Blog Archives

Breaking News

A trade deal with the US could include lumber quotas, Carney says

The Canadian Press in Global News
July 16, 2025
Category: Breaking News
Region: Canada, United States

Mark Carney

Prime Minister Carney says any future trade deal with the US could include “some element of managed trade,” including quotas, on softwood lumber exports. Carney’s comments come after B.C. Premier David Eby said that the federal government has been speaking with the provinces about quotas to resolve the softwood lumber dispute. Carney added that resolving the conflict is a “top priority” as the US prepares to double various duties to 34.45%. Canada and the US have been without a softwood lumber agreement since 2015, and Eby has previously said that resolving the dispute could “build momentum” for a larger trade deal. US President Trump’s latest threat is to impose 35% tariffs by Aug. 1 on Canadian goods currently not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Carney says he agrees with Eby’s idea of resolving the lumber dispute as part of a larger trade deal, but notes that both issues are unfolding along different times lines.

Related coverage in: Business in Vancouver: Carney confirms possibility of lumber quotas in trade deal with US

Read More

Business & Politics

Canfor’s 77%-owned subsidiary, Vida AB, expands with Swedish Acquisition

Canfor Corporation
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, International

VANCOUVER, BC – Canfor announced today that its 77%-owned subsidiary, Vida AB, has entered into an agreement to purchase AB Karl Hedin Sågverk from Mattsbo Såg AB and certain minority shareholders for a purchase price of $164 million, including working capital of ~$39 million. AB Karl Hedin Sågverk operates three sawmills located in Central Sweden and will add approximately 230 million board feet to Vida’s annual production capacity. Following completion of this acquisition, Vida will have annual production capacity of approximately 2.1 billion board feet. Annual synergies of approximately $15 million are expected to be achieved within three years as a result of this transaction principally related to alignment of marketing programs as well as log procurement and operational practices. …These operations have access to exceptionally high-quality timber and are well positioned to complement Vida’s high-value product offering,” said CEO Susan Yurkovich. …The transaction is expected to close over the next several months.

Read More

Carney to brief premiers on US trade discussions as Trump deadline bears down

By Catherine Lévesque
The National Post
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Mark Carney

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney will be offering his update on trade talks with the White House when he sits down with the premiers Tuesday, while discussing their concerns as an Aug. 1 deadline for more tariffs rapidly approaches. Carney is joining the provincial and territorial premiers during their summer gathering in Muskoka, Ontario. …On Monday, Quebec Premier François Legault said he will tell Carney he wants protection in negotiations for supply management for the dairy, egg and poultry sectors. BC Premier David Eby has said he hoped Carney would kick off trade discussions by trying resolve the softwood lumber issue, which has been a trade irritant between Canada and the U.S. for decades. Carney recently said he thought it unlikely that there wouldn’t be at least some tariffs in any deal struck before Aug. 1, though most of Canada’s trade with the U.S. is protected by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.

Related coverage in:

Read More

Investing in communities: Domtar puts vision into action

By Jennifer Johnson
Tissue Online
July 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Through the Domtar Connects program, employees lead impactful local initiatives—ranging from education and environmental projects to support for Indigenous communities—reflecting a long-term, values-driven commitment to social responsibility. …With nearly 14,000 employees across more than 60 locations, Domtar’s footprint is large, but its approach is local. The Domtar Connects community investment program responds directly to the unique needs of each operating community, ensuring that support is tailored, meaningful and led by employee input. Recent highlights include: 

  • Scholarships for trade students near our Windsor and Ashdown mills that help encourage the next generation of skilled labor. 
  • Urban tree planting projects in Montreal that give employees an opportunity to work alongside local youth and educators
  • Emergency response equipment donations in rural towns that help improve safety resources for first responders
  • Support for Indigenous cultural programs that contribute to the preservation of language, history and community connections

Read More

Why the US and Canada Are at Loggerheads Over Lumber

By Ilena Peng
Bloomberg Economics
July 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The US and Canada… have feuded over “softwood” lumber since the 1980s. …Canada has long resisted changing its trade practices on lumber. But as the Trump administration has become more bellicose about its trade relationship with Canada, the country’s stance may be softening. On July 16, BC Premier Eby said Canadian officials are now open to a quota. …Any added fees from the US would likely further hamper an already struggling Canadian industry and benefit the US South. But the US would likely struggle to offset the lumber it gets from Canada in the short-term, driving up housing prices. …Though the US has some spare capacity to turn more timber into construction materials, a fully domestic supply chain would likely still require the construction of new sawmills and additional trained workers to operate the facilities. …Another factor for US suppliers and buyers is that US and Canadian lumber are not a perfect swap. [to access the full story a Bloomberg subscription may be required]

Read More

Trade top of mind as Canada’s premiers are set to hold three-day meeting in Ontario

By Allison Jones
The Canadian Press in CTV News
July 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada’s premiers’ summer gathering in Muskoka will also feature a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, as trade talks with the US are expected to intensify. Most of what the premiers are likely to discuss stems from President Trump’s tariffs: trade negotiations, the direct impact on industries such as steel and aluminum, the increased pushes to remove interprovincial trade barriers and speed up major infrastructure and natural resource projects. …“Canada is not open to us,” he said. “They need to open their market. Unless they’re willing to open their market, they’re going to pay a tariff. Lutnick also said Trump intends to renegotiate the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement next year, when the pact is slated to undergo a joint review. Carney has said Canada is trying to get an agreement on softwood lumber exports included in the current round of negotiations with the United States.

Read More

Trump could crush Canada’s softwood exports. Here’s how a new crisis could play out

By Tracy Moran
The National Post
July 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The Canada-US softwood lumber trade relationship has dealt with ups and downs for decades. …Canadian firms will soon receive word from the US Commerce Department… with the rate expected to jump from around 14% to 34%. …“Canfor’s rate will be ~45%,” said Andrew Miller, chair of the US Lumber Coalition. …Then there’s the threat of tariffs from President Donald Trump’s ongoing national security investigation of Canadian lumber imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. …The US Lumber Coalition is playing for keeps. …Miller isn’t shy about the goals: “A countrywide quota with no exemptions and no carveouts, and a single-digit market share” for Canadian lumber. …The coalition is pushing for a tariff rate from the Section 232 investigation that starts at 15 to 20% and goes higher from there. That, Miller explained, will incentivize U.S. sawmill owners struggling with thin margins to hire more people and invest in upgrades, bolstering U.S. production.

Read More

BC’s forests minister open to lumber quotas if it solves U.S. trade dispute

By Mark Page
Today in BC – Black Press
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Ravi Parmar

BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said that if lumber quotas are what is needed to end the decades-old softwood lumber dispute with the United States, then so be it. “It just may be able to address this issue once and for all,” Parmar said. Premier David Eby floated the possibility… and Prime Minister Mark Carney said it could be in the cards. …Parmar acknowledged BC lumber companies might have “differing views” on quotas, but he said it is just one tool. Kurt Niquidet, president of BC Lumber Trade Council did not rule out quotas. “Resolving this long-standing dispute is essential to protecting jobs, supporting communities, and ensuring a stable, competitive future for our forest sector,” Niquidet said. …Regardless of whether Canada puts quotas on the table as part of negotiations, Parmar said Trump could balk. “The president seems to really like tariffs,” Parmar said. “And so he may say, bugger off.”

Read More

US Lumber Coalition Responds to Prime Minister Carney Statement

The US Lumber Coalition
July 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Zoltan van Heyningen

Prime Minister Carney and BC Premier Eby are advancing the idea of setting aside the enforcement of the US trade laws against unfairly traded Canadian lumber. …Canada does not voluntarily give up its remedies against unfairly traded imports from other countries but they are now asking the US to do precisely that. Canada is asking the US to do a favor for Canadian workers at the expense of US workers. “The US has collected over $7 billion dollars in duties and Canada’s request to terminate these cases and refund money would be the single biggest bailout of the Canadian lumber industry funded by US taxpayers and would come at the expense of US workers and loggers”, said Zoltan van Heyningen. …“It is also essential to implement additional measures under Section 232 to address the underlying cause of Canadian unfair trade practices,” added van Heyningen. “We must not yield to Canadian demands.”

