Forest Products Industry

The new Tigercat 120 cable assist is Tigercat’s second model in the cable systems product line. With the release of the 180 swing yarder and now, the 120 winch assist, Tigercat is leveraging its deep experience in steep slope harvesting systems to create cable systems that complement the ground based machines. Source: Timberbiz It is now possible to assemble a fully mechanized Tigercat steep slope harvesting system with the option for cable assisted feller bunchers, shovel loggers, track and wheel harvesters, skidders and forwarders, as well as the very capable 180 swing yarder. The 120 winch assist is fully integrated with all the latest generation Tigercat steep slope capable carriers, providing seamless communications and optimal hydraulic efficiency. The 120 is also designed to work without travel signal integration. The basic installation, requiring only the in-cab control unit and antennas, allows the 120 to be mated to any carrier. The 120 sits on a full forest duty F8 undercarriage for excellent durability and mobility. The upper assembly has a sloped tail for added manoeuvrability on narrow mountain roads. Access to daily service points and major components is convenient with large swing out doors for the engine and pump enclosures and prop-up roof sections to access winch system components. All machine functions are actuated with an ergonomic and intuitive remote-control system. The powerful, heavy duty boom system with choice of a bucket or other attachments firmly anchors the machine and can take on basic roadbuilding duties. With ample below grade capability, the boom can extend over the road bank to firmly anchor the machine. High-capacity cooling combined with a secondary hydraulic braking circuit provides highly effective braking assistance and heat dissipation for higher-speed rubber tire machines such as skidders, forwarders and harvesters. The relatively long distance between the boom-mounted sheave and the winch, and the powered cable tension system combine to provide neat and reliable rope spooling. With the boom anchor system planted firmly in the ground, the cable can be operated off to the side of the machine, thanks to the pivoting sheave.

Enviva announced its successful emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, marking a significant milestone in the company’s strategic transformation. Source: Business Wire Enviva is well-positioned for long-term growth and consistent operating performance, allowing the company to serve its customers as a market leader and critical partner in meeting their demand for renewable fuel. Enviva’s Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”) was confirmed by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, with overwhelming support from the company’s key stakeholders and business partners. As part of its financial restructuring, Enviva has equitized more than US$1 billion of indebtedness and American Industrial Partners Capital Fund VIII (“AIP”) has become the largest shareholder of the company. To support ongoing operations and future growth initiatives, Enviva is capitalized at emergence with an attractive exit loan facility, as well as access to further capital through a delayed draw term loan. As part of the Plan, stakeholders provided US$250 million of new money financing through an Equity Rights Offering to help fund the recapitalization of the company. As a result of this, the company’s liquidity and financial profile is very strong, and the company has no near-term debt maturities. The secured funding also fully finances completion of the company’s 11th production plant, under construction in Epes, Alabama, which is anticipated to produce its first pellets in May 2025. Once fully ramped, the company expects the new plant to produce ~1 million metric tons of wood pellets per year, providing a significant opportunity to sell into new and existing markets. Glenn Nunziata, who most recently served as Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, and James Geraghty, who formerly served as Executive Vice President of Finance, has been named Chief Financial Officer. In connection with emergence, Enviva will operate as a private company with a new board of managers comprising representatives from key shareholders, including AIP, Keyframe Capital Partners, L.P., and Ares Management funds, who bring valuable financial, operational, and end-market experience to support Enviva’s operations and future growth.

