In celebration of Canada Day, the Tree Frog News team is taking a short break on Monday. We’ll return to our lily pad bright and early Wednesday morning with your full dose of forestry news and insight.
Wishing all our readers a safe and happy Canada Day! And with July 4th just around the corner, we also send our best wishes to our American readers for a safe and festive Independence Day!
Kelly, Sandy, Heidi and Suzi
VANCOUVER, BC – Canfor announced today its decision to permanently close the Estill and Darlington sawmills in South Carolina, effective August 2025. These closures follow an extended period of persistently weak market conditions and sustained financial losses, which have made continued operations at these facilities no longer viable. “We understand the significant impact this difficult decision will have on our employees,” said Lee Goodloe, President, Canfor Southern Pine. “This outcome is in no way a reflection of the dedication and hard work of our teams. We are committed to supporting our employees through this transition, including providing severance payments and exploring opportunities for redeployment within our other operations where possible.” Approximately 290 employees will be affected by the closures, which will also reduce Canfor’s U.S. lumber production capacity by 350 million board feet annually.
When you think about Indiana’s ag industry, you might not think about hardwoods and lumber, which play a huge role in the state’s economy. Indiana’s hardwood industry has an annual economic impact of over $10 billion to the state’s economy. In fact, Indiana is the number one producer of wooden hardwood and office furniture in the US. Indiana’s hardwood sector also ranks: 2nd in wood kitchen cabinets and countertops, manufactured homes, 3rd in engineered wood products, 4th in pre-fabricated wood buildings, and 5th in upholstered household furniture. Much of the lumber that is harvested and used here in Indiana comes from private woodland owners. “There’s over 4.5 million acres of forest land in Indiana, and of that 85 percent of that is privately owned, so there are a lot of farmers and families who own forest land,” says Tyler Smith, Sales Manager of Cole Hardwood in Logansport.
ONTARIO — A northern Ontario forestry company says a train crossing Highway 560 collided Wednesday morning with logs that were spilled by an overturned contractor’s trailer. It happened at the railroad crossing near Interfor’s Gogama Division and resulted in the road being closed between highways 144 and 560A. “There are no injuries or derailment,” Ontario Provincial Police said in a social media post at 8:40 a.m. “A train stop order is in place.” Interfor also confirmed this. …“At Interfor, the safety of our people and the communities where we operate is our highest priority. We are focused on supporting those affected and are actively monitoring the situation.” There is no estimated time of reopening, said OPP Const. Michelle Simard. “The officers are still investigating,” Simard said.
GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. — 
SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tennessee – Recent missile attacks put global trade on alert as the Baltic and International Maritime Council warned the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf could face disruption. …Mike Cardin, Cardin Forest Products Chief Manager, said the conflict could hurt the American lumber industry as well. Cardin’s hardwood sawmill reported fewer orders coming out of the Middle East. Uncertainties about President Trump’s future tariff policies forced Cardin to change how his sawmill operates. Before Trump took office, Cardin said his sawmill shipped wood products across the globe. He said foreign buyers proactively stopped buying American wood because they expect Trump to slap new tariffs on timber imports by the end of the year. Most of Cardin’s sales now come from Mexico and within the U.S. …”Right now, no one knows what’s going to happen,” Jarrod Cardin, Cardin’s Controlling Member, said.
A new Canada-US trade deal will likely carry forward the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement tariff exemptions shielding most Canadian exports from American tariffs, says Deloitte Canada chief economist Dawn Desjardins. …US President Donald Trump has set July 9 as the deadline for countries to ink a trade deal in order to avoid his “Liberation Day” tariffs. For Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump agreed on the sidelines of the recent G7 meeting in Alberta to strike a deal by July 21. “Our baseline view assumes that at a minimum, we continue to operate with our CUSMA carve-outs. “The sounds we’re hearing seem to be moving in the right direction. Obviously, I have no inside information. It’s just an assumption that we will not be severely hit by 25 per cent tariffs across the board.” …Deloitte Canada’s latest economic forecast, published on Wednesday, calls for a “modest recession” in the second and third quarters of the year. 
The US economy contracted in the beginning of the year at a much faster pace than previously reported, after new data factored in much weaker consumer spending. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, registered an annualized rate of -0.5% from January through March, the Commerce Department said Thursday in its third and final estimate. That’s worse than the 0.2% decline reported in the second estimate. …The latest estimate showed that consumer spending — the lifeblood of the US economy — was tepid in the beginning of the year. Spending in the first quarter grew at a rate of just 0.5%, down from 1.2% in an earlier estimate. That’s the weakest rate in more than four years. …Economic data released Thursday provides a clearer picture how the US economy has fared in the face of Trump’s policy shifts, which includes fresh figures on new applications for unemployment benefits, and mortgage rates.
