even higher, especially in Europe. …US lumber and panel demand continues to advance, spurred on by COVID-19 constraints and steady demand for new homes. US housing starts continue to move higher and reached 1.597 million units in 2021, a 15.8 per cent increase from 2020. However, a slower rate of new house construction is forecast for 2022 (+3 to 5 per cent) as builders simply cannot build houses fast enough. …US repair and remodelling activity accounts for 40 per cent of US lumber consumption and it is expected to increase significantly again in 2022. 
NAHB today expressed strong support for Rep. Bruce Westerman’s (R-Ark.) “
House Republicans proposed legislation that would ban imports of wood products from Russia and Belarus during the war with Ukraine, and ramp up domestic timber harvesting on public lands and national forests. The 
VICTORIA — British Columbia is helping build four housing and infrastructure projects using mass timber, including a new building at the University of Victoria. Ravi Kahlon, minister of jobs, economic recovery and innovation, says the university is among those to get $1.2 million in funding that will be used to help build a 783-bed housing and dining facility set to open in September. The university also has two other mass timber projects in the works including an engineering and computer science building and a centre for Indigenous laws. Plans for the province’s mass timber demonstration program include four new projects, which range from multi-unit homes to mixed-use commercial and industrial buildings. Kahlon said that large-diameter trees are not needed to make mass timber. …The minister says B.C. could have as many as 10 new mass timber manufacturers by 2035, which could fill an anticipated 4,400 jobs in manufacturing, construction and design.
B.C. is hoping to position itself as a key supplier of forward-looking construction materials, with a new action plan and investment into mass timber. The province announced the move Thursday (April 7) morning, with an initial $1.2 million in funding to construct four new mass-timber structures. B.C. already leads Canada in use of the carbon-capturing material, with 285 mass timber buildings completed or underway as of the end of 2020. In 2021, the province promised an additional 12 buildings with $4.2 million in funding. B.C. is also leading the way as a manufacturer. As of mid-2021, the province says it’s manufacturers produced about a quarter of the leading types of mass timber in North America. …The four projects receiving funding for 2022 are a 9-storey residential building in Vancouver, a District Chamber of Commerce building in Castlegar, a 3-storey mixed-use commercial and industrial building in Vancouver, and a new 4-storey building for L’Alliance Francaise de Vancouver in Vancouver.
This is to emphasize the importance of trees. …Trees don’t have nervous systems, but they can still feel what’s going on and experience something analogous to pain. When a tree is cut, it sends electrical signals like wounded human tissue. There are many disadvantages to the removal of trees. It will affect the water cycle, destroy the flora and fauna and lead to an increase in carbon dioxide, thereby increasing global warming. Why trees must be saved? As the biggest plants on the planet, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilize the soil and give life to the world’s wildlife. They also provide us with the materials for tools and shelter. …We know that trees have senses, just like we do but they have many more than ours. Plants can see, smell, taste, hear, feel touch, and much more. Their sensory abilities often exceed ours.
A prominent ecologist is raising alarms current old-growth forest management strategies won’t impose the paradigm shift needed to preserve B.C.’s timber harvesting industry while protecting the area ecosystems where the logs are removed from. Rachel Holt said… “There is denial about the fact we have a problem on B.C.’s forestry land base which is pushed by industry, who are lobbying to try to make this issue go away,” Holt said. …Cam Brown, a professional forester consultant, said 21 per cent of B.C.’s forests fall under the old-growth category, which is about 11 million hectares, and about 75 per cent of that is unlikely to ever be logged. He said the old-growth is not relegated much to big tree growth, that most old-growth forest now falls under medium or small tree categories. “We have gone from harvest equals growth from the ’40s to the ’90s… to now where we look more to integrated land use planning,” Brown said.
Trees are important as we plan our communities. But they can also be a costly nuisance if some thought isn’t put into where they are planted and what varieties are used. The City of Duncan is currently finding this out first-hand as they look to take out American sweet gum trees that were planted in 2005… this tree variety has a number of characteristics that make it entirely unsuitable for where they’ve been planted. They don’t like pollution. They have a shallow root system, and are prone to large branch failure. So the middle of a city… isn’t a great match. The shallow root systems mean the trees are buckling roads, sidewalks and planters, and have even cut off a sprinkler system. …It all begs the question, did the folks who chose these trees for planting in Duncan do any research at all? 
New Mexico Highlands University has received $1 million from the federal government to support the New Mexico Reforestation Center’s seed bank and seed collection efforts. The New Mexico Reforestation Center is a partnership between New Mexico Highlands University, New Mexico State University, University of New Mexico, and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department’s Forestry Division to meet New Mexico’s current and future reforestation needs. …“It’s one-of-a-kind in the country, and part of the plan behind it is to integrate the forest restoration research with forestry education, and then implement all of that into applied research to achieve desired environmental objectives,” said Joshua Sloan, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for Forestry and the Reforestation Center at Highlands University. “At the same time, it’s meeting research and academic objectives.” Sloan said the primary species of research interest so far include ponderosa pine, quaking aspen, and Douglas-fir. 
Illegal logging and associated trade has been ranked as the third-largest global transnational crime… generating between US$52–157 billion per year. Illegal logging threatens some of the world’s most biologically diverse and vulnerable forests, contributes to climate change, harms Indigenous peoples and local communities, and undermines the legal forest products trade by significantly depressing world timber prices. In many tropical countries, over half of deforestation is illegal. …Left unaddressed, persistent illegality and impunity undermine all conservation and climate efforts. …In 2008, the US, the world’s largest consumer of forest products, became the first country to ban trafficking of products containing illegally sourced wood. The Lacey Act Amendments of 2008 were adopted with bipartisan support and have contributed to reduced imports of illegally sourced wood products by 32%–44%. The amendments have demonstrated its potential for impact, yet significant delays in full implementation and sporadic enforcement continue to limit their effectiveness. 
