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Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry announced Tuesday the completion of LignoSat, the world’s first wooden artificial satellite. Source: The Japan Times LignoSat will launch from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to the International Space Station in September, with deployment from the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo slated for approximately one month later. With development beginning in April 2020, LignoSat is crafted from magnolia wood, selected for its strength and workability after space exposure tests were conducted on cherry, birch and magnolia wood chips. The wood was sourced from Sumitomo Forestry’s company forest. The 10-cubic-centimeter probe was assembled using a traditional Japanese technique that doesn’t require any screws or glue and is equipped with external solar panels. Ground tests confirmed that the wood would not adversely affect astronauts’ health and safety, as well as precision equipment and optical components. The LignoSat project aims to combat space clutter and promote more environmentally friendly space activity. Current international rules mandate that satellites reenter the atmosphere after their missions to avoid them becoming space debris. Conventional satellites pose air pollution risks due to metal particles generated during reentry. Wooden satellites, which burn up upon re-entry, are expected to mitigate this effect. “Expanding the potential of wood as a sustainable resource is significant,” said Kyoto University professor and astronaut Takao Doi. “We aim to build human habitats using wood in space, such as on the moon and Mars, in the future.” In the six months post-launch, data on wood expansion and contraction, internal temperature, geomagnetism and electronic equipment performance will be collected. This data, received by Kyoto University’s communications station, will inform the development of a second satellite, LignoSat-2. Sumitomo Forestry will also study the results to understand how wood breaks down at the nano-level, with aims to develop technology to prevent wood from degrading and to create new uses for wood, including highly durable materials for building exteriors.

Since 1850, global temperatures have been steadily rising. Human activities have significantly increased the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, exacerbating the greenhouse effect and global warming. Source: PhysOrg Forests in Asia have faced numerous challenges from climate change and human activities, threatening their stability and ecological functions. However, detailed studies on forest disturbances and their responses in this region are limited. Ecologists from Beijing Forestry University and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, China, conducted a comprehensive analysis of forest disturbances and resilience using satellite remote sensing data in a new study. The associated paper has recently been published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters. Forest ecosystems absorb about 33% of the carbon dioxide from human-related emissions, which is vital to climate-change mitigation and adaptation. However, frequently occurring climate extremes and human activities have considerably threatened the resilience of forests. The study employed the Breaks For Additive Seasonal and Trend (BFAST) method, an effective tool for detecting abrupt changes in time series data, to analyze the Enhanced Vegetation Index time series across East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. By identifying disturbances and quantifying forest resilience, the research sheds light on the dynamics of forest ecosystems in response to various external pressures. “Twenty percent of forests in Asia’s low and middle latitudes experienced disturbances between 2000 and 2022, with Southeast Asian countries being particularly affected. Despite these challenges, 95% of the forests showed robust resilience and recovered from disturbances within a few decades. “Notably, forests with greater disturbance magnitude exhibited stronger resilience; they tend to have faster recovery rates compared to forests with lower disturbance magnitude,” says the first author, Yiying Zhu, an ecology researcher at Beijing Forestry University. “This is good news for adapting to future extreme events due to climate change or human activities.” “Almost half of the forest disturbances were caused by commodity-driven deforestation, and the average recovery time for a forest ecosystem to return to its pre-disturbance state was 16.2 years,” said Prof Hesong Wang, a global change ecology researcher at Beijing Forestry University. “The land-use changes resulting from human activities have a profound impact on forest ecosystems, and we need to have a deeper understanding of ecosystem recovery to mitigate the damage to forests.” “Applying satellite remote sensing in monitoring and managing forest ecosystems is essential for us to elucidate the relationship between disturbances and forest recovery,” adds Associate Prof. Anzhi Zhang, an associate professor from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, China, another co-author of the paper. “Satellite remote sensing provides valuable insights for sustainable forest management practices in the region, and should be employed throughout the globe.” In conclusion, this research underscores the excellent resilience of Asian forests after disturbances, as revealed by satellite remote sensing data. By elucidating the spatial and temporal patterns of forest dynamics, the study contributes to advancing our knowledge of forest ecology and informs conservation strategies for preserving forest ecosystems.

