EastErn provincEs updatE forEstry, wood allocation A new system in Quebec will allow the auction of up to 25% of timber from public forests for forestry stakeholders and new entrepreneurs, opening more doors for biomass opportunities not associated with tenure holders.Quebec is the second province, after British Columbia, to formally offer public forest timber for auction.A Wood Marketing Office (Bureau de mise en marché des bois) will be responsible for the sale of 20–25% of wood from public forests on the open market from April 2013. Auctions will begin this winter, with plans to sell about 200,000 cubic meters of wood in the southwest (Ottawa), south-central (Mauritius and Laurentides), and north-central (Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean) regions. Ontario intends to introduce legislation in 2011 to modernize its forest tenure and pricing system. Under the proposed system, Local Forest Management Corporations would manage Crown forests and oversee local timber sales. Enhanced Shareholder Sustainable Forest Licences would comprise groups of mills and/or harvesters that manage Crown forests under Sustainable Forest Licences. The system is expected to create new opportunities and facilitate greater local and Aboriginal participation in the sector. The province made its first series of Wood Supply Offers under the Provincial Wood Supply Competitive Process in late November 2010, with proponents given 30 days to accept. The process continues, with further Wood Supply Offers and announcements to be made as details are worked out. Changes to the way Nova Scotia’s forests are managed were proposed in December 2010 as six strategic directions to guide future forestry policy. “We will be meeting with the Mi’kmaq, small woodlot owner representatives, large mills, and nongovernment environmental organizations for input,” says John MacDonell, Nova Scotia’s minister of natural resources. The strategy’s aims include reducing clear-cutting, prohibiting whole-tree harvest, setting a province-wide annual allowable cut, and incorporating biomass harvest requirements in the Code of Forest Practice. The natural resources strategy is in the final writing phase. New Brunswick will be taking actions to strengthen and renew its forest industry based on recommendations developed at a November 2010 summit involving stakeholder groups, industry, First Nations, and government and non-governmental organizations.These include establishing wood sales and timber objectives for private and public forests, undertaking an assessment of forestry innovation outside of New Brunswick, and identifying future areas of transition such as using wood pellets in government buildings and exploring new technologies. A complete report on the summit is available at the Department of Natural Resources’ website. pellet standards move forward The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signalled its acceptance of the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) pellet standards program and supports its use for the New Source Performance Standard for Residential Wood Heaters. The PFI Standards Committee and staff continue to work on the implementation of the new standards program. PFI is continuing discussions with the American Lumber Standards Committee (ALSC) for the ALSC to serve as the program’s accreditation body. PFI and ALSC met in December 2010 and January 2011 for a formal review of the standards program documents in an effort to work out the final details of the program structure. Since then, the PFI Standards Committee has been editing program documents and finalizing the structure of the program. Standards program documents are available at www.pelletheat.org. In Brief... UNBC starts gasifier The University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) started its new biomassfired heating system in November 2010. The Nexterra gasification system will heat all of the university’s core buildings and reduce fossil fuel consumption by ~85%. It joins a campus wood pellet facility that has heated the forestry lab since 2009. UNBC shares the 2010 award for top campus sustainability project in North America with Harvard University. NL fibre reallocation The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is focusing on two proposals to use fibre that was formerly allocated for the AbitibiBowater paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor, reports the Farm Focus of Atlantic Canada. Both proposals are said to involve lumber and pellet production. Bulk pellet delivery Maine Energy Systems has developed a fully pneumatic bulk pellet delivery truck. Made in co-operation with Trans Tech Industries of Brewer, Maine, and Tropper Maschinen Und Anlagen of Redlham, Austria, the pressurized tank delivers pellets into storage bins at less than four minutes/ton with minimal damage to the fuel. Fires & explosions It was a bad autumn for fires and explosions at North American pellet and bioenergy plants. Incidents were reported at pellet plants in Michigan, New Hampshire, and British Columbia, and at a hog fuel pile in Nova Scotia.