Week of November 10th, 2014
Farmers, ranchers clean up in Idaho election races
BOISE — Idaho’s election results were a positive sign of the health of the state’s agricultural industry, farm leaders say. Twenty-five current or retired farmers, ranchers or agribusiness owners ran for statewide or legislative seats and all 25 won their races. Many of them were unopposed and most are active farmers or ranchers. “I think that’s good news for agriculture,” said Milk Producers of Idaho Executive Director Brent Olmstead. On a statewide level, Gov. Butch Otter and Lt. Gov. Brad Little, both Republican ranchers, were re-elected, and farmer and former Speaker of the Idaho House Lawerence Denney was elected secretary of state. Sen. Jim Risch, a Republican rancher, was re-elected to the U.S. Senate. A total of 21 farmers, ranchers or agribusiness owners ran for election or re-election to the Idaho House and Senate and all 21 won. “That’s wonderful for (agriculture),” said Food Producers of Idaho Executive Director Rick Waitley. “We feel good about what happened.” Though many of the legislators were unopposed, the fact that nobody ran against them shows how strong the state’s farming sector is, Olmstead said. “Agriculture is the predominant segment of Idaho’s economy. It stands to reason that people involved in agriculture are going to win when they run for office,” he said. Olmstead said there was considerable concern a few years ago among the industry about the impact the most recent redistricting process would have on agriculture’s traditional clout at the state level. Idaho’s population increased 21 percent between 2000 and 2010 and the gains were heavily concentrated in the urban areas around Boise. For example, Ada County grew by 30.4 percent and adjacent Canyon County grew by 43.7 percent. By comparison, the populations of rural Bear Lake and Caribou counties shrank by 6.6 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. As a result, urban areas gained more representation at the expense of rural areas. But research done by Olmstead showed that in 2004, 25 of the state’s 105 legislators were actively involved with farming, ranching or agribusiness. When the 2015 Legislature convenes, that number will be exactly the same. “Even with reapportionment and the increased number of seats in the urban areas, we still have a lot of ag people (in the legislature),” he said. The industry lost a few legislators friendly toward agriculture in the May primary election, “but in the general election we came through in pretty good shape,” said Sen. Bert Brackett, a Republican rancher from Rogerson. –Capital Press
Extraction taxes are on the ballot
North Dakota and Nevada voters might learn something from Wyoming.
Something strange is happening in Wyoming economy. There’s an extraction boom, without jobs. Oil production in the Powder River Basin, formerly one of the nation’s hottest coalbed methane zones, has gone up from 38,000 barrels per day in 2009 to 78,000 per day earlier this year. An October report from the state’s Economic Analysis Division says that after the economy was battered by low natural gas prices during recent years, the oil industry is helping bolster it, “backed by about twice as many applications to drill as the previous year.” Yet the state’s overall employment remains stagnant. The number of jobs in the mining and logging sector, which includes oil and gas workers, grew by a mere .9 percent since this time last year, and it was already low due to the devastating natural gas price slump. Is a boom even a boom when it has no jobs? In Wyoming’s case, the answer is yes, at least sort of. All of that extra oil production, which was sold over the last year at a high price, brought in enough severance taxes to offset the decline resulting from the natural gas slump, and then some. Sales taxes on oil drilling equipment also got a boost. The Wyoming situation throws into question the notion that if you lower taxes or give generous tax breaks to mining or drilling companies, the jobs they will bring to the state as a result will more than offset the loss in tax revenues. That might work sometimes, but without a relatively strong policy for taxing oil and gas companies, Wyoming would be in the economic pits right now, watching empty-handed as companies siphon its oil across state lines in exchange for fat profits. Instead, the state’s bringing in over $1 billion per year to fund schools, roads, conservation and a trust fund. Read more here. –High Country News
Biomass reactor could create market for waste wood from tree-thinning in Washington
Scientists are searching for the fuels of the future in high-tech laboratories around the world, but last week one research team debuted its new technology at a wood-chipping plant tucked in the forest outside Cle Elum. That’s because their technology runs on wood chips. Roasting the wood, which might be otherwise worthless, at high temperatures without oxygen, creates a bio-oil similar to petroleum and a flammable gas that can be captured to run the burners. It also produces bio-char, a charcoal-like material that has applications in agriculture as a soil additive and in water filtration. CONTINUE READING –Forest Business Network
Cross-Time Photos From Fire Lookouts Reveal Big Changes
Comparison of Bald Mountain, east of Seattle, Washington, 1934 (top) and 2014 (bottom)
WHITE SALMON, WASHINGTON—During the 1930s, U.S. Forest Service crews visited more than 800 fire lookout stations across the Pacific Northwest to capture sweeping black-and-white photographs of the landscape. The resulting collection is called the Osborne Panoramas. Today, 80 years later, the historic images are helping forestry officials refine their fire management practices. Research ecologist Paul Hessburg says a picture – especially a panoramic one – is worth a thousand words. “We can tell an amazing story with these pictures. We can go back, find those photo points, take new pictures of them and compare the old ’30’s view with the current view and tell in pictures about the tremendous change in the forests and why they are burning and functioning the way they are today.” See the pictures and read the rest here. –Voices of America via Forest Business Network
The granddaddy of all Canadian-U.S. trade disputes is about to rear its ugly head again
A truce in the contentious softwood lumber dispute is entering its final year and there are signs this historic trade grievance is set to return with a vengeance.
