“We will be planting the least number of trees that we have in the past 40 years, at a time when there is an absolutely massive need for investment in replanting,” Macdonald said.

At the moment the forests in B.C. have already suffered with one million destroyed by forest fires and an additional 15 million by pests (largely the mountain pine beetle). This year the government is planning to plant 190 million trees, which is down from 225 million in a typical harvesting year. The biggest planting year in B.C. was in 1989 when a further 300 million trees were planted. Next year the number of trees planted is expected to decline further to 175 million.

According to Bell the majority of the planting is as part of reforestation obligations by logging companies harvesting Crown land. At the moment there is a two year lag between logging and replanting so the current planting decline reflects the downturn in the industry set off by the collapse of the US housing construction market.

The government’s pine beetle and fire reclamation programme has a budget of $42 million this year, with $400 million allocated over the next five years. So far 20 million trees have been planted this year. Bell this programme, called Forests for Tomorrow a ‘good, solid programme’.

To bring attention to the issue the Western Silviculture Contractors Association has launched a website at www.forestfacts.ca. In 2008 the association says that there were 6,000 tree planters working in B.C. and Alberta this year that number fell to 4,000 despite the widespread fires and beetle epidemic.

Unfortunately Bell said that the solution to the pine beetle epidemic wasn’t as simple as just replanting the affected areas.

“What we’re finding is stands that were killed 10 or 15 years ago have developed a relatively large understory, and that understory offers greater potential for the mid-term timber supply than going in, taking down the dead pine that’s left, damaging the understory that was in place prior to that, and replanting,” Bell said.

“The chief forester’s office has done a lot of work on this, and we analyze each stand individually before making a decision on whether to allow the stand to remain and the understory to survive, or knocking it down and replanting. And that’s what the Forests for Tomorrow program are all about.” He concluded.

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Despite this there are still concerns over the environmental integrity over existing investment portfolios and forest schemes have yet to be accepted in compliance markets.

In advance of the climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, the forest carbon sector is one of the few expected to benefit from an early global agreement. As was the case at the climate conference in Copenhagen last year the one shining light was the progress reached on the REDD scheme.

The findings from Eco-securities reflect the advances in negotiations on the monitoring, reporting, verification and sustainability of forest offset projects. It is these issues along with the number of stakeholders involved that have held back the expansion of REDD crediting schemes in the voluntary market.

Over 200 global, multinational and regional firms who bought a total of 7.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent of carbon offsets in 2009, including three million from forestry were surveyed by the report. This figure represents 57% of the total voluntary forestry carbon offset market in 2008.

Nearly 80% of those surveyed had a ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ outlook on forest offsets, whereas last year that figure was only 58%. Most notably there was a sharp increase in Europe participants from 36% to 84%. This is reflected by the fact that more European firms are adding forest offsets to their overall offset portfolio, up from 13% to 54%.

Voluntary offset buyers have shown the most interest in this market, however there is an increasing number of buyers falling under regulatory schemes, particularly in North America and Australasia.

Even so, pricing varies depending on finance arrangements and offset schemes, ranging from $5-10/tCO2e. This is well below current levels of €13/tCO2e for international offsets under the UN Clean Development Mechanism. However, European buyers are willing to pay more than those in the US or Australia.

For those wishing to buy forest credits 89% said that certification under a recognised standard was important although not all firms considered lack of widely recognised certification a deal breaker. Up to 27% said it depended on the projects. The other three main factors were the location (84%), the ability of schemes to generate wider community benefits (83%) and project type (80%).

The biggest constraint however on forest carbon credit markets is that the EU emissions trading scheme does not yet accept forest carbon offsets. This survey confirms that as of 2013 most buyers want to see forestry activities included in a new global climate agreement.

Forestry Update is sponsored by Greenwood Management. For more information on investing in Forestry please click here

IU was one of 74 schools that earned Tree Campus USA recognition in 2009. The Arbor Day Foundation began Tree Campus USA in the fall of 2008 to recognize colleges and universities that practice sound campus forestry. The aim of the program is to honor college campuses and the leaders of surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship.

Since its inception, Tree Campus USA has been supported by $1.3 million in grants from Toyota.

The impact Tree Campus USA had more than doubled during its second year. In its inaugural year, 29 colleges and universities received Tree Campus USA honors. To celebrate the success of the program, the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota are holding tree-planting events on five college campuses this spring. In addition to Indiana University, Tree Campus USA tree-planting events will also be held at American University; the University of Pennsylvania; the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

During the event, IU students and volunteers in the community planted more than 50 trees as part of the campus Arbor Day Celebration. Trees were planted near the DeVault Alumni Center, which is located near Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall. The trees will help increase the campus’s tree canopy and will provide shade for students and visitors.

“We applaud Indiana University’s commitment to improving the urban forest on its campus, and for demonstrating to students why it is so important to plant trees,” said John Rosenow, chief executive and founder of the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation. “By striving to follow best tree-care practices and encouraging students to plant trees on campus, Indiana University is helping the next generation learn first-hand the importance of giving back to the earth.”

In order to become a Tree Campus USA community, schools are required to meet five core standards of tree care and community engagement. Those standards are: Establishing a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.

“Today’s tree planting took place in an area that has been designated as the ‘Woodland Arboretum’ in the 2009 IU Bloomington Campus Master Plan, and initiates the implementation process of increasing the campus tree canopy cover from 20- to 40-percent over the lifetime of the plan which is estimated to be 10 years,” said Mia Williams, Indiana University landscape architect.

Forestry Update is sponsored by Greenwood Management. For more information on investing in Forestry please click here

A recently published report by the Open Space Institute looks at evolving ownership patterns in the forests of American states Maine and New Hampshire, and argues the importance of tax incentives to strengthen the forestry industry.

The 22-page report, “Forestland for Sale: Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation over the Next Ten Years,” uses the 600,000-acre Mahoosuc region of Maine and New Hampshire as a case study of the impact across America of more than 25 years of changing forest ownership patterns.

Perhaps the most dramatic change is the rise of T-REITs (Timber Real Estate Investment Trusts) and TIMOs (Timber Investment Management Organizations) as major landowners. These organisations, according to the report, need tax incentives to keep investing in the area.

The report says: “Without new tax incentives, stronger biomass markets or increases in public and private conservation dollars, escalating land prices will make it increasingly difficult to manage the land as forests.

“The same instability that threatens the region’s forests provides an immense opportunity, however: to prepare for the next wave of forest dispositions five to 10 years in advance. Maine and New Hampshire state governments, private landowners, local planning boards and conservation groups can take action to protect the public access, rural jobs, and ecosystem services that contribute to the forest-based economy in the region.”

Forestry Update is sponsored by Greenwood Management. For more information on investing in Forestry please click here