The U.S. Department of Commerce plans to reduce duty rates for most Canadian softwood producers, but they would still need to pay hefty levies of 34.83%. US import taxes on softwood lumber currently total 45.16% on most Canadian producers, including combined countervailing and anti-dumping duties of 35.16% and tariffs of 10%. In its announcement on Thursday, the Commerce Department said it expects to decrease the anti-dumping duty rates to 10.66% from 20.53 %. Most Canadian producers also face paying 14.17% for countervailing duties, down slightly from 14.63%. The revised anti-dumping and countervailing duties equal 24.83%, and when combined with the tariffs, the levies total 34.83%. …Kurt Niquidet, of the BC Lumber Trade Council said, “These duties continue to make it more expensive to build homes at a time when both countries should be working together to improve housing affordability.” …New duty rates are intended to take effect by late summer of 2026, subject to further revisions in a final determination. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s trade surplus with the rest of the world shrank by 60 per cent in February as exports to the United States dropped by more than a quarter, with U.S. import tariffs of 15 per cent largely in place on EU goods. EU exports as a whole were 9.3 per cent lower in February than a year earlier, while imports were down 3.5 per cent, EU statistics office Eurostat said on Friday. The largest export decline was towards the U.S., with a drop of 26.4 per cent, while imports from the United States were 3.2 per cent lower. EU exports to China were also down. A year ago, EU exporters had begun front-loading shipments to the U.S. in anticipation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, inflating the export figures for early 2025 and potentially explaining February’s sharp decline. Exports to the United States in February 2025 rose by 22.4 per cent year-on-year.
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities today announced a $5 million funding opportunity to connect underutilized wood fiber with new buyers, strengthen regional supply chains and keep working forests economically viable. This effort will invest up to $1 million per year over five years in organizations that can develop durable market solutions, helping keep working forests productive and rural economies strong, especially in regions facing reduced processing capacity and shifting market conditions. An additional $500,000 is available for projects in Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont through a partnership with the Northern Border Regional Commission’s Forest Economy Initiative. When local wood markets weaken, the impact ripples across entire communities, affecting landowners, loggers, hauling businesses and manufacturers. Without reliable markets, it becomes harder to keep forests actively managed and economically viable. The Endowment expects to select three to five organizations by June 2026 for five-year agreements focused on practical market-building work.
Rising tensions between the United States and Iran are creating mounting challenges for recycled paper mills across the Gulf region, known as the GCC. The sector is heavily dependent on imported recovered paper, particularly OCC (old corrugated containers) and mixed waste paper from Europe, the United States and Asia. Geopolitical instability has led to higher freight costs, increased insurance premiums and growing uncertainty in supply chains. Although local waste paper collection remains relatively stable, the unpredictability of imports has made procurement strategies more complex. Delays and disruptions in shipments risk directly affecting production. At the same time, the cost of key inputs is rising. Prices for chemicals, starch and spare parts are increasing due to logistical bottlenecks and delayed deliveries. …Despite these pressures, the market outlook in the Middle East remains relatively stable in the short term. …However, prolonged geopolitical uncertainty could gradually dampen industrial activity and consumption.
American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Heidi Brock commented following the court’s decision to deny AF&PA’s motion to join the challenge to Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act: “We are disappointed by the court’s decision denying our motion to join the challenge to Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act. While we respectfully disagree with the ruling, AF&PA remains fully committed to pursuing all available legal and strategic options to protect our members’ interests. As Oregon’s program moves into implementation, it is becoming clear that the law imposes significant and unnecessary burdens on paper products that are already among the most successfully recycled materials in the United States. …We will continue working closely with partners and counsel to secure meaningful relief for our members and ensure that recycling policies are workable, fact-based and do not increase costs across the supply chain for businesses and consumers alike.”
Bayer CEO Bill Anderson says the German crop science and drug company is hoping to move past the long-running controversy over its Roundup weedkiller in 2026. Bayer — which acquired Roundup when it bought Monsanto in 2018 — recently announced a $7.25 billion settlement deal and is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could decide the product’s fate in the U.S. Anderson said that the settlement and the legal fight — which experts believe the company will win — are “major milestones” in Bayer’s turnaround. …Anderson said “This is a very important product for agriculture. It’s been demonstrated to be safe over and over again and cleared by regulators in every nation, and we’re ready to put this chapter behind us.” The Supreme Court is poised to rule on whether states have the authority to govern Roundup, or whether federal environmental regulators should control its fate.
Last week, the US Forest Service announced that it will be closing three-quarters of its research facilities as part of a reorganization. Now, experts are worried not only about the number of scientists who might be leaving the agency, but also about how the disruption could affect the gathering and dissemination of crucial wildfire and climate change data. The restructuring comes as parts of the US face what is expected to be a catastrophic wildfire season. The most recent wildland fire outlook shows that wildfire activity is already “well above average,” with more than 16,000 wildfires reported this year. Under the reorganization plan, the Forest Service will close 57 of 77 research facilities, as well as move its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah. It will also close all nine of its regional offices; some states will then get their own offices, but others will be consolidated. 
