Daily News for January 14, 2021

Today’s Takeaway

Australia is the only developed nation on WWF’s list of deforestation hotspots

January 14, 2021
Category: Today's Takeaway

WWF deforestation hotspots centres on the tropics, Australia being the only developed nation on the list. In related news: forest area the size of California has been lost since 2004; the US administration imperils spotted owl habitat; Canadian conservation made strides in 2020; BC acquires land to expands parks and protected areas; and BC First Nations strike deal with Interfor and Western to protect ancient cedars.

In Business news: Resolute is restarting its Ingnace, Ontario sawmill; NewLife Forest Products is building a sawmill in Flagstaff, Arizona; New Zealand log exports  are off to a great start in 2021; a US bill creates incentives for wood pellet heating; lumber prices are on the rise in North America; US contractor optimism improved in December; and the UK housing boom is starting to fade.

Finally, what do tree planters and samurai have in common? Ask Forests Ontario!

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Resolute Forest Products to restart Ignace, Ontario, sawmill

By Jeff Walters
CBC News
January 14, 2021
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

IGNACE, Ontario — Two years after it was closed because of poor market conditions, the sawmill in Ignace, Ontario, should be up and running in February. Resolute Forest Products will restart the operation on February 8, said Seth Kursman, the vice president of corporate communications, sustainability and government affairs. He said a handful of employees have been working at the facility since it was closed, keeping the sawmill maintained and ready for a restart. …When the sawmill starts up, about 25 employees will work at the plant, on one shift, plus those who work in harvesting operations and transportation. …The eventual goal is to staff up to a second shift in several months, which would have 50 employees at the mill. Eventually another half-shift will be added, bringing total employment to 60.

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Governor’s budget proposal includes $1 billion overall in wildfire, forest funding

The Willits News
January 13, 2021
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

The Golden State has witnessed record devastation wrought by the worst wildfire seasons in history over the past decade. The Legislature and the Governor Gavin Newsom have funded hundreds of millions of dollars in new wildfire prevention and preparedness for Cal Fire, counties, fire districts and natural resources agencies across the state. This year’s budget proposal, released today by Governor Newsom, also includes a $1 billion investment in wildfire and forest resilience and emergency response, doubling down on historic investments made over the past few years. Many of these new investments have been championed by Senator Mike McGuire [who responded]: “Today’s budget reflects desperately needed funding on fire prevention and response … This budget also builds on past years’ significant investments including hundreds of millions for vegetation management and fire prevention, $143 million to support 30 new Cal Fire crews and $48 million to continue phasing in Black Hawk helicopters and large air tankers.

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Cantwell Announces Bill to Preserve Pristine National Forest Lands

Centralia Chronicle
January 14, 2021
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Senator Maria Cantwell

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, along with other members of Congress, announced a renewed push to protect nearly 60 million acres of America’s last remaining wild forestlands, including 2 million acres in Washington state. The Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2021 would permanently protect 58.5 million of acres of national forest from logging and development — more than 31 percent of America’s National Forest System — including the South Quinault Ridge in Northwest Washington, the Dark Divide in Southwest Washington, The Kettle Range in Northeast Washington and much of the Methow Valley Headwaters in Central Washington. The Tuesday announcement came on the 20th anniversary of the 2001 Roadless Rule, which  prohibited road construction and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of roadless areas on National Forest System lands. More than 2.5 million Americans submitted comments on the Roadless Forest Protection Rule since 1999, and more than 80,000 comments came from citizens in Washington state … — more than 95 percent — were in support of protecting roadless areas. 

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Massive new sawmill coming to Arizona, 200 to be hired

By Robert Dalheim
woodworkingnetwork.com
January 13, 2021
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

BELLEMONT, Ariz. – NewLife Forest Products has acquired a 425,000-square-foot plant and 35 acres of land near Flagstaff, Arizona, which it will use to house a new high-production sawmill. Around 200 employees will be hired. NewLife, the operating entity for Good Earth Power AZ, says the facility will produce 120 million board feet of lumber per year, as well as engineered wood products. The operation will also thin the fire-ravaged forests of Arizona, which the company says are upwards of 20 times more overgrown than normal. The U.S. Forest Service is collaborating with NewLife in the effort under the Four Forest Restoration Initiative. The new facility will house a sawmill, planer mill, kilns, and multiple timber processing lines. A rail spur will help move products. NewLife specializes in ponderosa pine. Some of the company’s products include landscape bark, horse bedding, woodchips, and soils.

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Developing Southern Pine Market through COVID-19

By Julia Milrod
The Merchant Magazine
January 13, 2021
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

…COVID-19 has affected just about every facet of society in some way, and we have all had to adjust our game plan and use a little bit of creativity over the past year… One group that has shown incredible resolve and ingenuity throughout the pandemic is the Southern Forest Products Association. The SFPA is America’s first and oldest southern pine trade association. …A prominent part of SFPA’s activities involves maintaining a robust schedule of in-person international educational seminars and trade missions aimed at developing the market for southern pine lumber in key areas around the world. These international events are integral to how SFPA serves both members and the industry as a whole, but with COVID travel restrictions and concerns about social distancing, they simply couldn’t take place as planned. Without missing a beat, SFPA staff successfully restructured their international educational seminars into a virtual format using Zoom.

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Papua New Guinea Forest Authority to review new tax on log exports

By Dale Luma
The PNG National
January 13, 2021
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) managing director Tunou Sabuin says the authority is looking at reviewing the new government tax regime on round log exports. Sabuin said during the handover ceremony of the outgoing Forestry Minister Solan Mirisim and incoming Minister Walter Schnaubelt that it wanted the Government to consider reducing the tax on round logs from 50.2 per cent back to 28.5 per cent. …Sabuin said the other outstanding agenda was the state purchase option on logs. Sabuin said the challenge was the PNGFA approved 10-year corporate plan (2020 to 2030). This includes the approval of a restructure to hire another 300-plus staff on top of the current maximum of 600. Meanwhile, Mirisim said the forestry sector could contribute K500mil to K600mil annually to Government revenue. He said last year had been difficult for the sector with the Covid-19 pandemic affecting world market prices and the log export tax impacting performance.

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2021 logs on with a great start for the New Zealand lumber industry

By Marcus Musson, Director, Forest360
New Zealand Herald
January 13, 2021
Category: Business & Politics

I’m not alone in being relieved that 2020 has been kicked into touch and the prospects for 2021 are looking better…so far. 2020, courtesy of Covid-19, featured a massive roller coaster in terms of log prices and demand for export logs, which make up around 65 per cent of our total production. The swing from highest to lowest price was $56/JAS and the largest we have experienced since 2014. We don’t rely heavily on export markets because we want to, it’s purely that our log production… far exceeds the domestic sawmill demand …China has come out of the Covid blocks firing on all eight cylinders with a huge amount of infrastructure spending which has, in turn, created sustained demand for all raw materials, logs included. …Having been in this game for a couple of decades now I have seen prices reach the mid-$140’s/JAS numerous times. Each time the drivers for strong pricing are different, and each time there is a sharp correction soon after.

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Finance & Economics

New year 2021 starts off with rising lumber prices in North America

By Madison’s Lumber Reporter
Lesprom Network
January 13, 2021
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

In the first full week back to work of 2021, the latest data of housing construction and home sales out of the US shows a marked increase over the previous year. The economic indicators for future home building, and remodelling, are rosy. …Unstoppable demand over the Holiday Season pushed prices relentlessly higher, for the week ending January 8, 2021 benchmark softwood lumber commodity item Western S-P-F KD 2×4 #2&Btr prices rose to US$944 mfbm, which is up another +$70, or +8%, over the previous week, said Madison’s Lumber Reporter.

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Contractor Optimism Improves as Construction Backlog Inches Up in December

Associated Builders and Contractors
January 12, 2021
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON — Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rebounded modestly to 7.3 months in December, an increase of 0.1 months from November’s reading, according to an ABC member survey conducted from Dec. 18 to Jan. 5. Backlog is 1.5 months lower than in December 2019. …“While many contractors enter 2021 with significant trepidation, the most recent backlog and confidence readings suggest that the onset of vaccinations has generally led to more upbeat assessments regarding nonresidential construction’s future,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.

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UK housing market boom starts to fade, survey shows

Reuters
January 13, 2021
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

LONDON – A boom in Britain’s housing market has started to fade, dampened by new COVID-19 lockdowns and the coming expiry of a temporary tax cut for buyers, a survey showed on Thursday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ monthly gauge of new buyer enquiries fell in December to a seven-month low of +15% from +26% in November. …Britain’s housing market rebounded strongly after the first COVID-19 lockdown as buyers sought bigger houses with gardens. Bank of England shows mortgage approvals in November topped 100,000 for the first time since 2007. …Analysts widely expect activity to cool off in 2021, slowed by the March 31 expiry of a cut to a property purchase tax – introduced last year to soften the hit to the economy from the pandemic.

