BC Premier Horgan’s new cabinet includes the first female Minister of Forests—Kootenay West’s Katrine Conroy. In other Business news: Kelowna’s REN Energy to produce natural gas from wood waste; Peak Renewables’ pellet plans in Fort Nelson, BC; Conifex Timber makes move to repurchase shares; and Saskatchewan and New Brunswick on the recent change to US softwood lumber duties.

In other news: Ontario perspectives on the benefits of mass timber; a UBC professor on the need for action on endangered species; and climate change impact on New Jersey’s hardwoods, Europe’s deciduous forests, and BC’s Gold River steelhead.

Finally, although Black Friday was coined in the 1960s to describe traffic jams in Philadelphia, the day has a more fateful connotation in Australia. This due to their Black Friday fires in 1939, where on January 13th [a Friday no less], wildfires burned a total of 69 sawmills and 71 lives were lost.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor