A construction boom is coming despite skyrocketing material prices, although the US Fed fears the inflationary implications. In related news: US jobs depend on Canada— its #1 trading partner; supply and demand tightens in the UK; and NRCan releases State of Mass Timber 2021 report. Meanwhile, Paper Excellence seeks surety to reopen the Prince Albert pulp mill, while its acquisition of Domtar has an analyst asking market questions.
In First Nations/Forestry news: the BC First Nations Forestry Council honours National Indigenous History Month; FSC endorses the First Nations Forest Strategy; solidarity builds for Indigenous claims at Fairy Creek; and a new video on First Nation reconciliation within forestry. Meanwhile, more protesters antics at the old-growth blockades, and how cutting down trees can help tackle climate change.
Finally, the use of old-growth timber hits a sour note in the music industry.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan — Amid hints of an impending boom in the Prince Albert and area forestry sector, concerns over timber supply and who’s allowed to harvest it remain. …Paper Excellence, the company that bought the shuttered Prince Albert pulp mill in 2011… has announced its intention to reopen the mill in 2023, but says it needs assurance it’ll have access to wood in the long term in order to do that. “We’re making a very, very large investment into the restart of that facility,” Graham Kissask, Paper Excellence VP said. “And we need surety of fiber flow in the long term to give us confidence that it makes sense to spend that money.” …Meanwhile Minister Bronwyn Eyre said the government wants “all workable projects to move forward and thrive,” but …If Paper Excellence does not reopen the mill by December of 2021, its timber allocation will be available to other projects.
While rising costs have canceled some construction projects, CBRE says 2021 will still see a boom in new commercial real estate development. This is not to discount surging prices, which have resulted in domestic steel and lumber prices tripling since last year, according to SteelBenchmarker and TradingEconomics. Things have moderated some in May. After peaking at $1,686 per thousand board feet on May 7, lumber prices dropped by 23% to $1,306 on May 19. …“Material cost growth is expected to outpace all other elements of construction cost increases this year,” says Henry D’Esposito, JLL’s senior research analyst. …Residential development spending is at 95% of commercial real estate development, according to CBRE. By comparison, in 2009, it was just 36% of commercial spending. “With thriving single-family home markets across the US seeing even more new development and permit authorizations in 2021 at a 10-year high, this trend shows no sign of reversing,” according to CBRE.
GATINEAU, Quebec — The Government of Canada is committed to achieving zero plastic waste by 2030, and is working to take action to reduce plastic pollution across the country and to create a circular economy for plastics. …Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, and Minister François-Philippe Champagne, announced that the Government of Canada is providing close to $7 million to support seven science-based research projects. …Among the selected projects are those being carried out by UBC, which aims to advance technologies to quantify and characterize microplastics in aquatic environments; the National Institute of Scientific Research, which will assess the potential effects of nanoplastics on human health; and the University of Guelph, which will assess potential risks that microplastics pose to freshwater and soil ecosystems.
Vancouver, BC — To honor National Indigenous History Month, the BC First Nations Forestry Council is launching an awareness campaign to bring into focus the BC First Nations Forest Strategy and the six goals informed by direct input of First Nations for over a decade. “BC First Nations have endorsed the six goals identified within the Forest Strategy,” tells Charlene Higgins, CEO of the BC First Nations Forestry Council. “It’s time for Government and Industry to acknowledge and implement them; it’s time for us to move forward.” The Forest Strategy reflects the principles of UNDRIP and was developed to support government-to-government relationships between the Province and First Nations to increase the role Indigenous Nations play in the governance and stewardship of forest lands and resources. “The Forest Strategy and Implementation Plan were released in 2019, but the Province still hasn’t fulfilled their commitment to action or endorsing either,” says Higgins.
The two main benchmarks of environmental health are clean air and clean water. Healthy forests are critical for both. Unfortunately, years of catastrophic wildfires across the western United States have decimated many of our forests, turning critical wildlife habitats into ash and making it more difficult for trees to regenerate naturally. To solve this problem – and prevent severe wildfires from happening in the first place – requires scientific forest management, coupled with aggressive reforestation goals. In turn, these efforts require a reliable, skilled workforce. This is why we’ve introduced The Forestry Education and Workforce Development Act. Workforce expansion is critically important all across the reforestation spectrum, from seed collection and nursery production, to designing new reforestation projects, site preparation, tree planting and postplanting activities. The Forest Education and Workforce Development Act will provide a steady supply of skilled and reliable workers to meet the enormous reforestation challenges facing America.
Oregon voters should feel pretty good about U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s ideas on forest management, concepts he discussed last week. Merkley wants to push the Biden administration to spend at least $1 billion per year for logging, proscribed burns and other work to get the tinderbox forests of the state in shape to withstand disease and uncontrolled blazes. Forest management are the key words Merkley used, and we hope that is exactly what happens. Forest management is not closure of forests. It does not mean blockading vast tracts of forest land to watch it die and then become kindling for another massive fire. Instead, Merkley seems to back a cooperative concept where traditional rivals — such as the timber industry and conservation groups — work together to help forests.
Sweden’s forest industry has prepared a defense against critics who say trees should be left in the forest to bind carbon and help fight climate change. At the heart of the conflict is the European Union’s need to regulate sustainable activities across the bloc, where forest-based carbon sinks are on average declining, in net terms. That has prompted concerns that forestry accumulates a so-called carbon debt because trees take several decades to grow back. In densely forested Sweden, the industry is keen to show trees are, overall, sequestering more carbon dioxide than is released. …pulp, packaging and timber companies, commissioned a study that shows a bigger climate benefit from cutting trees than reducing or halting harvests. The math in the report centers on displacement effects: fossils can be left underground if wood is used to replace such materials, resulting in smaller carbon dioxide emissions than keeping forests intact but using materials such as plastic instead.