As the year draws to a close, take a moment to look back at some of the impressive moments in mass timber design and construction that have made 2024 the ‘Year of the Wood Dragon’ truly unforgettable. Source: Timberbiz Record-breaking number of architectural awards for buildings designed and constructed with wood. Highlights include: Wisdome Stockholm, Dezeen, Kasper Salin, Canadian Wood Council Stora Enso Head Office, Finnish Wood Award and inclusion in the inaugural UN Bio & Earth-Based Materials Compendium that was launched at COP29 11 Belgrave Road, Retrofit Building of the Year 2024 Building Magazine Awards (G-frame Structures Ltd) Bezirksbauernkammer, Austria Archello (Innovoholz) Hope Street, 2024 RIBA MacEwen Award (EURBAN) Mediavaert ∣ DPG Media’s new HQ, The Netherlands Timber Awards (WIEHAG Timber Construction) EcoDataCenter, Urban Land Institute Awards for Excellence (ByggPartner) 2024 was also the inaugural year for the Built by Nature Prize Several major cities carried out urban planning and placemaking with engineered wood. President Macron opened Arboretum in Paris and Stora Enso delivered the mass timber kit of parts for the first building at Stockholm Wood City and Sydney’s Green City, near the new airport. Paris, Lyon, and Vancouver (to name just a few) developed affordable housing projects with mass timber, citing cost-effectiveness, speed and sustainability as the primary drivers. It wasn’t just buildings that were woodified, 2024 saw more wood-based telecom towers using laminated veneer lumber and other infrastructure, including wind turbine towers. Everything from road signs to satellites are going the woodway. More than a hundred new schools and educational extensions were built with prefabricated Sylva kits, and GenZero Designed with Nature (a design for the disassembly (Dfd) initiative in the UK) also improved state schools. Some of the best of 2024 timber educational facilities included: B&K’s Stephenson Building, Newcastle University Madergia’s UPNA Health Sciences Building Pöchhacker’s VERBUND Hydropower – Apprentice Campus The EU building sector was told loud and clear to get serious about low-emission and carbon-storing materials (aka wood) with the EU taking its boldest step yet to regulate the vast amounts of emissions in building materials. New legislation requires life cycle assessments (LCAs) for all new buildings, starting with large buildings in 2028, and requires all EU countries to set emission limits for new buildings from 2030. Supported by France’s Environmental Regulation 2020 (RE2020), prominent developers increasingly turned to mass timber to meet those legal requirements and also likely to satisfy customer sustainability demands too. The Paris Olympic venues showcased demountable wood products and Falu Rödfärg pigment by Stora Enso. In Germany, the new Model Timber Construction Directive is on track to simplify the construction of wood buildings. The federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia has already applied this directive. In Canada, the Mass Timber Roadmap was introduced to increase the mass timber market to Can$2.4 billion by 2035, with Can$4.2 million allocated for mass timber demonstration projects and research now. Provincial building codes were also updated to enable mass timber buildings up to 18 floors. The US increased funding to US$74 million to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products, and expand wood processing facilities. (USDA) The Australian government’s $300 million fund launched in 2022 to accelerate the use of mass timber in medium and high-rise buildings started to take shape. Stora Enso and WIEHAG Timber Construction are shipping elements now to build the 39-storey Atlassian HQ in Sydney set to be the world’s tallest commercial hybrid timber tower as this is written. Czechia approved the National Raw Materials Policy for Wood, which aims to accelerate the adoption of timber buildings. Lifecycle assessments went mainstream, boosting demand for carbon-storing, low-energy, and traceable building products; learn more about this in the Mass timber LCA-led design and construction case study. Demand for more detailed carbon footprint information resulted in a wealth of new carbon counters, with Stora Enso’s calculator widely celebrated for showcasing their impressively small carbon footprint in a user-friendly way. Other standouts included Siemens’ Participatory research initiatives, financial incentives and public awareness campaigns for building with wood captured our hearts and attention with stand-out examples, including Czechia’s pavilion at the World Expo in Japan (A2 Timber) Wood Circles, Alliance for Sustainable Buildings Map Project, European Wood Policy Platform (WoodPoP), New York City’s Mass Timber Studio. Climate Cleanup launched a methodology to certify the carbon stored in timber buildings (and Timber Finance Initiative made big strides with its soon-to-launch similar methodology). Under such approaches, developers can financially benefit from their buildings’ stored carbon if anyone still needs a reason to build in wood. Green building badges: More mass timber buildings received prestigious sustainability certifications, such as LEED and BREEAM, recognizing their environmental performance and setting benchmarks for future projects. More than 70 countries committed to the Chaillot Declaration to make near-zero emission and climate-resilient buildings the new global standard. This is particularly encouraging given that 2025 is the year we’ll all learn if greenhouse gases have peaked or not, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. While that remains a big question mark, the year of the Wood Dragon has delivered with many bold and beautiful examples of how we can and are resisting climate change with sustainable wood products.