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Forestry

Bush pilot’s new book talks growth of Northern BC forest industry

By Dillon Giancola
Dawson Creek Mirror
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Learning to fly – this book shares Svend’s story of how he emigrated to Canada from Denmark after World War II, and made a career flying Cessna 185 planes, often on floats, in and around the region and Northern BC. Former bush pilot and forest industry pioneer Svend Serup, and his daughter Sheila Serup, have written and published a book about Svend’s life and adventures, titled No Old, Bold Pilots. The book shares Svend’s story of how he emigrated to Canada from Denmark after World War II, and made a career flying Cessna 185 planes, often on floats, in and around Williston Lake, Hudson’s Hope, and Northern B.C. in the 20th century. …The title of the book is based off a quote by E. Hamilton Lee, “Don’t be a show-off. Never be too proud to turn back. There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.”

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Aerial spray planned in Courtenay to eradicate gypsy moth

By Scott Stanfield
Comox Valley Record
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The B.C. Forest Ministry is planning an aerial spray treatment this spring in Courtenay in an effort to eradicate a gypsy moth population. The spray will cover 187 hectares around Highway 19A, … where trapping and monitoring results reveal a moth population is establishing. The treatment area includes 94 hectares that was sprayed in 2018. “Those spray programs were probably effective in reducing those establishing gypsy moth populations, however it didn’t completely eradicate them, and that’s probably why we’re back this year,” Babita Bains, provincial forest entomologist, said in a Jan. 12 presentation to the Comox Valley Regional District board. “Or there’s the other possibility that there’s been repeated introductions from the same source.” She said the European gypsy moth is commonly transported into B.C. from out east where it has established. It can spread when household items are transported. If untreated, the insect can seriously damage forests, farms, orchards and urban trees.

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Peace Natural Resource District gets good audit

BC Forest Practices Board
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA – An audit of the district managers’ obligations to maintain forest service roads (FSRs) in the Dawson Creek timber supply area (TSA) of the Peace Natural Resource District has found that the FSRs and crossing structures were built, maintained and deactivated appropriately, as required by the Forest and Range Practices Act. The government, through the district manager, must maintain FSRs that are not being maintained by forest companies or BC Timber Sales. In the Dawson Creek TSA, this consists of 86.6 kilometres of road, all of which is classified as “wilderness road.” …“While these roads are not currently being used by industry, they are open to the public and are sometimes used to access communities, rural residences or recreation sites,” said Kevin Kriese, chair, Forest Practices Board. “The board is pleased to find the district is doing a good job of looking after them.”

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West Coast First Nations strike agreement to protect sacred cultural cedars

By Rochelle Baker
The National Observer
January 14, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Na̲nwak̲olas Council president Dallas Smith [said]… more than a century of industrial old-growth logging has mowed down these forest giants, putting the shared spiritual and cultural well-being of First Nations at risk. So, old-growth cedars will no longer be valued solely as commodity, but also for their incalculable cultural worth, Smith said. …Na̲nwak̲olas Council and a number of forestry companies have made a groundbreaking agreement to ensure the monumental sacred trees are protected from logging within members’ traditional territories. Na̲nwak̲olas… has established a large cultural cedar operations protocol with two forestry companies, Smith said Tuesday. For the first time, Western Forest Products and Interfor have agreed to abide by the traditional laws governing the stewardship of large cultural cedar trees in council members’ territories, said Smith, adding more companies are expected to sign on soon.

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Forestry watchdog misses faulty math, earns praise for call to modernize biodiversity laws

By Fran Yanor
Prince George Citizen
January 14, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Investigation findings by B.C.’s forestry watchdog avoided criticizing government or industry for beetle salvage logging practices, and missed the ‘smoke and mirrors’ math that short-changes old-growth retention targets, but were unequivocal on the need to map old growth forests and modernize biodiversity legal requirements in the Prince George timber area. “The current legal orders create high risk to biodiversity in many ecosystems,” said BC Forest Practices Board Chair Kevin Kriese. “What we really want to see is a transparent, well-informed science-based process to go and review this (legal) Order and update it and make sure that the legal requirements meet today’s expectations, and today’s science.” Registered Professional Forester Judy Thomas lodged the complaint that triggered the Board investigation four years ago. Thomas was concerned beetle salvage logging was jeopardizing biodiversity, and that logging generally wasn’t meeting provincial government legal requirements (the Order) in the Prince George Timber Supply Area. 

