Blog Archives

Business & Politics

RONA Becomes the First Home Improvement and Construction Retailer on DoorDash in Canada

DoorDash
November 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

RONA, one of Canada’s leading home improvement retailers, with 425 corporate and affiliated stores, is now partnering with DoorDash, to offer on-demand delivery in as fast as an hour. This partnership spans nearly 200 RONA+ and RONA corporate stores located in seven provinces and over 150 cities across the country. RONA is now the first home improvement and construction retailer on DoorDash in Canada. …”By teaming up with DoorDash, RONA is offering a solution that reflects consumers’ new shopping habits and is further positioning itself as a leader in the industry,” said Catherine Laporte at RONA. “We’re proud to welcome RONA to DoorDash as the first home improvement and construction retailer on our platform in Canada,” said Kyra Huntington, of DoorDash Canada. “We’re looking forward to saving a panicked trip to the store when time is of the essence for home improvement projects.”

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Trump quietly holds off on Canada tariff increase

By Ari Hawkins
Politico
November 23, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

President Donald Trump has yet to follow through on his threat to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian imports, four weeks after he halted “all trade negotiations” over an anti-tariff ad the province of Ontario ran. Trump’s announcement had Canadian exporters preparing for a worst-case scenario: a sweeping levy layered on top of existing double-digit duties. …The White House did not say whether it still plans to impose the tariff when asked for comment. But a separate US official suggested the Trump administration had opted to hold off on additional duties — which would have sent tariffs on Canadian goods to 45% — and instead continue to dangle the threat as the two sides gear up for future talks. “The Canadians know what’s on the table,” said the official. Volpe said a personal intervention by Carney in Asia last month may have helped matters, too.

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Dairy, whiskey, wine and steel: American industries weigh in on trade pact review

By Kelly Geraldine Malone
The Canadian Press in National Newswatch
November 21, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

WASHINGTON — American industries ranging from whiskey makers and Wisconsin dairy producers to steel and automobile associations are weighing in on the future of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. The continental trade pact, known as CUSMA, is up for mandatory review next year and the Office of the United States Trade Representative has been collecting input on the changes it should consider. CUSMA has been rattled by U.S. President Trump’s massive tariff agenda and many of the submissions urged the administration to restore duty-free trade. The Can Manufacturers Institute wrote to the Trump administration saying steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada are making their products more expensive and causing prices in grocery stores to increase. …The United States Steel Corporation said tariffs on that metal should remain indefinitely. The submissions provide insight into areas that could become irritants in looming negotiations on the critical trilateral trade pact.

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ThirdGen Timber Group Acquires Majority Stake in Canadian Timberframes

By ThirdGen Timber Group
Cision Newswire
November 19, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

MUSKOKA, Ontario and GOLDEN, BC – ThirdGen Timber Group, parent company of True North Log & Timber Homes and Legacy North Construction Management, has announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Canadian Timberframes, one of Canada’s most respected and established timber frame manufacturers. This transformational partnership brings together Canada’s leading log and timber manufacturers. …Mark Wrightman, Co-Owner of ThirdGen Timber Group, “Together, we’re building the most complete log and timber offering in North America — expanding our ability to deliver complex projects, innovate in sustainable design, and create new opportunities for our people and partners.” …Jeff Bowes, President of Canadian Timberframes, “By joining ThirdGen Timber Group, we can expand our reach and capabilities while continuing to deliver the exceptional projects we’re known for.”

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Why a lack of access to timber is leading to B.C. mill closures, job losses

By Akshay Kulkarni
CBC News
November 24, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The looming closure of a lumber mill in central BC is highlighting the forestry industry’s challenges in accessing an economically viable timber supply — with one academic urging an “emergency response” to deal with it. West Fraser Timber  announced it would shut its mill in 100 Mile House by the end of the year. BC’s forestry industry has taken major hits over the last few years, as escalating US duties on softwood lumber imports have piled atop challenges like a major beetle infestation and wildfires, leading to thousands of jobs lost. …UBC professor Gary Bull explained that to have an “economically viable fibre supply,” it needs to make sense financially for a company to transport logs from a forest to its mill. And the viability is complicated by the fluctuating price of lumber. …Bull estimated that insect outbreaks and wildfires have contributed to a 50 to 60 per cent reduction in available fibre near 100 Mile House.