A recent dispute over “country of origin labelling” for meat products underscores the fact that Canada and the U.S. still have their share of trade disputes. Yet lurking in the background is a massive trade issue that you haven’t heard about for a while: softwood lumber, the granddaddy of all Canadian-U.S. trade disputes. Canada exported $7.4-billion worth of lumber in 2013, the highest amount since 2006. The United States is the destination for the bulk of that wood, and U.S. lumber producers have for decades demanded the U.S. government collect tariffs on Canadian lumber. After decades of dispute, Canada and the U.S. agreed to a nine-year truce in 2006. Under the agreement, the U.S. agreed to return more than $5-billion in duties collected from Canadian lumber companies, and a ceasefire in trade litigation. If you thought we’ve achieved lumber peace in our time, you might be premature. We’ve now entered the final year of that truce, which is set to expire on Oct. 12, 2015. There are signs this historic trade grievance is set to return with a vengeance. U.S. housing starts are heating up. As U.S. construction grows, demand for Canadian lumber increases, something that will inevitably antagonize U.S. lumber producers who have long argued that Canada’s industry is unfairly subsidized. “The dragon is never slain. It just goes to sleep sometimes for a while,” Paul Lalonde, a trade lawyer with Dentons Canada LLP in Toronto, said of the dispute. Next year’s expiry date will come at a crucial time. U.S. new home construction, which peaked at 2.1 million units in 2005, collapsed to 554,000 units in 2009 with the financial crisis. Demand for Canadian lumber tanked right along with it, along with lumber prices. Things changed in 2013, when lumber prices rebounded as U.S. housing starts gathered momentum. “For the first time in years, we actually see new housing starts in the United States past the one-million mark,” said William Polushun, an international business expert and lecturer at the Desautels faculty of management at McGillUniversity. More here. –Financial Post
Oregon officials support new state forest policy
Oregon forestry officials are proceeding with a new plan to create specific timber and conservation zone on 600,000 acres of state-owned forests west of Portland and along the north coast. The Oregon Board of Forestry voted unanimously Nov. 5 to proceed with a new plan to create specific timber harvest and conservation zones on 600,000 acres of state-owned forests west of Portland and along the north coast. The Oregon Department of Forestry currently uses a single management strategy to pursue both timber revenue and conservation goals, but officials concluded in 2012 that approach was not generating enough money. The new concept is known as land allocation. It grew out of recommendations from a stakeholder group that included representatives from the timber industry, environmental organizations, anglers and county governments. During the board meeting in Portland, some of those stakeholders said they are concerned at the lack of detail in the proposal. State officials said that will spend the next eight months filling in details of the plan and forecasting how it would affect timber harvest revenue and conservation goals. The forestry board would still need to give final approval to a detailed plan, before it could take effect. “What’s before you here is not a management plan,” State Forester Doug Decker said. “We do have the broad contours of a management plan.” A year ago, Gov. John Kitzhaber asked the board to look for opportunities to increase conservation in the northwest region, which includes the Tillamook, Clatsop and Santiam state forests. The Oregon Department of Forestry also needed to increase revenue from timber harvests, which have not kept up with the cost to manage the state forests over the last decade. Financial Analyst Joan Tenny said the department’s $27.9 million annual state forest budget is approximately $6 million short of what the department needs. As a result, the department has cut back on forest thinning, research and monitoring and improvements related to recreation, Public Affairs Program Manager Dan Postrel said. Read more here. –Capital Press
They’re Big, and They’re Pink: Michigan Loggers Partner with Ponsse to Benefit American Cancer Society
IRON RIVER, Michigan – Although pink ribbons are associated with breast cancer research and awareness, a Michigan logging company has borrowed the color to adorn some of its equipment and help promote the broader efforts of the American Cancer Society. Did you get that? Pink logging machines. Pink. Shamco Inc. also runs a pink logging truck. Pink. Shamco is a family enterprise owned and operated by Jerry Shamion and four sons, a family that has been touched by cancer. Cancer has made a “big impact on our family,” said Scott Shamion, who discussed the company and its efforts to raise awareness and money for cancer research. “We’ve been affected by cancer and changed by cancer,” he said. Shamco performs cut-to-length logging operations in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. It relies heavily on Ponsse as a partner and runs all Ponsse c-t-l logging machines, harvesters and forwarders. Ponsse also has been a partner in Shamco’s efforts to help the American Cancer Society. Click here for the company’s Facebook page and pink log trucks and equipment. –Timberline magazine
