News in timber

The Private Forest Accord, which is currently being considered by the state’s legislature, is a compromise deal on logging rules, which expands no-harvest buffers and makes other management changes. The bill also would strengthen rules for roads to ensure they do not obstruct fish passage and does not increase sediment in streams.

Nuveen Natural Capital, a global investment and asset management company specializing in the acquisition and stewardship of forestry assets, announced today (2-3-22) that it had completed the sale of 66,800 acres in Texas and Georgia to Rayonier, a leading timberland real estate investment trust. The purchase price was $ 124.2 million, prior to transactional costs.

According to a notice of application filed in a Manitoba courtroom on January 26, 20222, PCFN says the province has “failed to enforce critical conditions of Louisiana-Pacific’s forestry authorizations,” including logging in the area without a long-term forest management plan approved by the First Nation.

Shane Berg, B.C.’s deputy chief forester, has announced that he has set a new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for the Okanagan Timber Supply Area (TSA), effective immediately. The new AAC for the Okanagan TSA is 2,462,800 cubic meters. It is a decrease of approximately 20% from the previous AAC of 3,078,405 cubic meters, which included an increase to allow salvage of stands affected by the mountain pine beetle.

The Wuikinuxv First Nation (Wuikinuxv) and Interfor Corporation (Interfor) have announced a historic agreement to acquire a forest license in the Great Bear Rainforest Timber Supply Area from Interfor. The tenure purchase marks a milestone in the relationship between Wuikinuxv and Interfor. The acquisition, more than six years in the making, triples the forest tenure held by the Wuikinuxv.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) has announced that it has completed a redemption transaction, where Tamarack Timberlands LLC, an investment vehicle owned by Ontario’s Teachers, has assumed the direct ownership of approximately 870,000 acres of timberland in the U.S. South. The large-scale timberland portfolio comprised of high-quality Loblolly pine is spread throughout the U.S. South.

The Alberta provincial government has asked interested companies to submit proposals to harvest timber within two Forest Management Units (FMUs) — one of which encompasses most of the Barrhead and Westlock Counites — over a five-year period. The Alberta Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Economic Development released the original Request for Proposal (RFP) in early December. The closing date for proposals to be submitted to the province is January 31, 2022.

An agreement between The Nanwakolas Council, which represents four First Nations, and Western Forest Products has led to the deferral of old-growth logging in a section of forest north of Campbell River for two years. The deferral includes preservation of 10 square km of forest identified by an old-growth advisory panel as needing protection. Another 15 square km of priority ancient forests were also deferred through other agreements.

U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack and Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced today (1-19-22) that they will be launching a comprehensive response to the nation’s growing wildfire crisis with a report entitled “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests.” The strategy outlines the need to significantly increase fuels and forest health treatments to address the escalating crisis of wildfire danger that threatens millions of acres and numerous communities across the United States.