Paper Excellence is in talks with rival Domtar in what would be a US$ 3-billion deal, although these discussions may not result in an agreement. In other Business news: Lumber shortages and high prices ease pressure on Trudeau to reach a softwood deal; housing growth in Canada and the US push lumber prices higher, and Russ Taylor expounds on ‘how high can lumber go‘.
In other news: Canada announces funding for Indigenous Forest Sector; Oregon’s forest sector claims their tax burden is excessive; BC disagrees with ENGO claim on old-growth logging increase; a rash of tree thefts sparks call for more enforcement in Vancouver Island, and Courtenay’s City Council follows Nanaimo on old-growth logging deferral, as Campbell River fights what it calls ‘forestry misinformation‘.
Finally, Tolko to modify its logging plan in response to community watershed concerns.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
…Soaring lumber costs [are] leading the U.S. National Association of Home Builders to call on President Joe Biden to scrap countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Canadian lumber imposed by the former Trump administration in 2017. …If anything, the lumber boom has reduced the political pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to push for a new softwood lumber deal. With lumber prices more than tripling in the past year, duties averaging around 9 per cent are practically a rounding error. …Former Canadian trade official Eric Miller believes a new softwood deal is currently a lower priority for the Trudeau government. …“Lots of Canadian government and industry players would like a softwood lumber deal, but immediate priorities and limited bandwidth in Washington make this unlikely in the short term.” [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/GEI4HX5WFZBWZETHVW2VQWAARQ.JPG)
Domtar confirmed
A Vernon-based lumber manufacturer is walking back plans for a cutblock just above the Greater Vernon area’s primary water source, saying the plans will be modified in light of concerns that the logging activity could pose a risk to local water supplies. The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) 
New York –As the pandemic crushed the US economy last spring, sawmills shut down lumber production to brace for a housing slump. The slump never arrived and now there isn’t enough lumber to feed the red-hot housing market. The shortage is delaying construction of badly needed new homes, complicating renovations of existing ones and causing sticker shock for buyers in what was already a scorching market. …Surging lumber prices alone have pushed the price of an average new single-family home $35,872 higher, according to NAHB. …The shortage — and price boom — is so extreme that builders report having lumber and other raw materials stolen from their construction sites. …The good news is that industry executives expect lumber production to catch up with demand — eventually. Samuel Burman, an assistant commodities economist, predicted in a recent note to clients that there will be a “sharp fall” in lumber prices over the next 18 months.
…Is a $2,000 price for SPF possible during this cycle? Prices have increased $400/Mbf in the last five weeks – if this sizzling pace (averaging $80/week) were to continue, we would be there in nine weeks, or the end of June! There are many demand factors that continue to favour the strong demand cycle and they still outweigh the negative factors, at least for now. …History suggests that whenever expectations get too lofty, things can change for the negative very quickly. And nothing cures high lumber prices like high lumber prices. …There are already spot market transactions of 9-foot studs at over $1,800/Mbf delivered to the US east coast and Texas. Getting to the $2,000/Mbf threshold for some products on a delivered basis is possible and, in fact, highly likely! Whether the W-SPF 2×4 R/L FOB mill price gets there is probably a stretch, but momentum suggests it will get close.
The Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today launched the next call for proposals for the 
Effective immediately, the allowable annual cut (AAC) level for the Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 56 north of Revelstoke will remain at the level set in September 2010. Shane Berg, B.C.’s deputy chief forester, has kept the AAC for the TFL at 90,000 cubic metres. This decision aims to maintain stability in harvesting, balanced with First Nations’ and wildlife concerns, such as caribou habitat. Consultation with First Nations and a public review process for the AAC determination and management plan were initiated in May 2019. Fourteen First Nations are associated with the Secwepemc, Ktunaxa or Okanagan First Nations, whose territories overlap with the administrative boundary of TFL 56. TFL 56 is held by the Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation.
VICTORIA — The environmental group Wilderness Committee is calling on the B.C. government to halt all old-growth logging operations in the province. …The group says it used publicly available data to map out approved old-growth logging sites after communities around the province noticed increased logging activity. …A spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development tells CTV News the province is committed old-growth forests and has taken action by protecting 200,000 hectares in nine areas of the province. “We do not agree with the outcomes of the Wilderness Committee’s analysis or the techniques they used for their analysis,” said ministry spokesperson David Haslam. “We also question how they have used the data and do not agree with it. Our government is committed to work with the committee to better understand their results and to provide a true account of our old-growth forest,” he said.
There are reports that North Cowichan is currently trying to sell carbon credits to offset lost logging revenue. This is not true. There has been no decision to convert all or part of the Six Mountains to a carbon offset management strategy. There are many steps to go through before the municipality can sell carbon offsets. …The logging and the potential for a carbon offset program are on hold until the forest review and 
Huu-ay-aht First Nations has closed a deal with Western Forest Products that will give the nation additional ownership of a tree farm licence located on Huu-ay-aht traditional territory. Huumiis Ventures, a limited partnership owned by the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, announced on Tuesday, May 4 that it has acquired an “incremental” 28 percent ownership interest in TFL 44. With this transaction, Huumiis now owns a 35 percent ownership interest in TFL 44, with Western Forest Products owning the remaining 65 percent. …The shared vision of Huumiis, Huu-ay-aht and Western includes a framework for opportunities for increased participation of area First Nations through tenure ownership, training and employment, business opportunities, sustained domestic manufacturing, integrated resource management planning, effective marketing and value-added product innovation.
Chinese banks are the second largest financers of commodities implicated in tropical rainforest deforestation, according to research that casts doubt on Beijing’s ambitions to be a global leader in the fight against climate change. Data analysed by Forests & Finance, a global coalition of non-governmental organisations, showed that from January 2016-April 2020, Chinese institutions provided $15bn in loans and underwriting services to companies that traded in commodities linked to deforestation… Chinese companies involved in trading pulp and paper, palm oil, soy, rubber and timber largely operate overseas and are often funded by Chinese banks, highlighting the international footprint of the country’s financial sector. …Tom Picken of the Forests & Finance coalition explained that the aim of the database was to demonstrate the huge flow of financing from Chinese banks that fell below the standards of “green financing” and to press Chinese banks to adopt stricter safeguards to avoid funding deforestation. 
LONDON − In the last decade, the Amazon forests of Brazil [and cooler forests of North America] released more carbon into the atmosphere than they absorbed, thanks largely to human activities that cleared or degraded the canopy. … The world’s forests are a key part of the great carbon conundrum: what happens to all the greenhouse gases emitted from power stations, vehicle exhausts and factory chimneys? The assumption is that approaching one third of all the carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by the forests, and the conservation of the planet’s forests has become part of the proposed arsenal of global defence against catastrophic climate change. …any disturbance alters the value of forests to the atmospheric traffic in carbon. Within that is a warning … humans may have been over-estimating the capacities of the forests. “…to be a real benefit, the forest has to remain intact,” said