Conifex Timber is expanding its US assets in Arkansas and Florida, increasing its US lumber capacity to 550 million board feet. In other Business news: lumber prices continue to soar (Bloomberg); US builder confidence is up again (Washington Post); a bipartisan effort to halt US newsprint tariffs gains support (St. Louis Dispatch); and the cost of climate change is rising for Canadian insurers (Globe and Mail).

Alberta has designated four new provincial parks, creating the world’s largest contiguous protected boreal forest. In other Forestry news: a US research group says higher-resolution remote sensing can reveal more about forest fire recovery; a US fire ecologist says the Southwest needs to burn 5 million acres per year; and EACOM’s 1st female chief forester is encouraging women to join the profession.

Finally, a stark sidebar to a story on US law enforcement fatalities—according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics—the most dangerous occupation by far in 2016 was logging. 

–Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor