Industry News Roundup

INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP

As We See It: Doing The Right Thing that is fine by them. That is not why they did it. Nobody asked them to help, they just did what they do—

By Kevin Smith Hurricanes Laura and Delta because that is who they are. brought violent winds that Now as we watch the wildfires in -

Having grown up around wreaked havoc like we have cinerate the West, we see the same loggers and worked in several never seen before. The total response. Loggers are using their different industries, I can un - economic loss to the own assets to fight fires in forests that doubtedly say that the logging Louisiana timber industry they were not even allowed to help community is like no other. Smith because of the hurricanes manage. This genuine eagerness to The culture in which logging exceeds well over $1 billion. selflessly help others seems to be a is rooted has remained the same even In Winnfield, La., where hand- common occurrence with loggers, no when everything else in the world has shakes still mean something and so mat ter the geography. Loggers em seemingly changed. It is a unpreten- does taking care of your community, body the fabric of what it means to be tious culture of perseverance, hard you find folks like the McManus a community. To be an American. To work, and community. Logging family, out using their own just simply be a good human being.

This year has been particularly equipment and resources to clear the American Loggers Council is an challenging. Covid-19 has had a roads and debris from houses, even 501(c)(6) not for profit trade association significant impact on loggers’ prof- before the utility workers could re - representing professional timber haritability across the country. In spond. “The damage was immeasura- vesters throughout the United States. Louisiana, it is estimated that production has drop ped more than 30% from the beginning of March. Most logging companies are small, famible. Trees decimated our infrastructure. Loggers were working 15+ hour days in 100+ temperatures. The na tional guard and linemen did a tre For more information please contact the American Loggers Council at 409-6250206, or americanlogger@aol.com, or visit our website at www.amloggers.com. ly-owned, and operate with high men dous job, but when it came to operational costs and low margins. A few months of diminished production has serious effects on their major stuff, they left it to the skilled cutters. I am so proud to be from the logging community in times like West Fraser Purchases Norbord For $3 Billion solvency. these,” said Toni McManus McAllis-

As if Covid-19 did not cause ter, McManus Logging. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is enough financial ruin, back-to-back Loggers will never get the same acquiring all of the outstanding comhurricanes ripped through Louisiana. recognition as the utility workers and mon shares of Norbord, the world’s largest oriented strandboard producer, for $3.1 billion (U.S.) Following closing, the combined company will operate as West Fraser.

“Norbord’s OSB production is a perfect complement to the West Fraser portfolio, enabling us to de liver a wider range of wood products, and making us a more complete, efficient and valuable partner for our customers,” says Raymond Ferris, President and CEO of West Fraser. Norbord operates 17 plant locations in the United States, Europe and Canada, encompassing 15 OSB mills, one MDF plant, two particleboard facilities and a furniture plant.

West Fraser operates 34 sawmills in British Columbia, Alberta, and the Southern U.S., as well as three plywood operations and two MDF facilities in Western Canada.

West Fraser will continue to be led by Ferris as CEO and Chris Virostek as Chief Financial Officer. Peter Wijnbergen, President and CEO of Norbord, will be appointed President, Engineered Wood, re sponsible for the company’s OSB, plywood, particleboard, MDF and

veneer operations. Sean McLaren, currently West Fraser’s Vice-President, U.S. Lumber, will be appointed President, Solid Wood, responsible for all of the company’s lumber operations.

Jasper Lumber Teams With Tolko Industries

Tolko Industries (U.S.) Ltd. and Jasper Lumber Co. announced a 50-50 joint-venture partnership in Jasper’s existing southern yellow pine sawmill, shavings, chipping and trucking operations in Jasper, Ala., with plans to expand lumber production. The collaboration will be known as Jasper Forest Products LLC, A Jasper-Tolko Partnership.

“This joint venture project is an important part of our company growth and we’re excited to be in vesting in this mill with Jasper Lum ber,” says Tolko CEO Brad Thorlakson. “This is our third U.S. lumber partnership and supports our product and geographic diversification.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with Tolko,” adds Jasper Lumber Chief Operating Officer Roy Beall. “Tolko has a proven track record in our industry and a long family history in the lumber manufacturing business. We look forward to working with Tol ko, our valued customers, and the state and local economic development community as we create jobs and expand capacity from our current 70MMBF to approximately 200MMBF (annually).”

