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Forest industry welcomes budget help for collaborative research and innovation
CNW
The Forest Products Association of Canada is grateful that today's federal budget continues the federal support for forest sector innovation and transformation, especially its recognition of the important role that universities and colleges play in research and skills development.
The government will provide $86 million to extend the Forest Innovation program and the expanding Market Opportunities Program for another two years, including support for FPInnovations, one of the largest private non-profit research centres in the world. The budget has also directed the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to continue its collaboration with academic researchers in the forest sector.
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Engineered softwood could transform pulp, paper and biofuel industries
University of Wisconsin-Madison via Phys.org
Scientists have demonstrated the potential for softwoods to process more easily into pulp and paper if engineered to incorporate a key feature of hardwoods. The finding, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could improve the economics of the pulp, paper and biofuels industries and reduce those industries' environmental impact.
Largest forest service restoration initiative reaches milestone
United States Department of Agriculture
U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said that the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, the largest landscape-scale restoration initiative of its kind, has reached a pivotal milestone towards achieving accelerated forest restoration on more than 500,000 acres of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests and grasslands in Arizona. Coconino National Forest Supervisor Earl Stewart and Kaibab National Forest Supervisor Mike Williams signed the final decision document for the project's first Environmental Impact Statement on April 17.
NCC changes could spur adoption of multistory timber
Sourceable
Efforts to promote the usage of timber in mid-rise buildings are fast gathering momentum in Australia, with the submission of a proposal for changes to the National Construction Code by timber industry group Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA). After first indicating that it would seek increases to the height restrictions on timber buildings toward the end of last year, FWPA submitted its proposal for change to the Australian Building Codes Board at the beginning of February.
Prescribed fire and timber harvest effects on terrestrial salamander abundance, detectability and microhabitat use
The Journal of Wildlife Management
Prescribed fire and timber harvest are anthropogenic disturbances that modify resource availability and ecosystem structure, and can affect wildlife both directly and indirectly. Terrestrial salamanders are effective indicators of forest health due to their high abundance and sensitivity to microclimatic conditions. Given their ecological importance, it is critical to understand how forest salamanders respond to management-related disturbances. Researchers predicted that timber harvest and prescribed fire would decrease salamander abundance and availability and increase salamander cover object use.
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California family with timber holdings set to buy more land
The Associated Press via San Francisco Chronicle
A California family with long timber holdings in Sonoma and Mendocino counties and the Bay Area is set to buy nearly 30,000 acres of mixed redwood and Douglas fir.
Finnish forest industry's export stumble momentarily
IHB
Weak economic growth will slow down exports of the Finnish forest industry. Nevertheless, investments on production capacity will increase export volumes of pulp, paper board and sawmilling industries already this year. Exports will grow stronger next year. The production capacity of the largest business area according to export value, paper industry, will fall substantially both years.
Intrexon, FuturaGene partner to improve biomass in eucalyptus and poplar trees
Biofuels Digest
In Maryland, Intrexon Corporation has entered into a collaboration with FuturaGene Group, a subsidiary of Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A., the second largest producer of eucalyptus pulp in the world. The collaboration aims to increase biomass in eucalyptus and poplar trees.
This collaboration will utilize Intrexon's platform to design complex, innovative gene constructs and FuturaGene's expertise in plant yield enhancement to cultivate improved qualities in eucalyptus, the second most widely used species in the paper and pulp industry, as well as in poplar trees.
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