Read More

Level of US tariffs Canada would accept in trade deal still up for negotiation, Carney says

By Steven Chase, Stephanie Levitz & Laura Stone
The Globe and Mail
July 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Prime Minister Carney says securing a truce in the long-running Canada-US lumber dispute is a top priority as Canadian producers brace for even heftier US levies as early as September. …Mr. Carney declined to say what level of baseline tariff Ottawa would accept in a new trade and security pact with Washington. …Mr. Carney was asked whether Canada would impose tariffs on US products if the US keeps a baseline levy on Canadian goods. “We’ll see what the final agreement is, if there is an agreement,” he said. …Historically, Mr. Carney said lumber deals with the US contain “some element of managed trade” such as quotas on Canadian shipments to the US. …Mr. Pellerin, a former Canadian government softwood litigator, said he thinks it would be unwise to strike a deal before litigation related to the softwood dispute plays out. There are several challenges of US duties on softwood proceeding under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement dispute mechanism. [This story is for Globe and Mail subscribers only]

Read More

Canada weighs limits on US lumber exports to ease trade friction, BC Premier says

By Ananya Palyekar
Reuters
July 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada is open to considering limits on softwood lumber exports to the U.S. to try to ease some trade friction between the neighboring countries, British Columbia Premier David Eby told Bloomberg News in a report published on Wednesday. “One of the asks for years out of the American coalition has been a quota — that there’s a fixed amount of lumber that gets to come from Canada,” Eby told Bloomberg News. “And I think that, for the first time, there’s some willingness to have a conversation about what that could look like.” [to access the full story, a Reuters or Bloomberg Economics subscription is required]

Read More

Toxic effluent, repeated penalties plague BC Domtar mill

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
July 21, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

SKOOKUMCHUCK, BC — A BC pulp and paper mill has once again been struck with environmental penalties after provincial inspectors found it had discharged acutely toxic effluent into the Kootenay River and failed to properly maintain equipment that treats the facility’s toxic waste. The three penalties to the Domtar’s Skookumchuck, BC, mill span 2022 to 2024 and totalled more than $56,000. They come just over a month after the Ministry of Environment and Parks penalized the mill north of Cranbrook for nearly two dozen failures to control the release of emissions. …Tests carried out on mill effluent in the summer of 2023 found it was toxic to trout. Domtar submitted that the toxicity only lasted for a short duration. Environmental Management Act Jennifer Mayberry determined the violations were of a medium severity. …A spokesperson for Domtar said the company planned to appeal parts of the decision.

Read More

Eby reshuffles BC cabinet, switching up heads of housing, public safety and jobs

CBC News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s cabinet has been reworked in what Premier David Eby says is a strategic shift in order to focus on jobs and the economy. “The world has changed since the election and since the swearing in of our first cabinet,” said Eby. …Former housing minister Ravi Kahlon takes over as minister responsible for jobs from Diana Gibson, who moves into the citizens’ services role previously held by George Chow. Garry Begg has been ousted as solicitor general and will be replaced by Nina Krieger. Christine Boyle will take over the housing portfolio and her Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation goes to Spencer Chandra-Herbert. The premier says his cabinet will work on the province’s biggest challenges: growing the economy, seizing investment opportunities and strengthening public services.

Read More

Campbell River looks to resources as marine services firm leaves

By Ish Sharma
The Western Investor
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

CAMPBELL RIVER, BC — Amix Marine Services, which has been providing tugs, barges and other resources to the marine community in Campbell River, is now crossing into Port Alberni’s waters. Amix recently bought 45 acres on the Port Alberni waterfront from Western Forest Products for $7.3 million and plans to move operations over the course of the summer and make the city its home port by this fall. Amix employed 20 people in Campbell River but the ripple effects of its loss will be felt by suppliers and businesses that support the city’s marine sector as a whole. …Port Alberni was attractive to Amix because of the opportunity to expand on property it owned, rather than be limited to the 6.4 acres it’s been leasing in Campbell River. …Amix’s loss will be offset by a variety of major projects rooted in the resource and clean energy sector.

Read More

Province promises more wood heat, wood buildings in wake of Northern Pulp selling off assets

By Taryn Grant
CBC News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Days after Nova Scotia’s forestry sector was dealt a major blow, the province is promising to use more wood to heat and construct public buildings — although officials deny any connection between the two developments. Two cabinet ministers made the announcement Thursday at Ledwidge Lumber, a sawmill in Enfield, N.S. Public Works Minister Fred Tilley said every government department is being directed to look for opportunities to use wood products that are leftover after trees have been harvested and milled for lumber. The products could include mass timber, wood pellets, biomass and biofuels. Tilley said the move was driven by the province’s desire to become more self-reliant, reduce fossil fuel use and produce more locally-made construction materials. …Meanwhile, lawyers for Northern Pulp were in a British Columbia courtroom on Thursday where they received approval for a plan to extend creditor protection while preparations continue to auction off the outfit’s Nova Scotia assets.

Read More

‘We want to see softwood on the table in these trade talks’: Premier Holt

By Adam Huras
The Telegraph-Journal
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

Susan Holt

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says she’s part of a push to see a nearly decade-long softwood lumber standoff end as part of a larger new trade deal with the US. But the premier stopped short of saying whether her government supports the idea of a quota limit,” if that’s what it takes to finally reach a deal. …“The tariffs that are currently in place on softwood lumber are damaging to New Brunswick and the forecast that those tariffs are going to increase significantly has put a real chilling effect on a critical industry for our province.” …New Brunswick’s largest forestry company J.D. Irving, Limited currently pays a duty of 11.68%, while the province’s other softwood producers, including Arbec, H.J. Crabbe & Sons Ltd., Marwood, and Twin Rivers have been assessed a combined rate of 14.54%. The preliminary plans for higher duty rates are set to take effect by September.

Read More

Are we suckers for giving out ‘job creating’ loans like Northern Pulp too easily?

By John DeMont
The Chronicle Herald
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Stop me if you have heard this one before. A company from away lands and makes loud noises about hiring hundreds of people in a job-hungry rural part of Nova Scotia. Government puts up millions of our dollars to bring in a new industry it really doesn’t understand. …Sometimes it works, other times the receivers move in or the multi-nationals move out. Then the recriminations begin. They already have in the 58-year-long saga of Northern Pulp and its predecessor companies which limps to a conclusion in Nova Scotia. This province has had a few successful commercial transplants. …But it is our high-profile failures, like this week’s announcement that Northern Pulp not only wouldn’t build a mill on the South Shore but has started selling off its assets, that seem to stick. …Enough companies have gone bust, sometimes spectacularly so, that they should serve as cautionary tales.

Read More

Cascades invests more than $3.5 million in its Kingsey Falls tissue plant

Cascades Inc.
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Hugues Simon & Jérôme Porlier

KINGSEY FALLS, Quebec — Cascades announced it has recently invested $3,560,000 to upgrade a strategic converting line at its Kingsey Falls tissue plant. The investment involved replacing a packager and bagger with higher-performance equipment, which will result in two major benefits, namely optimizing the bathroom tissue packaging process and increasing productivity. The project is expected to increase the converting line’s production rate at the packaging level by 8% compared to current performance levels, as well as improve overall line throughput, specifically through improved availability and a faster average speed. …This investment exceeding $3.5 million—part of our continuous improvement efforts—demonstrates our commitment to driving our growth,” said Hugues Simon, President and CEO of Cascades. …Opened in 1977, the Kingsey Falls tissue plant currently serves the residential hygiene solutions market. 