Canadian Pacific ends CSX deal talks
Canadian Pacific Railway has ended talks with U.S. counterpart CSX about a possible combination and plans no more discussions. The railway operator did not say on Monday why it ended talks, but it did note in a brief statement that regulatory concerns appear to be a major deterrent for railroads considering combinations. A CSX spokeswoman declined to comment on Canadian Pacific’s statement. Several reports had surfaced recently that CSX Corp. had rejected a merger offer from Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. Both railroads declined to comment on the deal talk, but CSX CEO Michael Ward did say last week that the Surface Transportation Board, which regulates freight rail prices, would likely take a cautious approach to consolidation because there are only six Class I railroads in the U.S. and Canada. Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX Corp. operates more than 21,000 miles of track in 23 Eastern states and two Canadian provinces. Other large railroads include Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF and Canadian National. Ward also said last week that past railroad mergers in the 1990s lead to poorer service after the deals as the companies worked to integrate the different railroads. Canadian Pacific said Monday that it believed that regulatory approvals would be achievable for the right deal. Railroad lobbyists have told Congress that the industry is struggling to keep up with a sharp increase in freight rail demand created in part by an oil fracking boom and two years of unusually bountiful harvests. Shippers have complained that widespread delays in freight rail shipments are hurting an array of industries. Canadian Pacific said that a “pro-competition, customer-friendly” railway combination that also focuses on safety is a solution that could not be ignored on its merits by regulators. The railroad operator added that the industry’s significant problems “will only worsen over time if solutions aren’t put in place immediately.” –Capital Press
Analysis of Forest Health in Idaho Across Differing Land Ownerships
In USFS nomenclature “forest land” is the broadest classification of land with trees growing on it, including lands that have at least 10 percent forest cover; timberland refers to forest land that surpasses a productivity threshold and is not legislatively reserved from being actively managed. For the three primary forest managers/owners in Idaho, the USFS, the State of Idaho (“IDL”, for Idaho Department of Lands), and private land owners, the average forest land acre carries roughly the same number of live trees (122 per acre for USFS, 119 per acre for IDL, and 108 per acre for private). However, the number of standing dead trees per acre on the USFS (43) is roughly double the number of standing dead trees per acre on State (20) and Private lands (14). Why would this be? Remember, the USFS doesn’t represent an isolated pocket of property but rather is by far the most significant land manager in terms of geography within the state. Read the rest of the blog post—and view many graphs and photos—by clicking here. –Delphi Advisors “Clearing the Mist” blog
Fake News from The Onion: Report Finds America Still World Leader In Manufacturing Excuses
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Revealing that Americans still excel in assembling all types of justifications, a report released Monday by researchers at RutgersUniversity confirmed that the United States remains the world’s unrivaled leader in manufacturing excuses. “Our data shows that the American people are able to churn out millions of excuses every day, a rate five times faster than that of our closest international competitor,” said author Tom McCullough, who noted that the country continues to dominate in every excuse-manufacturing subsector, with Americans mass-producing rationalizations for everything from why they didn’t finish college to which of their colleagues should be blamed for them not receiving a promotion. “Whether U.S. citizens are trying to get out of work, an upcoming party, or even a relationship, American excuses are still the envy of the industrialized world. Few countries can produce the same quality or quantity of pretexts, alibis, or half-assed explanations.” McCullough added that the report probably could have been far better had his team been given more time and resources.