Burnaby-headquartered Interfor Corp., one of B.C.’s long-standing lumber giants, has told its employees that it will be moving most of its executive and back-office work to an office in the United States. The company didn’t indicate whether it would officially move its headquarters to the office in Georgia that Interfor established in 2014… Interfor did not respond to Postmedia requests for comment. News of the move came as a surprise to the union that represents about 250 Interfor’s workers at two of its three B.C. mills, as well as mills in Ontario. “I read it this morning while vacation with my morning coffee,” said Jeff Bromley, wood council chair for the United Steelworkers. “I understand that they’ve built and purchased a number of operations in the States over the last 20 years,” Bromley added. “But at the end of the day, it’s still a kick in the gut.” …Now he is concerned other companies might follow suit.
Canadian lumber giant Interfor Corp., which blamed U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber when it idled two Northern Ontario sawmills indefinitely in April, has told employees it plans to shift its corporate and functional support operations from the company’s current headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to an office in Georgia. In a memo sent to employees earlier this month and viewed by the Financial Post, chief executive Ian Fillinger said the Peachtree City office, outside Atlanta, will be established as Interfor’s “primary hub for corporate and functional support.” The July 9 memo says “a continued West Coast presence” will be maintained as part of a multi-year operational strategy and that the company hopes to handle the gradual shift to a U.S. corporate support hub largely through attrition and future hiring decisions. …According to Fillinger the changes would position the company’s support functions closer to where the business operates and strengthen how mills and customers are served….
President Trump will impose double-digit tariffs on imports from 60 countries over forced labor violations, US Trade Representative Greer announced. The action will cover 99.4% of US imports and apply to Washington’s top trading partners, according to a fact sheet released by his office. The tariffs are being brought under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. …The new levies, which go into effect at midnight Friday, will replace tariffs that Trump imposed under Section 122 of the trade law earlier this year as they were set to expire. The tariffs are a part of an effort from the administration to push all the country’s trading partners to eliminate forced labor from the global supply chain. Ten percent tariffs will be implemented on countries that have made commitments to adopt and enforce forced labor import prohibitions, while countries that have not enacted a forced labor import prohibition will be hit with a 12.5 percent tariff.
Donald Trump’s latest 50% tariffs against Canada would likely be shot down in any court challenge, trade law experts say. …Trump still needs to prove that Canada is “discriminating” against American trade, said international trade lawyer Barry Appleton. But the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade — negotiated and signed by the US during Trump’s first term in office — includes the things he’s now complaining about. “It’s a hard thing to walk into court and call your own trade deal discrimination,” said Appleton. “It’s harder still when that same deal has a dispute-settlement process built for exactly this kind of complaint, and Washington is choosing to skip it and go straight to tariffs.” …US trade lawyer Marc Wheat said US importers will soon challenge the Section 338 tariffs at the U.S. Court of International Trade, and will likely win. While the White House could keep appealing and the Supreme Court may not the case.
The Trump administration’s latest tariff onslaught won’t just hurt Canadian forestry workers during already tough times, but will also undermine U.S. efforts to make housing more affordable, says the head of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Overall for us, 98 tariff line items were added for forestry, which is a direct assault on our sector and on our workers here in Canada,” Derek Nighbor, president and CEO of the association, said in an interview Wednesday. …“If implemented, these sweeping 50 per cent tariffs represent a drastic and unjustified barrier to a highly integrated North American supply chain,” said Ian Dunn, president and CEO of the Ontario Forest Industries Association. …The BC Council of Forest Industries counts 21 lumber mills that have closed since 2023. The council “urges a fair, long-term solution that avoids further economic harm in both countries,” said CEO Kim Haakstad, who was in Washington for meetings with US lawmakers. 
United Steelworkers union (USW) Canadian National Director Marty Warren said… “President Trump has once again chosen confrontation over co-operation, directly threatening the livelihood of Canadian workers, and the future of industries and communities. The USW is particularly concerned with the Trump administration’s targeting of Canadian forest and wood products in this latest round of tariffs. Canadian forestry workers and producers are already under immense pressure because of illegal U.S. section 232 tariffs and unreasonable anti-dumping duties. These measures have nothing to do with fair trade and everything to do with leverage. They are another attempt to use economic coercion to force Canada into concessions that serve the interests of the United States. …When countries negotiate and sign an agreement such as CUSMA, each party should be expected to respect and honour its commitments. …The federal government should continue to negotiate, but we cannot be bullied.