Barge Access Grant Paves Way For Enviva

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $1.7 million grant to the University of West Alabama, Livingston, Ala., to improve barge access at the Port of Epes Industrial Park. The EDA grant will be match ed with $540,000 in local funds and is expected to create 85 jobs and generate $175 million in private investment.

The grant complements a $175 million investment that industrial wood pellet producer Enviva is ex pected to make toward the construction of a wood pellet facility in Sum ter County. Enviva states it is expected to make a final investment decision on the Epes project around the end of the year.

Last December Enviva received approval for an air construction permit from the Alabama Dept. of Environmental Management (ADEM) for a facility expected to be located at the Port of Epes Industrial Park.

The plant’s planned permitted capacity is expected to be 1,150,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year. The plant would initially be constructed to produce 700,000 metric tons per year, with the possibility to expand in the future to reach full production capacity of 1,150,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year.

The sustainably sourced wood pellets from the Epes plant are ex pected to be transported by barge via the Tennessee-Tombigbee River to Enviva’s planned deepwater marine terminal to be located in Pascagoula, Miss., where they would be exported to Europe and Asia.

The plant would principally utilize a mix of softwood and mill residuals sourced from areas within approximately 75 miles of the plant. The rich fiber basket and supply in Alabama, along with favorable transport logistics and a great local workforce, are what makes this project sustainable and attractive to Enviva.

The EDA funding goes to one of Alabama’s 158 Opportunity Zones. Created by President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones are spurring economic development in economically distressed communities nationwide.

TFA Presents Logger Award To Futral

Texas Forestry Assn. (TFA) presented Deaven Futral, owner and operator of Southern Logging, LLC, with the Outstanding Logger of the Year award during the organization’s virtual annual conference held in late October at their headquarters in Lufkin, Texas.

“Deaven has been an active member of TFA, serving in leadership roles for Texas Logging Council and serving on the TFA Board of Directors,” says Rob Hughes, Executive Director, Texas Forestry Assn. “His leadership and experience were crucial during this time and we are grateful for his service.”

Futral started his logging career at 15 when he worked for a local company in Montgomery, Texas. He bought his first equipment in 1996 and contracted with E. P. Frazer, Inc. Today, Futral operates a fiveman crew, running three trucks and contracting a fourth one.

Southern Logging, LLC, is an independent company buying private timber from landowners and consulting foresters.

WV Students Gain Tree Falling Skills

Training with professionals, students in the Glenville State College (GSC) Dept. of Land Resources timber harvesting course recently participated in the West Virginia Division of Forestry’s (WVDOF) Timber Felling and Chainsaw Safety Workshop on the GSC Farm. Students learned the importance of personal protective equipment, timber

harvesting laws and regulations, how to obtain a timber harvesting license in the state of West Virginia, and OSHA regulations. The workshop, organized by Service Forester Jesse King, was led by Johnny King and Jack Spencer of the Div. of Forestry.

Following a session on laws and regulations, the students began refining the skills they had already learned in their timber harvesting course, as well as learning new skills along the way. The hands-on training included practicing notches, boring into a tree, spring pole removal, tree topping and more. Johnny King demonstrated a safe tree felling, followed by a stump analysis to discuss proper felling technique.

Enviva, Finite Carbon Focus On Landowners

Enviva, the world’s larger producer of industrial wood pellets, and Finite Carbon, a developer of forest carbon offsets, are teaming up to engage small forest landowners across the U.S. Southeast to voluntarily participate in global greenhouse gas emissions reduction programs. The partnership, leveraging Finite Carbon’s CORE Carbon online platform, is intended to help address climate change while generating new annual income for small landowners based on forest stewardship and extended rotations of mature bottomland hardwood forests.

“Enviva’s partnership with Finite Carbon will deliver on the promise of continued forest growth and carbon sequestration across the U.S. Southeast by creating an additional incentive for small forest landowners to protect their forests, especially sensitive, bottomland hardwoods,” comments John Keppler, Chairman and CEO of Enviva. “This partnership will move our mission of fighting climate change and displacing coal forward by opening new avenues for forest owners with less than 5,000 acres to generate income from the growing carbon offset market by choosing not to harvest their timberlands right now, enabling them to be a critical participant in addressing the global climate crisis.”

