Friday Offcuts – 25 February 2022
Click to Subscribe - It's FREE! It’s being lauded as the biggest government forest support package for more than 30 years - AU$86 million which is going to leverage “at least AU$300 million” in total investment into Australian forestry plantations. The announcement of course has largely been welcomed across Australia with the new funding boost being seen as exactly the sort of stimulus required to drive new planting efforts and “fast track” the country’s billion trees plan. Full coverage and reaction – from both sides of the Tasman – are contained in stories this week.Yesterday our ForestTECH 2021-22 Conference , a two-day technology update event finished. The subject material (technologies and recent adoptions by forestry companies with remote sensing, data capture, inventory management, tree crop management and mechanised silviculture) obviously struck a real chord with local and international foresters. We had a full house. In fact, it was a record turnout with well over 300 foresters participating. In addition to local businesses, forestry companies from across Australia (plans are in place to get back into the annual two country series as soon as Covid allows), Canada, the US, Chile, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, South Africa, Japan, China, Malaysia and Indonesia were involved. The technology advancements that have been made and learnings from the rapid integration into day-to-day forest operations is really testament to the close co-operation that exists between leading forestry companies, researchers and key tech providers in this part of the world. Details on the ForestTECH presentations and speaker recordings made over the last couple of days will be sent out shortly to all delegates. Next week, we bring you our next exciting new online event - our WoodWorks 2022 Conference. It is running on Wednesday 2 March for an audience of over 260 delegates from across the architectural, design, engineering and construction sectors. This conference audience has grown by over 45% since last year with carbon neutral building designs coming to the fore. And finally, as anticipated, the piece penned by Marcus Musson from Forest360 putting the case for continued NZ log exports a couple of weeks ago featured in WoodWeek and Friday Offcuts attracted plenty of comment. This week we’ve built in a counter argument put forward by a NZ forester. He’s suggesting that the last five years have seen roundwood removals in the country far exceed any non-declining yield. His solution? Regulate log exports. What’s more, he’s put forward a suggested mechanism on how all this could work enabling the forestry industry to prosper and without unduly influencing the property rights of current forest owners. Happy of course to take any comments from our readers. And that’s it for this week.
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This week we have for you:
Forest Owners tell government to look at Australia
The Forest Owners Association is telling the government that Australia’s support of plantation forestry is in sharp contrast to the increasingly restrictive measures being promised in New Zealand by our government. The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was in Tasmania on Monday announcing an AU$86 million package for forestry in the island state. Scott Morrison says the biggest government forest support package for more than 30 years, will leverage ‘at least AU$300 million in total investment into plantations’. He termed forestry a ‘critical national treasure’ and future supply is needed for future generations, with global demand for timber products ‘expected to quadruple by 2050’. The President of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, Phil Taylor, says the New Zealand industry is not seeking the type of financial support being delivered in Australia. “Basically, all we want to do is get on with growing trees and responding to strong world and local demand. Our problem is a sequence of messages from the government on new rules to restrict forest expansion.’ “Just last night, we saw on the ‘Sunday’ programme that the government was planning to put a stop to the right to convert a whole farm to forestry.” Phil Taylor says if there is a problem with what is called carbon farming, then that should be treated separately and not by threating to change the rules relating to production forestry. “A modest expansion of the exotic plantation estate is vital to provide enough carbon sequestration capacity for the government to budget for a carbon zero economy by 2050. The right signals have to be sent to farmers and other landowners to ensure this happens and these are not the signals we are getting at the moment.” “Then there is the economic aspect. Forestry and horticulture are predicted to lead the way to export recovery over the next few years.” Phil Taylor echoes the expectations of the Australian government for a huge increase in wood demand for new products. “It’s already happening with biofuels. Our industry is going to struggle to just meet the demand from New Zealand dairy processors to deliver enough wood material for heating powder driers as the processors move out of burning coal.” “On top of that there is the emergence of a global bioeconomy, where wood is going to be used much more widely to replace greenhouse gas emitting substances, such as concrete, steel and plastics. We should be leading in producing these products, not adopting policies which would result in having to import them.” “Scott Morrison seems to be getting this. I do hope our government does too.” Source: Forest Owners Association .jpg) Forest teams embrace new technologyPF Olsen pride themselves on their reputation for delivering a wide range of professional forestry services to a diverse range of clients. They assist forest owners to manage investment risks, establish, grow, and protect high quality forests and finally maximise the recovery of value from forest harvest operations.Assura worked with PF Olsen to deliver a Health & Safety system able to cater to their remote and challenging workplaces and have seen its use expand beyond this initial scope. PF Olsen IT manager Peter Riddell says, “The selection requirements for a solution to support our Health and Safety and legislative compliance needs were focused on the usability of the solution and the ability for our internal team to develop forms and workflows to suit. Assura Health and Safety was a standout in this requirement. The capability to develop the forms and workflows in-house has provided us with the opportunity to use the platform to reduce the administrative overhead for our operations people. We are expanding the solution functionality to incorporate the electronic capture of data whilst in the field. Once captured, the quality offline functionality activates, and the data captured is fed back to our core systems. No more data entry required. The approach of using a form linked to a workflow model that Assura has used as a base for the platform is providing us with many opportunities to reduce the burdens for data entry for our operations people. This functionality and the continued focus from Assura to further develop core functionality will allow us to continue the integration of Assura and a Core solution for PF Olsen.” .jpg) Regulating log exports - is this the answer?