Read More

AV Terrace Bay pulp mill fined for air emissions breach

Government of Ontario
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

TERRACE BAY, Ontario — AV Terrace Bay has been convicted on two charges: Failing to control the quality of discharged effluent to ensure that acute toxicity tests resulted in no more than a 50% mortality rate for the test organisms; and Failing to comply with an industry standard by discharging Total Reduced Sulphur compounds. …AV Terrace Bay was convicted of two violations under the Environmental Protection Act, fined $525,000 plus a victim fine surcharge of $131,250, and given 12 months to pay. …Due to financial constraints and market conditions, the mill has been in a warm idle state and has not been producing product or revenue since at least January 2024. The mill generates industrial effluent that undergoes primary and secondary treatment prior to discharging to Lake Superior via Blackbird Creek. …On May 1, 2023, 100% of the Rainbow Trout died during an acute lethality test performed on a grab sample of the mill’s final effluent.

Read More

Georgia-Pacific Announces $191 Million CAD Capital Investment in Englehart OSB Mill

By Georgia-Pacific
Cision Newswire
July 15, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

ENGLEHART, Ontario — Georgia-Pacific announced a new capital project for the company’s Englehart OSB mill in Ontario. The approximately $191 million CAD investment will fund a new log processing system and include the expansion and construction of a new finished goods warehouse. This investment comes as Englehart OSB celebrates its fifteenth anniversary as a Georgia-Pacific facility. The first board was produced at the mill in 1983. David Neal, executive VP, building products, “This investment strengthens our operational capabilities and positions the Englehart mill for greater productivity in the years ahead.” …John Beers, president –structural panels, “These improvements will continue our focus on staying competitive and ensures Englehart is an environmentally conscious, 21st century mill.” Design and engineering work has started, and the project is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2027.

Read More

Dormant Grays Harbor pulp mill fined $2.3 million for toxic chemical spills

By Ann Duan
The Olympian
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

The Washington State Department of Ecology announced that it is fining a Cosmopolis pulp mill owner a total of $2.3 million for ecological damage caused by toxic chemical leaks from the defunct facility. The owner has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal to the Pollution Control Hearings Board. The Cosmo Specialty Fibers pulp mill, once a Weyerhaeuser specialty cellulose mill, shuttered its operations in 2022, but the facility’s non-operational storage tanks have leaked toxic chemicals ever since. …The site’s owner [Richard Bassett] has been issued several notices to address dangerous spills for almost a decade, but the Department’s request has consistently been met with inaction. …In April, Bassett said he intends to reconcile with the state after he reopens operations at the mill. …Bassett’s track record shows an interest in Northwest towns with decrepit pulp mills. His past ventures include an unsuccessful attempt 20 years ago to reopen the Port Alice mill in British Columbia.

Read More

Trump’s Canada tariffs will enable China’s rise

By Daniel Dorman, Center for North American Prosperity and Security
The Washington Examiner
July 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Daniel Dorman

The direct effects of President Trump’s tariffs on Canada are well known: the North American economy will suffer on both sides of the border, deeply integrated and productive industries such as energy and autos will be upended, and America will thwart its ambitions to bring about a manufacturing renaissance by cutting off the primary inputs from Canada (steel, lumber, and critical minerals) that would enable such onshoring. …Not only are these tariffs pushing Canada deeper into a relationship with China, but at the same time, they are also forcing the US economy into continued dependence on China for key resources. …Canadians should demand that Carney see through China’s charm offensive and continue to call out China as a pressing threat to Canadian sovereignty. Americans should call on Trump to recognize the danger of alienating allies in a world shaped by China’s global ambitions.

Related in CBC News: US commerce secretary dismisses question that free trade with Canada is dead

Read More

AF&PA Appreciates US Efforts to Address Non-Tariff Trade Barriers

The American Forest & Paper Association
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock today reacted to recent US-EU trade negotiations: “We appreciate President Trump and his administration’s efforts to further enhance fair and reciprocal trade with key partners like the European Union. Addressing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers is crucial to ensuring a positive trade relationship for the pulp, paper, packaging and tissue products manufacturing industry. “The EU’s deforestation free regulation (EUDR), which has been identified as a non-tariff trade barrier by the U.S. Trade Representative, risks over $3.5 billion in annual forest products exports to the EU. “We encourage President Trump and his administration to continue working towards a fair and reciprocal trade relationship with the EU that fixes this regulation while improving other aspects of trade for U.S. paper manufacturers.”

Read More

US Trade Representative to investigate Brazil’s trade, ethanol and forestry market practices

By Joe Adamy
Michigan Farm News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

Is Brazil playing fair when it comes to trade? An investigation launched July 15 by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) aims to find the answer. The Section 301 investigation will seek to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of Brazil related to a host of trade issues — including ethanol market access and forestry practices — are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” “Brazil has walked away from its willingness to provide virtually duty-free treatment for U.S. ethanol and instead now applies a substantially higher tariff on U.S. ethanol exports,” the USTR office wrote in announcing the investigation. The announcement also said Brazil appears to be failing to effectively enforce laws and regulations designed to stop illegal deforestation — which undermines the competitiveness of U.S. producers of timber and ag products.

Read More

US Forest Service research survives in House spending bill

By Marc Heller
E&E News by Politico
July 15, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

House appropriators Monday turned away a Trump administration effort to slash the Forest Service’s research budget, proposing to hold spending steady at about $300 million in fiscal 2026. The proposal by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee is part of an $8.5 billion annual spending plan for the Forest Service that largely ignores the administration’s most far-reaching proposals. Total spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 would be $16.8 million less than this year’s level. Spending not directly tied to fire suppression would total $3.6 billion, or about $107 million less than this year. The measure is scheduled for a subcommittee markup Tuesday. The research budget would total $302 million, of which $34 million would be reserved for forest inventory and analysis — the data-collecting operation that the administration hadn’t looked to scale back. [to access the full story an E&E News subscription is required]

Read More

Lionel Landry, former SFPA President, died July 15. He was 85

Southern Forest Products Association
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Lionel Landry

Lionel Landry, a former president of the Southern Forest Products Association and the longest-serving director of the Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Exposition (EXPO) who worked at SFPA from 1966-2005, passed away Tuesday, July 15. He was 85. Lionel began his career with the Southern Pine Association (which became SFPA in 1970) in 1966 as office manager. He was promoted to corporate secretary and EXPO director three years later. …Lionel served as director of 18 EXPOs from 1967-2001, which included 10 in Atlanta and five in New Orleans. During that time, he assisted Keith Judkins on the 14th EXPO, then John Zin with the 15th and 16th EXPOs. Lionel succeeded Karl Lindberg as SFPA president in 2003 and retired December 31, 2005, at which time Digges Morgan took over. …Lionel also served as chairman of the International Association of Exhibitions & Events (IAEE) in 1973.

Read More

First responders put out fire at Louisiana Pacific building in Thomasville

By Nathan Prewett
Black Belt News Network
July 10, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

THOMASVILLE, Alabama — First responders from multiple fire departments put out a fire that broke out at the Louisiana Pacific building in Thomasville on Wednesday afternoon. A social media post from Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day said that the Thomasville, Grove Hill, Hellwestern, Fulton fire departments and the Lousiana Pacific Fire Brigade Team responded to the scene and thanked them for putting it out. “Any fire on an extremely hot day like today is dangerous to firefighters. A large industrial fire in a confined space is not only dangerous but, can turn deadly very quickly,” he said. …Day said that all of the employees of the building and the firefighters on the scene were safe. He added that the damage was repairable.

Read More

Việt Nam’s wood industry faces market shifts, looks towards new horizons

Viet Nam News
July 19, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Amid global economic uncertainties and tightening trade policies, Việt Nam’s wood industry is navigating through significant headwinds. While long considered a strong export sector, local enterprises are now re-evaluating their strategies to not only sustain growth but also reposition Vietnamese wood products on the global trade map. According to Nguyễn Liêm, chairman of the Bình Dương Furniture Association, major shifts in trade policies among importing countries have been felt since early this year. …The US remains the largest market, accounting for nearly 50% of the industry’s export value. …Recently, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) initiated anti-dumping and countervailing investigations into plywood imported from Việt Nam. …Besides the US, the European Union has also implemented new technical and legal requirements. Regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are demanding more rigorous environmental and traceability standards.

