Canada’s wildfire season is close to its 10-year average heading into summer peak weather. In related news: crews continue to battle wildfires near Labrador City, Newfoundland; BC’s Chun T’oh Whudujut Park; Idaho’s Bench Lake; the Blue River, Oregon; and Montana’s Horse Gulch area.
In other News: the Harmac’s grounds fire in Nanaimo, BC was human-caused; the AP Group laments the impact of its mill closure in Merritt, BC; and Michigan’s forest products industry hits a new revenue peak. Meanwhile: the value of Canadian building permits fall; US material prices rise; and US consumer sentiment is unchanged.
Finally, climate scientist Andrew Weaver opines on the BC NDP and the missed ‘innovation opportunity’.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
As 
US paper makers are warning the EU that a new law requiring them to trace timber to its origins risks disrupting $3.5 billion of trade and raising prices for diapers, sanitary pads and other hygiene products. It will be impossible to comply with the pending regulation because pulp supply chains are too diffuse to track all trees, and there’s often a two-year lag between the time they’re cut down and when they’re turned into fiber. The US industry is a major exporter of “fluff pulp,” an absorbent material used to make personal products. American suppliers meet about 60% of the EU’s needs, so any interruption would reverberate throughout the 27-nation bloc. “The EUDR as is currently written will raise the costs significantly for US producers, and it will translate into inflationary pressures in the EU,” said Mark Pitts, at AF&PA. There have been some repercussions from the law even before it takes effect, with companies having supply agreements derailed, Pitts said. [to access the full story a Bloomberg subscription is required]
Fresh home sales data has finally answered the question for real estate watchers: The Bank of Canada’s initial interest rate cut in June did not open the floodgates to buyers, many of whom remain sidelined through an unseasonably slow spring housing market. Sales figures from local real estate boards released in the past week show last month’s home sales did not see much of an uptick after the Bank of Canada’s quarter-point cut on June 6, the first decrease in four years and a substantial shift in monetary policy after the central bank’s fastest tightening cycle on record. …The reaction to lower borrowing costs appears to be showing up first among existing owners who have started to list their properties, Soper says, as evidenced by rising inventories in markets across Canada.
The U.S. exported 926,024.1 metric tons of wood pellets in May, up from 819,341.5 metric tons exported the previous month and 820,057.5 metric tons exported in May 2023, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on July 3. The U.S. exported wood pellets to more than a dozen countries in May. The U.K. was the top destination for U.S. wood pellet exports at 654,234.4 metric tons, followed by Japan at 154,311.4 metric tons and the Netherlands at 91,973.5 metric tons. The value of U.S. wood pellet exports reached $167.35 million in May, up from $157.26 million in April and $153.12 million in May of last year. Total U.S. wood pellet exports for the first five months of 2024 reached 4.12 million metric tons at a value of $774.64 million, compared to 3.75 million metric tons exported during the same period of 2023 at a value of $690.01 million.
BONN, Germany — The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) announced the launch of FSC Aligned for EUDR, a new solution designed to support compliance with the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR). This offering aims to simplify the complex task of meeting EUDR requirements for businesses trading with forest-based products in Europe. FSC Aligned for EUDR will support companies that need to comply with EUDR through two key components: 1. FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR: Available from July 1, 2024, this add-on module builds upon FSC’s existing rigorous standards, incorporating specific EUDR regulatory expectations around risk assessment, due diligence, and supply chain transparency. 2. FSC Aligned Reporting for EUDR: Launching August 30, 2024, this automated data compilation system will assist companies in generating required due diligence reports and statements, as well as enhance traceability and data management across complex supply chains. For more information visit 
The New England Forestry Foundation is about to conduct a carbon experiment in the Maine woods. The Massachusetts-based nonprofit is dipping into a $30 million U.S. Department of Agriculture climate grant to develop an incentive program to pay commercial forest owners to adopt planting and harvesting methods that increase carbon storage and climate resiliency. The six first-round enrollees, all from Maine, will test out so-called “climate-smart” forestry practices on about 12,000 of their combined 2.4 million acres. If they earn less because of it, the foundation will cover 75% of that lost profit if it is the result of a change in management practice. If managed properly, NEFF estimates that 12,000 acres could store 250,000 metric tons of extra carbon. …Skeptics question the value of using public money to pay some private landowners and companies for something they were already doing, Whitman said. [to access the full story a Press Herald subscription is required]
A stubborn heat wave that has engulfed much of the Western United States for more than a week continued to linger over the region on Friday, with triple-digit temperatures expected to stretch into the weekend for millions of Americans. In the Denver area, a heat advisory was in effect through the weekend, with the National Weather Service predicting record-breaking temperatures for both Saturday and Sunday. The heat will subside in the West this weekend, but it isn’t going away. Before Saturday, another up to two-dozen daily records could be broken to begin the weekend. “This long-duration heat wave remains extremely dangerous and deadly if not taken seriously,” a forecaster with the Weather. …The extreme heat will push into the Midwest and Eastern U.S. by early next week, with heat indexes as high as 110 degrees expected in the Philadelphia area and in the low 100s in New York. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]