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Province acquires land for 16 provincial parks, two protected areas

By the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Government of British Columbia
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

As more people are experiencing the benefits of outdoor recreation than ever before, there will be more opportunities to get outside through a proposed expansion to B.C.’s park system. To protect ecologically sensitive areas and enhance outdoor recreation, the Province has acquired more than 650 hectares of land intended to be added to 16 provincial parks and two protected areas. …Through the acquisition of private land and partnerships with conservation groups and individual donors, the Province regularly adds land to the parks and protected areas system, which is one of the largest park systems in the world. The newly acquired land is valued at more than $9.7 million. When the Province acquires new land, there are several steps before it can become a park or protected area. This includes engagement with Indigenous nations, consultation with local government, defining a legal boundary and legal designation.

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Strides made in nature conservation in 2020

By Dan Kraus
Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal
January 14, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

2020 may just have been Canada’s most important year for nature conservation. A year ago, there was much anticipation in the conservation community that 2020 would perhaps be the most important year ever for nature. Canada’s Nature Fund promised to accelerate the conservation of our wild spaces and species. There was a buzz about the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Congress. The World Economic Forum had made a call to stop the loss of biodiversity. And then everything changed. … in a world that was suddenly slowed and silenced, many of us were drawn closer to nature. … Planting trees and restoring forests allows us to slow down climate change and speed up biodiversity conservation. Here in Canada, the federal government has committed to planting 2 billion trees over the next 10 years. Many forest regions in southern Canada have been heavily altered, and tree planting will help in their restoration.

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What do Tree Planters and Samurai have in Common?

By Forests Ontario
Cision Newswire
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Dirk Brinkman in 1973

TORONTO – Fifty years ago, Dirk Brinkman secured one of British Columbia’s first tree-planting contracts. …A few years later, he founded Brinkman Reforestation Ltd. To date, the company has planted over one-and-a-half billion trees, making it Canada’s top and longest running tree-planting firm. A visionary of landscape restoration, Dirk Brinkman will deliver the keynote speech at Forests Ontario/Forest Recovery Canada’s 2021 Annual Conference, Growing Our Future. His address will look at integrating ecosystem-based management with traditional knowledge as a way to guide the world’s adaptation to climate change. …“We are very excited to have Dirk Brinkman as the keynote of our conference,” said Rob Keen, RPF and CEO of Forests Ontario/Forest Recovery Canada. …Over the decades, Brinkman has perfected planter tools, techniques, and wilderness work systems. He has worked extensively with First Nations and has played a key role in shifting the responsibility of reforestation from the government to the forest products sector.

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Replanting well underway in burned areas of Santiam State Forest

By Amanda Arden
KOIN TV Portland
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Santiam State Forest is on the road to recovery after the Beachie Creek, Lionshead, and Riverside wildfires damaged approximately 16,600 of the forest’s 47,465 acres.  …Oregon Department of Forestry officials said crews are now in the process of salvaging burned timber and replanting the forest.  …According to Shannon Loffelmacher, ODF unit forester at the Lyons office, seedling tree planting is about 43% complete for the season. Before the fire, ODF had ordered 240,000 seedlings, a combination of douglas fir and western red cedar. After the fire, they increased their seedling supply to 400,000.  With vast area that now needs to be replanted and limited seedlings, Loffelmacher said the department of forestry decided to adjust their tree spacing to replant the Santiam State Forest. Instead of planting the usual 435 trees per acre, they’re now spreading the seedlings out more and will only plant 360 trees per acre.     

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Trump administration slashes imperiled spotted owls’ habitat

By Gillian Flaccus
Billings Gazette
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for the imperiled northern spotted owl in Oregon, Washington state and Northern California, much of it in prime timber locations in Oregon’s coastal ranges. Environmentalists … accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service … of taking a parting shot at protections designed to help restore the species in favor of the timber industry. The tiny owl is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and was rejected for an upgrade to endangered status last year … despite losing nearly 4% of its population annually. “This revision guts protected habitat for the northern spotted owl by more than a third. It’s Trump’s latest parting gift to the timber industry and another blow to a species that needs all the protections it can get to fully recover,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity. 