Read More

Firms admit laundering Russian wood into the EU, in sanctions- busting trade worth over €1.5bn

Earthsight.org.uk
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Investigators at UK-based non-profit, Earthsight, have uncovered a booming trade in illegal Russian timber stretching throughout Europe and breaching war sanctions. The investigation ‘Exposing the EU trade in Russian conflict ply,’ caught firms on camera, in voice calls and through internal documents arranging a steady flow of Russian plywood into the EU. These companies are selling their illegal wood across the continent, and their customers include important manufacturers of climbing walls, toys, flooring, furniture and other products. Posing as buyers over a 9 month period, the investigators recorded traders admitting the practice is illegal, calling it a “gold mine” and suggesting techniques to avoid detection. The UK-based NGO estimates that more than 500,000 cubic metres of timber, with a retail value of over 1.5 billion Euros, has flowed from Russia through third countries and into the EU since sanctions were imposed in July 2022.

Read More

Finance & Economics

West Fraser Timber reports Q2, 2025 loss of $24 million

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.
July 23, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

VANCOUVER, BC — West Fraser Timber reported the second quarter results of 2025. …Second quarter sales were $1.532 billion, compared to $1.459 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Second quarter earnings were $(24) million compared to earnings of $42 million in the first quarter of 2025. Second quarter Adjusted EBITDA was $84 million compared to $195 million in the first quarter of 2025. Highlights include: Lumber segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $15 million; North America Engineered Wood Products (“NA EWP”) segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $68 million; Pulp & Paper segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $(1) million; and Europe Engineered Wood Products (“Europe EWP”) segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $2 million. “Demand for many of our wood-based building products slowed in the second quarter as spring building activity fell short of our expectations. This was more acute in our NA EWP segment, which experienced further easing of demand as the quarter progressed, consistent with government data pointing to softer U.S. new home construction,” said CEO Sean McLaren.

Read More

Canada tariffs could add $14,000 to the cost of building a home by 2027, report warns

By Samantha Delouya
CNN Business
July 22, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

President Trump’s tariffs could have an unintended side effect: making homeownership even less affordable for many Americans. A new report from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimates that the average cost of building a US home could rise by an additional $14,000 by the end of 2027 if tariffs on Canadian imports remain in place, even as many experts estimate that America needs millions more affordable homes. In 2023 alone, Canada accounted for 69% of US lumber imports, 25% of imported iron and steel and 18% of copper imports, all key construction materials, the report said. The White House pushed back on the assertion that tariffs would increase costs for Americans. …The report underscores that Trump’s tariff policy, intended to support American industry, may instead worsen housing affordability. Taking into account tariffs first imposed during Trump’s first term, the total added cost from tariffs could reach $20,000 per home by 2027, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce found.

Related coverage in the Washington Examiner: Trump tariffs on Canada could increase domestic cost of homebuilding by $14,000

Read More

Homebuilding alone won’t solve Canada’s housing crisis

By Jake Fuss and Austin Thompson
The Fraser Institute in National Newswatch
July 21, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

During April’s election campaign, the Carney government promised to double the pace of homebuilding in Canada by 2035—an unlikely outcome in light of Canada’s shortage of construction workers and investment dollars. But even if homebuilding were miraculously doubled, it would not solve Canada’s housing affordability crisis. That’s the sobering conclusion of a recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which modelled what would happen if the rate of homebuilding between 2025 and 2035 were double what it is today. Even under this hypothetical decade-long homebuilding bonanza, average home prices would still rise by 20 per cent in Toronto (to $1.4 million) and eight per cent in Vancouver (to $1.6 million), while nationwide rents would climb by more than one-third. Housing affordability would gradually improve as incomes rise, but by 2035 it would only return to 2019 levels, when many renters and homebuyers were already struggling to afford a home.

In related Fraser Institute news: Alberta sets pace on new housing construction—rest of Canada should catch up

Read More

Canadian housing starts post 0.4% rise in June compared to May

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
July 16, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

OTTAWA – Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in June edged up 0.4 per cent compared to May. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts amounted to 283,734 units in June, up from 282,705 in May. CMHC says actual housing starts in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater amounted to 23,282 units in June, up 14 per cent from 20,509 in June last year. The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate starts across Canada rose 3.6 per cent in June to 253,081. …The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada. Actual housing starts were up 14% year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater, with 23,282 units recorded in June, compared to 20,509 units in June 2024. The year-to-date total was 114,411, up 4% from the same period in 2024. 

Read More

Lumber Futures Rise Past $650

Trading View
July 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Lumber futures traded above $650 per thousand board feet, hovering near April highs driven by tightening US sawmill output and dwindling import volumes, both of which are near their lowest levels in half a decade. Domestic production in the first quarter slipped year-on-year, and imports, including softwood lumber from Canada, have contracted sharply, leaving US framing material availability at its leanest since 2019. At the same time, builders are contending with looming tariff hikes that could push duties on Canadian lumber from roughly 14.5% today toward the mid-30s, adding several thousand dollars to the cost of new homes. Although a modest pull-back in construction activity has softened recent gains, overall demand remains sufficient to absorb current supply, and without a rapid expansion in US mill capacity or alternative sourcing, these supply constraints, compounded by rising trade barriers, are likely to sustain upward pressure on lumber prices in the months ahead.

Read More

Canada’s annual inflation rate in June slightly up to 1.9%

By Promit Mukherjee
Reuters in Yahoo! Finance
July 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

OTTAWA — Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 1.9% in June, meeting analysts’ expectations, as increases in the price of automobiles and clothing and footwear pushed the index higher, data showed on Tuesday. The consumer price index was at 1.7% in the prior month. Statistics Canada said on a monthly basis the CPI increased 0.1%, matching analysts’ forecasts. It is for the third month in a row that the CPI has been under 2%, or the mid-point of Bank of Canada’s inflation target range. This is the last major economic indicator to be released before the Bank of Canada’s rates decision later this month. The slight rise in prices across many segments, along with a strong jobs number last week, is likely to take away any incentive to cut interest rates, economists had earlier predicted. …Shelter prices rose by 2.9%, its first drop below 3% in more than four years.

Read More

Top 10 Builder Market Share Across Each of the 50 Largest US Markets

By Sarah Caldwell
NAHB Eye on Housing
July 22, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

An earlier post described how the top 10 builders1 in the country captured a record 44.7% of new single-family closings in 2024. BUILDER Magazine has now released additional data on the top ten builders within each of the 50 largest new home markets in the U.S., ranked by single-family permits. It is important to note that this post does not focus on the top ten largest home builders nationally; instead, it analyzes the top ten list within each of the largest 50 new housing markets. The 2024 data show that the top 10 builder concentration in the 50 largest markets ranged from 38.9% in Kansas City, MO-KS to 97.8% in Cincinnati, OH. In 11 metro areas, the top ten builders’ market share exceeded 90%. Across all 50 metro areas, the average market share of the top 10 builders was 79.3%, up from 78.2% in 2023.  

Read More

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the US Declined in June

The Conference Board
July 21, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US declined by 0.3% in June 2025 to 98.8 (2016=100), after no change in May. As a result, the LEI fell by 2.8% over the first half of 2025, a substantially faster rate of decline than the –1.3% contraction over the second half of 2024 “The US LEI fell further in June,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica at The Conference Board. “For a second month in a row, the stock price rally was the main support of the LEI. But this was not enough to offset still very low consumer expectations, weak new orders in manufacturing, and a third consecutive month of rising initial claims for unemployment insurance. In addition, the LEI’s six-month growth rate weakened, while the diffusion index over the past six months remained below 50, triggering the recession signal for a third consecutive month. 

