Industry News Roundup

As We See It: Hot Stove Moment

By Bill Imbergamo

If children learn not to touch a hot stove by getting burned, 2020 should have been America’s “hot stove” moment.

Drought, heat and severe winds combined with overstocked and under-managed forests to create historic fire storms that kicked off on Labor Day weekend. They didn’t go out until the winter snows and rains came, months later.

When all was said and done, more than 4.9 million acres of national forest had burned catastrophically. Foresters who warned that our overstocked forests were primed for such an event took no satisfaction in seeing their predictions come true.

Heading into 2021, America faces crises that must be addressed. We must sequester and store more carbon so there is less of it in the atmosphere to reduce the odds of future firestorm events. We are also facing a housing affordability crisis: Freddie Mac estimated in 2020 that 29 states face housing shortages of between 2.5 and 3.3 million units. Home building has picked up since the Great Recession but not enough to keep up with housing demand. Homebuilders say that increased lumber costs are leading to reduced housing starts, which is the last thing an undersupplied housing market needs.

By better managing our national forests, we can take steps to meet both of these crises. The National

Forest System has more than 80 million acres of land at “moderate to high-risk” of disastrous fire.

Because they are overstocked, our national forests are particularly vulnerable to threats like drought and insect and disease outbreaks.

Prior to the 2020 fire season, the

National Forest System had a documented reforestation backlog of more than 7.4 million acres.

More active management of our national forests, including timber harvest, can help address both crises. National forest timber must be processed in U.S. mills, which will help create jobs at home while meeting domestic demand for housing. Lumber and composite building products can help build new housing units that could help us store literally gigatons of carbon.

By salvaging some of the acres that burned in 2020, and more actively thinning others, our national forests can help create carbon friendly housing solutions while clearing the way for new forests to begin taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in new, growing forests. All of this work would take place outside of wilderness areas, where timber harvest is prohibited. Massive new lands set aside do nothing to protect these areas from uncontrolled wildfire.

Failure to act will just leave the national forests vulnerable to another season of uncontrolled wildfires.

These fires damage habitat, harm watersheds and release millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

We’ve also got to invest in reforestation. The reforestation needs created by the 2020 fire season already exceed our capacity to produce seedlings and get them planted. Congress must step up—not only to support management but to provide seedling sources to allow reforestation.

The national forests can’t meet all of America’s timber demand.

But as public resources, the public should expect them to be managed to help meet our needs, not make our crises worse. If we invest a bit in forest management and take steps to increase management outside of protected areas, our national forests can help meet our needs

Bill Imbergamo is the executive director of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition. Follow the organization on Twitter @FederalForest. American Loggers Council is an 501(c)(6) not for profit trade association representing professional timber harvesters throughout the United States. For more information please contact the American Loggers Council at 409-625-0206, or americanlogger@aol.com, or visit website at www.amloggers.com.

Following the recent postponement of the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Logging, Biomass and Landworks EXPO, the producers of the event, Carolina Loggers Assn. and North Carolina For estry Assn. are pleased to announce that the next Mid-Atlantic Logging, Biomass and Landworks EXPO has been rescheduled to April 29-30, 2022. The 2021 event was canceled due to the pandemic.

With a very strong demand expected for the Mid-Atlantic region event in 2022, the producers continue to plan for an excellent event that will exceed expectations. Vendors can reserve their spots now. Contact Jonzi Guill at jguill@ncloggers.com.

The Mid-Atlantic Logging, Biomass and Landworks EXPO is a nonprofit event that showcases the latest logging equipment and supplies from leading manufacturers to more than 2,500 attendees. Visit loggingexpo.com.

Weyerhaeuser is purchasing 69,200 acres of high-quality Alabama timberlands from Soterra, a subsidiary of Greif, Inc., for $149 million. The acquisition comprises highly productive timberlands in southwest Alabama, 100 miles north of Mobile.

Weyerhaeuser points to its wellstocked timber inventory, including 76% plantation acreage with average age of 14 years, and an opportunity for increased productivity over time

Devin Stockfish, president and

CEO, comments, “These timberlands are located in favorable markets and well-integrated with our existing supply chain, and we have strong relationships with a diverse and reliable set of customers in the area.”

Doosan Announces Top 2020 Dealers

Doosan Infracore North America, LLC announced its top-performing dealers of 2020, including one from the Southeast U.S. The top 10 dealers are among more than 160 Doosan equipment dealers in North America.