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BC Distinguished Professional Forester Bruce Devitt dies at 92

Victoria Times Colonist
November 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bruce Devitt

Shy of his 93rd birthday, Bruce Devitt passed away peacefully on Nov 8, 2025 surrounded by family. Born in Burnaby BC, Bruce grew up in Bridge River near Lillooet. Bruce graduated from the University of BC with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry in 1957. He was Forester in charge of Seed & Nurseries for the Province; he joined Pacific Logging in 1972; he was Chief Forester for Canadian Pacific Forest Products and executive VP of the BC Professional Foresters Association. …Bruce served as a director of Pacific Regeneration Technologies Management, and worked for the Provincial Forest Appeals Board and the Environmental Appeals Board. …Bruce received recognition from his fellow foresters in 1983 when he received the Distinguished Foresters Award. Bruce holds the Western Forestry Lifetime Achievement Award (1991) and the Canadian Forestry Achievement Award (1995). …In lieu of flowers donations to: Vancouver Island Prostate Cancer.

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The fault lines in B.C.’s ‘Go West’ economic plan

By Kirk LaPointe
Business in Vancouver
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The BC NDP’s new Go West agenda bills itself as the most ambitious economic strategy in a generation. It purports to be a 10-year sprint for “nation-building” projects, a magnet for $200 billion in private investment, swifter permits and a pipeline of skilled workers to fill the gaps. On paper, it suggests a province ready to grow up economically, and not a moment too soon. Public finances are a shambles. Investment eludes us. As critical industries, mining is mired, energy is enervated, forestry is forlorn. …Premier David Eby calls Look West part of his new “relentless and remorseless” approach. …The problem is how development actually works in a province bound by geography, litigation and a fragile relationship with Indigenous nations. …Many of the promised terminals, ports, transmission lines and mining corridors have been queued for years. …Bill 15, which lets cabinet declare “provincially significant” projects, might speed things up but raises legal risks.

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Large fire breaks out at former sawmill on banks of Fraser River in Delta, BC

By Cheryl Chan
The Vancouver Sun
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC — A large fire broke out on the banks of the Fraser River in Delta on Thursday morning. Fire crews from Delta and Surrey were called between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. to the former sawmill under demolition north of the Alex Fraser Bridge on Alaska Way. The land is owned by the Port of Vancouver and the organization confirmed the fire is at the site of the former mill. There are currently no impacts to port operations. …The fire broke out on the site of the former Acorn mill, which stopped operations after a blaze in April 2024. The sawmill was built in 1963 and was acquired by forestry giant Interfor in 2001. It was used primarily to cut specialty timber for traditional Japanese home construction. In 2022, the mill was purchased by San Group, a Langley-based forestry firm. The company filed for creditor protection last November.

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Lumber Tariffs Are Killing My Logging Town

By Surinderpal Rathor, Mayor of Williams Lake
Maclean’s Magazine
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Surinderpal Rathor

I moved from Punjab to Williams Lake, B.C., in 1974. At age 21. …Williams Lake is an industry town at heart. When you drive in, you see stacks of processed wood in the lumber factories and massive trucks rumbling to nearby mines. A railway that transports our products to the rest of Canada runs through the town. …Since then, it’s grown to become the biggest industry in our region. …Much of the wood from Williams Lake gets sold across the border. …For a long time, the US has been Canada’s best customer for wood, but it may be time to diversify our customer base. In a twisted way, the tariff has been a wake-up call to reduce our reliance on the US and think seriously about developing our Asian export market. The practice of selling primarily to the US hasn’t been sustainable for a while, and it’s time to finally do something about it.

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If I was PM, we’d have a tariff-free softwood lumber deal

By Andrew Waugh
The Telegraph-Journal
November 23, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Pierre Poilievre says he’d succeed where Prime Minister Mark Carney has failed, and that New Brunswick’s softwood lumber sector would quickly get a “tariff-free” deal with the US if he was in charge. …Ottawa responded by releasing a financial aid package for the industry that includes up to $700 million in federal loans, “$500 million to supercharge product and market diversification. …Poilievre said that “one of my top priorities as prime minister will be to go down to Washington, get a deal on lumber, make the pitch that they will get more affordable homes if we can get tariff-free access to their market.” …MP Dominic LeBlanc sent a statement…. “In the coming weeks, we will take further urgent action, building on the significant support for the sector announced on August 5, 2025. In addition, Build Canada Homes, a new federal agency that will build affordable housing at scale, will prioritize the use of Canadian-made materials. [Access may require a Telegraph-Journal subscription]

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‘Cultural break’: U.S. senators say relations with Canadian neighbours are suffering

By Michael MacDonald
CBC News
November 23, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

Angus King

The tariffs imposed on Canada by US President Trump have clearly caused economic pain for Canada, but a US senator from Maine says he’s more worried about how Canadians are reacting on a personal level. “Like any neighbours, there’s always going to be issues back and forth, and we’ve been fighting about softwood lumber for as long as I could remember,” Angus King told an international security conference in Halifax on Saturday. “But the deeper problem is the cultural break; the idea that Canadians don’t think of Americans as their friends and neighbours, but as adversaries.” The annual Halifax International Security Forum that opened Friday has attracted more than 300 delegates from around the world, including politicians, academics, government officials, military leaders and non-government organizations. …King said the lingering rift between Canadians and Americans is particularly troubling in a state that borders on New Brunswick and Quebec.

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Nova Scotia Forestry Innovation Transition Trust commits $1.8M for forestry innovation projects

By Jennifer Heudes
CTV News
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The Nova Scotia Forestry Innovation Transition Trust is investing $1.8 million to assist private landowners and forest contractors in finding new markets for underutilized wood fibre and to support sustainable forestry management. According to a news release, the Association for Sustainable Forestry will use $800,000 over the next year to help private landowners and forest contractors find new and more efficient ways of harvesting, transporting and selling low-grade fibre. It will also help reduce the risk of wildfires through the removal of material that would normally be left on the forest floor. …“With this funding, we will be able to help them actively manage their woodlots,” said Todd Burgess, of Forest Nova Scotia. …Forest Nova Scotia will use $1 million over two years to help woodlot owners develop and maintain access roads into their woodlots. The funding will allow owners to harvest more wood and lower the risk of wildfires.

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Nova Scotia government to bid on Northern Pulp assets

By Michael Gorman
CBC News
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The Nova Scotia government will bid on the assets of Northern Pulp, which include extensive timberlands. Potential bidders had a deadline of Nov. 20 to declare their intentions. Government officials confirmed the plan. The Northern Pulp mill at Abercrombie Point in Pictou County ceased operations in January 2020 after the company failed to get environmental approval for a new effluent treatment facility. …In August, a BC Supreme Court Justice approved an initial bid of $104 million for the company assets, which include about 162,000 hectares of timberland, and a nursery and seed orchard in Debert. That initial bid from an Ontario-based company called Macer Forest Holdings Inc., would have stood up in the absence of any other parties declaring an interest by Thursday’s deadline. With the provincial government making it at least two parties in the process, Macer’s bid will be the starting point for an auction to be held Nov. 27.

