Tag Archives: New Brunswick

No new brown spruce longhorn beetles have been found in New Brunswick since the single adult beetle was found in Kouchibouguac National Park in 2011.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will continue to monitor about 200 traps across New Brunswick.

There is still an infestation in Nova Scotia. There are restrictions in place to contain and restrict the movement of spruce materials leaving Nova Scotia.

The CFIA suspects the beetle found in New Brunswick was transported on firewood.

Source:
Tree-killing beetle leaves New Brunswick (CBC)

Forest fires near Petitcodiac and Kedgwick in New Brunswick are burning out of control.

2 homes have been destroyed already and more are at risk.  Evacuations are being conducted are in place to get people to a safer place.

Water bombers and helicopters are fighting the fires.

The Village of Kedgwick is holding a public information session this evening at their Community Hall to brief residents on the forest fire.

There has already been 272 fires in New Brunswick this year. At least 14 fires are currently burning.

Read more from the CBC:
N.B. forest fires force evacuations in 2 communities

Update (9:40PM ADT):

Latest word is that no evacuations were ordered on the Kedgwick area fire.

The fire is 6km from the town of Kedgwick and covers about 50 hectares.  People are being warned to be prepared that they could be evacuated if conditions worsen.

Some people were evacuated due to another fire in the Colpitts Settlement area, about 40 kilometres west of Moncton. Some people living on Middlesex Road, near Colpitts Settlement, and along the Sanitorium Road, were evacuated.

Source: Emergency centre set up due to forest fire (Cape Breton Post)

Updated (Wednesday morning):

The fire near Petitcodiac is about 25% contained. 3 homes have been destroyed. The fire has spread over 500 hectares.

The fire near Kedgwick is about 75 hectares in size and has led to several evacuations.

271 fires in the province this year have been started by man, including 60 just in this past weekend.

Read more:
Petitcodiac, N.B., fire 25% contained (CBC)

CBC‘s Land and Sea television program aired an episode today titled “Maritime Forestry“.

The episode shows how many rural maritime communities with deep roots in the forest are struggling to survive.

The show highlights:

• Dalhousie, New Brunswick
• Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia
• St. Quentin, New Brunswick
• Nackawic, New Brunswick

You can watch the episode online here:

http://www.cbc.ca/landandsea/2013/03/maritime-forestry.html

The Honourable Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, today toured facilities at Irving Paper Limited where he observed the positive impact of the Government’s funding on the region’s pulp and paper industry and jobs in New Brunswick.

Irving Paper Limited received $8.3 million through the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program (PPGTP) in 2011 for a project to increase the energy efficiency of its operations.

“Our positive investments are helping Canada’s forest industry increase their energy efficiency and global competitiveness,” said Minister Oliver. “Projects like this in Saint John serve as evidence that our Government is contributing to lasting environmental and economic benefits in our communities.”

“The federal Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program has delivered proven positive results in terms of cleaner air, fuel efficiency, competitiveness and impact on local businesses,” said Mark Mosher, Vice President of Pulp & Paper Operations for J.D. Irving, Limited. “Specifically, this program contributed significantly toward a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gases, a 50 percent reduction in energy costs, $30 million spent with local subcontractors and $25 million invested in the purchase of materials from local suppliers.”

Under the PPGTP, J.D. Irving, Limited received $33.4 million to help improve the energy efficiency and environmental performance of its pulp and paper facilities in Lake Utopia and Saint John, New Brunswick. Of this total, $9.5 million was invested in Irving’s two Saint John mills – $8.3 million for Irving Paper and $1.2 million for Irving Pulp and Paper – and $23.9 million was invested in its Lake Utopia mill.

Together, Irving’s Saint John projects are saving enough energy to heat over 10,000 homes on an ongoing basis while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from these mills by approximately 30,000 tonnes annually.

Three years after its launch, the PPGTP has significantly improved the environmental performance of Canada’s pulp and paper industry through a record level of investment in green technologies. The 98 projects supported by the PPGTP are having direct positive environmental, economic and social impacts on recipient mills and the communities they sustain. These benefits include support for approximately 14,000 mill jobs, improved air quality, and lower fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

While in Saint John, Minister Oliver also toured the Irving Refinery and addressed the Saint John Board of Trade where he discussed the importance of natural resources in Atlantic Canada and highlighted the federal government’s priority of supporting jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity.

Source: Government of Canada

There was a small fire at the Irving Pulp and Paper mill in Saint John, New Brunswick this afternoon.

The fire was found behind one of the machines in the mill.  The Saint John firefighters assisted the mill’s fire brigade who already had the fire under control by the time they arrived.

The room where the fire was located sustained minor damage.

No injuries were reported.

Source:
Small fire at Irving pulp and paper mill (News 88.9)

The New Brunswick Forest Products Commission is an independent commission overseeing the marketing relationships involving forest industries (pulp mills and sawmills); forest products marketing boards (private woodlot owners and producers), and the provincial government.

Recently, New Brunswick Forest Products Commission ruled that J.D. Irving must buy wood through the marketing boards.