“CORE Carbon is a free, easy to use digital platform designed to incentivize sustainable land management decisions,” says Sean Carney, President of Finite Carbon. “Our partnership with Enviva will make it easier for small forest landowners to enroll in the voluntary carbon offset market, access a new source of revenue, and protect some of the South’s cherished forests.”

While CORE Carbon will be available to more than 1.5 million family and non-industrial forest owners in the U.S., this partnership will leverage Enviva’s focus on bottomland hardwood forests in the U.S. Southeast.

The partnership will significantly increase the availability of global carbon offset programs to privately held forestland by leveraging Enviva’s well-established land owner network along with Finite Carbon’s CORE Carbon Platform, which utilizes remote sensing technologies to reduce the costs and barriers to market entry for smaller forest landowners with as little as 40 acres of forestland. The initial phase of CORE Carbon will focus on a deferred harvest methodology, co-authored with American Carbon Registry, focusing on high conservation value forests such as mature bottomland hardwood stands in the U.S. Southeast.

Over the next decade, the program will seek to make sustainable forestry a more feasible proposition by opening the carbon offset market to over 1.5 million small forest landowners and generating $1 billion in carbon offset revenue for participating landowners.

Earthworm, Drax Working Together

Earthworm Foundation and energy company Drax Group have launched a new evidence-based approach to measure and evaluate the health of a forest, enabling the forestry industry to identify opportunities to support communities, biodiversity and tackle climate change.

The new tool, known as Healthy Forest Landscapes (HFL), will ensure that working forests continue to benefit the communities that depend on them, as well as the environment, amid increasing demand for sustainable wood products across a wide range of industries.

By using HFL, the forestry industry will be able to more accurately identify opportunities for positive interventions which support healthy

forests and help to drive improvements across the sector.

The HFL approach assesses four key areas: forest cover, carbon stock, biodiversity and community wellbeing.

Richard Peberdy, Head of Sustainable Forests at Drax, comments, “The HFL tool provides a consistent framework for evaluating different types of forests in different regions and countries. It gives us a clearer picture of forest health and allows us to obtain the evidence that the forests we source from are replanted, continue to store carbon and remain biodiverse and healthy while sustaining jobs and other opportunities.”

The HFL tool is important be cause it gives businesses like Drax the in formation needed to ensure its operations positively impact the forests where it sources its biomass. HFL does this by measuring changes in the forest landscape us ing empirical evidence such as big data from government statistics, and input from remote sensing technologies, such as earth observation from satellites. HFL also uses an Earthworm-developed socioeconomic evaluation methodology to assess community well-being.

Preliminary findings from the first pilot study at Drax’s Amite pellet plant in Gloster, Miss., in the southeastern U.S. show stable forest cover, carbon and biodiversity levels through the period 2010 to 2018, with a slight overall increase in total forested area, a marginal increase in the proportion under planted pine and slight decrease in the proportion under broadleaf forest.

Earthworm Foundation is sharing the HFL methodology and early results from this Drax pilot project with companies that rely on supplies from the forestry sector, such as the pulp and paper and biomass industries, aiming to increase adoption of the new approach.

Texas Assesses Hurricane Damage

Following Hurricane Laura that made landfall just east of the Texas state line at Cameron, La. on Au gust 27, the Texas A&M Forest Service conducted a timber damage assessment based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. Texas was fortunate that only a small portion of the state was affected as Laura moved northward and turned east as it ravaged north and west Louisiana.

In Texas, approximately 210,000 acres in eastern Newton and Orange counties received timber, hardwood and softwood damage. In this area, state foresters estimated 2.8 million cubic feet of timber damage in roughly equal portions of hardwood and softwood.

An additional 850,000 acres from Hardin County, extending through Jasper, Newton and into Sabine County, received light and scattered damage of softwood and hardwood timber, where foresters estimated up to 4.8 million cubic feet of softwood and 1.8 million cubic feet of hardwood timber were potentially damaged.