Canadian Biomass • Spring 2025 • Event coverage

More than 200 attendees packed into the Delta Beausejour Hotel in Moncton, N.B. for the Canadian Woodlands Forum’s (CWF) 2025 Spring Meeting. The 106th annual general meeting and conference kicked off with a welcome address from CWF chairman Dirk Nielsen of Weiler Forestry.

Nielsen briefly discussed the CWF’s five-year plan, which was a key focus of the annual general meeting with the association’s 22 board members.

“We set out six general goals that feed into the mission statement and drive the workplan behind what the Canadian Woodlands Forum is all about,” he told the crowd.

The goals of the CWF are to support contractors and operators by promoting professionalism and sustainable practices; improve communication and information to members; improve operational efficiencies of woodland operations; promote and deliver continuing forestry education and outreach; foster cooperation between forest stakeholders; and ensure the means of sustaining and growing the organization.

The CWF’s membership has grown over the past year with the number of contractor members jumping from 137 to 180 members. Nielsen sent a call out to any logging contractors that want to be active members of the CWF Board.

“It’s a great cross-section of people in the industry, from the manufacturing, supply chain, dealers, manufacturers, and logging contractors – obviously, you’re the heart of it. I appreciate when logging contractors can participate and give their voice to what we’re working on. So, if you want to become a board member, we do have a few vacancies,” he said.

Kevin Merriam, executive director of the Maritime Lumber Bureau (MLB), presented, “Opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing sector,” which featured a discussion on opportunities and challenges regarding domestic and international wood markets, the building and construction sector and tariffs.

Merriam started by acknowledging the constant state of uncertainty surrounding the U.S. tariffs situation, and the concern that poses for the forest sector in Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canadian annual production since 2021 has been relatively static with just over 1.8 billion bdft. Of that production, U.S. shipments have accounted for 1.2 billion bdft.

“Roughly about 70 per cent of our wood products and lumber products go to the United States from Atlantic Canada,” Merriam said. “You know what kind of a situation that puts us in. I don’t think I’m surprising anybody when I say that it’s a very serious situation, and we are in a point in our history in this country where we really have to take a strong look at what we’re doing as far as our markets and our American diversification strategies go, because 70 per cent is significant.”

When breaking down forest products production across Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick produces 74 per cent of all forest products in the region, followed by Nova Scotia (23 per cent) and Newfoundland (3 per cent).

Many people in the region are concerned by comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump who has stated that the U.S. does not need any Canadian lumber or wood products. While those comments should be taken seriously, the data shows a need for Canadian wood products to meet U.S. domestic market demand.

The overall Canadian share of U.S. consumption of softwood lumber in 2024 was approximately 12 billion bdft. out of a total U.S. consumption of 49.8 billion bdft., comprising about 24 per cent of U.S. total consumption.

Merriam stated that for the U.S. to remove its dependence on Canadian lumber and source those products from U.S. mills, the country would need to build up significant capacity that could take up to 10 years to generate, not including the additional challenges of finding the capital investment, required fibre supply, and staff. This does not take into account a rise in demand for U.S. housing over the next decade.

However, the upcoming combined countervailing duties (CVD) and anti- dumping (AD) duties from preliminary results of the sixth administrative review are troubling. Many Canadian forest products companies could be looking at total CVD and AD rates ranging from 34.45 per cent to 46.48 per cent as soon as this coming August.

“This isn’t in effect yet. It could be anywhere from August to October before it takes effect. It’s not 100-per-cent guaranteed, but usually when they come out with a preliminary review like this, it’s pretty accurate,” Merriam said.

He added that this would not include any additional tariffs that the Trump Administration could apply to Canadian products.

“This is something we have to be aware of, and we need industry at large to help sort this stuff out and help with new ideas and thoughts as to how we navigate the world that we live in right now, because our sector is so important to the economy. It’s so ultra-important to our rural communities,” Merriam said.

Merriam also spoke about domestic opportunities during his presentation to help the forest products sector become more self-sustaining. One area he touched on was the relationship between the Canadian population forecast and housing affordability.

“We have growth in this country. We’re currently just over 40 million people in Canada, and we’re growing,” he told the crowd, adding that housing affordability is a major issue in the current federal election. “We’re one of the sectors that can help make that happen. We can find a way. We have the resources, and we certainly have the skill. We just have to have the drive to push it forward and to have the political pull to do so.”

By 2030, Canada could be facing a housing supply deficit of about 3.5 million units. This is an opportunity for the country’s forest products sector to push forward with more mid-rise construction projects, which are on the rise in Atlantic Canada.

“They’re high-performing buildings. They meet code every day of the week, and they are a really a good solution for how to have affordable housing solutions,” Merriam said. “They’re a direct competitor with other building products and the speed of construction is very fast. Developers love it, and now that we’re getting on board with the changes in the codes to allow for six-storey stick frame, you’re seeing them go up all over the place. This is good utilization of our domestic wood products that we make right here in our own backyard.”

Mass timber projects using products like cross-laminated timber (CLT) are another opportunity for Canada’s forest products sector to grow by domestically supplying the country’s construction sector.

“It’s a very high-performing product. It’s garnering a lot of interest and a lot of uptake right now in Canada, and this is a wonderful utilization of our forest products that we make in our own backyard,” Merriam said, noting that a firm in Chicago was able to successfully design a 52-storey building constructed with 100-per-cent CLT for the roofs, floors and walls.

In Nova Scotia, there is currently a mass timber manufacturing facility in the process of being developed.

“It’s well on its way right now to having shovels in the ground pretty soon, and I really hope that happens, because that will really spur a lot of interest in the sector,” Merriam said.

He added that the use of wood products in bridge construction, industrial buildings and educational institutions are other domestic opportunities for Canada’s forest products sector to pursue.

Not that long ago, the majority of wood products produced in Atlantic Canada used to be shipped to the U.K. The MLB, working with other parties, recently developed a new market study and are looking at ways to reinvigorate the region’s forest products sector relationships with the U.K.

Merriam noted that Canada also has good working relationships with the European Union (EU).

“We’ve taken delegations over to Germany and Austria within the last couple of years to work with them on trade,” he said.

“We are a global force when it comes to forest products and we’re going to stay that way. We just don’t lay down and decide that we give up, and throw our hands in the air and decide that we’re going to stop everything to do with forestry. This is our livelihoods. This is what we do,” he said.

Merriam concluded his presentation by reminding the crowd that today’s challenging climate is far from the first challenge this industry has experienced in recent history.

“We’ve been dealing with the Canada- U.S. software lumber agreement now for 30-plus years. We’re used to it,” he said.