The first Helsinki Forest Talk took place in May, organised together with the German and French embassies in Helsinki. The Helsinki Forest Talks is a new series bringing together diplomats and scientists to focus on crucial issues related to forests. Source: Timberbiz The first event enabled 35 participants from different embassies to explore the issue of combatting climate change through emission reductions, looking at both natural and technical solutions. Speakers included EFI’s Chief Scientist Hans Verkerk who set the scene with how much forests can contribute to fight climate change. He was joined by Helga Pülzl, EFI Assistant Director for Policy Support and Raisa Mäkipää, Research Professor on sustainable management of natural resources at the National Resources Institute Finland to explore technical solutions like carbon capture and storage. EFI’s Director Robert Mavsar said: “It was truly an inspiring event. The aim is to foster a collaborative and informed approach to addressing challenges and opportunities in forest management and conservation. With the Helsinki Forest Talks we aim to enhance interactions between scientists and diplomats, and also create a network within the diplomatic community for those working on forest-related topics.” The next event will take place in September.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing a rise in inflation, coupled with a decrease in building and construction industry productivity, should be sounding alarm bells for Australian governments, warns Master Builders Australia. Source: Timberbiz New data released shows an April increase in the annual inflation rate to 3.6% and all three sectors of the building and construction industry reporting a March quarter drop in output. The decline comes as demand for new housing continues to grow, with residential construction dropping 1.2%, civil construction down 2.1%, and non-residential building dropping a concerning 7%. Master Builders Australia’s Chief Economist Shane Garrett said these numbers are worrying, and that governments need to focus on reducing the cost of creating new homes and speeding up their delivery. “Housing costs contributed significantly to April’s poor inflation result,” said Mr Garrett. “Over the past year, rents have risen by 7.5%. “High rental inflation is a direct result of years of underbuilding on the higher density side of the market, caused by a drastic lengthening in the build times for new homes, labour and material shortages as well as excessive homebuyer taxation. “Labour shortages are the biggest constraint on building and construction activity, and we are also facing unfavourable changes on the Industrial Relations front as well as a new wave of regulation. Policies must change to reflect the urgency of this. “The building and construction industry is the canary down the economic coal mine,” said Master Builders’ Chief Executive Denita Wawn. “When the industry is strong, the economy is strong. These figures should be sounding alarm bells for Australian governments of what’s to come. “During 2023, civil construction became one of the main drivers of economic growth in Australia; this is now in reverse jeopardises economic growth. “Residential building activity has slumped to its lowest levels in nearly two years at a time when communities are crying out for new homes. “If we are going to undo decades of under-building and resolve this housing crisis, we need to change the economic environment to encourage investment across all sectors of the industry by reducing the cost of construction work, reducing build times, reducing planning delays and slow approval processes.”  