Doosan annually recognizes its heavy equipment dealers that have excelled in providing top-level performance in sales, parts and service to the customers in their respective markets.The top 10 Doosan dealers of 2020 include the following enterprises (headquarters in parentheses): —Barry Equipment Co. (Webster, Mass.), fourth consecutive year —Bobcat of Mandan, Inc. (Mandan, ND), third consecutive year —Brown’s Industrial Sales (Lloydminster, Alberta) —CG Equipment (Guelph, Ontario), second consecutive year —Coastal Machinery (Pensacola, Fla.), second consecutive year —Equipment East, LLC (Dracut, Mass.) fourth consecutive year —G. Stone Commercial Div. (Middlebury, Vt.t) —Hartington Farm Services Ltd. (Hartington, Ontario) —Theco Inc. (Big Lake, Minn.) —Wilson Equipment (Central Point, Ore.), third consecutive year

“There are four dealers joining this list for the first time, which is reflective of their hard work growing the Doosan brand in their re gions,” says Todd Roecker, Doo san Director of Dealer Management and Marketing. Top-performing dealers are offered a selection of several incentives that they may choose from, which will

improve their profitability when selling and servicing Doosan equipment. In addition, Doosan North American leadership may look to these dealers for valuable input regarding Doosan initiatives and direction as they represent the dealer network.

Dansons USA announces it will open the country’s largest barbecue wood pellet mill and distribution center in Hope, Ark., staring with three pelletizers and 100,000 ton capacity, with infrastructure in place to expand to 300,000 tons and nine pelletizers. The site will also serve as a distribution center for wood pellets as well as wood pellet barbecue grills.

The site is a former GeorgiaPacific facility and the immediate area has a strong infrastructure for wood procurement and processing.

Dansons was founded in 1999 by Dan Thiessen and his two sons. They own and operate multiple companies and brands.

Enviva Builds More Pellet Capacity

Enviva reports the integration of the wood pellet production plant it previously purchased in Greenwood, SC is progressing as expected. Enviva has received the necessary permits to expand the Greenwood plant production capacity to 600,000 metric tons per year. Construction is ongoing and the expansion is on track for completion by the end of 2021.

Enviva continues to commission certain assets and ramp production from existing expansion projects at its wood pellet production plants in Northampton, NC and Southampton, Va. Enviva expects each plant to reach production capacity of 750,000 MTPY by the end of 2021.

Enviva has commenced a series of projects at its wood pellet production plants in Sampson, NC; Hamlet, NC; and Cottondale, Fla. subject to receiving the necessary permits. Enviva expects to complete this work by the end of 2022.

Enviva also noted the following continued developments: —Construction of a wood pellet production plant in Lucedale, Miss. and a deep-water marine terminal in Pascagoula, Miss. —Development and construction of a wood pellet production plant in Epes, Ala., where Enviva has completed the purchase of the project site and commenced pre-construction activities. —Evaluation of additional sites for wood pellet production plants across the Southeastern U.S., which would be exported through its existing terminals and the Pascagoula terminal.

John Deere Unveils Precision Forestry

John Deere announces its Precision Forestry initiative, a focused

approach to its job site technology solutions. Through Precision Forestry, John Deere is reorganizing its technology portfolio and doubling down on its efforts in delivering solutions designed to increase efficiency and productivity in the woods. The shift to Precision Forestry aligns with the brand’s Smart Industrial operating model, through which John Deere aims to deliver increased customer value by focusing on three core areas: Production Systems, Technology Stack and Lifecycle Solutions.

“Previously, the industry has focused on developing bigger, faster, more powerful machines to boost performance, but larger machines sometimes present more challenges, especially on job sites with limitations,” says Matthew Flood, product marketing manager, John Deere. “With the Preci-

sion Forestry initiative, we’re organizing our portfolio to create a foundation for the future of forestry machines and job site technology.”

Precision Forestry is a more descriptive term for what customers can expect from the John Deere technology suite, including real-time, map-based production planning and tracking capabilities along with new and evolving operator assistance capabilities. This new alignment lays the groundwork for the future of technology solutions, as John Deere builds in these core areas to help customers work faster and smarter on the job site. For customers, the new Precision Forestry direction will simplify the John Deere technology portfolio, making it easier to select and adopt customized solutions based on their unique job site needs.

