Muddy forests, shorter winters challenge loggers
Stable, frozen ground has long been recognized a logger’s friend, capable of supporting equipment and trucks in marshy or soggy forests. Now, a comprehensive look at weather from 1948 onward shows that the logger’s friend is melting. The study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published in the current issue of the Journal of […]
Harvest ends two-year storm damage saga
Harvest contractor Eberly Forestry used a John Deere grapple skidder to pull full-length trees to a landing during the September 2014 clean-up of storm damage in 2012 on Bob Austman’s woodlot near Piney. Some of the better sawlogs harvested were 15 inches or more at the base, with no rot or decay. Sixteen cords of […]
Harvesting wooded lands for food
By Sheilla Jones Manitoba’s wooded lands have the potential for a bountiful harvest—not just of wood—but of food, and that’s what WAM’s Woodland Farm Food Project is studying. The new project, with funding from the Growing Visions program of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD), will examine the viability of growing and harvesting wild […]
Sawmills scrambling for wood supply
By Sheilla Jones Sawmills and pulp operations in Canada are scrambling to get enough wood to meet their needs. The wood is there, but the capacity to get it harvested and to the mills is not. “Everybody is short of wood these days,” said Dale Munro, woodlands manager for Prendiville Industries in Kenora. “There’s not […]
Revisit 2014 Biomass Workshop
At the 2014 Biomass Workshop in Arborg, Manitoba, expert panels discussed biomass applications and market opportunities, while presenters shared their experiences in the production or use of biomass for heating. Anyone who missed the workshop on March 5, 2014 or wants to revisit the presentations can now do so on-line, courtesy of Manitoba Agriculture, Food […]
Is MB ready for a community forest?
By Bob Austman, WAM Director It may be time for Manitoba’s woodlot owners to join forces to manage their own wood market. Woodlot owners in the province are facing a number of challenges, and particularly the limited market for our wood. Tembec closed the largest paper mill in the province in 2008. Tolko, in The […]
Model Forest launches new work plan despite federal funding loss
By Bob Austman Despite funding challenges, the Manitoba Model Forest (MBMF) has expanded its role to include management of the Canadian Model Forest Network and the Model Forest in Indonesia. This year represents one of significant change for MBMF. The organization was formed in 1992 as a mechanism to promote the involvement of local communities […]
Bitterly cold winter unlikely to impact spread of forest pests
By Sheilla Jones The Manitoba Woodlot Issue 103 The polar vortex that brought record-breaking cold temperatures to much of North America this winter may have warmed hopes for a chill on the spread of forest pests. But experts say that the bitter cold may have had little impact on the emerald ash borer, mountain pine […]
Providence “test drives” biomass brokerage
Woodlot owners have a new option for marketing their cord wood and willow whips. A biomass brokerage has been launched by the Buller Centre Incubator at Providence University College, and is the brainchild of Bruce Duggan, director of the Buller Centre for Business. He said he has been working for several years to get the […]
Ainsworth’s Barwick mill sold to LP
Louisiana-Pacific (LP), a leading U.S. wood products giant, has acquired Ainsworth Lumber in a $1.1-billion deal. Vancouver-based Ainsworth runs an oriented strand board (OSB) mill in Barwick, near Fort Frances in northwestern Ontario. Ainsworth is a manufacturer of OSB with plants in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The mills have a combined annual capacity of […]