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Suspension of operations at Arbec OSB mill in Amos, Quebec reignites urgency for a forest industry strategy

Unifor Canada
November 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

AMOS, Quebec – Unifor Quebec has responded with anger and concern in the wake of the announcement by Arbec Forest Products that it will suspend operations at its OSB mill in Amos for an indefinite period starting December 20. This decision will impact nearly 100 workers. “Behind every ‘market analysis’ and every ‘difficult decision,’ there are families losing their income, communities becoming poorer, and a region once again facing uncertainty about its future,” said Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier.  According to information provided by the employer, the company is suspending operations, not dismantling the mill, and the assets will be maintained and secured. Unifor sees clear potential for Arbec’s facilities in Amos and insists that every effort must be made to ensure their recovery. Unifor points out that this announcement comes on top of a series of closures, slowdowns and suspensions in the forestry sector that have particularly impacted regions of Quebec. 

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King, Collins Urgently Request Certainty on Tariffs for Maine’s Forest Products Industry

By Angus King and Susan Collins
Office of Angus King
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Angus King

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are urgently requesting tariff relief for Maine’s forest products industry. …The Maine forest products industry is deeply interconnected with Canada. Last year alone, Maine exported roughly 2 million tons of wood. Similarly, and within the same time frame, Maine imported 2.3 million tons of wood. …“We are aware that the Administration is considering measures to provide aid to agricultural industries that cannot weather the headwinds in global markets as a result of the tariffs. Accordingly, we believe that the forestry products industry should be eligible and included in any relief program. …“In closing, we are supportive of the Administration’s goal to strengthen domestic manufacturing and the U.S. forestry industry. However, as trade negotiations continue, we ask that you provide prompt relief to our hardworking forestry product manufacturers so they can thrive now and for years to come,” the Senators concluded.

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U.S. Lumber Coalition Responds to Governor Healey Misstatements Regarding Softwood Lumber

By Zoltan van Heyningen
The US Lumber Coalition
November 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Zoltan van Heyningen

WASHINGTON — Massachusetts Governor Healey recently echoed misleading talking points by Canada and the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) that US duties and tariffs against unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports cause housing pricing affordability issues. …The US Lumber Coalition is urging Governor Healey to reconsider siding with Canada and its well known and documented unfair and harmful trade practices against hundreds of thousands of US workers, thousands of US forestry dependent communities, millions of private U.S. landowners, and hundreds of US lumber companies. …”Governor Healey, like all US governors, should be for US industry and workers, and should understand the facts before taking sides with foreign industries,” stated Zoltan van Heyningen. …”The Governor and her staff would do well to understand that… it is Canadian softwood lumber companies who pay virtually all of the duties and tariffs, not U.S. consumers. 

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USDA helps Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises expand sawmill in Shawano County, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Politics News Service
November 19, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

STEVENS POINT, Wisconsin – USDA Rural Development Wisconsin State Director Andrew Iverson announced the Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises (TPCE) will use a Rural Development loan of $800,000 to re-open and expand the former Hoffman Wood Fiber sawmill in Shawano County. This investment is through the Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program (TPEP). TPCE will use guaranteed loan funds to purchase over 49 acres of real estate and equipment. The equipment will allow TCPE to improve the efficiency of manufacturing wood chips. The project also includes plans to expand capabilities of the site to manufacture new, higher-value products from the same raw materials. The project will create six jobs. …TPCE plans to implement a detailed process to improve productivity involving processes in the wood yard and chip mill. Installation of an automatic log feed deck will help increase production from 2,500 to 4,000 tons per month.

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Finance & Economics

US consumer sentiment little changed in November

The University of Michigan
November 21, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer sentiment was little changed this month with a 2.6 index point decrease from October that is within the margin of error. After the federal shutdown ended, sentiment lifted slightly from its mid-month reading. However, consumers remain frustrated about the persistence of high prices and weakening incomes. This month, current personal finances and buying conditions for durables both plunged more than 10%, whereas expectations for the future improved modestly. By the end of the month, sentiment for consumers with the largest stock holdings lost the gains seen at the preliminary reading. This group’s sentiment dropped about 2 index points from October, likely a consequence of the stock market declines seen over the past two weeks. Year-ahead inflation expectations inched down from 4.6% last month to 4.5% this month. This marks three consecutive months of declines, but short-run inflation expectations still remain above the 3.3% seen in January. 