Read More

US Consumer Sentiment in July is Little Changed From June

The University of Michigan
July 20, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer sentiment was little changed from June, inching up about one index point to 61.8. While sentiment reached its highest value in five months, it remains a substantial 16% below December 2024 and is well below its historical average. Short-run business conditions improved about 8%, whereas expected personal finances fell back about 4%. Consumers are unlikely to regain their confidence in the economy unless they feel assured that inflation is unlikely to worsen, for example if trade policy stabilizes for the foreseeable future. …Year-ahead inflation expectations fell for a second straight month, plunging from 5.0% last month to 4.4% this month. Long-run inflation expectations receded for the third consecutive month, falling back from 4.0% in June to 3.6% in July. Both readings are the lowest since February 2025 but remain above December 2024, indicating that consumers still perceive substantial risk that inflation will increase in the future.

Read More

Slower Growth Projected For Remodelling Into Next Year

JCHS – Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
July 17, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – Annual expenditures for improvements and maintenance to owner-occupied homes are expected to soften in 2026, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The LIRA projects that year-over-year spending for home renovation and repair will increase by just 1.2 percent by the second quarter of 2026. “Weakness in the current housing market is expected to have a dampening effect on home improvement spending,” says Rachel Bogardus Drew, Director of the Remodeling Futures Program. “Slowing construction starts and remodeling permitting activity, which are key factors in predicting future remodeling expenditures, are also putting downward pressure on home improvement growth.” “It will be important to keep an eye on whether the housing market shows any sign of rebound in the second half of the year, to assess if this slowdown is the beginning of a more significant downturn,” says Chris Herbert.

Read More

US Single-Family Starts Weaken in June but Multifamily Starts Increase More Than Expected

By Robert Dietz, Chief Economist
NAHB Eye on Housing
July 18, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Single-family housing starts declined in June to the lowest rate since July 2024 as elevated interest rates, rising inventories and ongoing supply-side issues continue to act as headwinds for the housing sector. Due to a solid increase in multifamily production, overall housing starts increased 4.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.32 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The June reading of 1.32 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts decreased 4.6% to an 883,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate and are down 10% compared to June 2024. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, increased 30% to an annualized 438,000 pace.

Read More

US Builder Confidence Edges Up in July

By Robert Dietz, Chief Economist
NAHB Eye on Housing
July 17, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Builder confidence for future sales expectations received a slight boost in July with the extension of the 2017 tax cuts, but elevated interest rates and economic and policy uncertainty continue to act as headwinds for the housing sector. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 33 in July, up one point from June. Builder sentiment has now been in negative territory for 15 consecutive months. …Consistent with ongoing weakness for the HMI, single-family housing starts will post a decline in 2025 due to ongoing housing affordability challenges per the latest NAHB forecast. Single-family permits are down 6% on a year-to-date basis and builder traffic in the HMI is at a more than two-year low. …The HMI index gauging current sales conditions rose one point in July to a level of 36 while the component measuring sales expectations in the next six months increased three points to 43.

Read More

‘Just look at what happened last time’: US exporters fear Trump trade war fallout

By Daniel Desrochers
Politico
July 16, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

President Donald Trump’s flurry of tariff letters to more two dozen countries has triggered new threats of retaliation. Key US industries are increasingly worried they are going to be collateral damage. The European Union on Monday released a targeted list of $88 billion worth of US goods it plans to tariff if it doesn’t make more progress in trade talks with Trump. Brazil, staring down a 50% duty on its exports to the US over Trump’s frustration with their domestic politics. …While the hardening battle lines in the negotiations could be part of each sides’ effort to force more concessions, domestic business groups aren’t counting on it. Instead, they are mobilizing to try and convince both the Trump administration and foreign governments that it would be a mistake to target their industries. …On Tuesday, the president dismissed the idea that the EU may go through with their proposed retaliatory tariffs.

Read More

US Inflation Picks Up as Tariffs Take Hold

By Fan-Yu Kuo
NAHB – Eye on Housing
July 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Inflation rose to a 4-month high in June as consumer prices began to reflect tariff policy. The Consumer Price Index increased from 2.4% in May to 2.7% in June year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report. Despite the increase, core inflation came in softer than expected, suggesting full tariff impacts will likely push inflation even higher in the coming months. Meanwhile, housing inflation continued to show signs of cooling and matched the lowest level since November 2021. During the past twelve months, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index rose by 2.7% in June, the highest since February 2025. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the “core” CPI increased by 2.9% over the past twelve months. A large portion of the “core” CPI is the housing shelter index, which increased 3.8% over the year, the lowest reading since November 2021.

Read More

Trump announces deal with Indonesia, EU releases list of counter-tariffs

Yahoo! Finance
July 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International

President Trump announced his team struck a trade deal with Indonesia on Tuesday and said details would be forthcoming. …The announcement comes after Trump unveiled a new batch of letters to over 20 trade partners outlining tariffs on goods imported from their countries beginning in August. The letters set new baseline tariff levels at 20% to 40% — except for a 50% levy on goods from Brazil. …Trump has also escalated tariff tensions with Canada, Mexico, and the European Union recently. On Thursday, Trump announced a 35% tariff on Canadian goods and followed that up with promises of 30% duties on Mexico and the EU. The EU has been preparing options for a trade deal, while also preparing an extensive list of counter-tariffs that would affect 72 billion euros ($84 billion USD) of American products should talks fail. “There will be a huge impact on trade,” the EU’s chief negotiator said Monday.

Related in the Associated Press: EU ministers plan countermeasures to Trump’s 30% tariffs

Read More

Stora Enso beats quarterly profit view, flags challenging market conditions in 2025

Stora Enso
Reuters
July 22, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

Finnish forestry group Stora Enso’s quarterly operating profit beat estimates on Wednesday, but the company expects subdued and volatile demand to persist through the rest of 2025. Stora Enso expects an adverse impact of “around or somewhat above” 100 million euros on the full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, due to the scaling up of a new consumer packaging board line at the Oulu site. The ramp-up had an impact of about 50 million euros in the second quarter. …The company’s adjusted operating profit, or EBIT, fell to 126 million euros ($147.8 million) in the second quarter, above analysts’ 122.7 million euro forecast, according to a poll by Vara Research. Its shares rose 5% in afternoon trading, while domestic peer UPM was up around 2%.

Read More

European pulp and paper sector remains resilient in uncertain times

By Steve Katz
Label & Narrow Web
July 11, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

The Cepi key statistics report 2024 shows that pulp and paper sector remained resilient in 2024, with a recovery that has partly offset the decline of 2021-2023. While regulatory conditions for global competitiveness is still an issue, sustainability and decarbonization remain priorities. Paper and Board consumption increased by 7.0% in 2024, slightly less than initially expected, but production recorded a higher rebound than first found in Cepi preliminary statistics, published in February (+ 5.9%). Final figures also confirm that the growth has been recorded across all segments of the pulp and paper industry. Packaging paper and board production leads the way with a 6.7% production increase and tissue paper production increased by 5.6%. Graphic paper, used for books, newsprint, and printing and writing paper, has at least temporarily halted a historical downward movement, with a production increase of 3.8% in 2024.

Read More

Wood, Paper & Green Building

LIttle known, often used forest service division faces elimination

By Jeff Tome
The Times Obseerver
July 12, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

The State, Private and Tribal Forestry division’s budget would be eliminated in a proposed bill in the Senate. The Forest Service division deals most directly with pests that affect forests. The State, Private and Tribal Forestry is the federal leader in providing technical and financial assistance to landowners and resource managers to help sustain the nation’s forests. The federal investment leverages the capacity of state agencies and partners to manage state and private lands and produce ecological, social and economic benefits for the American people. Part of that money goes locally to companies to invest in innovative ways to use lumber. Collins Pine in Kane, Pa., received a $300,000 grant to install dry kilns in 2024. …Nationally, the State, Private and Tribal Forestry division funds research into wood energy and the use of advanced wood products, such as cross laminated timber, in building construction.