April 2025 Southern Pine lumber exports (treated and untreated) were up 22.7% over the same month in 2024 at 57.4 MMBF and up 34.8% over March 2025, according to April 2025 data from the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Services’ Global Agricultural Trade System. Year-to-date exports, however, are running 4% behind the same period in 2024 at 179.7 MMBF. When looking at the report by dollar value, Southern Pine exports were up 27% to $22.6 million in April – a 12-month high – compared to the same month in 2024 and up 26% over March 2025. Mexico leads the way YTD 2025 at $20.7 million, followed by the Dominican Republic at $15.8 million, and Canada at $5 million. Treated lumber exports, meanwhile, were up 47% compared to April 2025 at $15 million and up 53% over March 2025. …Softwood lumber imports were down 5% in April to 1.2 MMBF over the year and down 13.7% over March 2025.
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed lifting the rule that bars roads in designated wilderness areas. The change could open 1.2 million acres of federal land in Arizona to logging. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins proposed canceling the 25-year-old “roadless rule” that created some 58 million acres of wilderness areas throughout the west. Arizona’s forested wilderness areas come to about 1.2 million acres of the 11 million acres of Forest Service land in Arizona. …Environmental groups immediately decried the proposal. They said it would increase the danger of wildfires and destroy wilderness areas essential to wildlife and many forms of recreation. …However, a century of logging, cattle grazing and fire suppression has dramatically increased tree densities across forested Northern Arizona … from about 50 per acre to more like 1,000 per acre in the past century. …The Four Forests Restoration Initiative has tried and mostly failed to ramp up logging on six million acres of non protected forest already criss-crossed with roads.
President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response” is the latest of several significant federal policy efforts aimed at tackling the wildfire crisis. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) focuses on embedding science, data, and technology into government to support communities in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from wildfires. FAS applauds several elements of President Trump’s EO. For instance, the EO correctly recognizes that wildfire technology and prescribed fire are powerful tools for reducing risk and strengthening wildfire resilience. FAS is also glad to see the Administration promote interagency coordination; emphasize the importance of state, local, and Tribal leadership; and recognize the intersection of wildfire resilience and other sectors, such as the grid and our bioeconomy. We are encouraged that the Administration and Congress are recognizing the severity of the wildfire crisis and elevating it as a national priority. Yet the devil is in the details when it comes to making real-world progress.
A proposal to sell public lands through the U.S. Senate’s budget reconciliation bill died by the sword of parliamentary procedure Monday, though the budgetary battle over public lands is not yet over. The Senate parliamentarian … nixed a provision to sell up to three million acres of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service land across 11 states, including Wyoming, finding that it violated a rule limiting budget reconciliation bills to measures that are directly related to federal spending. The provision, which framed the sale as a way to alleviate the housing crisis by opening up more land for development, has roiled Westerners of all political persuasions since it was unveiled June 11. …U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the architect of the provision, will introduce a new measure removing Forest Service land from the bill and narrowing the amount of BLM land for sale to tracts within 5 miles of population centers.
A plan to sell more than 2 million acres of federal land in Oregon, Washington and 9 other Western states has been ruled out of Republicans’ big tax and spending cut bill after the Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee would violate the chamber’s rules. Lee, an Utah Republican, has proposed selling public lands to states or other entities for use as housing or infrastructure. The plan would revive a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House earlier this year.The proposal received a mixed reception Monday from the governors of Western states. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, called it problematic in her state because of the close relationship residents have with public lands. …Lee said he would keep trying. …Environmental advocates celebrated the ruling late Monday, but cautioned that Lee’s proposal was far from dead.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, Montana — The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest has released a final decision for the Bonanza Project, located in the Castle Mountains just east of White Sulphur Springs. Primary management activities planned include timber harvest and prescribed fire. “The project area is highly impacted by the mountain pine beetle and some areas have experienced 90% tree mortality,” said District Ranger Jason Oltrogge. “The timber generated from this project will provide wood products to local companies and prescribed fire will restore forests and reduce wildfire severity.” The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest partnered with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to plan this project, and the joint effort made this project a reality. …The project includes commercial timber harvest on 1,980 acres and prescribed burning on 918 acres. Project implementation is anticipated to start later this summer.
When U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Monday that her department would be opening up more US Forest Service land to development, she did so with the caveat that just two states — Colorado and Idaho — would not be impacted. Rollins, who serves in President Donald Trump’s cabinet, unveiled the plans during a meeting of Western state governors in Santa Fe, where she told reporters that the Agriculture Department would be rescinding the 2001 “roadless rule” established under former President Bill Clinton. The rule, hailed by conservationists as a landmark preservation effort, protects roughly 58.5 million acres of backcountry Forest Service land from road construction, logging and other development. “For too long, Western states, especially those with large swaths of land administered by our incredible Forest Service, have been inhibited from innovating because of burdensome regulations imposed by the federal government,” Rollins said.