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How timber can help Scotland deliver sustainability

By Sam Hart
The Herald Scotland
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: International

SCOTLAND is claimed to have hit the energy jackpot twice, with the discovery of North Sea oil and gas and, later, the advent of renewable energy. Yet there is another natural resource that could be as important in helping Scotland achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045 – our woodlands and forestry. The sector contributes an estimated £1 billion to the Scottish economy, with ambitions to double this over the next decade. A great deal of planning has gone into developing a sustainably managed set of forests and woodlands in Scotland – land cover of just five per cent at the beginning of the 20th century has increased to 19% today, totalling 1.46 million hectares. There is significant local demand for the sector’s products, not least in housebuilding, where 85% of new homes in Scotland are built with timber… That’s before we look at the material’s potential use in public sector or commercial projects.

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An area roughly the size of California lost to global deforestation from 2004-2017

WWF International
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Two-thirds of global forest cover loss is occurring in the tropic and subtropic regions of the world, where vast clusters of deforestation hot spots—also known as “deforestation fronts”—are destroying the important ecosystem services forests provide. There are 24 of these hot spots that are spread across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Over 160,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of California, were lost in these deforestation fronts between 2004 and 2017, according to a new report from World Wildlife Fund titled “Deforestation Fronts: Drivers and Responses in a Changing World.  …Agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation around the world. A growing global population and increased food consumption have led to many forests being converted into farms. …While progress has been made in halting forest loss and degradation, both continue at alarming rates. This report provides a comprehensive analysis.

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Australia the only developed nation on world list of deforestation hotspots

By Lisa Cox
The Guardian
January 13, 2021
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Australia remains one of the world’s hotspots for deforestation according to a new report by WWF, which finds an area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. The analysis identifies 24 “deforestation fronts” worldwide where a total of 43 million hectares of forest was destroyed in the period from 2004 until 2017. Australia is the only country in the developed world to appear on the list, with eastern Australia named alongside Colombia, Peru, Laos and Mozambique as locations with “medium” rates of deforestation. The countries with high rates of deforestation include Brazil, Bolivia, Madagascar and Borneo. The report warns that nearly half of the standing forests in the 24 deforestation fronts have suffered some type of fragmentation and trends suggest clearing will persist unless countries act to protect them. It expands on a 2015 report by WWF which named 11 hotspots.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Carbon credits a licence to pollute

Letter by Glenn Overhoff, Julius Becker Forest Ltd
Cowichan Valley Citizen
January 13, 2021
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

To answer Icel Dobell’s question in her opinion piece: “what do Coca-Cola, Chevron, Catalyst and Lake Cowichan have in common?” The answer is straightforward; carbon credits… So, what’s a carbon credit? It’s a licence to pollute. …As how this all is great benefit to the environment as Ms. Dobell claims, escapes me. As stated on the BC Community Forest Association webpage, their mission is to promote and support the practice and expansion of sustainable community forest management in British Columbia. …If the community wants to move in the direction of selling this all off guised as carbon credits, that’s fine. However, there needs to be a full and transparent discussion… Interestingly, Ms. Dobell and the UBC scientists also seemed to have missed the obvious point that the lumber in their homes stores carbon just as well as trees standing in the forest.

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US Congress includes modern wood heating incentives in massive clean energy package

Bioenergy International
December 25, 2020
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

In the United States, renewable energy, forestry, and rural economic development organizations applaud the passage of the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 by lawmakers, which is expected to be signed by the President. The sweeping legislation includes a new investment tax credit for high-efficiency home heating equipment that utilizes wood pellets, woodchips, and cordwood, which was part of a broader tax package extended by Congress to continue the expansion of clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar. …The credit applies to the installed cost of home heating and hot water systems that utilize wood pellets, woodchips, and cordwood at efficiencies greater than 75 percent high heat value. A federal income tax credit of 26 percent commences with systems purchased in 2021 and phases down to 22 percent in 2022 and 2023.

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Dead Trees Fuel Wildfire Severity in Sierra Nevada

By Kat Kerlin
UC Davis
January 13, 2021
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

California’s drought of 2012-2016 killed millions of trees in the Sierra Nevada — mostly by way of a bark beetle epidemic — leaving a forest canopy full of dry needles. A study published from the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Forest Service helps answer concerns about what effect dense, dead foliage could have on subsequent wildfires and their burn severity. …  For the study, the researchers collected data on 180 plots within the Rough Fire and Cedar Fire footprints, located in the Sierra and Sequoia national forests, and the Giant Sequoia National Monument. It identified pre-fire tree mortality as influential on all measures of wildfire severity on the Cedar Fire, and on two of three measures on the Rough Fire. For the Rough Fire, it was the most important predictor of trees killed by fire. For the Cedar Fire, weather conditions during burning had the strongest influence on fire severity. 

