It’s been almost six years since the Island Lake Biomass Harvest Experiment was established in the Martel Forest region near Chapleau, Ont., and though the project is still in its early stages, researchers have begun to share some surprising findings from their ambitious harvesting experiment. A collaborative project between Tembec Chapleau Operations and a wide…
Nova Scotia’s Liberal leader says it’s time to review forestry practices in the province, but environmental advocates say that work has already been done and it was Stephen McNeil’s government that resisted acting upon it. McNeil and his party released their platform for the environment on Monday. It calls for the continued enforcement of a moratorium on…
One of the factors in the early forest industry of British Columbia was the entrepreneurship of Sikhs from India who established sawmills in this province. This 1933 photo, originally from the provincial archives, shows workers in front of a steam donkey yarder alongside the Kapoor sawmill, in the Sooke Hills. You can see three fairleads…
The Canadian government is threatening multiple trade actions against the United States in retaliation for duties on softwood lumber, warning that several American industries could be targeted in the event of a protracted trade dispute. A first salvo came from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who in a letter Friday informed B.C. Premier Christy Clark that he’s seriously considering her request for a ban…
Quebec paper and lumber producer Resolute Forest Products expects it will have to cut jobs soon as it faces U.S. trade actions on two fronts. “It is unavoidable in my opinion because of the disruption in the market,” CEO Richard Garneau said Thursday in an interview after disclosing weaker first-quarter results. The Montreal-based company has…
The survivability of Canadian short-line railroads is approaching a critical junction, says an independent rail expert. The struggles of northeastern Ontario’s Huron Central Railway should be a “canary-in-the-coal-mine” warning that government needs to support small railroaders in the same manner that it subsidizes other modes of transportation, said Greg Gormick, an Oshawa-based consultant. Short-line railroads…
Despite not being surprised by the preliminary softwood lumber tariffs imposed by the U.S. last week, EACOM Timber Corporation’s president and chief executive officer Kevin Edgson is not any less concerned. Edgson sat down with me outside the main room at the Ontario Natural Resources Forum in downtown Toronto; two days after President Trump made…
It’s one of B.C.’s deep-rooted money makers, but there’re some big concerns about the future of the softwood lumber industry. The United States’ plan to implement a tariff on Canadian exporters, the bulk of which are in B.C., is just one blow to the already bruised sector. B.C.’s logging associations are meeting in Vernon to…
Canadian governments and industry are reviving the oldest fuel — wood — for a natural gas substitute billed as contributing to commitments to make the country a moral leader in arresting global climate change. New-age environmental language drops the old four-letter word. Enter “lignocellulosic biomass,” formerly known as wood waste, as the raw material for…
A B.C. company plans to start construction this summer on an $85-million plant in Parkland County that will produce wood pellets as a greener form of fuel. Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. intends to build the facility near the CN Rail line outside Entwistle, 100 kilometres west of Edmonton, according to a news release. It will be the…