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US Existing Home Sales Rise in October

By Fan-Yu Kuo
NAHB Eye on Housing
November 20, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Existing home sales rose to an eight-month high in October as buyers took advantage of lower mortgage rates, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Resale inventory improved from a year ago but remained below pre-pandemic levels. Relatively tight supply continued to push home prices higher and challenge housing affordability. …Mortgage rates hovered between 6.5% and 7% earlier this year due to economic and tariff uncertainty. However, with the Fed resuming rate cuts in September, mortgage rates have fallen gradually. As of October 30th, the average mortgage rate decreased to 6.17%, the lowest in over a year. …Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rose 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.10 million in October, the highest level since February. On a year-over-year basis, sales were 1.7% higher than a year ago.

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Suzano–Kimberly-Clark joint venture will not impact pulp volumes on the market, executive says

Tissue Online
November 21, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

Suzano, the world’s largest pulp producer and Kimberly-Clark formed this year a global joint venture in the tissue market, with operations in more than 70 countries and a US$ 1.734 billion investment. …“We have spoken with three to four manufacturers about shifting from a verticalized model to an integrated model with Suzano, but nothing is definitive. If it happens, we will remove volume from lower-margin markets to supply these clients,” said Leonardo Grimaldi. …Grimaldi emphasized that the joint venture will not affect the pulp volumes the company sells on the market. …According to the company, 15% of global short-fiber pulp production currently operates with negative margins, a percentage even higher for long fiber. In this context, Grimaldi described the current price level as “unsustainable” and expects an increase in permanent closures or unplanned maintenance shutdowns in the second half of the year.

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China Tightens Recycled Pulp Import Restrictions: Global Ripple Effects on Paper and Recycling Industries

ResourceWise Forest Products Blog
November 20, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

China’s recent environmental policy shift is transforming the global recycled pulp market. After years of tightening restrictions on solid waste imports, China has now expanded its scope even further by banning certain types of recycled pulp. This development highlights the country’s ongoing goal to eliminate “foreign garbage” and improve the quality and sustainability of its locally produced paper. …In January 2021, China fully implemented the National Sword policy — a sweeping ban on most solid waste imports, including unsorted and recycled paper. …In October 2025, China took its environmental agenda a step further by targeting specific types of recycled pulp — particularly those processed through dry-milling techniques. …The new restrictions have rippled across the global paper recycling supply chain. Exporters that previously relied on China’s massive demand are scrambling to find alternative markets, while Chinese paper producers face delays and shortages in pulp supply.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

How building codes shaped material, social, and environmental landscapes in American cities

By Benjamin Schneider
The Architect’s Newspaper
November 21, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

The Type V City by Jeana Ripple, a professor of architecture at the University of Virginia. Ripple examines how the spread of wood-frame “Type V” buildings shaped the economies, social relations, and well-being of five American cities: Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Tampa, and Seattle. …Almost every American city contains neighborhoods dominated by wood frame construction–light, cheap, combustible, and requiring the lowest upfront investment of labor and material in the building industry. Known as a Type V (five) construction in the terminology of building codes, these buildings became ubiquitous in the American urban landscape thanks to the abundance of timber, housing affordability aspirations, and the adoption of a uniform code. …By examining the development of building materials and codes alongside the environmental, social, economic, and political context of each city’s development, Ripple reveals previously overlooked connections between the power structures underpinning regulatory evolution and the impacts that lay just beyond the frame of city builders’ priorities. 

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Michigan officials announce mass timber project initiatives

By Dakota Smith
Woodworking Network
November 21, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

LANSING, Michigan — Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, along with Michigan State University, the Michigan Green Building Collaborative and WoodWorks, have announced a new initiative program for mass timber projects being built in the state. …Although mass timber is not yet produced in Michigan, construction using mass timber has grown significantly. That increased demand, combined with Michigan’s forest resource signals significant potential for mass timber manufacture here. …The new program provides financial and technical support to project teams engaged in the early planning and design phases of new projects that use mass timber as a primary structural or architectural material. …Project teams that receive awards – ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 – will participate in a cohort led by MassTimber@MSU and WoodWorks. …“WoodWorks is proud to partner with the Michigan Mass Timber Catalyst Program to accelerate the adoption of mass timber for new construction projects throughout Michigan,” said Jennifer Cover, CEO of WoodWorks.

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Biodegradable glitter solution proposed to combat microplastics

By Jonathan Pert
Print Monthly
November 21, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Futamura, a Japanese manufacturer of cellulose films and packaging products, has announced a solution to help reduce the quantities of microplastics generated from glitter products. Microplastics are defined as plastic particles less than 5mm in size, which can be either intentionally manufactured at that size (primary microplastics) or created when larger plastic items break down (secondary microplastics). Glitter has been particularly criticised in recent years for its contribution to microplastic pollution in oceans and soil. According to Futamura, biodegradable glitter can be created from its NatureFlex materials [wood pulp], which will safely degrade in the environment it was disposed of after use without producing harmful microplastics. …Currently, glitter based on conventional plastics can still be sold into cosmetic applications due to a transition period granted under the EU’s Microplastics Regulation. However, once this period ends cosmetic applications will also be banned.

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UK Wood Awards 2025 winners announced

By David Hopkins, Timber Development UK
The Timber Trades Journal
November 21, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

A transformation of the Natural History Museum’s grounds, including a new café and education building, has been named the UK’s best new timber project, having won the Gold Award at the Wood Awards 2025 last night. …Combining a Douglas fir glulam timber frame with a load-bearing masonry façade, the café features a stepped roof with a glazed lantern and openable panels for natural ventilation. …The Urban Nature Project timber structures were designed by Feilden Fowles in collaboration with timber design specialist Xylotek, and structural engineering by engineers HRW. …“The UK’s long and proud tradition of timber construction is powerfully reflected in this year’s Gold Award winner,” said David Hopkins, CEO of Timber Development UK. Other winners on the night were: Bespoke Award: A Forest Datum; Interior Design Award: Pine Health; Residential: Chowdhury Walk; Commercial Award: New Wave House; Sustainability Award: New Wave House; and Production Furniture Award: The Levity Collection.

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Forestry

Mapping the climate niches of forest insects and diseases in Canada under current and future climate

By John Pedlar, Daniel McKenney & Glenn Lawrence
Nature
November 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

Insects and diseases are important disturbance agents in Canadian forests and there is concern that their impacts will intensify under climate change. Here we report on an effort to model and map the climate niches of more than 4000 forest insect and fungus species in Canada – including high-profile pest species that are already, or may soon become, established in the country. This work employs occurrence data from historical, national-scale forest insect and disease surveys. …We further employ national forest inventory products (gridded maps) to summarize forest host volumes at risk of infestation by selected insect and disease species. …We demonstrate use of the products through examples, including brown spruce longhorn beetle, southern pine beetle, oak wilt, and map overlays that show hotspots for bark beetles under current and projected climate. We hope this tool will help pest managers to better understand how these species may respond to projected climate change.

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Zombie fires: how Arctic wildfires that come back to life are ravaging forests

By Patrick Greenfield and Kristi Greenwood
The Guardian
November 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West, International

The return of cold and snow at the close of the year typically signal the end of the wildfire season. …Zombie fires, sometimes betrayed by a plume of steam emerging from the bubbling ground in the frozen forest, were once a rare occurrence in the boreal regions that stretch across the far north through Siberia, Canada and Alaska. But in a rapidly heating world, they are becoming increasingly common. The overwintering burns are small – and often hard to detect – but they are transforming fires into multi-year events. …“It is a massive problem,” says Lori Daniels, a professor at the University of BC. Current estimates show that only about 15% of the northern hemisphere is underlain by permafrost, yet these frozen soils contain roughly twice as much carbon than is now in the atmosphere. By burning slowly and at a lower temperature, they release vastly more particulate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than flaming fires.