U.S. House Republicans from Western states laid out a figurative welcome mat for the U.S. Forest Service Thursday as its chief pitched plans to whittle down the agency’s budget, move its headquarters to Salt Lake City and rely more heavily on states to manage millions of acres. “I think it’s very interesting what you’re proposing to do, and I support it,” said Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Democrats on the budget panel grilled Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz about how billions of dollars in cuts to the agency proposed by President Donald Trump could drive up costs for states and stamp out important research. The subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, said she’s deeply worried.
A dry winter has forecasters predicting a potentially active fire season in Oregon. Federal agencies are trying to minimize the threats from large wildfires by first clearing fuels near communities. Chainsaws were buzzing along Grants Pass’ Cathedral Hills Trail System this week, part of a 240-acre fuels reduction project meant to reduce the risk of wildfire amid warnings from climatologists. Grayback Forestry cut down small-diameter trees — below 8 inches for hardwoods like oak — and piled the timber to be dried out and burnt in the fall. Sean Hendrix, base manager at Grayback, said that while the trees are too wet to burn now without producing large amounts of smoke, they should be wetter. Oregon is coming off a dry winter and record-low snowpack. “In fire and fuels we talk about fuel moisture,” he said. “Live fuel moisture just three weeks ago, they were 60%. In the middle of May they should be 160% saturated.”
MONTANA — After the US Forest Service unveiled a proposal last month to give Montana’s lumber industry a “predictable” timber supply from three national forests, questions about the agency’s plan to incorporate an 82-year-old law into a modern forest-management framework abounded. Broadly speaking, the Tri-Forest Federal Sustained Yield Unit would direct the Helena-Lewis and Clark, Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Custer Gallatin national forests to supply local businesses with at least 35 million board feet of timber per year. The Forest Service is pitching the proposal as a tool to sustain local economies and encourage investment in the lumber industry for the 22-county region included in the unit. It’s necessary, the agency says, because the closure of the Pyramid Mountain Lumber sawmill and the Roseburg Wood Products facility have demonstrated the industry’s vulnerability. But at a recent hearing the Forest Service hosted in Helena, the proposal drew a mixed reception.
ARIZONA — Rim Country and the White Mountains are not alone in bracing for the 2026 fire season, which is approaching. A national April-to-July forecast shows nearly the entire Western United States faces an above-normal risk of wildfires over the next four months. Fire officials said two weeks of cloudy weather with scattered rain showers have given Northern Arizona some breathing room, but the lack of snowpack and above-normal temperatures will still result in an early start to the fire season. The National Interagency Coordination Center predicted above-normal fire threat in every Western state at some point between now and summer. Much of the Southwest faced high-risk conditions during an unusually warm March, and those hazardous conditions are expected to expand into other Western states this month. Forecasters point to record-low snowpack across much of the West. 
Impacts to Alaska of the announced U.S. Forest Service “restructuring” that would close regional offices and most of the agency’s research facilities remain unclear. … Among the facilities on the closure list were two that are important to Alaska: the Anchorage Forestry Sciences Laboratory and the Oregon-based Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland. But other impacts on the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest and the 5.4-million-acre Chugach National Forest were not disclosed. …Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and her staff are in a “fact-finding” mode and preparing to mount a “defense of the Forest Service in Alaska and make sure the employees are able to continue the good work that they’re currently doing,” said Murkowski spokesperson Joe Plesha. …The Anchorage lab that is scheduled for closure is located in downtown Anchorage. It supports research in the Tongass National Forest, which is the nation’s largest, and the Chugach National Forest, the second largest. 
Flathead National Forest officials have authorized an emergency logging and thinning project in the Salish Mountains near Lakeside, three miles west of Blacktail Mountain, with the aim of reducing wildland fire risk and improving forest health. The decision authorizes 2,823 acres of commercial vegetation treatment and construction of approximately 5.6 miles of temporary roads. Crews will use more than 67 miles of existing roads and haul routes. First proposed last October, the West Truman Project advanced quickly through the U.S. Forest Service’s environmental compliance process under a categorical exclusion, receiving final approval on April 14. Implementation of the project could begin “as early as fall 2027,” according to the decision and finding of applicability and no extraordinary circumstances (FANEC) signed by Swan Lake District Ranger Sarah Canepa. …The project would commercially thin 736 acres while using improvement cuts on 939 acres. It would treat 346 acres for shelterwood and 802 acres for seed tree.
A reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service signals that the agency is planning to lean heavily on states to help manage millions of acres of federal land. State officials and timber industry leaders say they’ve been given scant details about the plan to move the agency’s headquarters to Salt Lake City and close scores of research stations in dozens of states. While they wait for the dust to settle, they’re preparing for the Forest Service … to ask more of its partners under the new model. “The Forest Service itself is unable to uphold its mission and cannot alone manage the many challenges on these landscapes,” said Nick Smith, with the American Forest Resource Council. “The transition … is a recognition that partnerships are the future for the Forest Service.” But many forestry veterans fear the shake-up will cause more attrition… [Seeing the move to] Utah — a state whose leaders are often hostile to federal land ownership — as designed to undermine the Forest Service’s management of its lands.
With extreme drought gripping most of Utah and spring heat melting reserves of mountain snow to an all-time low, the state is staring down a tinder dry wildfire season that could come with big changes to its federal funding. Maps of the national wildfire forecast show Utah covered in red by July — and with southern Utah getting there by June. “It has the potential to be a real season,” said State Forester Jamie Barnes, “but we’re going to make it through it, and we’re going to make sure that we do all we can to keep Utah safe.” The Division of Fire, Forestry and State Lands have more money for prevention efforts thanks to a state law passed last year. But they’re also keeping an eye on Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump is proposing budget cuts to forestry programs, along with research and development…
Placerville, Calif., bears all the markers of a community at risk of a wildfire. The city’s rolling hillsides are dense with brush, which dries out during the hot summers. Older homes made of wood, which are more prone to igniting, are dotted throughout. …Local officials are trying to do something about it. The community is one of a handful 
The U.S. Forest Service is shutting down research stations around the country, including centers in Portland, Seattle, and Wenatchee, Washington. Though much of the stations’ research is long-term, some fire experts say the cuts could hamper firefighting efforts as soon as this summer. …The agency is shutting down 50 of its 70 research stations. More than 200 people work in the Northwest research stations that are closing. …“There is a position for every permanent employee willing to accept reassignment,” Forest Service Chief Thomas Schultz Jr. said in a memo to research branch staff. Schultz Jr., a Trump appointee, was previously a lobbyist for Idaho Forest Group, one of the nation’s largest lumber producers, based in Coeur d’Alene. …Nick Smith, a spokesperson for the American Forest Resource Council, a Western states timber industry group, said he welcomes the Forest Service restructuring.
CONNECTICUT –Plant science researchers and the UConn Fire Department are using prescribed burns to mitigate brush fires and study the role of microbes in soil recovery to generate new insights to help Connecticut manage rising wildfire risk. …In the fall of 2024, Connecticut saw a record 605 wildfires, which burned more than 500 acres and prompted a statewide emergency declaration, a temporary burn ban, and multi‑agency firefighting support. …
“Can’t see the forest for the trees” is an old cliche, but an apt one for the Trump administration’s latest decision to reorganize the US Forest Service. Instead of local headquarters and research centers located near national forests, the USFS will implement a “state-based” structure, where employees report to a smaller number of regional headquarters. The agency will close the Northern Research Center in Grand Rapids, among 57 such facilities across the nation. …When you go to the forests where paper comes from, you realize that forestry research requires sustained presence in the woods. If staff are located hundreds of miles away, often in cities, quality research will become virtually impossible to conduct without additional new funding. …Despite the administration’s claims to the contrary, this decision retreats from some of the most important forest ecology research in history. One of the Grand Rapids lab’s biggest projects is evaluating how peatlands and tree species adapt to our changing climate. [to access the full story a StarTribune subscription is required]
SEATTLE — Mast Reforestation today announced that less than six weeks after issuance, it has sold 100% of the 4,277 biomass burial carbon removal credits from Mast Wood Preserve MT1, its pioneering post-wildfire restoration project in southern Montana. New buyers include Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, and BMO, a North American financial institution, joining earlier participants including Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), CNaught, a major corporate buyer advised by SE Advisory Services, Muir AI, and others. The sell-out follows MT1’s January 2026 issuance under the Puro.earth registry, which represented the largest issuance to date under Puro.earth’s Terrestrial Storage of Biomass (TSB) methodology and one of the fastest project development timelines globally for a carbon removal project, at just nine months. “High-integrity carbon removal is an important part of Bain’s strategy to address residual emissions while helping scale the climate solutions the world needs,” said Sam Israelit, Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer, Bain & Company.
HAYWARD, Wis. – A new refinery planned for Hayward will convert wood into sustainable aviation fuel, using waste wood, such as scrap wood or invasive species. Hayward companies FutureWood and Johnson Timber Corporation will source and process the wood, while Synthec Fuels will handle the fuel refining process. President of FutureWood DJ Aderman says the facility will harness products not currently utilized in the forestry industry. “What’s really cool about this is we’re gonna use a lot of mill residuals. We’re gonna use a lot of products that we’re not currently using right now, unmerchable tops, species that have no or little value,” said Aderman. Last week, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed the Forestry Revitalization Act, which approved up to $120 million in tax credits for the $1.7 billion project. The legislation aims to bolster the forestry industry, which has seen major downturns due to mill closures in recent years.