Trade negotiations between Canada and the United States are set to drag on well past the initial hopes of an early resolution, with key players now calling mid-2026 an unlikely target and warning the process could slip into 2027. In an interview on The Hub’s Alberta Edge podcast, US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith both acknowledged momentum around the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review has slowed. Hoekstra pointed to the formal comment period now underway, during which businesses and the public in both countries are submitting feedback on how the accord is working. He said this essentially eliminates any chance of a quick, major deal. Trade departments will then have to sift through the submissions and approach what he called the “painstaking” next stage. …The timeline collides directly with US midterm elections in 2026, making Senate ratification anything but a guarantee.
OTTAWA — Canada has dropped two legal challenges of United States duties on Canadian softwood lumber. …The Wall Street Journal first reported this week that Canada dropped long-standing appeals earlier this month of two U.S. anti-dumping reviews dating back to the previous decade. The US undertakes administrative reviews each year to set the level of duties. Canada has regularly challenged those orders. Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Dina Destin said that the decision to drop the two appeals was made “in close consultation with Canadian industry, provinces and key partners, and it reflects a strategic choice to maximize long-term interests and prospects for a negotiated resolution with the United States.” She said Canada still believes U.S. anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber are unfair and Ottawa is still pursuing six other legal challenges on the matter.
The Commerce Department in a shutdown contingency plan released Monday said it will continue “the necessary work to address the effect of imported articles on national security.” The contingency guidelines mark a subtle shift from the previous plan, which said investigations would continue with unexpired funds if Congress failed to approve additional spending by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. By claiming a national security rationale for the investigations, the administration can continue work on probes being conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. That provision allows for the imposition of tariffs on goods deemed critical to national security. …Section 232 investigations could take on even greater weight if the Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. [to access the full story a Bloomberg subscription is required]
Musser Biomass announces a new sustainability partnership with Trex Company, the world’s largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking and a pioneer in recycled materials innovation. Musser Biomass operates one of the most advanced low-temperature drying systems in North America, reducing energy use and preserving the integrity of wood fiber. Through partnerships like this one with Trex, Musser Biomass is further extending the life cycle of valuable resources and supporting a circular economy. Through its NextTrex program, Trex Company recycles everyday plastic film materials, keeping them out of landfills and turning them into high-performance composite decking. The updated packaging will begin rolling out nationwide. Musser Biomass produces premium wood pellets and engineered bedding using cutting-edge drying and screening technology.
Lumber futures traded above $580 per thousand board feet in September, holding above earlier month lows as supply tightened and housing demand showed signs of renewal. Major producers such as Interfor reduced output through maintenance and shift cuts and mill idling while Canadian softwood flows remained constrained by tariff uncertainty which compressed prompt availability. Expectations of Fed further rate cuts later in 2025 encouraged forward looking builders to replenish inventories. New single family sales rose 20.5% to an 800k seasonally adjusted annualized rate in August which was the largest monthly rise since August 2022. Existing home sales held at a 4.00m SAAR in August and housing inventory stood at 1.53m units equivalent to 4.6 months of supply.
Average mortgage rates in September trended lower as the bond market priced in expectations of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35%, 24 basis points (bps) lower than August. Meanwhile, the 15-year rate declined 21 bps to 5.50%. Despite the recent drop, rates remain higher than a year ago as last September saw the lowest levels in about two years. The 30-year rate is currently higher by 17 basis points (bps), and the 15-year rate is higher by 24 bps, year-over-year. …Markets began pricing in rate cuts from the Fed at the start of the month, particularly after news that jobless claims rose while inflation remained modest. On September 17, the Federal Reserve announced a 25 bps cut to the federal funds rate, bringing the target range to 4.00% – 4.25%. Falling mortgage rates have already shown an impact on housing activity. 
Washington, D.C. – When most people think of ironworkers, mass timber is not the first thing that comes to mind. But that perception is changing fast. The International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers (Iron Workers), is proving that ironworkers are not only part of the mass timber conversation, but they are the best equipped trade to erect these projects. From landmark projects like the Walmart Headquarters in Arkansas, erected by Iron Workers’ signatory contractor Foust Fab & Erectors, to countless hybrid timber-and-steel structures across the United States and Canada, ironworkers are quietly setting the standard for mass timber erection. Ironworkers have proven that their structural steel expertise, efficiency, and safety culture make them the #1 choice for this growing market. …Our mass timber training is in partnership with WoodWorks, and therefore, third-party validated,” said Iron Workers Executive Director of Apprenticeship and Training James Owens. 
