My presentation at the Canadian Woodlands Forum, March 2024. Markets, Challenges, and Innovation: A New England Perspective.

1. Markets, Challenges, and Innovation:
A New England Perspective
March 2024
Eric Kingsley
Forest Resources Association
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
kingsley@inrsllc.com
Phone 207-233-9910
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2. Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
• Founded in 1994
• Offices in New Hampshire and Maine
• Focus at the intersection of forest industry, energy and
economic development
• Services include:
- consulting in renewable energy
- forest industry consulting
- advocacy
- forest certification and sustainability
• Clients from the private, non-profit and government sectors
• Conducted work in all regions of North America
• www.inrsllc.com
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3. 3

4. Maine Timber Harvest by Product
4
-
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
SW Sawlog HW Sawlog SW Pulpwood HW Pulpwood Biomass

5. Maine Forest Industry Employment and Timber Harvest
(Correlation at an R2 of 0.81)
5
-
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Forestry & Logging Self-Employed Logging Sawmills Pulp & Paper Mills Maine Harvest (t)

6. Pulp & Paper
• Historically high pulpwood prices a year ago, now has receded to norm /
below norm, as paper demand is soft.
• Many companies here and elsewhere reported full warehouses
• Appears to be working itself out, stronger end of year anticipated
• Beyond pricing, some serious logging capacity concerns. Price doesn’t
matter if it’s not available
• Very demand driven, of course
• Real need for increased / diversified softwood pulpwood market
• Some permanent market shifts – seeing investments at a few mills to move
production into growing or specialty grades, including packaging
• Some very real investments at a couple mills - $100MM+ at Rumford,
$400MM at Skowhegan
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7. Pulp and Paper
• The product mix is critical right now
• Increase in packaging – Amazon, UPS, FedEx all reporting
increased business
• Decreased demand for printing and writing paper
• Tissue has very high demand
• Some specialties very strong
• Just selling market pulp is a tough business – highly
commoditized. We’ve seen one pulp-only mill idle
7

8. Pulp and Paper Faced Wood Supply Challenges in Winter 2023
8
A year ago, Maine pulp mill imported chips via Searsport and Eastport. These were expensive chips.

9. Biomass Plant Status
• Across Northeast, a number of facilities are idled
• Some plants will operate Spring and Fall – when wholesale electricity prices are high
• Two plants in Aroostook County have been closed and demolished in the last couple
years
• Lots of uncertainty about future of NH markets
• Burgess Biomass (Berlin, NH) going through bankruptcy
• Vermont – one plant with a PPA, another operating Winter / Summer (as
market dictates)
• Maine has awarded a long-term contract to ReEnergy – Livermore Falls
• Helps make this an attractive site for co-location
• But what about other stand-alone facilities?
• Two “new” smaller facilities at Robbins Lumber and Maine Woods Pellets
• Some paper mills have increased biomass use in multi-fuel boilers
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10. We are at an Inflection Point in Forest Products
Manufacturing in the Northeast
• Pulp and Paper, Lumber will remain core products, but the range of
products we make from wood in New England is about to expand
• A new focus on bio-based products, driven by:
• Addressing climate change (often replacing oil)
• Keeping manufacturing in the U.S.
• A desire for prosperous rural economies
• We will see many products, lots of innovation, some failures, some
successes
• Generally smaller scale users than big users we’re used to
10

11. Emerging Products
• Biochar
• Insulation
• Biofuels
• Bio-printed products
• Much more in early stages
• Cross Laminated Timber
• OSB Manufacturing
• New sawmill capacity?
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12. Today
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13. Whole Trees LLC
Ashland, Maine
• A support product (literally) for
Mass Timber (such as CLT) and
other applications
• Columns and beams that replace
steel
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14. Standard Biocarbon
Enfield, Maine
• A product that is used in
agricultural applications,
environmental remediation, and
carbon sequestration
• Co-located at Pleasant River
Lumber sawmill in Enfield,
Maine
• Operating now
• Several other biochar projects
(Maine, Vermont, maybe NY)
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15. Timber HP – Wood-Based Insulation
Madison, Maine
15

16. Timber HP – Wood-Based Insulation
Madison, Maine
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17. Tomorrow?
17