To: The Editor, Friday Offcuts Re: The Case for Log Export presented By Mr. M. Musson (Offcuts 11 February 2022) The case for regulating the export of raw logs. My argument is not that we need to cease the trade in raw logs it is that we need to level the playing field. The most graphic example of this distorted playing field I have seen was presented at an after-dinner talk provided by Dennis Nielson some years ago where he gave a talk on the Chinese sawmilling industry. The sawmilling industry at the time was very basic with multiple small units making up a sawmill “unit”. This may have had 30 small saws each with 3+ labourers that produced timber sold through a single entity. The single most telling part of the talk was when he presented a photo of the slab and sawdust pile. He informed us that this waste product was sold in China for USD $130 per tonne. This single item showed that no matter what our lumber price we are dealing with pricing that cannot be explained by a free market. The New Zealand wood processing industry faces tariff and non-tariff barriers in our export markets. The trojan horse of health and safety has led to the predominant use of mechanised harvesting systems with vastly increased capital tied up. This requires higher production levels to keep costs down. This means that the tail now wags the dog as any market has to take 280 to 400 tonnes per day to keep that mechanised beast afloat. A lack of certainty over the resource means any investment in processing is constrained. No sensible investor will commit to building new facilities when the raw material can be sold without any constraint to sustainability. The last 5 years have seen roundwood removals far in excess of the non-declining yield. We have a hole in our non-declining yield harvest of around 20 million cubic metres. The harvest and sale of forests aged 18 to 22 not only reduces the non-declining yield but makes a mockery of any carbon accounting that assume those forests will add at least 6 years of carbon or around 150 tonnes for every hectare of young age harvest. The solution to the coming crunch (in 5 to 10 years) and the means of levelling the playing field is to regulate the export of raw logs. The goal would be to reduce the unrestricted export of raw log to 10 million cubic metres per annum. This would be done in stages over 10 years starting with a cap of 20 million cubic metres and reducing by 1 million cubic metres each year. The Mechanism: The following would create an environment where the forest industry can prosper without undue influence on the property rights of the current forest owners: Unprocessed round log exports (of any grade or age) is regulated to ten million cubic metres per annum combined for Radiata pine and Douglas Fir distributed by a right to export raw log auction system. Further unprocessed logs can only be exported if it is independently certified to have been produced from stands that are 32 years old or older for Radiata pine and 50 years for Douglas fir. No other species may be exported as an unprocessed log. The Result: ● Wood quality of our forests will measurably improve (older is better) ● Industry will have the confidence to invest in processing knowing that the resource cannot be sold out from under them ● Current log buyers will move to at least semi-processed timber ● Substantial reduction in our use of Methyl Bromide ● Prices will rise and confidence will return to the forest industry ● Approximately 12,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created in the regions ● The value add will increase the return to NZ Inc. (Export GDP) by $1.4 billion on current market prices. This additional return is spread via direct wages, services, and profits across a much wider spectrum of the forestry sector. Paul Marshall (B.For.Sc., M.Sc.), Timaru, February 2022 Streamlined forestry test to end in NZThe New Zealand Government is taking steps to ensure forestry conversions by overseas investors are of better benefit to the country. This will help ensure the right forest is planted in the right place for the right reasons, Associate Minister of Finance David Parker said.“The changes to the Overseas Investment Act 2005, approved by Cabinet, mean that proposals by overseas investors to acquire land for conversion to production forestry will be considered under the Benefit to New Zealand test, rather than under the streamlined ‘special forestry test’,” David Parker said. This change will apply only to forestry conversions, such as where overseas investors look to acquire existing farmland for planting into a new forest. There is no change to investments in pre-existing forests. “Our overseas investment screening regime recognises what a privilege it is to own sensitive New Zealand assets,” David Parker said. “The current settings for investing in land to be converted to production forestry, however, do not require overseas investors to demonstrate the benefits of their proposed investment in the same way