Read More

University of Oregon-led team named National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines semifinalist

By Thuy Tran, University Communications
University of Oregon
July 16, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

A University of Oregon-led initiative to revolutionize the mass timber sector in the Pacific Northwest has been selected as a semifinalist in the highly competitive National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines program. “This significant step forward for the University of Oregon, and its project to build an even stronger mass timber industry in our state,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “Mass timber is revolutionizing the construction business with better and safer buildings. The U of O deserves major credit for earning this honor and I am confident it has both the capacity and talent to fully develop the employment and economic benefits of mass timber.” …The NSF Engine: Oregon Mass Timber Innovation Engine, led by principal investigator Judith Sheine, professor of architecture in the UO College of Design and director of design of the TallWood Design Institute, is among just 29 semifinalist teams nationally. 

Read More

Forestry

Australia NSW Forestry Corporation firefighters join international Canada deployment

By Forestry Corporation of New South Wales
Australian Rural & Regional News
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, International

Forestry Corporation firefighters from Tumut and Deniliquin will deploy to Canada this week to reinforce local and international crews battling ongoing wildfires, where close to five million hectares have been burnt, approximately 150 wildfires remain active, and multiple communities have been evacuated. Forestry Corporation’s Linda Cotterill of Tumut will deploy to the position of Divisional Supervisor in Alberta and Peter O’Toole of Deniliquin will deploy as an Incident Management Team Safety Officer in Manitoba. The firefighters will be based in Canada for four weeks, working in challenging conditions. …The deployment follows a formal request for assistance through international firefighting agreements and highlights the strong collaboration between Australia and Canada in emergency response. It is the third Forestry Corporation deployment to Canada this winter, with eight Forestry Corporation staff deployed in June and currently completing month-long deployments.

Read More

‘Special circumstances’ allow contractor’s appeal notice to be filed

By Bob Mackin
The Penticton Herald
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A contractor’s appeal of a B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) order to pay more than $1.8 million in compensation and penalties will be heard after a May 22 decision by the Forest Appeals Commission. Panel chair Ian Miller found “special circumstances” led to last summer’s two-day delay in filing a notice to appeal and granted the extension to Jaikle Contracting. “The delay was brief, the explanations and reasons are reasonable and credible, and there would be substantial prejudice to the appellant if the right to appeal is denied,” said Miller’s ruling. On July 12, 2024, designated decision maker Laurence Bowdige of BCWS issued a contravention order against Jaikle, under the Wildfire Regulation, for harvesting timber near Mackenzie in August 2021. “Specifically, that the appellant did not keep an adequate fire suppression system at the activity site while carrying out a high-risk activity within 300 metres of forest land,” said the Miller ruling.

Read More

Vancouver Park Board staff seeks approval to advance Stanley Park tree removal

By Akshay Kulkarni
CBC News
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver Park Board staff are seeking commissioners’ approval to proceed with the next phase of a tree removal project in Stanley Park due to an extensive looper moth infestation. Work has been underway to cut down thousands of trees in Vancouver’s biggest park since the summer of 2023, due to fire and public safety risks posed by dead and dying trees. …While the tree removal plan has faced sharp criticism staff say they have a plan that will see the least number of trees removed. “This aims to balance key public safety risks resulting from the hemlock looper outbreak while leaving a moderate extent of internal forest areas to undergo natural forest stand regeneration,” the staff motion says of its preferred approach. If commissioners approve of the staff plan, planning for tree removal and mitigation work would begin later this year and conclude in the first quarter of 2027.

Read More

Wildfire, tornado researchers look for answers in Jasper’s charred forest

By Matthew Scace
The Canadian Press in the Prince George Citizen
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lori Daniels

ALBERTA — Lori Daniels and a team of researchers plan to let a hand-held GPS guide them to more than 100 spots in the charred forest around Jasper, Alberta. At each location… they’ll be asking: how bad was the fire? …”I’ve seen a lot of devastating fires across BC in the last decade. I’ve spent a lot of time in burnt forest,” said Daniels, a professor and co-director at the University of BC’s Centre for Wildfire Coexistence. “And I have to say, there are parts of the Jasper fire that were absolutely shocking.” …The researchers want to know whether more than 20 years of forest management affected the fire’s behaviour as it barrelled toward the townsite. Parks Canada had done extensive work to thin the overgrown forest surrounding the town during that two-decade period, said Daniels. She said she believes much of Jasper is still standing because of Parks Canada’s efforts, including prescribed burns and trimming trees.

Related coverage in The Albertan: Jasper, Parks Canada officials giving tours, remarks ahead of wildfire anniversary 

Read More

Fears of a massive fish die-off in Cowichan River if conditions don’t improve

By Michael John Lo
The Peak
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Warm temperatures, low river flows and declining water quality are sparking fears of another mass fish die-off in the Cowichan River this summer. The Cowichan Watershed Board said river conditions this summer “mirror” those of 2023, when an estimated 84,000 to 100,000-plus fish died after prolonged drought and heat. Samples recently collected from six points along the Cowichan River show the water is seeing significant daily fluctuations in pH and dissolved oxygen levels similar to those of 2023. …Weir flows were reduced this spring so more water could be maintained in the summer. Researchers are also looking to identify, protect and improve cold-water refuge areas along the river that could provide fish a respite from the heat when waters warm. …Built in the 1950s to provide water for the pulp mill at Crofton, the Cowichan weir is owned and operated by Domtar.

Read More

Burlington recognized for the third time as a world wide forestry leader

The Burlington Gazette
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

BURLINGTON, Ontario — Burlington has once again been recognized as a tree city by the World Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This marks the third consecutive year that the city has received this honor, highlighting Burlington continued leadership in urban forestry and our commitment to protecting and enhancing tree canopy. Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry, Enrico Scalera, said… “These standards demonstrate a commitment to urban forestry and sustainable practices, which our forestry group exemplifies each and every day for our city. We also invest in our urban forestry and tree canopy: this year’s total forestry budget is $5.48 million.” …Rico Scaleri: : “We’ve embraced innovation such as the Middle Way conversion project along the Crosstown trail, and have a partnership with the University of Toronto to monitor forest health using drone technology.”

Read More

Why are forest fires getting more frequent, intense in northern Ontario?

By Faith Greco
CBC News
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

As wildfires become more frequent and intense across Canada, fire officials are seeing stark differences between northwestern and northeastern Ontario. They say it all comes down to what’s burning, how it burns, and where. More than 2.2 million hectares have burned in Ontario’s northwest since 2015, compared with around 287,000 hectares in the northeast. “The three things that we need to consider are the weather, the fuels and the topography,” said Chelene Hanes, a wildland fire research scientist at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Northwestern Ontario typically gets a minimal amount of rain, whereas the northeast has a wetter climate and vast peatlands, she explained. …”On the [northwest] side of the province, and moving into the prairies, they’ve experienced a bit more drought, which is influencing the moisture of the fuels. So that is causing more ignitions to happen as well, because it’s drier,” Hanes said.

Read More

Canada Partners With Trees For Life to Grow Southern Ontario’s Urban and Suburban Canopy

Natural Resources Canada
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

WHITBY, Ontario — Ryan Turnbull, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance… highlighted a $4-million federal investment for tree-planting projects in urban and suburban areas in southern Ontario. Trees For Life will collaborate with planting partners to plant an average of 24,000 trees annually over five years, for a total of 120,000 trees in communities across southern Ontario. The collaboration with Trees For Life is already ahead of target, supporting the planting of 83,000 trees in southern Ontario with 35,000 trees planted in 2024 and 48,000 trees planted across 40 projects in 2025 to date. This project builds on a successful regional model piloted in the Durham Region. 

Read More

Potential Repeal of Roadless Rule Could Permanently Damage Midwest National Forests

By Sarah Mattalian
Inside Climate News
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Brooke Rollins

Following the US Department of Agriculture’s rescission of a longstanding rule that protects thousands of acres of national forests against logging, experts say that the repeal would not only damage natural beauty, but also ignores the interests of Midwest residents and industries. …“This rollback of the rule harms all of the other uses of the national forests besides timber. It’s going to result in less wildlife habitat, less recreational opportunities for the American people, more sediment loading to surface waters. It’s just harmful all the way around, unless you’re in the logging industry or forest products industry,” said Andy Olsen, senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law and Policy Center. The rule still has to go through administrative procedures such as a public comment period and congressional hearings before it is officially repealed.