Timber dominates the internal design of Phillip Island’s prestigious new multi-dimensional cultural centre in Cowes and what better place to source much of the timber than Gippsland. Source: Philip Hopkins, Latrobe Valley Express ‘Berninneit’ – ‘Gathering Together’ in the Boon Wurrung Indigenous language – encompasses a 260-seat performing arts theatre, a cinema, gallery, library, historical museum, events spaces and community meeting rooms, and was opened late last year. Sitting at the heart of it is glue-laminated timber (MASSLAM) – huge beams 5.9 metres long and columns 4.2 metres high, all 42cm wide – from Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) at Heyfield. “Vic Ash glulam timber is the essential structural element for the building,” said Thom McCarthy, an interior designer with Jackson Clements Burrows, the project architects and designers. “They form the Grand Hall, the spine of the building connected to all the rooms – the artistic and library at each end, and the function rooms in the centre. They are the three major tenants of the community facility. “Glulam columns are very striking; we have had tremendous experience with them in student residential projects. We were keen to express them as much as possible. They formed a lot of the internal pallet, and at the library end.” “Regarding the tall columns, a woman came up to me and said, ‘There is steel inside those columns isn’t there?’ No! All are just laminated timber, she couldn’t believe it,” he said, as the columns are so tall,” project architect James Stewart said. “She thought we had steel columns and capped them.” The library and offices in the mezzanine floor are all CLT (cross-laminated) mass timber, made from plantation pine, at the X-Lam factory in Wodonga. Mr McCarthy said the company had experience with CLT in a number of projects. “We were keen to use Victorian Ash and see these two timber products combined. They are the two key structural components,” he said. “The devil was in the details – the base plates and how they meet the structural slab. We were keen to do a little timber design solution that expresses all that but defines and emphasises the timber.” The national business development officer at ASH, Daniel Wright, said ASH was the only Australian producer of mass timber glulam in any volume. MASSLAM 45 is the proprietary strength of ASH’s strong hardwood glulam. According to ASH, European mass timber brands base the name on bending strength; Australian glulam usually follows stiffness. This makes Australian GL17 stronger than European GL28. “We are competing with imports. MASSLAM 45 clearly shows where we sit in strength,” Mr Wright said. Mr Wright said ASH did the shop drawings, produced the timber and glued the timber members and profiled them using CNC. CNC (Computer Numerical Control is a term referring to automated specialised machinery, a process for automating the control of machine tools via software installed in a microcomputer linked to a tool). “We then delivered to TGA Engineers. TGA did the structural design and purchased the manufactured components from us. They then attached connections, coated them and delivered to the site,” Mr Wright said. TGA, based in Bayswater, specialises in mass timber engineering. Mr Stewart said the columns were spectacular, beautifully finished with brackets and metal plates at the base that were manufactured in their shop. Extra timber was obtained through the Big River Group, which supplied blackbutt that was 15 millimetres thick. “It creates terrific variation. The visual quality of the timber worked in with the structural columns. This is beautiful timber but put a foot wrong in sealing it can change its appearance. From a design perspective, we had a thread and kept building on it,” Mr McCarthy said. Mr Stewart said one problem occurred with the timber. “We had the Ash columns, but all these different tones – the acoustic ceilings, the mass timber framing, the library at the end and ceiling and walls mass timber in CLT, the stairs, handrails, so many different wood types – the trick was the ‘pallet’,” he said. “But it’s quite successful when you go through the space; you feel like it’s all the same, even though there may be Blackbutt here and Ash there, CLT pine … it all fits comfortably together.” Mr McCarthy said pine has a few more knots and a “bit of attitude”. “In terms of design move, it’s free and beautiful. Our challenge was to rationalise all the surfaces in a way that expressed that timber without interrupting it too much,” he said. Mr Stewart said JCB’s practice was to avoid plaster board at all costs. “You can’t always do that,” he said. Design work on the project began in 2015. Several schemes followed before JCB took on the job in 2020. The lockdowns created havoc, but there was still big stakeholder engagement. “In those discussions, we introduced the notion of a big timber building and the qualities that come with it,” he said. The community got really excited and responded positively to it. Mr Stewart said the other ambition was to achieve a ‘passive house’ (PassivHaus) building, a style of building from Europe that emphasises energy efficiency that is now increasingly adopted in Australia. “They are mainly residential buildings, but this is the second-largest public building in Australia that is ‘passive house’ and the first Passive House theatre in Australia,” he said. “The principle of it is a highly thermally efficient envelope – air-tight, high performance glazing, insulation. That works well for the council, which owns it for 50 years, but ongoing energy costs will be very small.” There was no measure of timber in the building as a carbon store. “Not in passive house; it’s all about ongoing running costs,” Mr Stewart said. Timber’s carbon role was part of the design approach but not as a method of measurement. The timber is both structural and aesthetic. Mr Stewart said the outside of the building was responding to the geology of the island. “The brick and outside façade are meant to reference […]

It is with sadness that we say farewell to a true champion of the Queensland Timber Industry this week. Victor Gersekowski, owner/director of Vic’s Timber – a cypress pine sawmill at Cecil Plains in the Western Downs region of Queensland. Cypress pine is a conifer native to Australia – Callitris glaucophylla. Sources: Timberbiz, Melissa Syme Vic Gersekowski always had the cypress blood running through him, with grand-father Dick Gersekowski starting the business, carting cypress logs in the 1940s. The sawmill at Cecil Plains was bought by the family in 1959, with father Noel building much of the equipment. Tragically the sawmill burnt down in 197 however,Noel rebuilt it in just six months. Vic inherited the sawmill in 1981 after his father passed away. In 1999, he revamped the business and became the driving force behind Vic’s Timbers. In Vic’s words, “It is such a unique timber, hard wearing, durable, termite resistant. It has the durability and hardness of a lot of hardwoods, and yet it has a knotty appearance like pine.” The family started off selling boards into the Sydney market, but as times changed, their focus turned to selling house framing and flooring into the Queensland market. Always looking for new opportunities and value adding, they invested in kiln drying and developed new customers overseas selling specialty products. Dressed timber into Japanese markets was a real winner. You may not have always agreed with Vic, but you knew where you stood, and he was always up for a good argument. Vic’s passion for the cypress pine industry was well known and he most definitely lived and breathed it. He was keen to share his knowledge and experience, and always had a positive outlook for the timber industry. I was a forester based at Dunmore near Cecil Plains in the 2010’s and had the privilege of knowing Vic for several years. Farewell Vic – you made a great contribution to the timber industry and to Queensland.

The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) is proud to announce its strong support for Arbor Day (June 05) and calls upon all New Zealanders to join in making this day a widely recognised national event. Source: Timberbiz NZIF envisions a future where every citizen plants at least one tree on Arbor Day, contributing to a greener, healthier, and more sustainable New Zealand. Trees offer a multitude of benefits which significantly enhance our environment and well-being. They play a crucial role in fixing carbon, thus combating climate change. Trees also purify water, provide essential wood and non-wood products, create recreational spaces, improve mental health, are important for wildlife, and ameliorate the local climate by providing shade and cooling. The environmental and societal advantages of trees are immense and far-reaching. Furthermore, the wood products derived from commercial plantations are integral to a renewable, circular-based economy, promoting sustainable development and reducing waste. To mark Arbor Day, NZIF will be planting one tree for each of its members. This initiative symbolises our commitment to fostering a greener future and highlights the collective impact of individual actions. We believe if every New Zealander plants a tree, it will not only beautify our landscapes but also contribute to our nation’s ecological and economic prosperity. NZIF President, James Treadwell, emphasises the importance of this initiative: “Arbor Day presents a unique opportunity for all of us to come together and make a tangible difference. Planting a tree is a simple yet powerful act which benefits our environment, our communities, and our future generations. We encourage everyone to join us in this effort and make Arbor Day a significant and cherished tradition in New Zealand.” New Zealand is home to many environmental and community groups dedicated to restoring Aotearoa’s natural mantle. These groups tirelessly work to rejuvenate native forests, protect biodiversity, and enhance community well-being. They would greatly welcome and benefit from widespread support on Arbor Day, further amplifying the positive impact on our environment. The NZIF encourages community groups, schools, businesses, and individuals across the country to participate in Arbor Day activities. Whether it’s planting a single tree in your backyard or organising a community tree-planting event, every contribution counts. Let’s unite in our efforts to enhance our natural surroundings and ensure a sustainable future for all. Together, we can make Arbor Day a day of action, reflection, and celebration. Plant a tree, grow a future.

The Pentarch Group has grown by becoming a significant stakeholder in prefabricated house component construction business Green Timber Technology (GTT). Source: Timberbiz GTT was established three years ago as part of a revolution in house construction by fabricating walls, roofs and floors in a specialised factory to be delivered to home sites for assembly. This new concept in housing construction reduces material waste, time lost through weather events and labour costs when compared to onsite construction. “Modular and prefab construction is a growing sector which the NSW Government has identified as a solution to ease the shortage of affordable housing by providing a steady supply of cost-effective housing components,” said Pentarch Executive Director Steve Dadd. Mr Dadd will become Chair of the GTT board as part of the investment and said Pentarch’s existing infrastructure and manufacturing capability is aligned with GTT’s vision for the future. “With our understanding of major capital projects and factory efficiency in softwood construction, Pentarch is positioned to take GTT to the forefront of the prefabrication market,” he said. “We already have in place supply capability with our Oberon softwood facility close to the GTT location in Orange, NSW, and a network of stakeholders in the housing construction industry. “It’s an exciting time in housing construction technology which meets an immediate challenge with our housing shortage crisis and Pentarch is proud to be a part of the solution.” Prefabricated timber kits can be constructed with all the components, such as windows, insulation, electrical wiring and plumbing conduits, installed and flat-packed to be transported to new home sites. Specialised machinery is incorporated to maximise the use of the plantation softwood and other materials which combine to create attractive and durable housing components.  

In early April I spoke to the New Zealand Farm Forestry Conference in Napier about farm forestry options as I saw them.  Most of the farmers I was talking to have had many years of experience in farm forestry, so I was certainly not going to tell them how to grow trees. Rather, I explored how to find a pathway through some of the challenging and at times imponderable issues that farm foresters currently face. Many of my forestry presentations have focused on flaws in the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). This presentation was different. I simply took the rules as they are and looked at how farm foresters could best respond in their own interests, be they economic interests or broader issues coming from the heart. My starting point was to briefly look at the journey New Zealand’s production forestry has taken in recent decades. I used three graphs published in November 2023 in a USDA GAIM Report, where GAIN stands for Global Agricultural Information Network. GAIN reports are a great source of current and historical facts with not political messaging. The first graph below demonstrates two key points. The lower dark-coloured area shows how New Zealand production forests were sold off in the 1990s from public to private ownership. The upper light blue area demonstrates the big uptake in forest planting in the 1990s. The second graph demonstrates that processed-wood volumes have bounced around but there has been no overall growth in recent years. In contrast, the log trade has grown from almost nothing thirty years ago, reaching a maximum in 2023. What the graph does not show is that export volumes are declining this year.  This is not because there is less timber to be harvested, but because decreasing returns and increasing costs mean that the economics of harvesting no longer stack up on land that is steep or distant from ports. The third graph demonstrates the wall of wood aged 26 to 30 years waiting to be harvested from the big plantings in the 1990s. if it were not for economic issues that threaten harvest operations, the next five years would see more exports than ever before. I then observed to my audience that timber is where we are more dependent on China than for any other export product, with almost 90 percent of log exports going there. I also observed that China now has less need for our timber than in the past. This is in part because China’s big infrastructure years are now behind us. Our logs are largely used for concrete formwork rather than products with higher value-add. New Zealand is now the only country that exports significant volumes of softwood logs to China. Countries like Russia now only export lumber, not logs. Also, China is becoming increasingly self-sufficient in timber, with big eucalyptus plantings in the south of China. However, China’s timber markets are obscure and it is hard to confidently take an overall positive or negative stance about the future. I then looked at the economics of sheep and beef farming relative to various farm-forestry options. There is no doubt that most sheep and beef farmers are doing it tough right now. Profits in the last ten years have typically been in the range of one to two percent return on capital and slipping below that in the last three years. Right now, many farmers are cash-flow negative, with land values also dropping precipitously. This also means that many farmers lack cash right now to convert some of the rougher country to trees. When preparing the talk to farm foresters, I ran lots of spreadsheet models of net present values and internal rates of return for various production forestry scenarios.  