-
US Farm Bill and Federal Timberland Management
The massive US Farm Bill, long debated, finally passed the House of Representatives Thursday in Washington, DC. Counties in timber-producing states dependent on log harvest for revenue have been anxiously awaiting this news. The old farm bill expired in 2012. Its replacement is 959 pages long and will cost approximately US$956.4 billion over 10 years.…
-
2014 Truck Logger Conference and Trade Show
It was a rollicking time last week in downtown Vancouver, BC, for the 71st Annual Truck Logger’s Association convention and trade show. The TLA’s theme this year was “The Business of Logging – A New Era”. So it is not just for coastal operators but in the interior as well. A boisterous crowd pressed themselves…
-
LiDAR
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or vehicles (UAV) at an accessible price are ready to take off for the surveying and geospatial professions. Of particular interest to forest operators, UAVs are very useful for forest surveys. For example, digital surface models and orthophotos can be created from UAV images of regrowth areas within a cutblock. Height…
-
Biomass Fuel Production
A microorganism first found in the Valley of Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia in 1990 may be a key to more efficient cellulosic biofuel production, said DomesticFuel.com January 6. The microoorganism can digest cellulose almost twice as fast as the current leading component cellulase enzyme on the market, according to researchers at the…
-
Lumber Market Outlook 2014
Players not directly involved in forest products jumped for joy this week on seeing US housing starts solidly at more than 1 million annualized for 2013. It is now apparent to all that building in America has absolutely recovered from the terrible crash of 2006-2010. Forest industry players have known the outlook is positive since…