J.D. Irving prefers to negotiate privately with individual woodlot owners, picking and choosing which buyers to do business with.  The company wants to enter into a signed contractual agreement with the woodlot owners they deal with.

Robert Fawcett, J.D. Irving’s director of forestry relations, said, “What one marketing board manager last week at a meeting said what he wanted to do was supply us with a list of names once a week on who might want to sell us wood, and we just can’t run our business on a week of hope, we need certainty of supply.”

As a protest to the ruling, J.D. Irving has suspended deliveries of pulpwood from private woodlot owners that they do not have a signed contract with.

According to one marketing board representative, that totals about 16 truckloads per week.

Ken Hardie, manager of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners, says J.D. Irving is trying to bypass the system.

“The whole basis of the boards is that all woodlot owners are treated fairly, and the main current situation with JD Irving is they would like to pick and choose who sells wood, whereas the boards represent all producers.”

Source:
Forest products dispute escalates -J.D. Irving Ltd. unhappy with purchasing through marketing board (CBC)

W.K. Lumber mill, near Woodstock, New Brunswick, was destroyed by fire on Friday night after the building was struck by lightning.

35 firefighters battled the flames throughout the night, but were unable to save the lumber mill.

The business was started in 1975. W.K. Lumber supplied lumber to furniture companies and railroads.  18 people were employed at the mill.

Source:
Woodstock lumber mill destroyed by fire (CBC)

Harry Gill, president of Devon Lumber Company in Fredericton, New Brunswick, said he has no market for his wood chips now that so many pulp mills are shut down in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, and Quebec.

Right now, wood chips are piled 2 storeys high outside of the Devon Lumber mill.

Wood chips were once a valuable commodity, and without that market, Gill said he is having a difficult time staying in business.

Gill said of the recommendations on the table for the oversupply of wood chips is to leave more of the pulp wood in the woods to rot.

“That will open up some markets as far as being able to sell the byproducts off of saw logs, which come from the sawmills, ” Gill said. “If we don’t sell the chips, there’s going to be less and less mills.”

Gill said the part of his mill that produces softwood lumber and chips for pulp has only run 1.5 days in the last 3 weeks because the chips were making the difference between profit and breaking even.

There are currently 35 sawmills in New Brunswick.  Except for the sawmills owned by pulp mill companies, the other mills are likely experiencing a similar difficulty finding buyers for their chips.

Read more:
Glut of wood chips threatens Fredericton sawmill (CBC)

Acadian Timber Corp. generated net sales of $18.6 million on sales volume of 352 thousand m3, which represents a $3.1 million, or 14%, decrease in net sales compared to the same period in 2011. Net income for the quarter is $4.368 million.

Results for the first quarter were impacted by Acadian’s implementation of a short-term vendor managed inventory program (VMI) with one of its larger customers. At the end of the first quarter, Acadian held 72 thousand m3 of harvested logs in inventory related to the VMI. As purchase commitments are filled under the VMI during the second quarter of 2012, additional sales of approximately $3.4 million and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $1.5 million are expected to be realized.

Adjusted EBITDA of $4.8 million for the first quarter was $2.5 million lower than in the first quarter of 2011, and Adjusted EBITDA margin decreased to 26% from 33% in the same period of last year. This decrease in margin is attributed to a lower contribution from the land management services agreement and significantly lower sales of higher margin spruce-fir sawlogs owing to the sale of these volumes being delayed until the second quarter as a result of the VMI.

“Operating conditions were excellent during January and February followed by exceptionally warm weather in early March causing an early spring break-up disrupting production and sales” said Reid Carter, Chief Executive Officer of Acadian. Mr. Carter further noted that “we were pleased with the results in our Maine operations during the first quarter as strategies to improve contractor availability resulted in harvest levels meeting targets.”

Acadian Timber Corp. is a leading supplier of primary forest products in Eastern Canada and the Northeastern U.S. With a total of 2.4 million acres of land under management, Acadian is the second largest timberland operator in New Brunswick and Maine.

Acadian owns and manages approximately 1.1 million acres of freehold timberlands in New Brunswick and Maine, and provides management services relating to approximately 1.3 million acres of Crown licensed timberlands. Acadian also owns and operates a forest nursery in Second Falls, New Brunswick. Acadian’s products include softwood and hardwood sawlogs, pulpwood and biomass by-products, sold to approximately 90 regional customers.

Read full release from Acadian Timber

J.D. Irving Ltd. has several concerns with New Brunswick’s new Crown forest management plan.

Among their concerns are that the new standards will require that they cut younger, smaller wood before it has properly matured to maximum volume. This will result in more pulp wood in a market that is already oversupplied with pulp wood since most of New Brunswick’s pulp mills are closed.

Irving believes New Brunswick should complete a full economic impact study of these proposed changes before implementation.

Irving would also like the province to define a long term timber objective and targets (for jobs, tax revenues, and tree growth), set out in the same amount of detail as the environmental priorities. Irving said a timber objective is something industry has been appealing for since 2001 and they are disappointed by further delay.

Read J.D. Irving’s response to the new plan