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New University of Maine equipment will turn twigs and tree bark into jet fuel and heating oil

By Nina Mahaleris
Bangor Daily News
January 13, 2021
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

With help from federal funding, two forest bioproducts processing plants at the University of Maine will upgrade their equipment to expand their research into finding renewable energy uses for wood byproducts, such as jet fuel or home heating oil. The university’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute was awarded $4.8 million from the Defense Logistics Agency in September to continue its research into creating hydrocarbon fuel from biomass, like sawdust, tree bark, twigs and wood chips. The institute — which operates the Technology Research Center in Old Town and the on-campus Process Development Center — researches ways to repurpose wood biomass outside of Maine’s traditional lumber uses … Established in 2012, the Technology Research Center is a pilot plant located in the Old Town mill that researches how to turn wood byproducts, such as sawdust, into organic acid which can then be made into crude oil — like petroleum. But unlike petroleum, it’s a renewable resource.

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Ireland’s Minister Hackett launches Forest Carbon Tool

By the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Government of Ireland
January 13, 2021
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Pippa Hackett

The Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for forestry, Senator Pippa Hackett today launched Teagasc’s new Forest Carbon Tool. This online tool is a user-friendly way for existing and potential forest owners to calculate how much carbon can be removed in woodlands and highlights the important role of harvested wood products. The tool was developed with the support of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and developed by Teagasc with specialist input from FERs Ltd. …The Minister also acknowledged the work of the “COFORD Working Group on Promotion of forestry and afforestation” and welcomed increasing awareness among all stakeholders of the positive role that sustainably managed forests can play. The forest carbon tool takes user defined information on the forest and combines it with existing growth models to estimate carbon storage.

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‘Carbon-neutrality is a fairy tale’: how the race for renewables is burning Europe’s forests

By Hazel Sheffield
The Guardian
January 14, 2021
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Wood pellets are sold as a clean alternative to coal. But is the subsidised bioenergy boom accelerating the climate crisis? …Forests cover 2m hectares or more than half of Estonia. Around 380,000 hectares (939,000 acres) of that, including the Haanja nature reserve, fall under the EU’s Natura 2000 network. …Campaigners say that by allowing intensive clear-cutting in Natura 2000 sites, Estonia is in breach of the habitats directive and undermining the EU’s climate goals. He says there is a direct connection between the subsidised growth in the biomass industry encouraged by EU renewable energy policies and the acceleration of unsustainable Baltic tree-felling. “There is clear evidence that the intensification of logging is at least partly driven by higher demand for biomass for heat and power,” says a report co-authored by Kuresoo for the ELF and the Latvian Ornithological Society. 

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Many Overheated Forests May Soon Release More Carbon Than They Absorb

By Bob Berwyn
InsideClimate News
January 13, 2021
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The last decades have been filled with dire warning signs from forests. … New research shows that Earth’s overheated climate will alter forests at a global scale even more fundamentally, by flipping a critical greenhouse gas switch in the next few decades. The study suggests that, by 2040, forests will take up only half as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they do now, if global temperatures keep rising at the present pace. The study, … analyzed more than 20 years of data from about 250 sites that measure the transfer of carbon dioxide between land and plants and the atmosphere—the way the planet breathes. Forests and the rest of Earth’s land-based ecosystems take up about 30 percent of human carbon emissions, so any big change in that process is important. The data show a clear temperature limit, above which trees start to exhale more CO2 than they can take in through photosynthesis …

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Health & Safety

Sunken barge off Port McNeill to remain until February

By Gor Kurbis
CTV News
January 13, 2021
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

COURTENAY, B.C. — A 25-metre barge that sank near the Port McNeill ferry dock last month will likely remain where it rests until early February. The Alaska Plaza was docked at the Port McNeill marina when it ran into difficulties on Dec. 24. The vessel sank, causing the nearby 15-metre Sea Lander barge to break free of its moorings and float into the harbour’s breakwater. …While some contaminants were released from the barge, there are currently no emergent environmental issues. …Adams says the barges… are owned by the Croman Corporation out of White City, Oregon. The company is listed online as a helicopter logging operation. …”It has yet to be determined what the cause was,” Hanan says. …”They had been denied access from Western (Forest) Products to use their docks,” Adams says. “Then they just tied up to our docks. They didn’t ask permission, they just did it,” she says.

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