After a longer wait than expected, the a bill that would eliminate the unpopular Oregon Wildfire Hazard Map passed the Oregon House on June 24. Senate Bill 83 repeals a map meant to identify parts of Oregon at high risk of catastrophic wildfires but has become a lightning rod for anger from rural residents who say it places an unfair burden on them. The bill, which passed the Senate in April, now heads to the desk of Gov. Tina Kotek. The map, which was released earlier in 2025 and identifies areas at high wildfire risk, requires stricter building codes and creation of defensible space for roughly 100,000 properties in the name of wildfire prevention. The map was roundly condemned by impacted residents who said it was inaccurate, decreased property values and imposed burdensome regulations.
The Idaho roadless rule is not included in the effort by the Trump administration to rescind the national rule. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, “the Idaho state-specific roadless rule was part of the Administrative Procedures Act petitions and will not be affected by rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule.” The rule, a collaboratively written offshoot of the national rule, was spearheaded by then-Gov. Jim Risch in 2006. It is more flexible than the national rule and allows limited logging and road building in some of the state’s roadless forests that are not otherwise protected as wilderness areas. But it also offers more stringent protections to the most remote areas. …Risch’s Idaho-specific roadless rule, implemented in 2008, overrides the national rule and forbids logging and roads on 3.2 million acres of the state’s 9 million acres of inventoried roadless areas. Some logging and roads are allowed, under limited circumstances, on the remaining 6 million acres.
Less than two weeks have passed since the public learned of a Senate proposal to sell off public lands, and now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has removed roadless protections for more than 58 million acres of federal land across the nation. …Helena Hunters and Anglers …decided to call an emergency meeting for Tuesday to discuss the implications of the announcement. If roadless areas were truly gone, the group might not continue their yearly monitoring of roadless areas. Montana has almost 6.4 million acres of inventoried roadless areas… Helena Hunters and Anglers has been monitoring some of those roadless areas for the past few years to assess their condition, and some of the findings aren’t good. …A number of other conservation organizations immediately criticized the action, calling it another handout to corporations to the detriment of the American public and future generations. The Colorado-based Center for Western Priorities said Rollins’ reasons were suspect.
Power plants and industrial facilities that emit carbon dioxide are hopeful that Congress will keep tax credits for capturing the gas and storing it deep underground. The process, called carbon capture and sequestration, is seen by many as an important way to reduce pollution during a transition to renewable energy. But it faces criticism from some conservatives, who say it is expensive and unnecessary, and from environmentalists, who say it has consistently failed to capture as much pollution. …The most commonly used technology allows facilities to capture and store around 60% of their CO2 emissions during the production process. Anything above that rate is much more difficult and expensive, according to the IEA. …Even so, carbon capture is an important tool to reduce CO2 emissions, particularly in heavy industries, said Sangeet Nepal at the Carbon Capture Coalition. “It’s not a substitution for renewables … it’s just a complementary technology”. 
The world’s sawmills and plantation forests offer a powerful weapon against climate change, a new study has found. A paper published in Nature Geosciences found that burying the vast quantities of wood waste produced in the course of logging and processing trees could markedly slow Earth’s heating. Heat waves like the one currently afflicting the East Coast in the U.S. have been made far more likely by centuries of unchecked burning of fossil fuels — which release heat-trapping chemicals like carbon dioxide. …But in addition to the need to halt that burning, researchers found that burying waste from trees … offers an unparalleled way to counteract its impacts. …the study burying waste could reduce the Earth’s heating by 0.42 degrees Celsius, or about one-sixth of the estimated 3 degrees Celsius that scientists believe the Earth is on track to heat up by the end of the century.
A California nonprofit organization has decided to revise its controversial plan to build two wood pellet processing plants that would turn excess biomass in the state’s forests into pellets to be shipped overseas for use in renewable energy generation. Golden State Natural Resources said Wednesday it will develop a reduced-scale project focused on domestic, rather than international, use of sourced wood, producing wood chips instead of pellets. The project will target emerging demand in California and nearby regions for sustainable energy and alternative wood products. The organization’s proposed Forest Resiliency Project has drawn the ire of environmentalists who say California needs to rethink “falling for the biomass delusion.” Golden State Natural Resources was formed by rural counties to reduce massive wildfires fueled by overgrown, undermanaged forests. The project aims to use low-value forest material like ladder fuels and dead trees to lower wildfire risk and improve forest health. 