AFA NEWSROOM V17N35, September 8, 2022 | | AFA Annual Meeting - September 11-13 Three More Days! | Orange Beach here we come! The AFA staff is excited to welcome you back to the beach for this year's 2022 AFA Annual Meeting. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers, sponsors, & exhibitors. Click the link below to learn more. | Don't forget to register for the next installment of AFA's Public Policy Series - Issues Affecting Timberland Ownership. You can register to attend as an add-on to the AFA Annual Meeting or attend independently. Check out the 2022 AFA Public Policy Series website for more information! | Drone Used To Prepare Land For Longleaf Pines | | A drone has been preparing a Covington County field in River Falls with herbicide spray to prepare a site to be replanted with Longleaf pine trees.
Consultant Forester Andrew Loflin of Loflin Forest Management said the process usually consists of three steps: spray, burn, and plant. | | AFA Connect-Woods To Goods Week September 15,2022 | In 1960, President Eisenhower proclaimed the third week in October "National Forest Products Week". In the years since, every president has continued the tradition. In 2020, Governor Kay Ivey proclaimed the third week of October "Woods to Goods Week". This week is used to promote the Alabama forest products industry's professionals, resources, companies, products, and environmental and economic impact. The 2021 Woods to Goods Week celebration was a huge success. We are excited to continue this tradition in 2022! Join us and learn about how you can be involved in this year's celebration of Alabama's forest industry. | This Deal is Going South: Timberland Transaction Activity Q3 Update | After a bounce back year in 2021, 2022 is shaping up as another strong year for timberland transactions. Year-to-date, over 1.9 million acres of timberland deals have closed (see figure below). The ten year median value of timberland deal flow is approximately two and a half million acres per year. However, for a normal year of activity we might expect a range of anywhere from about two to two and a half million acres. This would put us just below the lower end of the range with another four months to go in 2022. | | AFA Newsroom Special Feature: AFA Political Endorsements | Interested in who AFA has endorsed so far? Visit our AFA ForestPac Endorsement Pages, linked below, as more endorsements will be added soon | Anti-Forestry Insanity: The Opinion Piece That Keeps On Giving | | There's an old adage about the paralyzing effects of cognitive dissonance: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
As anti-forestry extremists double down on their rejection of reason while embracing what can best be described as a form of anti-scientific "insanity," they continue to put America's forests, wildlife, rural communities and natural resources at risk. | See Inside the World's Largest Wood Airport Terminal | Airports radiate a specific sense of possibility. As portals to adventures and new experiences, they're jumping-off points, physical representations of the question, "What's next?" Though there are plenty of incredibly designed airports that exemplify this feeling, a new terminal at the Zurich Airport in Switzerland may soon do it best. Set to replace an aging Dock A, the new one—designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in collaboration with aviation architects from HOK—not only questions travelers' future, but also that of all aviation hub design. | Wood Pellets Can Help Alleviate Energy Pressures Amid War, Uncertainty | | As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, the ongoing war in Ukraine has pinched trade flows of the increasingly valuable supply of industrial wood pellets from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which have been used to co-fire power generation plants throughout Western Europe over the last decade. Demand has put upward price pressure on pellets originating in the US South, as the future of fossil energy supplies in Europe remain uncertain.
The WSJ notes that "U.S. export volume, which has climbed steadily over the past decade, is running ahead of last year, when a record of more than 7.4 million metric tons of U.S. wood pellets were sold abroad, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service. The average price before insurance and shipping costs has risen to nearly $170 a metric ton, from around $140 last year." | First Annual Workforce Development Forum - September 10, 2022 | Join our ForestryWorks partners for the first annual Workforce Development Forum down in Orange Beach, AL in conjunction with the AFA Annual Meeting! Topics include: apprenticeship programs, non-traditional workforce solutions, career promotion opportunities, customized training tools and much more! Have questions -contact Stephanie Fuller at sfuller@alaforestry.org | Next Stage In The New Timber Age | | Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is becoming a more familiar feature of timber-based construction. Peter Wilson, architect and founding director of the Mass Timber Academy explains more.
Like glulam, LVL is formed from layers of wood in which the grain in every layer runs in the same di-rection. Unlike glulam, however, LVL's layers are only 3mm thick and are produced by putting a long blade against a rotating log to peel a continuous veneer that is subsequently glued and pressed into boards or beams. There are two advantages to this over CLT or glulam – the resulting LVL products have significantly greater strength than their two mass timber siblings, plus they make far more effi-cient use of the raw timber. | The Alabama Tree Farm Committee is preparing to hold its annual Silent Auction in conjunction with the 2022 AFA Annual Meeting, September 11-13, 2022. The Silent Auction has always been Tree Farm's largest fundraiser, with proceeds going to promote Alabama's Tree Farm program and serve Tree Farmers throughout the state. Last year's auction and raffle raised almost $7,000.00 for our state program. The committee is seeking donations of items or funds for the purchase of bid items. | Lumber Prices Decline To A New 2022 Low As Goldman Warns Housing Market Has Further Room To Fall | | Lumber prices fell to a new 2022 low on Tuesday as higher mortgage rates continue to weigh on a slowing housing market.
The essential building commodity fell as much as 4% on Tuesday to $465 per thousand board feet, decisively below the low seen in early August of $470.
While the decline in lumber may be seen by some as a positive sign that inflation is continuing to cool, it is also indicative of a housing market slowdown that may last longer than expected. | | A Little Birdie Told Us That You Should Sign Up For The Sunburn Classic! We Will See You On The Course. | In the weeks leading up to and during our Alabama Woods to Goods Week 2022 celebration, we will be sharing stories about why forestry is "more than an industry" to people throughout the state of Alabama. Let us know what forestry means to you by clicking the link below. | Online CE Available For PLM & CFE | Foresters and loggers, a reminder that AFA offers online continuing education. Now is a great time to go ahead and handle continuing education hours.
Click below for a list of classes. | | | | | |
