Supply chain crisis expands Canfor curtailments to Western Canadian sawmills. In related news: Russia’s war impacts supply chain near (Ukraine) and far (Australia). In other Business news: Idaho Forest Group Lumberton sawmill nears completion; Enerkem wins award for biomass aviation fuel; and San Group’s value-added success story. Elsewhere: mass timber innovation in Vancouver and Portland; and Princeton University’s new carbon math tool.
In Forestry/Climate news: Alaska’s governor seeks self-sufficiency with forestry; doctor questions Glyphosate use in forests; Mosaic’s forest plans raise access concerns; North Carolina forest plan gets ENGO pushback; and trees can be climate heroes but carbon accounting counts.
Finally, the latest on wildfire mitigation from BC, Montana; and California.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Canfor Corporation announced that it will implement reduced operating schedules at its Western Canadian sawmills effective April 4, 2022 due to the cumulative effects of the unprecedented global supply chain crisis that has been ongoing for several months. The reduced operating schedules will remain in effect for a minimum of four weeks and the Company will continue to assess and make adjustments to operating schedules as supply chain conditions evolve. “We are experiencing extreme supply chain challenges that are significantly impacting our operations and it has become imperative to reduce operating schedules to address our unsustainable inventory levels. We regret the impact that the reduced operating schedules will have on our employees, contractors and communities and we will make efforts to mitigate the negative effects,” said Don Kayne, President and CEO, Canfor. “We will continue to leverage our global operating platform to minimize disruptions in supply to our customers.”
AUSTRALIA — The invasion of Ukraine has dealt another blow to already-stretched global supply chains, with retailer Bunnings ordering suppliers to stop buying “conflict timber” from Russia in the wake of declarations earlier this month by global forestry bodies about timber from that country and ally Belarus. Wesfarmers-owned Bunnings said Russia was not a major source of timber for the Australian home improvements market, but warned of a shortage to supply – on top of existing constraints – of composite laminated veneer lumber, or engineered wood products, in coming months. …While Russia only accounts for a small proportion of Australia’s timber imports, it accounts for more than one-fifth of the country’s imports of laminated veneer lumber, composite material used for structural components such as lintels, I-Joists used in floors, and the formply used for the moulds that concrete is poured into for large commercial projects.
Klim Tulin’s cardboard-box factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro is running low on raw materials and could lose water or power any day. Mr. Tulin, whose corrugated boxes are used by local food producers, says that with supply lines stretched, utility networks fragile and roads to and from the city dangerous, he can’t keep the assembly line moving much longer. …Russia has damaged or destroyed several of Ukraine’s major package producers, said Eduard Litvak, executive director of UkrPapir, a pulp and paper industry trade group, reducing production by about 60% and limiting the ability of businesses to store and transport goods as they try to continue operating. …Mr. Tulin said he has about one month’s supply of raw materials. His company consumes about 2,000 to 3,000 metric tons of paper a month as well as glue and tape. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
Campbell River is part and parcel of the greater north-central portion of Vancouver Island and the associated mainland. It may very well be the heart of this area that I call the “Forest Village.” …this village is nature-based and our very future depends upon how well we realize and govern our activities within this truth. To me, planning and development in Campbell River and the regional district has had a clear top-down character…organised along the lines of the services that public authorities provide. Until recently, these “silos”…were relatively effective in delivering public management. Yet, the effectiveness of dealing with cross-sectoral issues … has been limited. …Now at a time when the public trust in government seems to be decaying [and we turn] toward a more participatory approach, our city centres [need] to transform from “Government” to “Governance”… As residents, let’s help our leaders provide the socio-environmental context in which we all benefit.
Last year, Montana’s fire season started early and ended late, with smoke blanketing much of the state throughout the summer and well into the fall. …It’s little wonder that a bipartisan survey recently conducted by Colorado College found that 92% of Montana voters are concerned about more frequent and severe wildfires. ….Most folks agree that the thoughtful harvesting of timber resources is an important part of Montana’s economy and provides jobs in communities across our state. In addition, science-based vegetation management, including thinning and prescribed fire, can alter fire behavior and help reduce the threat of wildfire to people and their property, especially if management projects are focused on treating the wildland-urban interface. However, the idea that we can achieve shorter and less intense fire seasons by simply logging more is a political concept, not a scientific one.
The federal government’s new emissions reduction plan continues to undercount emissions from forestry, an environmental group says, throwing doubt on Canada’s ability to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. “They’re not reporting their carbon in a balanced way and that is masking about 80 megatonnes of emissions from the logging sector,” said Michael Polanyi of Nature Canada. … Polanyi said… Canada doesn’t report the carbon released from wildfires over its entire “managed forest” but does take credit for the carbon sucked out of the air by regrowing trees. “You can’t have it both ways,” he said. …Independent forest consultant Jamie Stephen agrees that Canada will eventually have to account for the carbon released in increasingly common mega-fires. But he suggests it’s not fair to blame those emissions on logging. “It is not the forest industry,” he said. 
A growing number of governments and companies are adopting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. These targets often evoke nature as a way to store or remove carbon from the atmosphere to counter the climate effect of other emissions. For example, in 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to plant two billion trees by 2030, and investing in nature is now a key part of Canada’s climate strategy. …carbon storage in nature is likely temporary because it can be lost again due to either human activities or natural disturbances. In contrast, the climate effect of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels is effectively permanent. If these efforts to increase natural carbon stocks are short-lived, is there any climate benefit? Our new research suggests that temporary nature-based carbon storage can help achieve our climate goals. However, the most tangible effect … would only occur if we also eliminate fossil fuel emissions.