the Act does for other land-based investments. “High quality foreign investment in forestry, and a strong forestry sector, remain important – and we continue to welcome this investment. However, as economic and regulatory contexts change, it is important to consider the impact of particular kinds of investment in forestry to ensure that all stakeholders continue to benefit.” By retaining the more streamlined special forestry test where the investment does not involve a change in land use, the screening regime will continue with allowing for high-quality foreign investment in existing production forestry. The Bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament in a few months. At the same time, some minor and technical improvements will be proposed to the Act to help with the operation and effectiveness of 2018 forestry-related changes. Forest Owners reaction to Thursday's announcement can be read here. 
AU$86 million timber plantation grants announcedThe Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement on Monday of a new Commonwealth-State Government program to leverage private sector investment in new timber plantations, which will help secure Australia’s future housing timber construction needs.Mr Hampton urged the state governments to work constructively with the Federal Government to ensure the program is a success and delivers the right trees in the right places. “This announcement is a necessary and welcome return to the successful Federal-State partnership model which drove the planting of almost one billion timber trees in the last century, but has stagnated for the past 30 years. We look forward to seeing further detail on the announcement and working with the Government to progress much needed production tree plantings in Australia,” Mr Hampton concluded. For further coverage on the announcement click here and here Source: AFPA, SMH Forestry news: Are you getting the FULL picture?
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How timber became a model of new energy
What connects a wood fibre mill in Sweden with the catwalk? For a number of years now, wood fibre from Sweden’s Domsjö Fabriker mill has been woven into the fabric of British designer Stella McCartney’s top collections. That the product has made it to high fashion says a lot about wood fibre’s versatility. Martin Forsen, who formerly managed the Domsjö Fabriker mill, recalls those early interactions his team had with McCartney. Now executive chairman of SilviPar, a Stockholm-based timber management company, he says: “Stella came to us in the mid-2000s, wanting to use wood fibre in preference to leather or cotton.” At the time, he says, Domsjö Fabriker could have perhaps been better described as a bio-refinery. Located in Omaskoldsvik, it had an established reputation for converting raw forest materials into specialty cellulose, lignin and bio-ethanol. The mill has since been sold to Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group. McCartney today creates fashion from wood-based cellulose, which is processed into viscose filament in Germany, then converted into thread and woven into fabric in Italy. As someone whose business ethos is guided by sustainability, it is hardly surprising that McCartney would seek out timber fibre to use in her collections. It is more sustainable than, say, cotton, which requires large quantities of water, pesticide and fertiliser. And Forsen is helping drive further evolution in the timber industry through SilviPar. This year, the company jointly launched its SA Impact Forestry Fund (SAIFF) with London-based specialist alternatives manager, Astarte Capital Partners. SAIFF had its first close a few months ago, reaching almost half of its target capacity of US$200m (€88.6m) from pension funds, big corporates and other impact investors. The fund is scalable, and potentially could raise an additional $100m to reach its capacity limit of US$300m. The capital is being put to work immediately to plant fast-growing eucalyptus in Paraguay. “What we are doing is a pure forestry fund,” Forsen says. “The middle class is growing, and consumption of timber will increase, with consumers increasingly searching for sustainable products. “We cannot find a material other than wood that can fill this demand. We can use trees for energy [ethanol], plywood or solid wood, and the range of usage is widening. My shirts have 50% wood in them, and I sleep in sheets made with food fibre.” More >> 
New biomass boiler installed by timber processor