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Return to sustainable levels key behind Annual Allowable Cut reduction near Vernon, BC

By Roger Knox
Vernon Morning Star
November 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The new allowable annual cut (AAC) for Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 49 near Vernon has been chopped. The cut, which is the maximum amount of timber that can be harvested each year, is now 150,500 cubic metres, and takes effect immediately. That’s a 26.2% reduction from the previous AAC. “That decision reflects a return to sustainable harvest levels following wildfire impacts in 2021 and 2023,” said the Ministry of Forests. “It considers updated land base and ecological considerations, including the removal of the Brown’s Creek area from the TFL, and reflects adjustments for increased riparian reserve buffers.” TFL 49 is held in the name of Tolko Industries of Vernon. BC Timber Sales also has volume apportioned. …“The new AAC considers current forest-management practices being implemented on the TFL for enhanced riparian buffers and retention of areas containing cultural heritage resources,” said the ministry. The chief forester’s AAC determination is an independent, professional judgment.

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Trump administration seeks to roll back protections for imperiled species and their habitat

By Matthew Brown and Susan Montoya Bryan
The Associated Press
November 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

BILLINGS, Montana — President Trump’s administration moved Wednesday to roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live, reviving a suite of changes to Endangered Species Act regulations from the Republican’s first term that were blocked under former Democratic President Joe Biden. The proposed changes include the elimination of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s “blanket rule” that automatically protects animals and plants when they are classified as threatened. Government agencies instead would have to craft species-specific rules for protections, a potentially lengthy process. The administration’s announcement answers longstanding calls for revisions to the Endangered Species Act from Republicans in Congress and industries including oil and gas, mining and agriculture. Critics argue the landmark 1973 environmental law has been wielded too broadly, to the detriment of economic growth. But environmentalists warned the changes could cause yearslong delays in efforts to save species such as the California spotted owl.

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Lawsuit Seeks Final Protection for California Spotted Owls

The Center for Biological Diversity
November 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for failing to finalize Endangered Species Act protections for California spotted owls. “The survival of the California spotted owl hangs by a thread and they desperately need protections,” said Noah Greenwald, at the Center for Biological Diversity. …In February 2023 the agency proposed protecting spotted owls in southern California as endangered and those in the Sierra Nevada as threatened, starting the clock on a one-year deadline to finalize protections. Those decisions are now more than two years overdue. The Center and partners first petitioned to protect the owls 25 years ago. …The U.S. Forest Service and the timber industry have instituted some protections for the spotted owl’s habitat, but damaging clearcutting and salvage logging persist. Combined with the increased risk of severe fire, these practices are resulting in continued loss of habitat.

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Longleaf Pine Through Time: How Centuries of Change Shaped a Forest and the Effort to Manage it

Mississippi State University Extension Service
November 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Historically, the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest extended for approximately 92 million acres across the southeastern US, from the Piedmont region to the Gulf Coastal Plain, and from Virginia to Texas. It was one of the most important species in different ecosystems supporting a complex web of life and human livelihoods for millennia. …However, less than 4% of the original longleaf range remains intact today, due to logging, fire exclusion, and land use change. Very few old-growth longleaf remnants exist only in four of the nine longleaf states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina), and some ecosystem types have no remaining representatives of the primary forest. Fortunately, a growing interest in restoring longleaf for wildlife habitat, climate resilience, and cultural heritage is sparking renewed efforts across public and private lands. This publication aims to track the origins and decline of the longleaf pine ecosystem from a historical and social point of view. 

