Mosaic Forest Management's logs are prepared for export in B.C. in December.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
Tom Browne, PhD, has spent more than 30 years working in research and development for the pulp, paper and bioproducts sectors.
Warren Mabee is a professor of geography and former director of the school of policy studies at Queen’s University.
Peter Milley, PhD, is a management consultant with more than 30 years of experience in the forest sector.
The past few years have been tough for Canada’s forest industry. This is reflected in government revenues as shown by Tuesday’s budget in British Columbia, where anticipated revenues from forestry are $521-million, down from $1.3-billion in 2020-21.
While the causes of B.C.’s woes are unique, significantly reduced harvesting levels across Canada are leading to decreased revenues from forestry in other provinces as well. Record wildfires continue to threaten huge tracts of our forest estate. The long-running trade dispute over softwood lumber exports to the United States is heating up with the introduction of new tariffs. And demand for paper products, once a linchpin for the industry, continues to decline. While demand for packaging and tissue grades is increasing, much of that growth is happening in Asia.
In response to U.S. tariffs and as a partial solution to our continuing housing crisis, Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a commendable move, providing support for the lumber industry and setting a target of doubling housing starts. He’s also announced the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force.
Achieving Mr. Carney’s targets for the forestry sector will require transformation of our wood products and construction industries, as we have never built housing in such numbers.
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Most importantly, increased activity in the solid-wood sector will require other industry transformations: When a log is cut up for lumber, about 40 per cent of the tree is converted to residual chips, and without demand for wood chips to make paper, production of lumber will not be viable. New, alternative uses for those residuals become essential.
One option would be to replace a number of idled pulp mills with a couple of large, modern mills. The Finnish forestry company Metsä Group recently inaugurated two new state-of-the-art pulp mills, at Äänekoski and Kemi, Finland, producing a combined 2.8 million tonnes of pulp a year at a combined cost of about $5.8-billion. Two or three new pulp mills, requiring an investment of $6-billion to $8-billion, could produce up to three million tonnes of pulp annually, consuming about seven million dry tonnes of wood chips. These mills would go a long way toward soaking up any excess wood chips and bark that might become available as Canada builds out its solid-wood industries.
New pulp mill designs act as biorefineries, making a range of products. Heat can be exported to district heating plants and power to the grid. Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, can be used in various industrial processes. Currently, methanol is made largely from natural gas, so replacing this product with wood-based spirits offers a carbon advantage. Lignin extracted from pulp mills can be used to displace petroleum-based incumbents in a range of products such as plywood glues and polyurethanes.
Biorefineries might not even need to make pulp. Finnish forestry company UPM is starting up a true biorefinery at a chemical park in Leuna, Germany. Consuming beech logs, the plant will make 220,000 tonnes a year of bio-based substitutes for petrochemicals. While consuming fewer chips than a couple of new pulp mills, implementing these technologies in Canada could still take up a significant volume of chips while moving the Canadian industry to new high-value, high-growth export markets.
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Canadian wood is certified sustainably harvested, grows in soil too poor to support agriculture, and provides at least 60 years of support for biodiversity between harvests. Currently, because of the steep decline in demand for our pulp and paper products, we are only cutting half the wood that provincial forest ministries deem sustainable. This leaves large amounts of biomass in the forests, which can amplify the threat of wildfires. Reinvesting in our forest sector can help us to lower the risk of catastrophic fires going forward.
Reinvestment in our forests doesn’t mean simply continuing with past management trends. Industry and governments carry some responsibility for the current state of both our forests and our forest sector; years of forest management designed to increase yields and suppress fires have helped to create the disastrous conditions we now face. In the future, management should take a more holistic view of sustainability, prioritizing Indigenous voices and strengthening the role of local communities in establishing a new approach.
Government support for Canada’s lumber industry is most welcome, but it needs to extend across the sector. Management and stewardship of our shared resource, with specific actions tailored to the realities of each province, will be critical. Novel high-value uses for wood chips and bark will follow.