The White House has ramped up its trade war with Canada by threatening tariffs on a seemingly esoteric list of goods that would deliver a serious blow to companies caught in the crosshairs, even if the broader impact on the country’s economy should be limited. President Trump issued a trio of executive orders imposing 50% tariffs on more than 500 categories of products, ranging from larger sectors such as electronic equipment and furniture to a hodgepodge of products including hockey sticks, Canadian whisky and even some antiques. The tariffs would apply to roughly US$20-billion of imports from Canada, which represents roughly 5% of Canada’s shipments to the US in 2025. …The new tariffs are also set to impact a broad range of Canadian forest products. …Expanding the tariffs is deeply disappointing, Derek Nighbor, president and CEO of Forest Products Association of Canada said. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]
When construction and trades professionals are asked which single trade the skills shortage will hit hardest, they don’t name electricians or plumbers first. They name the carpenters and woodworkers, and the consequence they point to most isn’t a blown budget or a slipped schedule. It’s a decline in the quality of the work itself. 
KINGSPORT, Tennessee — The next steps in a federal lawsuit against Domtar Corp. over Kingsport odor are to determine whether or not the lawsuit can proceed as a “class-action” lawsuit, according to legal documents. Two Kingsport residents and Domtar, the plaintiffs and the defendant, respectively, are expected to attend private mediation over the lawsuit by Dec. 15. Both parties agreed to separate parts of the lawsuit into different phases — whether the lawsuit should move forward as a class-action lawsuit, and the merits issue of the case — “for purposes of efficiency and to make this case significantly more manageable,” according to legal documents. The latest document related to the case available in PACER, an electronic database that provides public access to federal court documents, outlines deadlines throughout 2027 to litigate the lawsuit’s class designation.
PITTSBURGH – United Steelworkers (USW) International President Roxanne Brown and IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) International President Brian Bryant sent a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer, urging him to reconsider tariffs on Canadian goods and instead employ a trade policy built on the long history and unique relationship the two nations share. “While it’s true that workers and their communities have suffered greatly from decades of so-called free trade, Canada has never been the problem,” said Brown. “Our two nations share a deep collaboration built on decades of economic integration as well as intelligence and defense cooperation. Rather than imposing further tariffs … we should work together with our Canadian allies to limit illegal trade practices and advance our shared prosperity.” “…we urge the administration to work with the Canadian government to preserve the integrated manufacturing relationship that supports workers on both sides of the border,” said Bryant.
The purely economic decision by Finch Paper in Glens Falls, now part of a global company, to stop purchasing Adirondack regional trees for its pulp to paper operation and to instead acquire its pulp from far beyond New York’s borders is serious – and deserves the attention it’s getting from forest product industries, harvesters, truckers, suppliers, and landowners elsewhere. …While residents will no longer have to breathe the sulfide smell from the mill, there are broadly negative effects further north. Environmental interests also have a big stake in this matter. If a large, regional, formerly reliable market for low-grade… pulp trees is suddenly eliminated, then the reduced income and opportunities for future management threatens the quality, diversity, and sustainability of Adirondack forests. It also threatens the loss of Adirondack forest-related employment up and down the supply chain, as well as forest fragmentation and loss of wildlife habitats due to sale, subdivision, and subsequent development. 
Canadian wildfires are driving up the price of wood products that the US construction industry depends on — with knock-on effects on housing. Western Spruce Pine Fir futures were selling for $653 per thousand board feet in late July, not far off last year’s high, and up from a low of $524 in late January. The 937 wildfires threatening forests throughout BC are driving that increase. Alex Strong at the NAHB, said President Trump’s proposed 50% tariff on Canadian goods is adding to uncertainty around the supply chain. Set to take effect Aug. 19, the 50% tariffs would directly apply to Canadian plywood, fiberboard and other wood-derived products used in homebuilding. Canada is one of the top suppliers of fiberboard to the US. Derek Nighbor, CEO of FPAC, said that the country is also America’s third-largest supplier of plywood. …The US Congress Joint Economic Committee warned that Trump’s tariffs on a range of materials could increase building costs by $10,900 per home.
Two numbers describe President Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, and they point in opposite directions. 50% is the rate, imposed Monday under Section 338 of the Tariff Act. 2.5% is the effect. The Hub‘s reporting on the proclamations puts the affected goods at roughly 5.5% of Canadian exports now crossing the border duty-free. Weight the new duties by those trade flows and Canada’s average effective tariff rate rises by about 2.5 percentage points, pushing the blended rate toward 10%. The composition of the list reinforces the arithmetic. …Before this round, Canada faced the lowest overall tariff rate of any US trading partner—roughly 6% weighted by 2024 trade flows. Even after the duties take effect in mid-August, Canada remains among the least-tariffed economies selling into the American market. …At the level of the firm, the damage is real and concentrated. …At the level of the national economy, the needle barely moves. Both readings are true simultaneously.