Read More

Trump admin plans ‘sprint’ on lifting logging bans

By Marc Heller
E&E News
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

The Trump administration aims to end the prohibition on logging on tens of millions of acres of roadless areas in national forests by the end of next year, according to a draft schedule at the Forest Service. The draft timeline… sets a schedule for drafting the new policy, conducting public comment sessions and consulting with tribes before making a final decision in November or December of 2026. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has already said she’s decided to rescind the roadless-area protections, which have blocked road construction, timber harvesting. The rule applies on 58.5 million of the forest system’s 193 million acres, with Alaska’s Tongass National Forest having the most in any one place. In a June 23 statement, Rollins said, “Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule.” [to access the full story an E&E News subscription is required]

Read More

Wildfire that consumed North Rim ignites tragic debate

By Peterr Aleshire
Payson Roundup
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

©NationalParkService

ARIZONA — The dawning debate about the wildfire that jumped containment lines and destroyed the iconic, Grand Canyon Lodge underscores the trap that has frozen forest management efforts for half a century. The slow-moving Dragon Bravo fire sudden flared into a monster illustrates the extreme difficulty of restoring forest health after a century of clear cutting. …The National Park Service initially released reassuring bulletins suggesting fire crews would develop fire lines to contain the fire. …Then everything changed, as winds gusting to 40 miles an hour ushered in stormfronts. By July 12, the Dragon Fire had jumped containment lines. …The pattern Is all too familiar to fire ecology experts like ASU professor Stephen Pyne. He argues that… all-out fire suppression had increased tree densities across millions of acres of Northern Arizona from about 50 per acre to more like 1,000 per acre. …Moreover, construction of homes and towns in the most fire-prone landscapes has exploded.

Read More

Forest management is key to supporting the struggling Black Hills timber industry

By Ariana Schumacher
Doransfarmers.com
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SPEARFISH, South Dakota — The Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming are not only a beautiful tourist destination but also a major part of the agricultural industry. Many are working to maintain the important role of forest management as a way of supporting agriculture, economies and public health. Jeremy Dedic, forest partnership coordinator for Wyoming State Forestry said, “It’s not like we’re growing corn, but it’s growing plants, and we can manage that and get our results,” Dedic said. …“Most recently, we’ve had some of our larger operators having to scale back their operations,” said Marcus Warnke, state forester for South Dakota. …“Thinning our forest, giving our trees space so that they have enough water, sunlight and nutrients to be healthy and resilient to fire and bugs,” Pierson said. “Those activities produce logs that we bring to our sawmills and make boards out of for public sale.”

Read More

Oregon’s Forestry and Logging Industry: From Planting to Harvest

By Brian Rooney
The Newport News Times
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Forests cover more than 30 million of Oregon’s 62 million acres – almost half of the state’s landmass. According to the Oregon Employment Department’s covered employment statistics, forestry and logging’s 681 establishments employed 8,787 workers statewide and added $717 million in payroll to Oregon’s economy in 2024. The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) estimates logging harvests totaled 3.6 billion board feet in 2022. While much of this timber feeds Oregon’s wood products industry, creating jobs and income, many jobs are also created planting, growing, and harvesting this resource. …The high level of forestry activity in Oregon also creates demand for a support activities industry. …Employment Department projections show that the logging industry in Oregon is expected to lose about 200 jobs, or 5% between 2023 and 2033 partly due to continued mechanization. Other industries within timber production, such as timber tract operations and support activities for forestry do not have published Oregon Employment Department forecasts.

Read More

Governor Evers urges Trump to reverse course on cuts to staff, programs affecting Wisconsin’s forestry industry

WisPolitics
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Tony Evers

MADISON — Governor Tony Evers sent a letter to US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the Trump Administration urging immediate action to reverse the administration’s misguided cuts to key investments and staff at the USDA that will negatively impact Wisconsin’s forestry industry. The letter is the second in recent months that Gov. Evers has sent to the Trump Administration. …Gov. Evers strongly opposed reported reductions in US Forest Service programs that support states in order to cover the costs of purging USDA of its expert workforce. The letter comes after Wisconsin officials were recently warned by USFS officials to expect less funding from the Urban and Community Forestry grant program. …The move represents a twofold blow for states like Wisconsin that depend heavily on forests for economic success.

Read More

USDA, Bighorn National Forest reexamining roadless areas

By Alex Hargrave
The Buffalo Bulletin
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

WYOMING — The future of roadless areas in the Bighorn National Forest and other national forest system lands is uncertain after the Trump administration announced that it would rescind the 2001 roadless rule. …Of the Bighorn National Forest’s 1.1 million acres, 600,000 acres are managed as inventoried roadless areas. In these areas, road construction and reconstruction and timber harvesting are prohibited. Rollins’ action will require environmental analysis, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, tribal consultation and coordination with affected states, according to the U.S. Forest Service. So, at this point, how the proposal will impact forest management is uncertain. …Bighorn National Forest Supervisor Andrew Johnson said he planned to seek a technical correction to the forest’s roadless boundaries from Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. Johnson said that roughly 50% of the forest’s suitable timber base is located in areas designated as roadless.

Read More

A Sequoia Forest Grows in Detroit

By Michaela Haas
Reasons to be Cheerful
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Behind David Milarch’s desk in a large warehouse in rural Michigan grows the future of climate change solutions. Thousands of sequoias, coastal redwoods, oaks and a hundred other tree species form the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive (AATA), a living library of the world’s mightiest trees. These are not just any saplings — they all are descendants of so-called champion trees. …At 75, David Milarch is trying to save the world’s last old-growth forests from extinction — by using their DNA to help reverse climate change. …Cloning these giants is challenging. It involves scaling the trees to the high points where the newest growth sprouts, snipping off the most vital tips, and then coaxing them to root in a mix of soil and specialized hormones. While arborists believed it was impossible to clone redwoods older than 80 years because of their diminished vitality, Milarch proved them wrong.

Read More

Russia’s Timber Industry Faces Shutdowns Amid Sanctions, Strong Ruble and Slumping Demand

The Moscow Times
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Russia’s timber industry is warning of widespread production shutdowns as the sector reels from Western sanctions, declining demand and a surging ruble that has battered the country’s export competitiveness. …The Russian Association of Organizations and Enterprises of the Pulp and Paper Industry described the current moment as one of the industry’s most difficult periods in modern history. Industry data show that timber harvesting fell 13% in 2024 compared with pre-war levels in 2021, lumber production dropped 11% and plywood output declined 23%. Even pulp production, one of the sector’s more stable outputs, decreased by 3%. Major industry players including Segezha Group and ULK Group have been restructuring loans over the past two years in response to falling output, sliding prices and soaring costs. But the situation has continued to deteriorate, especially within the export-heavy pulp and paper sector. Compounding the problem is the Central Bank’s steep 20% key interest rate along with a hike in the profit tax rate from 20% to 25%.

Read More

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

No, David Suzuki hasn’t given up on the climate fight — but his battle plan is changing

By Bridget Stringer-Holden
CBC News
July 11, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

David Suzuki

Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki made headlines last week when he said in an interview with iPolitics that humanity has lost its fight against climate change. “We’re in deep trouble,” Suzuki told the outlet. “I’ve never said this before to the media, but it’s too late.” Though he made it clear that he hasn’t entirely given up, Suzuki says that rather than getting caught up in trying to force change through legal, political and economic systems, we now need to focus on community action. …But now, Suzuki says he’s changing his advice to environmental advocates. He says he hasn’t given up on finding solutions, just on waiting for governments and institutions to take meaningful action. …He recalls an MP he urged him to reach out across party lines to take action because climate change couldn’t remain political. The MP responded by saying he was worried about the next election.