In many places, moose, bear, wolves and other wildlife can simply walk between the two nations. There are barriers — roads, development and a lack of protected habitat on either side — but for more than a century, relatively relaxed border policy and a shared sense of purpose saw conservationists in both countries working together to overcome them. Now, US President Trump has ratcheted up the challenges to cross-border conservation. …Many of Trump’s actions have explicit implications for cross-border conservation — in North America and globally. …Canadian conservation organizations have reported losing co-funding as a result of Trump’s cuts to foreign aid. As his administration has stretched staffing thin and proposed deep budget cuts at the US National Park Service, it ended funding many found crucial to habitat conservation work across the border. Trump has also withdrawn from the Green Climate Fund and the Paris Agreement.
The Interior Department says it’s on track to meet a federal goal to increase logging on federal lands, even as timber industry analysts warn low prices, scarce sawmills, and litigation will likely threaten progress. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has increased timber sales by 4.6% so far in fiscal 2025 over all of fiscal 2024. Interior spokeswoman Alyse Sharpe said. …Trump’s logging goals face fierce headwinds, however, as depressed lumber prices, a worker shortage in the timber industry, and an overriding sense of uncertainty about the future of logging are chilling timber industry interest in actually cutting down the trees sold in federal sales, said Mindy Crandall, at Oregon State University. “The Forest Service can put the timber up for sale, but someone has to want it,” Crandall said. But Trump’s logging policies are likely to have limited reach across the US in part because federal lands make up only a small part of the timber supply, and tariffs are unlikely to crush the demand for Canadian lumber.
The Trump administration is planning to close some US Forest Service offices in Alaska under a national reorganization announced this summer. Public comment on the reorganization is open through Tuesday. …A spokesperson for the USDA said “We recognize this may be difficult, but we are hopeful that affected employees will remain with us through this transition.” In July, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she intends to close the Forest Service’s nine national regional offices “over the next year” but “will maintain a reduced state office in Juneau, Alaska, and an eastern service center in Athens, Georgia.” Research stations, like the Juneau Forestry Science Laboratory in Auke Bay, will be closed and “consolidated into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado.” Nationally, Rollins said she intends to scatter more than half of the Agriculture Department’s 4,600 Washington, D.C.-based administrators to five regional hubs; one each in Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Missouri and Indiana.
OREGON — George Sexton said he’s attended a couple dozen timber auctions during his 23 years as conservation director at KS Wild, an Ashland-based environmental group. But when he showed up at the Bureau of Land Management office in Medford on Sept. 25 for a timber auction, he, a lawyer and a reporter for Jefferson Public Radio were not allowed to enter. Sexton said that for years, he’s attended the auctions to observe and make sure BLM follows its laws and that bidders know about potential lawsuits. In this case, KS Wild is planning litigation to stop the “Take A Chance” timber sale, one of the four that was being offered. Sexton said the public has only been blocked from the meetings recently, coinciding with the Trump administration’s focus on increasing logging. BLM said closing timber auctions isn’t a new policy and that it was never intended as a “public meeting.”
WASHINGTON — Tribal lands in the Pacific Northwest are earning national recognition for something the US Forest Service has struggled to achieve: healthy, resilient forests. …Their success is rooted in thousands of years of stewardship and a willingness to act where federal policy too often stalls. Long before European colonization, Indigenous people actively managed forests through cultural burning and selective thinning. “In my neck of the woods, there was a five to 15 year fire return interval that was clearly from tribal management,” said Cody Desautel, of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which extends across Washington and into British Columbia, Oregon, and Idaho. …“When you’re not managing these forest types like they were previously managed, Mother Nature is going to have a course correction and reset the clock,” said Steve Rigdon, tribal partnership stewardship and resource manager at Sustainable Northwest. That course correction has arrived.
IDAHO — After a slew of firings and deferred resignations last winter, the loss of federal workers left holes throughout the Northwest. “When we get to peak fire season, it’s kind of an all-hands-on-deck call, if you will,” said Jim Wimer, a fire prevention officer for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. US Forest Service employees who are normally in the office — like wildlife biologists or hydrologists — jumped in to help with fire information this summer, he said. …Workers even drove trucks with supplies to wildfires, often working overtime to help, he said. Not only does it help local fire efforts, but it also gets people out to other parts of the country to gain unique experiences and helps other forests that are in similar situations, Wimer said. …This year, there have been 364 fires on land the agency manages, but not a lot of acreage burned, he said.