18. Ensyn – Biofuel Facility
East Millinocket, Maine
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19. Ensyn – Biofuel Facility
East Millinocket, Maine
• Pyrolysis process to produce a bio-oil
• Product can be used in heating applications, as well as further refined
• Over 20 years of production at a facility in Renfrew, Ontario
• Used for heating at Memorial Hospital, North Conway, NH
• Used for heating at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
• Use slash (tops and branches) as feedstock
• Feedstock closely restricted by federal Renewable Fuel Standard
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20. Biofine – Levulenic Acid
Lincoln, Maine
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21. Biofine – Levulenic Acid
Lincoln, Maine
• Thermochemical process to create levulenic acid
• Can be used to produce biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biochar
• Have had pilot facilities in the Northeast since late 90s, most recently
at the University of Maine’s Forest Bioproduct Research Institute (at
Old Town pulp mill)
• Commercial plant to be constructed at site of former Lincoln Pulp &
Tissue
• Plant will produce 3 million gallons of fuel annually, to be used as
home heating oil (partnership with Sprague Energy)
• Feedstock restricted by Renewable Fuel Standard (slash)
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22. Renewable Fuel Standard
• Administered by EPA
• Restricts feedstock to:
• Slash (tops and branches)
• Pre-commercial thinnings
• Planted trees and tree residue from a
timber plantation established before
December 2007
• Only from non-federal lands
• New Sustainable Aviation Fuel
(SAF) requirements are more
flexible
Percent of Private Timberland that Was
Established via Planting
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23. Home Heating Fuels
(Or, why biofuel firms in the Northeast are focused on a heating oil replacement)
Source: Washington Post
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24. The Future
24

25. 25

26. 26

27. Maine Provided $14 Million to Forest
Industries, Including these New Uses
• GO Lab, Inc., Project Title: Capital Support for
First U.S. Wood Fiber Insulation Plant
• ReEnergy Biomass Maine LLC, Project Title:
Biochar Production
• T&D Wood Energy LLC, Project Title: Acquiring
two shuttered facilities and expanding
existing facility to meet rapidly increasing
demand for wood pellets
• Godfrey Forest Arizona LLC, Project Title:
Godfrey Forest Maine OSB Mill
• Whole Trees, LLC, Project Title: Partnering to
Repurpose and Reopen: Bringing innovative
inventory systems, sales strategy, and
production processes to existing Maine
facility to meet proven East Coast demand for
‘the Original Mass Timber”
• Biofine Developments Northeast, Inc.,
Project Title: BDNE - Industrial Biorefinery
Development
• Maine Plywood USA LLC, Project Title: Maine
Plywood Manufacturing Plant in Bingham
• Tanbark Molded Fiber Products, Inc., Project
Title: Tanbark Medical Materials Market
• Clean Maine Carbon, LLC, Project Title: Clean
Maine Carbon Biochar Plant
• Standard Biocarbon Corporation, Project Title:
Optimizing the Integration of a State-Of-The-
Art Biochar Facility at a Lumber Mill to Create
New Markets for Maine Residuals
• Announcement: December 2022
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28. What Concerns Me…
• Age of Logging Workforce (and the
underlying demographics of rural
America)
• Economic Health of Logging Sector
• Markets for Biomass / Residues /
SW Pulpwood
• Federal Rules for RFS Qualification
• Forest Products Trucking Capacity
• Quit making trucks wait in line
• Speed (or lack thereof) of
innovation / technology adoption
in the Industry
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-
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
19-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Age Distribution of Maine Loggers
Data Source: Maine Logger and Log Trucker Employment Availability
and Wage Analysis Report, 2019

29. 29
4%
0%
2%
3%
2%
9%
2%
11%
9%
5%
22%
21%
14%
20%
16%
22%
13%
14%
24%
21%
20%
33%
21%
22%
25%
17%
19%
28%
15%
24%
7%
12%
10%
7%
7%
US WORKFORCE (42.3)
FORESTRY (50.5)
LOGGING (49.2)
WOOD PRODUCTS (43.0)
PAPER MANUFACTURING (47.5)
AGE DISTRIBUTION BY INDUSTRY SECTOR, UNITED STATES
16-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

30. Maine Age Distribution
Data Source: US Census Bureau
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/05/aging-united-states-population-fewer-children-in-2020.html
2000 2020
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31. Things I keep hearing…
• Very real concern about markets for low-grade wood
• Nothing new, but becoming urgent
• What happens if carbon markets grow?
• Possibility of improved stability for industry, but depends heavily
upon market rules
• We need to make sure to maintain logging infrastructure –
none of this matters if there aren’t professionals to cut wood
• Supply chain and labor issues hampering loggers – sector
operating below capacity
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32. The Northeast is Going to Be Fine…
• For better or worse, the forest industry is accustomed to
boom-and-bust cycles, and has experience handling them.
• We have markets, and are incredibly well positioned
compared to other parts of the country
• We have the forest resource and supply infrastructure
(landowners, loggers, entire forest industry ecosystem) that
would make other regions jealous
• We live in close proximity to (and are part of) the greatest
collection of consumers in the history of the world
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33. The Wood
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34. The Markets
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35. I would like to add you to my email lists
Send an email to kingsley@inrsllc.com to be placed on our monthly email list, which provides information
on markets and developments of interest to the region’s forestry community
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36. Eric Kingsley
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
Forest Resources Association
Phone 207-233-9910
Email kingsley@inrsllc.com
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