The big message was that using prices and costs from two to five years ago told a story of nice returns for radiata pine. But that story now belongs to history.  Looking forward, the big message relating to production returns is lots of uncertainty and high economic risk. This aligns with the current attitude of the big forestry companies.  Whereas until about 18 months ago there was a mad dash to buy land for its potential timber value, that interest has disappeared.  Almost no-one is interested in buying land for production timber by itself. I then looked at what happens if land is developed out of pasture for new radiata pine production based on harvesting at 25-30 years and at the same time earning carbon credits through to 16 years under the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS)) averaging regime. I used a conservative price of $60 per tonne of carbon (NZU) whereas the minimum prices for which the Government currently auctions carbon is $64 this year, with this price having been officially set to rise in each of the coming years. In doing these calculations, I used the official look-up tables for radiata pine growth in different parts of New Zealand. These tables are used for assessing carbon credits for all forests of less than 100 ha and are generally considered to be conservative. Forests of more than 100 hectares are measured on actual growth. The big message here was that carbon credits are the business to be in if converting pasture to trees. They can rapidly turn a likely unprofitable timber-production business into a profitable dual business.  It did not matter what scenario I looked at, as long I used a carbon price of $60 then the internal return was acceptable, and in many cases much more than acceptable. In a typical example, it raised the IRR from around 2% to about 9% even with these low carbon prices and an inbuilt land value. It also brought the payback period including land value as a cost back to around ten years or slightly less. These projected returns raise questions as to why the big investment companies are not doing this right now. The most important reason is that confidence has been knocked around so much over the last two years, with Governments […]

The Victorian state government’s decision to ban native forestry has been felt across the timber and manufacturing industry. Hundreds of timber workers lost their jobs and many Victorian mills have shut. As the effect flows through the supply chain, building material manufacturers are being forced to find alternatives. Source: Timberbiz Door manufacturer Specialty Doors has moved away from Australian hardwoods to a range of imported species. Managing Director Marcus Bastiaan laments the impact on his businesses ability to support the local timber industry. “We were buying 10 packs of Australian hardwood a month, and one or two packs of imported timber. Today that is the opposite,” he said. For the building industry the loss of Eucalyptus regnas and Eucalyptus delegatensis, commonly known as Victorian Ash has driven up the price of building supplies. The timber species was most used by manufactures of doors, windows, flooring, furniture and staircases, and was well regarded due to its density and suitable for exterior uses in the Australian climate. Due to the industries inability to use the timber manufacturers like Specialty Doors has begun offering several imported species as replacements, including American oak, European beech and Eucalyptus grandis. “American Oak is beautiful, but the price point is 50% higher than Ash. Beech is great on price, but it’s no good for external use. For now, our closest substitute on price, appearance and utility is grandis,” Mr Bastiaan said. Eucalyptus grandis is a common species on the north coast of NSW and southern Queensland. However, the species is currently being imported from plantations in Uruguay. Mr Bastiaan is frustrated that Australian manufacturers are forced to rely on imported timber. “Grandis is an Australian species being grown overseas and sold back to Australians. We should have been developing plantations thirty years ago. Instead, we are rewarding everyone else who has,” he said. He believes the Victorian forestry industry should not have been shut down. He pointed to a similar series of events happening in NSW and Tasmania. With both states logging industries fighting activists in court. Mr Bastiaan believes policy needs to change to ensure the survival of a local timber industry. “The union, forestry industry and government need a better approach on timber. We should be planting, milling and selling our own,” he said. As the timber industry navigates a changing environment mills and manufacturers must look toward alternatives to continue the supply of hardwood to the domestic construction industry. Mr Bastiaan sees the uncertainty as a major detractor long term for the industry. “Short term and inconsistent timber policy has driven up the price to manufacturer and blown out lead times. The industry is losing skilled workers and struggling to attract apprentices. Ultimately all of this increases the cost of construction,” he said.