INDIANA — The controversial and slow-moving forest management plan inside the Hoosier National Forest hit another roadblock last week. All related activities — including timber sales, prescribed burns, road construction — have been temporarily halted by a court order. The Houston South Project would have opened up about 13,500 acres of the Hoosier National Forest to prescribed burning, 4,000 acres to logging, 2,000 acres to herbicide application and 400 acres to clearcutting. Opponents of the Houston South Project say this ruling is a meaningful step in the right direction. …Groups like the Indiana Forest Alliance have argued that cutting, spraying and burning on the steep slopes could lead to pollution in the reservoir jeopardizing drinking water quality and public health for the 130,000 people in the Bloomington area. …Chief Judge Tanya Pratt halted the project after finding that the USFS violated the National Environmental Policy Act in failing to consider the potential environmental impacts of the plan.
At New York Climate Week, a coalition of 34 national governments unveiled a decisive blueprint called the Forest Finance Roadmap for Action, aimed at closing the substantial funding shortfall undermining global efforts to halt deforestation. The plan, developed in partnership with Brazil and backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), targets the estimated $66.8 billion annual finance gap in tropical nations. The roadmap distinguishes itself as the first unified framework to bring together governments from both the Global North and South under a shared agenda for forest finance, according to an announcement made by the Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP). It seeks to move beyond pledge-making toward deployable, investment-ready strategies aligned with the COP30 Action Agenda and the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration.
Storing carbon in forests is an essential, nature-based buffer against climate change. Yet forests packed with too many trees increase the threat of severe wildfires… A team of UC Merced and collaborating researchers evaluated the tradeoffs between two seemingly opposing scenarios: Trees are critical because they pull carbon dioxide from the air, preventing carbon from adding to greenhouse effects that trap heat and warm the atmosphere; and the increasing severity and danger of wildfires call for the thinning of overly dense forests. The researchers found that the best approach is a combination of both. 
EASTERN OREGON — More than $7.4 million to support removal and transport of 417,308 tons of low-value trees and woody debris from national forests to processing facilities is being allocated to Eastern Oregon forests. The allocation includes a critical $4.6 million award to support the forest products industry in Grant County. Two other projects are in or near Wallowa County, Oregon’s US Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced Friday, Sept. 19. This $7.4 million investment from the U.S. Forest Service’s Hazardous Fuels Transportation Assistance Program will be distributed as follows: Heartwood Biomass Inc. in Wallowa: $773,031; Boise Cascade Wood Products LLC in Elgin: $385,138; Iron Triangle LLC in John Day: $4,665,063;Dodge Logging Inc. in Maupin: $648,000; Gilchrist Forest Products LLC in Gilchrist: $588,648; Rude Logging LLC in John Day: $410,748.
WISCONSIN — Lawmakers from northern and north-central Wisconsin are circulating a bill supporting Johnson Timber Corp. in Hayward to build a processing plant for aviation fuel made from logging debris to establish a processing plant in Wisconsin. The legislation would reward the company with a $60 million tax credit and access to $150 million in borrowing through Wisconsin’s bonding authority. Republican lawmakers wrote in a memo circulated Monday seeking cosponsors that the proposal would create 150 jobs and generate $1.2 billion a year in income after three years of operation. The processing plant in Hayward would be built by Johnson Timber Corp., in partnership with a German company… Synthec Fuels. Wisconsin along with Michigan and Minnesota are all vying for the project, Felzkowski said, “and the state that helps will be the first state” to get the facility and probably the headquarters for the overall processing operation.
A firefighter from Minnesota died Friday while helping the United States Forest Service with a controlled burn in Idaho, officials say. The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) says Isabella Oscarson had been struck by a falling tree while assisting the U.S. Forest Service’s Tinker Bugs with a prescribed fire in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. She was evacuated from the scene and flown to a hospital in Grangeville, Idaho, where she later died. Oscarson was a seasonal employee with the IDL. “IDL extends its deepest sympathies to Isabella’s family and friends. This is a tragedy that hits the employees at Idaho Department of Lands and the broader wildland fire community extremely hard,” Dustin Miller, director of IDL, said. Idaho Gov. Brad Little ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor Oscarson until the day following her memorial service.