ENFIELD, Maine — “Everything you see in back of us here is new,” said Jason Brochu of Pleasant River Lumber. Between this mill in Enfield and another in Dover-Foxcroft, Pleasant River Lumber produces about 130 million board feet of lumber each year. The operation employs around 300 Mainers with jobs tied to logging, trucking, cabinet-making and log home businesses. Reaching that level of production required a major investment. “Since 2018, we’ve put in about 100 now, probably $80 million on this site alone,” said Chris Brochu of Pleasant River Lumber. Inside the mill, the results are hard to miss. Advanced technology now drives nearly every step of the process. …For Pleasant River Lumber, owners say protection comes not just from forest management, but from trade policy. “Canada produces way more lumber than they need, so they’ve got to dump it somewhere. And we can’t compete with that,” Jason Brochu said.
Duties on Canadian imports are driving up domestic sales at some Maine lumber companies. …Protection from historically lower Canadian lumber prices has given Pleasant River Lumber the confidence to add an additional manufacturing shift in Enfield, according to co-owner Jason Brochu. Photo by Katherine Emery. …Historically Canadian companies have both outbid them for timber harvested in Maine and undercut American lumber prices when they export the finished lumber product back across the border. …An industry analyst and two other mill leaders said that inflation and a sputtering housing market make it unclear whether the tariffs will have a positive or negative effect on business in the long run. The effects of the tariffs will also vary based on the different products sawmills make. …Sawmills rely on certainty, said Alden Robbins, of Robbins Lumber, and neither the markets nor foreign trade relationships have been stable recently.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.
ATLANTA — A proposed amendment to the Georgia Constitution would end sales taxes on timber, a major industry battered by mill closings and storms. House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration said a bipartisan group of legislators want to help protect “a cornerstone of the state’s rural economy.” “The timber tax cut is necessary because Georgia timber farmers are facing severe economic hardship following the closure of multiple sawmills in Georgia and significant losses in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene,” said Efstration, R-Mulberry, the sponsor of House Resolution 1000. “Georgia is a national leader in forestry, and I want to help this state’s rural economy and the livelihood of many Georgians.” Georgia’s forestry industry was the largest in the nation in 2021 based on harvest volume and product export values of nearly $4 billion, according to a report by the Georgia Forestry Association. But timber producers have suffered in recent years. 
Southern Pine lumber exports (treated and untreated) are almost equal to 2024 year to date through October 2025 at 488 MMBF, according to October 2025 data from the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Services’ Global Agricultural Trade System. October 2025’s 60 MMBF of exports were up 47% over October 2024 and up 33% compared to September 2025. When looking at the report by dollar value, Southern Pine exports are up 4% YTD ($190 million) compared to 2024. Meanwhile, the October value of $25 million is the highest mark since June 2022, when the value hit $29 million. Mexico leads the way YTD 2025 at $56 million, followed by the Dominican Republic at $39 million, and India at $18 million. Treated lumber exports, meanwhile, are down 4% through the first 10 months of the year compared to 2024. The Leeward-Windward Islands market leads the way through October at $18 million, followed by Jamaica at $16 million, and Belize at $10 million. Softwood lumber imports are running 8% behind 2024 levels.
LANSING, Michigan – A state program to aid mass timber projects in Michigan has been extended for the Upper Peninsula after the region submitted no applications for funding in 2026. …A supplemental call for proposals makes available $50,000 through March 2. Those awards will be announced March 16. The awardees are:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A state panel this week extended its offer to help finance construction of a new 129-room boutique hotel in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. While that doesn’t guarantee the hotel will move forward, the developer leading the project said construction can’t start without the state’s financing. The board… offered until Jan. 31, 2027 are $35 million worth of state bonds for the roughly $55 million project that would build a Marriott Tribute Portfolio boutique hotel. …The air quality facilities noted in the resolution include the seven-story building’s proposed use of mass-timber in its construction. …The presence of wood-timber construction above a first-floor reinforced concrete deck is noted in this axonometric view of the proposed Ohio City Hotel (DLR). The use of mass timber instead of reinforced concrete can save up to 40% in ongoing heating and cooling emissions for a building’s user as well as reduced emissions, according to Dan Whalen, at Places Development. 
ST. LOUIS — What is the life cycle of a building? Each year, in the United States, new home construction accounts for 50 million tons of carbon emissions. The majority stem from harvesting, manufacturing and transporting building materials — from lumber and masonry to glass and tile to roofing and mechanical systems. But what happens at the end of the cycle? When a building is no longer inhabitable or needed, what happens to all the energy invested in those materials? “It’s demolished,” Hongxi Yin said. “It goes to the landfill.” Yin, an expert on sustainable construction, is the InCEES professor in advanced building systems and architectural design in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Over the last decade, he has led a series of research studios exploring ways to improve building efficiency, supply chains and construction processes. 