To learn more about Precision Forestry technology offerings, visit johndeere.com/forestry.

The former bankrupt German Pellets industrial wood pellet facility in Woodville, Tex. that was purchased by Estonia-based Graanul Invest Group in June 2019 now operates as Woodville Pellets.

Woodville Pellets LLC also has a pellet storage and shipping terminal in Port Arthur, Tex. The pellet plant has a production capacity of

Loggers Included In New USDA Initiative

Loggers and log haulers are included in a new $6 billion effort to reach a broader set of agricultural producers than COVID-19 relief programs implemented last year, said U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Sec. Tom Vilsack in late March. Vilsack’s statement introduced a new initiative—USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers—that is currently developing rules for new programs that put more emphasis on outreach to small and socially disadvantaged producers, and to also include specialty crop and organic producers, timber harvesters, as well as provide support for the food supply chain and producers of renewable fuel.

As part of the larger COVID

Relief Act signed in December 2020, $200 million was set aside as relief for loggers and log haulers who lost revenue as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic. American

Loggers Council Executive Vice

President Danny Dructor said he and members of the ALC Logger and Log Hauler Relief Advocacy

Committee had met with USDA economists and provided financial and survey data and shared key factors that need to be covered in any compensation formula. He added that the logger relief program “has their attention and they’re working on it.” One challenge, Dructor added, is helping USDA officials understand how loggers and log haulers have roles as commodity producers, then designing a COVID compensation plan for agricultural businesses that aren’t traditional row-crop producers.

Some existing programs like the

Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) will fall within the new initiative, Vilsack said, and where authority allows, will be refined to better address the needs of smaller producers. He added that a review of previous COVID-19 assistance programs targeting farmers identified a number of gaps and disparities in how assistance was distributed as well as inadequate outreach to underserved producers and smaller and medium operations.

Vilsack’s statement was part of a wide-ranging press release detailing a four-part process for the USDA

Pandemic Assistance for Producers that includes developing new programs and bolstering existing ones.

ALC is a primary contact for

USDA concerning the program, and

ALC urges loggers to sign up for the ALC newsletter and USDA updates at the ALC website, amloggers.com.

Stephanie Fuller, who works for the Forest Workforce Training Institute (ForestryWorks), has authored an illustrated book for children about the logging profession.

Fuller is the daughter of Todd and Shelia Fuller, owners of Fuller’s Logging in Chambers County, Alabama. Stephanie’s upbringing and passion about forestry led her into a career of advocating and working for the good of those in the industry. The experiences gained from being a child in the industry inspired Fuller to write Lucy Meets a Logger, a children’s book about logging. The book’s purpose is to educate young students about the opportunities and benefits of timber harvesting.

Lucy Meets a Logger follows the The book cover main character, Lucy, as she ventures into the woods and meets Mr. Logger, who explains to her why logging is good for society and the environment.

Alabama Forestry Assn. and Forest Workforce Training Institute have begun touring Alabama with state legislators on the “Lucy Tour.” This tour allows legislators to visit schools in their area to read Lucy Meets a Logger and educate the next generation about the importance of the forest products industry. Author Stephanie Fuller, center, with her parents Shelia and Todd Fuller, whose company, Fuller's Logging, based in

ForestryWorks is the jobs promo- Lafayette, Ala., was the state's Logger of tion initiative of the Forest Work- the Year in 2015 force Training Institute. The mission of FWTI is to create a pipeline of workers for the forest products industry through education, career promotion and training. This pipeline creates a sustainable source of forestry professionals for generations to come. Traditionally, Fuller is touring classrooms in Alabama, using the children's book to educate young students and answering ForestryWorks’ educa- their questions about the logging industry.

tional component focused mainly on grades 8-12 to encourage students to consider the forest products industry as a future career path. However, the team began to realize that by the time students reached grade eight, they had their perception about the industry and the people working in it. This perception was normally not positive due to misinformation provided to young students from different sources. Lucy Meets a Logger gives FWTI staff, as well as forestry professionals, a tool to take into local schools and tell the story of one component of the forest products industry through the eyes of a child.

All profits from Lucy Meets a Logger are put back into ForestryWorks in order to continue creating educational tools for the forest products industry.

Go to lucymeetsalogger.com if you are interested in purchasing a copy of Lucy Meets a Logger.