South East Pine Sales in South Australia, has installed a new biomass boiler at its Wandilo facility, which will generate steam for their timber drying kilns and increase the efficiency of drying timber. SE Pine Sales received an AU$88,000 grant issued by PIRSA towards the project, as part of the AU$12m State Government’s Regional Growth Fund. The boiler will speed up the previous process and increase their timber drying capacities, which will enable them to move timber through the business as quickly as possible. SE Pine Sales Business Development Manager John Forster said the new machinery was good for both the business and the region. “We spent about half a million dollars on it getting it up and going” he said. Mr Forster said the government grant generated approximately AU$1.5m of investment as the grant allowed them to install another timber drying kiln, at a cost of an additional AU$1m. “It’s a good result for the government and it just shows that we’re putting a lot of money into the local economy,” Mr Forster said. Photo: Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham with SE Pine Sales Business Development Manager John Forster and the Liberal Candidate for Mount Gambier Ben Hood Source & Photo: The SE Voice -revised-dates-July.jpg) New GM for ManulifeIt has been announced that Chris Barnes will be the successor to Kerry Ellem as General Manager MFM (NZ), effective 1 April 2022. Chris has earned the right to step into the role through his excellent work at Hancock / Manulife, and by standing out as the lead candidate during our recruitment process.Since joining the business mid 2019 Chris has shown each day his commitment to the values and to the stewardship of people and the environment. “We are fortunate Chris has such a strong appreciation of our forest assets, our clients, Boards and customers as well excellent relationships with our staff and contractors. I know he will bring great energy and commitment to the role and I’m enthusiastic to continue to work closely with him in his new role” said Robert Green, Managing Director, Australasia Timberland Operations. Source: Manulife Investment Management The folly of the native forest carbon solution
The Farm Forestry Association says anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond’s recently publicised views, that planting native forests offer the best solution to the climate crisis, is misinformed and misleading. Association President Graham West says the overwhelming evidence is that instead, using managed exotic forests, as carbon sequestration off-sets, will provide the only currently affordable and viable solution for New Zealand to reach its 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets. “Dame Anne doesn’t offer a timeline for her native tree solution” Graham West says, “But unfortunately the time horizon is absolutely crucial. We do not have 100 or 200 hundred years to spare in which to wait for native trees to lock up appreciable volumes of carbon. The climate change issues are far more urgent than that.” “Offsetting may not be internationally accepted by all, but as we all get more desperate, the solutions will become more pragmatic. The call for a ‘nature based’ solution should not preclude exotics. They are natural in a different part of the globe. We comfortably rely on many exotics, including pasture species, farm animals, kiwifruit and other introduced fruit and vegetables.” “So why not forests? Should we farm weka or kiwi as the only natural option for food production in New Zealand?” Graham West asks. “Reserving the permanent carbon option for native forests is not supported by the science. We need to lock-up extra carbon dioxide in large reservoirs quickly. Choosing native species to plant will limit this severely, or require a far greater land area and a vast government spend to establish these trees.” “What’s worse, it passes the problem to our children. On average, a hectare of our native forest will take hundreds of years to sequester about 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide and then stop adding any more. In comparison, many exotic tree species will store about twice that in 70 years and continue growing. “There are hundreds of measurement plots in our exotic forest plantations that verify this. It’s too late to wait for a ‘natural’ solution or hope for a miracle cure for emissions. We need to quickly protect our primary sector market access, by reverting and managing about 400,000 hectares of our marginal land back into forest.” “Much of this is scattered through the landscape, often at the back of farms where access precludes timber harvest. The real engine-room of the economy is the flat land that is accessible to machinery. In the short term we need to deflect concerns about animal emissions on this land by off-setting.” “Like our COVID response strategy, New Zealand needs to be bold and fast. To show the world a land use change to offsetting is a necessary solution, the whole world could adopt to react to climate change within a timeframe that saves our economy and possibly human life.” “We have the land, tree species, and the knowhow. Let’s implement an effective action plan that encourages world action” Source: NZ Farm Forestry Association What’s $2million between friends