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Carbon dioxide is the most commonly produced greenhouse gas, the substances that trap heat in the atmosphere keeping the planet warm enough for life. Carbon is stored in high amounts in timber, of which Mississippi has an abundance. The state ranks in the top 10 nationally in timber production, with close to 20 million acres of timberland. The U.S. Geological Survey says that carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere reduces the potential for global climate change. Since timber stores carbon efficiently, a tremendous amount of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is stored in Mississippi’s forests. This makes timber a valuable resource in efforts to limit the amount of carbon available as a greenhouse gas. Carbon credits and the carbon offset market have made an impact on Mississippi’s economy to a degree for about 20 years.
PITTSBURG, New Hampshire — The state has reached a deal on the management of the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Working Forest, a 146,000 acre property constituting 3% of New Hampshire’s forests, according to Gov. Kelly Ayotte. The forest is privately owned but is under a conservation easement, which means the state has oversight regarding how the land is managed and can ensure it remains a working timberland. Since the land was purchased in 2022 by an out-of-state carbon offset company, Aurora Sustainable Lands, local loggers have raised concerns about reduced timber harvesting on the property. As a carbon-offset company, Aurora curbed logging in order to sell the carbon they stored. …In the plan agreed upon last month, Aurora will increase the average annual timber harvest. …“The Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Working Forest is critical to recreation, tourism and the timber industry in our North Country,” Ayotte said.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources aerially surveyed more than 13.5 million acres last year, checking for forest damage across the state’s forestland. Its findings are included in the recently released 2025 Forest Health Annual Report. Brian Schwingle, forest health program coordinator, said the annual survey and report is important because it tracks trends and reveals what is impacting trees, allowing the managers to make decisions for healthier, more resilient forests. “The two biggest tree health stories in 2025 in Minnesota were the derecho, the big blowdown in Bemidji, and the three big wildfires in northeast Minnesota in May,” he said, noting prior spruce budworm damage helped fuel the fires. In July, a derecho damaged 11,600 acres in and around Bemidji. Derecho, a Spanish word for straight, is a widespread, straight-line windstorm associated with a band of fast-moving thunderstorms. They can leave serious damage in their wake.
Tribes in Wisconsin and beyond are opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to end protections for millions of acres of roadless areas on national forest land. …But Wisconsin Ojibwe tribes said the move was conducted without consultation and threatens natural resources they rely on, said Conrad St. John, chairman of the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin. “They want to log it for the mature timber… which is revenue-based to create money for big corporations,” St. John said. …In Wisconsin, roadless areas account for less than 5 percent of the national forest’s 1.5 million acres. But Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings said they make up a vital portion of the region’s national forests, saying the administration’s actions show disregard for tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. He’s director of public information for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which represents 11 tribes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
…Timber prices have been low for a long time; they never really recovered from the 2008 housing crash. Nearly a dozen paper mills closed across the South in recent years, and Hurricane Helene tore down trees in much of Georgia and the Carolinas. It’s left many in Georgia, one of the leading states for forestry, with a dilemma: what do you do when your income relies on a forest but nobody wants to buy your trees? A group of researchers and industry leaders thinks paying landowners for carbon storage could help. “We may see a decline in the number of acres that are kept in forests and the quality of the land that is forested,” said David Eady with Georgia Tech’s business school. Losing those trees would shrink the industry and be devastating for the environment. …So Eady and others asked: why not use that carbon storage to keep foresters in business?
New Hampshire and its counties may soon be barred from enrolling publicly owned lands in carbon sequestration programs. “We don’t see sequestration as a traditional use,” said Rep. Mike Ouellet, a Colebrook Republican, at a hearing before the House Committee on Municipal and County Government on Tuesday. The committee later voted, 13-1, to recommend passage of House Bill 1205, which would prohibit “carbon sequestration projects” on state- and county-owned lands. …No county- or state-owned land is currently listed on the registry of New Hampshire carbon sequestration projects. But the long duration of forest carbon contracts and the possibility they would impose restrictions on land use were two reasons bill proponents cited for preventing them on public lands in the future. …Others said timber harvest could be an important source of revenue for counties and the state, and worried the contracts would have a negative impact on the timber industry.
Construction in New York City is one of the most dynamic and demanding industries in the country — but it’s also one of the most dangerous. …That’s why innovation in building materials and methods can have a real impact not only on efficiency and sustainability but also on safety. One such innovation, mass timber, is gaining traction. …Mass timber components are prefabricated in controlled factory settings. This approach greatly reduces the need for tasks like cutting, welding, or mixing concrete on-site — tasks that are commonly associated with jobsite injuries. …Additionally, since large panels arrive ready to install, crews spend less time working at height, which directly reduces the risk of falls — the leading cause of construction fatalities in the U.S., according to OSHA’s fall protection guidelines. …It also means a reduced need for powered hand tools and high-decibel equipment, lowering the risk of accidents related to hand injuries or communication breakdowns.