West Fraser, North America’s top lumber producer, is taking a hit from President Trump’s latest round of tariffs on Canada. Its stock is one of the day’s worst performers among forest and building-products shares. The BC company that has sawmills and other wood-products facilities on both sides of the border is already contending with Trump’s 10% national-security tariff on lumber as well as the long-standing duties on Canadian softwood exports. The 50% tariffs Trump announced exempt softwood lumber but include plywood and specialty engineered wood products. West Fraser’s exposure should be minimal because most of its products slated for the 50% levy are sold in Canada, according to TD Cowen analysts. They estimate that just 1% of West Fraser’s aggregate sales would be exposed. And that is assuming that the tariffs stick. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in nearly 12 months, pushing up borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers at a time when 
Congress’ historic effort to boost the nation’s housing supply passed both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support and became law earlier this month. It also left a mountain of paperwork for Washington’s significantly shrunken federal agencies, which are now tasked with turning dozens of new policies into reality. Some of the lawmakers who pushed for the law worry that the Department of Housing and Urban Development — which has shed more than 30% of its core policy workforce in just three years following budget cuts — is too understaffed to quickly issue new rules and implement its provisions, aimed at making building and buying homes cheaper and easier. HUD Secretary Scott Turner is “up to the task, but you’ve got to have the underlying organization to get it done,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters. …HUD’s budget estimates show the offices that run the department’s programs shed more than 1,800 staff since 2023.
Federal Way, Washington – Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB) has expanded its 
While US President Trump threatens tariffs over wildfire smoke drifting south, Canadian fire experts say large forest fires are inevitable. Over the past week, Trump has criticized Canadian fire management and said the country is “poisoning” U.S. air. …But experts say Canada’s worsening fire seasons reflect a harder reality: not every blaze, or the smoke that comes from it, can be stopped. “Saying that you would need to extinguish very huge fires like this is similar to trying to stop a hurricane,” said Martin Girardin, a forest ecology researcher with NRCan. …As of Monday, more than 900 fires were burning across Canada and more than 3.7 million hectares had burned in 2026, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System dashboard. Girardin said climate change is helping drive worse fire seasons by bringing warmer temperatures and drier conditions, while many forests also have a buildup of fuel, including mature trees and other biomass.
For the third time in the past four years, Americans are choking on smoke from Canada’s burning forests. Last week, roughly 900 wildfires turned the skies over Minneapolis, Chicago and New York into an apocalyptic haze. …Why does this keep happening? …Canada isn’t the only one with a wildfire problem. America’s forests are burning too. Fires are raging in northern Minnesota and across much of the western United States. …The media and politicians are quick to blame climate change, but the reality is that forest management works. Fuel treatments such as thinning, brush clearance and prescribed burning remove small trees, brush and dead material that allow flames to climb into the canopy and explode into a dangerous crown fire. …Canada does strikingly little of this work. The problem is that Canada has regulated the cure nearly out of existence. …American forest management is snarled by many of the same problems. 
Hiring young workers can be an effective way to address labor needs, but forestry employers should understand that federal and state laws place significant restrictions on the work employees under age 18 may perform. Before hiring a minor, employers should familiarize themselves with those requirements to ensure they remain compliant while making informed staffing decisions. The federal government generally defines the youth labor force as individuals between the ages of 16 and 24. Under federal employment law, however, workers under age 18 are subject to additional protections that do not apply to older members of that group. Many forestry occupations are considered particularly hazardous under regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. States may also impose their own requirements governing the employment of minors, so employers should review both federal and applicable state laws before hiring a worker under age 18.
America’s top forester has fronted Congress as US wildfires burn through more than 3.9 million acres, with the 2026 fire season on track to rank among the most severe in recent years. That is according to Dan Newhouse, chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture, who told Wednesday’s hearing with US Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz that crews are battling 72 large fires among more than 40,000 recorded nationwide this year. Newhouse, a Republican whose central Washington district has lost hundreds of homes to fires still burning, used his opening statement to link the crisis to a “generational decline” in the health of the nearly 200-million-acre National Forest System. A fire that started in the north of his district at the end of last week has already grown to nearly 70,000 acres, he said. Overgrowth, invasive species outbreaks, underused management tools, litigation, and maintenance backlogs are dragging the system down, Newhouse said.