Read More

Neither ‘Biofuel’ Nor Nuclear Will Solve Our Energy Problems

By Ben Parfitt
The Tyee
July 16, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West, International

…In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, Japan shut down not just Fukushima but all of its nuclear plants, a move that resulted in the loss of a third of its electrical power. …Japan faced a daunting energy crisis that it addressed… with conventional fuels such as natural gas and “bioproducts” including wood pellets derived from the logging of BC’s Interior forests. …Last year, roughly two million tonnes of those pellets arrived Japanese ports from BC, linked to a dozen mills in the province that make wood pellets derived from trees logged in the province’s rapidly dwindling primary forests — natural forests never previously subject to industrial logging. …Which means that in the name of creating allegedly clean energy, forests are being razed just to burn the wood. …The strain on the province’s stressed forests is [also] coming from other bioenergy producers, including those who want to use wood to make jet fuel.

Read More

Big New Brunswick emitters polluted less in 2023, but fell further behind targets

By Jacques Poitras
CBC News
July 15, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

New Brunswick’s biggest industrial carbon emitters pumped out lower amounts of greenhouse gases in 2023, but the reductions were not enough to keep pace with tightening emissions standards. The gap between the total emissions by the province’s 15 biggest industrial polluters and their regulated emissions limits grew larger, according to numbers from the provincial government. That left them paying more under the province’s credit-trading carbon pricing system. Even so, that system is gaining traction, with more of those credits changing hands. …New Brunswick’s industrial carbon price is based on a credit trading system, a financial incentive for the 15 largest industrial emitters to stay below their emissions standards. If they do, they earn what are called performance credits they can sell for a profit. Plants that go above their standards must buy credits, adding to their cost. …The 15 big emitters collectively bought $21.1 million worth of fund credits in 2023, up from $12.6 million in 2022.

Read More

New Brunswick Power’s plan to burn wood pellets under fire

By John Chilibeck
The Telegraph-Journal
July 13, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

NB Power’s estimated $300-million plan to convert its biggest plant in northern New Brunswick from burning coal to wood pellets would be environmentally damaging and waste a lot of energy, warns a new report. The Conservation Council of New Brunswick, an environmental organization looked at the plan. …They came up with findings that are at odds with NB Power’s rosy view. Running the plant full time on wood pellets, the critics said, would need more offcuts, forcing NB Power to import fuel from Europe. Furthermore, they warn that sourcing as much wood as possible locally would hurt the forest ecology. And lastly, they argue that burning pellets to create electricity is hugely inefficient and would drive up greenhouse gas emissions. …Energy Minister René Legacy told Brunswick News his department would take a close look at the report. But he alluded to the more than 100 jobs NB Power has created.

Read More

Maine Enacts New Reporting Requirement for Landowners Enrolled in Forest Carbon Credit Initiatives

By Brook Letterman & Joseph Ruggiero
The Law Review
July 20, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

On May 23, 2025, Maine’s Governor Janet Mills signed into law “An Act to Require Landowners to Report Their Participation in a Forest Carbon Program or Project”. The new law requires landowners enrolled in forest carbon credit programs or projects to report, on an annual basis, basic data on their participation in such programs to the state of Maine. …The purpose of the reporting requirement is to provide the state with visibility into the emerging carbon credit market and the amount of land in Maine enrolled in such programs. …However, a potential challenge arises if these credits are sold in external markets to offset emissions elsewhere. Maine’s robust forest products industry also has an interest in understanding how carbon credit project enrollment may impact the overall amount of land available for harvest.

Read More

Health & Safety

Forestry worker dies in workplace accident on Sunshine Coast

By Laura Brougham
Chek News
July 14, 2025
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ron Hollingsworth

A forestry worker, who a GoFundMe says was a dedicated logger, loving husband and father of three, died in a workplace accident on the Sunshine Coast. The GoFundMe identifies the man as Ron Hollingsworth. …RCMP confirmed it was informed of a fatal incident on July 10 shortly before 10 a.m. on Goat Island in Powell Lake. “RCMP Air Services provided immediate support in transporting officers to the scene, where it was confirmed one person was deceased,” RCMP said in an email to CHEK News. WorkSafeBC and the BC Coroner both confirmed they were investigating the death, and both said as the investigation is ongoing no further details could be released. Aaron Gunn, MP for North Island-Powell River, shared the news of the death on Facebook. …“This serves as a reminder of the inherent risks many of our resource workers face on a daily basis, and how they all deserve our respect and support.”

Read More

Combustable dust training workshop help in Prince George, BC

By Tammy Carruthers, SAFE Companies
Canadian Forest Industries
July 14, 2025
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

A Combustible Dust Training Institute workshop was held in Prince George, BC. The training session underscored the importance of practical applications and strategic initiatives for controlling combustible dust hazards in the workplace. The training included two days of classroom training and a practical application of learnings at the Lakeland sawmill, part of Sinclar Forest Products. The training highlighted the critical role of housekeeping programs in managing dust accumulations and preventing hazardous conditions. …The workshop offered a comprehensive overview of practical applications and strategies for managing combustible dust hazards. Key takeaways included understanding building space evaluations, conducting Dust Hazard Analyses (DHAs), and the implementation of robust management systems and engineering controls. Continuous learning and adaptation were emphasized to ensure the safety of workers, facilities, and the environment.

Read More

Air quality statement continues as forest fire smoke lingers

The Bay Today
July 15, 2025
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada East

Environment Canada has once again issued a special air quality statement for the North Bay area. …Environment Canada says smoke is causing or expected to cause poor air quality and reduced visibility. “Smoke from forest fires over northern Ontario is causing poor air quality that may persist throughout the day for some areas,” EC stated. “As smoke levels increase, health risks increase. Limit time outdoors. Consider reducing or rescheduling outdoor sports, activities and events. …EC suggests when indoors, keep windows and doors closed as much as possible. “Protect your indoor air from wildfire smoke. Actions can include using a clean, good quality air filter in your ventilation system and/or a certified portable air cleaner that can filter fine particles.

Read More

Forest Fires

New fire on Mount Hood: Sheriff warns remote hikers ‘Leave immediately … Your life could be in great danger’

By Aimee Green
Oregon Live
July 17, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

MOUNT HOOD, Oregon — The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon issued a Level 3 (go now) evacuation order for a new, five-acre wildfire on Mount Hood that was first reported late in the morning about three miles northwest of Timothy Lake. As of 4 p.m., the evacuation order does not affect the campgrounds and trails immediately around Timothy Lake, a popular recreational spot about 90 minutes from Portland. But helicopters are scooping large buckets of water from the lake to suppress the fire. Firefighters on the ground also have started an “aggressive initial attack,” the U.S. Forest Service said. The evacuation order affects a two-mile radius around the much smaller Dinger Lake and includes Anvil Lake and the Anvil Lake Trail 724. The order so far only affects remote campsites and hikers. …Dubbed the Anvil fire, it is burning near Forest Road 5820.

Read More

Historic lodge destroyed in Grand Canyon blaze

By Bernd Debusmann
BBC News
July 14, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

©NPS Photo/M. Quinn

ARIZONA — A raging wildfire near the Grand Canyon in the US has destroyed dozens of buildings – including a historic lodge that was the only accommodation available within the surrounding national park’s North Rim. The fire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge is one of two that has swept across tens of thousands of acres in the area. The blazes have also forced the closure of the North Rim for the remainder of the 2025 tourist season. Authorities in the state of Arizona are still working to contain the fires, which have been dubbed the Dragon Bravo Fire and White Sage Fire. …No injuries are reported to have been caused by the blaze, which was fuelled by sustained winds that reached up to 40mph. But preliminary assessments from the National Park Service indicate that 50 to 80 buildings have been lost to the Dragon Bravo Fire, including administrative buildings and visitor facilities.

Related coverage in CBS News: Historic Grand Canyon Lodge destroyed by wildfire in Arizona, while smoke from Canadian fires hits Upper Midwest
 

Read More