When livestock and forestry come together it can be the best of both worlds, leading to resilience against climate change, productive landscapes into the future and improved animal welfare. Source: Timberbiz Scion researchers and partners are on a mission to demonstrate the environmental, economic, cultural and social benefits of an integrated system during the three-year Taking risk out of next generation silvopastoral systems research programme. Agroforestry blends agriculture and forestry in a way that addresses environmental, economic and social pressures. Silvopastoral systems are the form of agroforestry involving livestock grazing on pasture.There has been little new research on silvopastoral systems in New Zealand for more than 30 years and there is a gap in current knowledge and lack of demonstrated systems. This project aims to change that. During the research program, which started in August 2024, the team will hold co-design workshops with research partners and landowners to identify sites where trees can either be planted into established farms or existing stands of trees can be modified. Animal and plant monitoring will ideally be done across trials on sheep, beef, and dairy farms. Engagement with landowners occurred pre-proposal and will continue throughout ensuring research, infrastructure and project objectives are collaboratively developed, project lead Peter Clinton says. “Co-design is a key requirement to ensure objectives are met and research is relevant to the needs and aspirations of landowners.” Animal welfare and climate change are at the project’s core. Clinton, a microbial ecology and soil systems principal researcher, says trees on farms create more natural shelter for animals from the elements. Other benefits include less erosion, potentially more biodiversity and increased carbon sequestration. Mr Clinton hopes the trials can continue beyond the life of the research project. Simon Van Haandel, a Forestry Business Manager at Pāmu, one of Scion’s research partners, says deciduous silvopastoral systems could be a viable land use option on vulnerable land types across New Zealand. He says climate modelling shows extreme weather events will worsen over time which will reduce productivity and increase the risks to both stock and the land. Trees can help mitigate the effects of erosion and minimise the impacts of extreme weather by cooling air and regulating water flows. “Historical silvopastoral trials under radiata pine were not economically viable however, other values such as erosion control, animal health, shade and shelter, timber and carbon are becoming increasingly important for farm resilience in the face of climate change. “Pāmu hopes that through the project we can show the conditions under which silvopastoral systems can work in New Zealand to provide farmers with another option for their tool kit.” Dane Tamepo (The Proprietors of Orete ll & Other Blocks Incorporated) believes science is pivotal in addressing climate change and building resilience across the Incorporation’s dairy operation and other land uses. Central to their discussions are the priorities of people, climate, animal welfare, water quality, and adapting farming systems to support long-term land-use sustainability. The Incorporation also has an interwoven relationship with other whenua landowners within Te Whānau a Pararaki hapū, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Iwi. “With this in mind our intention is to share the research so that our whānau, hapū and Iwi can benefit. Understanding our unique challenges and bringing to the table our Te Ao Māori worldview, are key outcomes for us and why we are involved in this research,” Mr Tamepo said. Senior scientist Karin Schutz of AgResearch’s Animal Behaviour and Welfare team says she is excited about the project as it incorporates a One Welfare perspective — the concept that animal welfare depends on and influences human wellbeing, biodiversity and the environment, and is therefore interconnected. “Cows and sheep are very good at seeking out microclimates that help them thermoregulate and stay comfortable, so it is good for their welfare. It is also good for the farmer because animals that do not have to spend energy to thermoregulate produce more, so it is good for the wallet as well. It is a win-win for both animals and farmers.” Short-term, the project aims to develop new systems infrastructure to promote farming practice changes. In the medium-term it aims to develop methods for quantifying the benefits of silvopastoral systems. Long-term, the aim is for local communities to have increased confidence in the future of silvopastoral systems, for the public to have greater confidence in intergenerational sustainability of New Zealand agriculture and the Government to have greater confidence in the farming community’s ability to adapt to climate change and other global pressures. The project is funded through MPI’s Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change fund. Scion’s research partners include Pāmu and Orete No. 2 and Other Blocks Incorporation and AgResearch. For more details visit https://www.scionresearch.com/science/sustainable-forest-and-land-management/next-generation-silvopastoral-systems