When a State Government Minister admits to discouraging its own agency from pursuing a AU$2m debt owed by anti-forestry activists, the unholy alliance between Government and activism is laid bare. It’s a collusion which appears to have informed many baffling government decisions on forestry, not least of all the disastrous announcement in 2019 to end Victoria’s native forest industry, and when the dots are connected, at the centre of it all is the Great Forest National Park (GFNP) campaign. The GFNP campaign was orchestrated by activist organisation MyEnvironment and at least one academic from the Australian National University’s Fenner School prior to the 2014 State election. It was the culmination of a growing anti-forestry movement stirred up after the 2009 Black Saturday fires. Timber harvesting was falsely blamed as a key cause for the disaster (ignoring the massive fuel build up and the weather conditions of the time) and the anti-forestry lobby was incensed timber harvesting should continue afterwards. Leading the charge was MyEnvironment which in 2012 took VicForests to the Supreme Court to halt timber harvesting in forest near Toolangi. It failed and was court ordered to pay AU$1.2m in costs. The costs have not been paid and have attracted interest which puts the total figure at around AU$2m. More >> Source: Forest & Wood Communities Australia US lumber prices up 29% in February
The price of US lumber has risen nearly 30% so far in February, in step with the wider rally in global commodities as economies around the world reopen. "I believe it's part of the larger move in commodities," David Russell, VP of market intelligence at online broker-dealer TradeStation, told Insider. "We have a kind of a broad shift of money toward commodities and materials in the broader market." Russell said commodity prices — including those for iron, oil, soybeans, and fertilizer — have mostly pointed higher amid cold winter weather, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions. After briefly cooling off in the past weeks, lumber futures rose for the sixth straight session last week, hitting $1,204.90 per thousand board feet to its highest for the month. That's a 29% jump from 1 February. Still, lumber is 30% below its record high of $1,711 reached in May 2021. Russell also attributed the recent jump in lumber to the US dollar's slide ahead of key data on consumer prices. When the dollar weakens, general commodity prices strengthen, giving the two an inverse relationship. Lumber prices have skyrocketed in the past year due in part to distorted supply chains during the pandemic. For instance, shipping problems from Resolute Forest Products, one of Canada's leading producers, have put lumber supply under stress. Adding to the price pressures is an elevated focus on home building and home improvement as more Americans look to adjust to the work-from-home trend. "Many of the same things that have caused lumber prices to rise over the last six months to a year are continuing to affect lumber prices today," Source: Business Insider Now this is wood working art!Last year, Rolls-Royce unveiled the most expensive new car ever made. Called the Boat Tail, the blue two-seat convertible featured all the luxurious amenities you'd expect from Rolls-Royce and then some, including a sizable "hospitality area" at the back with glasses and plates for a picnic. It was designed and built specifically for one customer, and its price was $28 million.Now, there's another Boat Tail in the world but it's not blue. It also didn't cost $28 million (at least we think it didn't) but as far as we're concerned, this two-seater is absolutely priceless. It's another fantastic automotive creation from ND - Woodworking Art on YouTube and as you can clearly see from the video below, this isn't a small model designed to sit on a shelf. This scaled-down take on the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail seats two people, and yes, you can drive it. As shown in the video, the project took 68 days. As with previous videos from this amazing craftsman, it all starts with chunks of wood only this time, two axles and an electric motor are added early on. A simple chain drive from the motor turns the rear wheels, and there's even a disc brake to slow it down. It has functional lights all around the exterior and interior, and passengers enter through proper reverse-opening "suicide" doors. As always, the woodworking talent is properly jaw-dropping. Everything from table saws to chain saws, angle grinders, and even hand chisels are used in the construction of this Boat Tail. But perhaps the coolest feature is a power-opening rear deck to reveal a hospitality tray, just like the real Boat Tail has. There's even a stand for an umbrella, and it opens via remote control. Now, how cool is that? Jobs
Buy and Sell... and one to end the week on ... the atheist in the woods
  And on that note, enjoy your weekend. Cheers. Brand PartnersOur Partners & Sponsors Friday Offcuts is made possible through the generous support of the following companies.
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An oldie but a goodie. An atheist was walking through the woods.