Forest Data Network

With the Federal Reserve holding on future interest rate increases, the U.S. experienced a slight drop in late 2023 mortgage interest rates. Prospects for housing markets brightened slightly in the U.S. Rates on a 30-year mortgage dropped by more than one percent from a recent high in early November to year-end.

This all pointed toward slightly better conditions for home building as 2024 started, as well as the likelihood that construction lumber demand would brighten. FRED (the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank) showed the average 30-year mortgage rate on December 28 as 6.61%. This was a big increase from early 2023 but down rapidly from 7.76% on November 2.

Learn more about how the latest FED moves have changed confidence in construction: https://www.forestdatanetwork.com/news/lower-mortgage-rates-spark-optimism-in-home-construction

Species Price Changes Collide as 2023 Ends:

Pine cordwood prices reflected continued growth in all three Lake States with the strongest demand showing up in Michigan where the average price of pine cordwood was up 41% from 2022 and 59% from 2021. Both red and white pine sawlog prices also advanced but by lower percentages.

Take a look at the latest findings from our Q4 data collection: https://www.forestdatanetwork.com/news/forest-data-networks-q4-2023-pricing-insights-and-trends

The ruffed grouse — a long-term partner of sustainable forest management — appears to be doing better in the Northern Lake States than some hardwood forest regions to the South. Grouse populations are believed to rise and decline over a 10-year cycle making it somewhat difficult to discern a cyclical change from a longer-term trend.

Background for a 2023 Penn State University research project reported a 70% decline in grouse population since the 1960s due to an outbreak of the West Nile mosquito-borne virus and land fragmentation. The Penn State study produced a reference genome intended to allow tracking of genomic diversity as an indicator of genetic health.

Read more: https://www.forestdatanetwork.com/news/genetic-resilience-offers-hope-for-ruffed-grouse-conservation

The Natural Resources Research Institute at UMD (NRRI ) based at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, has completed development work on InnovaTree, a hybrid poplar that NRRI says should grow to its full 75 feet in height within 10 years.

The tree is a “cross between native Eastern cottonwood and European black poplar, naturally cross-bred over 25 years,” according to NRRI. “It will not spread,” according to the NRRI announcement.

It is well suited to all of the USDA hardiness zones in the Lake States (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan). It requires full sunlight and “grows best in well-drained loam, sandy loam, clay loam, and light clay soils with annual rainfall above 20 inches”, the NRRI announcement said.

InnovaTrees will be distributed by Hauser's Superior View Farm LLC In Bayfield, Wisconsin in the Spring.

Check out our website for the latest in forestry news: https://www.forestdatanetwork.com/

Enviva, the dominant business supplying wood pellets as a fuel source, reported a substantial drop in wood pellet export prices in the third quarter, also citing risks to its business from its agreement to repurchase 1.8 million tons of pellets from a customer on order for the period from 2023-2025.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, they said “These conditions and events in aggregate raise substantial doubts regarding the company’s ability to continue as a growing concern.”

Read more: https://www.forestdatanetwork.com/news/envivas-struggle-with-wood-pellet-export-prices-and-repurchase-commitments
, .