Trump administration officials and members of Congress walked along the burn scar from Utah’s devastating Cottonwood Fire last week…. If the forest had been thinned, with “a lot fewer trees per acre, and maybe even some controlled burns to take the underbrush out, there’s just not the fuel there when these fires start to make them catastrophic fires,” Rep. Bruce Westerman said. The Arkansas Republican chairs the House Natural Resources Committee. But these traditional fire prevention methods may no longer work with a changing climate that makes hot, dry weather increasingly the norm said Dominik Kulakowski, a professor of geography at Clark University in Massachusetts. “The implication of that,” he said, “is that we’re losing our ability to manage forest fires.” …The Trump administration issued a directive this year calling on federal agencies to aggressively suppress all fires — including the smaller ones that forests evolved with and may keep them healthy.
The Trump administration is drastically changing the way the country protects endangered species, potentially jeopardizing years of policymaking in Oregon. Still, Oregon land regulators are moving ahead with plans for protecting Oregon’s forests that are essential for endangered species, including marbled murrelets and spotted owls. …For more than six years, Oregon land agencies, conservationists and loggers have been crafting plans that will protect Oregon’s most sensitive habitats, while also helping landowners avoid lawsuits when their logging projects harm federally endangered species. …Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it is removing the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, effective in September. …Last year, Gov. Tina Kotek and multiple Oregon state agencies submitted comments opposing the change. …“In Oregon, where approximately 53% of the land is federally managed, habitat protection is essential to ongoing conservation efforts,” Kotek wrote.
Seven years ago, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, with the support of local residents, took the U.S. Forest Service to federal court to halt the Hanna Flats logging, road-building and burning project on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests in North Idaho. The good news — for grizzly bears, old growth forests and the local populace — is that a federal appeals court just ruled for the Alliance. The logging project is located in the habitat of the imperiled Selkirk grizzly bears, which have been reduced to a mere 50 bears when the minimum needed for recovery is 100 bears. The bears suffer from human-caused mortality at unsustainable rates and are regularly displaced and harmed from logging and road-building. …There is no hope of recovering this imperiled grizzly population as required by the Endangered Species Act unless the government starts complying with the law. This court decision is one step in the right direction.
A windowless warehouse on the outskirts of Davis shelters pieces of California’s forests. …“This is like the mothership of forestry in California right here,” said Stewart McMorrow, staff chief for wildfire resilience at Cal Fire, standing outside the heavy metal door of the state seed bank at Cal Fire’s Lewis A. Moran Reforestation Center in Davis. Private landowners especially rely on these seeds — some now more than a half-century old — to reforest property destroyed by wildfire. At the pace California is burning, it’s nowhere near enough. Climate change and more than a century of overzealous fire suppression are now fueling wildfires so severe that they’re wiping out the very forests that need fire to thrive — leaving iconic landscapes at risk of turning into brush and scrub, permanently. Over the past quarter century, high-severity wildfires have burned 2.3 million acres of California’s forestland so completely that the trees are unlikely to return on their own.
Oregon forestry officials will need to manage hundreds of thousands of acres of western state forests to better support critical species, water and air quality and to decrease greenhouse gas emissions under a new management plan the Board of Forestry approved Wednesday. The seven-member board voted 5-2 to pass the 168-page 
PORT ANGELES, Washington — The Clallam County commissioners are set to throw their support toward a company exploring the possibility of repurposing the former McKinley Mill site. The commissioners discussed a letter of support for Candelaria Industries’ Biopower Redevelopment Proposal with the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities’ request for proposals for repurposing closed wood products facilities for bioenergy development. Candelaria Industries purchased the former McKinley Mill site in June and is evaluating potential reuse of the industrial property and existing infrastructure. …On June 15, the endowment launched a funding opportunity to assessed closed wood products facilities for bioenergy development, the site states. Up to $500,000 in funding is available “to test the renewable energy and economic potential of idled industrial sites in forest-dependent regions,” according to the site.
A wildfire in Washington State has crossed the border into B.C., the North Cascades National Park Service Complex says. Border 2 Fire, 2.4 kilometres east of Hozomeen just south of the Canada-U.S. border, crossed into B.C. and into the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest lands in the east, according to an update from the park service Wednesday (July 22). Border 1 and Border 2 wildfires combined and are now a total of 121 hectares. The fire is believed to be caused by lightning. The park service says the fire is burning in remote, steep, and densely forested and rocky terrain. Fire activity is expected to be elevated with upcoming hot, dry and windy conditions over the next few days until cooler weather conditions return to the area, the service added.