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Minnesota forest management dispute hinges on age of aspen when it’s cut

By Dennis Anderson
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Minnesota Forest Industries executive vice president Rick Horton argues in this second installment of my interview with him that loggers don’t determine the age of aspen that is cut on state lands, the Department of Natural Resources does. The conflict is one of a handful of flashpoints that arose after the federal government withheld more than $20 million from the DNR for failing to document wildlife benefits of logging on state wildlife management areas — a controversy about which the Legislative Auditor also issued a critical report. In my November 14 column, I quoted a retired DNR forest wildlife planner and a retired DNR forester who said the state’s timber industry’s influence over the DNR threatens forest wildlife. Headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota Forest Industries represents the state’s approximately 69,000 Minnesotans who cut timber and manufacture lumber, siding and other wood and paper products. 

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Re-Balancing Europe’s Wood Resources

The Timber Trades Journal
November 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

EUROPE — Secure raw material availability is one of the biggest concerns facing the wood industries in the coming years against a backdrop of growing demand. With this in mind, the European Panel Federation has created a policy paper – Strategic Wood Availability, which charts ‘The growing gap between strategic need and ecological reality’. It is an important document that should elevate this important topic to a wide range of stakeholders, particularly policy makers in Europe. It’s a complex subject…and it is incumbent on the industry to have a good grasp of the issue and campaign effectively to ensure enough wood will be available in future decades. With wood-based panels being so necessary for uses in construction, furniture and design, while also having a great sustainability profile, it therefore follows that the industry needs to be supported with policies that are going to help it thrive.

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Council ready to start talks with Parliament on a targeted revision of the deforestation regulation

Council of European Union
November 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Council of European Union adopted its negotiating mandate on a targeted revision of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The aim is to simplify the implementation of the existing rules and to postpone their application to allow operators, traders and authorities to prepare adequately. …The Council supports the Commission’s targeted simplification of the due diligence process. The Council also pushes to introduce a uniform one-year postponement of the application of the regulation for all operators, until 30 December 2026, with an extra six-month cushion for micro and small operators. …The mandate maintains and adds on the simplification measures originally proposed by the Commission, focusing on reducing administrative burdens while preserving the objectives of the regulation. …The Council will start negotiations with the European Parliament in order to reach a final agreement in the coming weeks and before the current EUDR becomes applicable as of 30 December 2025.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Takeaways from the outcome of UN climate talks in Brazil

By Melina Walling, Anton Delgado and Seth Borenstein
The Associated Press
November 22, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

BELEM, Brazil — After two weeks of negotiations, this year’s UN climate talks ended Saturday with a compromise that some criticized as weak and others called progress. The deal finalized at the COP30 conference pledges more money to help countries adapt to climate change, but lacks explicit plans to transition away from the fossil fuels that heat the planet. …Leaders have been working on how to fight the impacts of climate change for a decade. To do that, every country had the homework of writing up their own national climate plans and then reconvened this month to see if it was enough. Most didn’t get a good grade and some haven’t even turned it in. …More than 80 countries tried to introduce a detailed guide to phase out fossil fuels. There were other to-do items on topics including deforestation, gender and farming. …”We started with a bang, but we ended with a whimper of disappointment,” said one negotiator.

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Federal budget fails to mandate climate disclosures, warns accountants group

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
November 20, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Canada’s latest federal budget has earmarked tens of billion dollars over the next decade to kick-start the country’s clean economy. But according to a national association of accountants, it has failed to adopt national climate disclosure standards to transparently assess what will work. The latest federal budget lays out federal government spending through a new Climate Competitiveness Strategy. It earmarks a rolling $2 billion toward a Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund and $6 billion for a Build Communities Stronger Fund (over 10 years) to build and retrofit local infrastructure and clean energy projects. …It also seeks to create and expand investment tax credits for clean electricity, technology and critical minerals. …But on Tuesday, Chartered Professional Accountants Canada CEO Pamela Steer warned the lack of consistent and verifiable financial disclosure measures means there’s no reliable way to understand how government spending truly reduces emissions.

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Ontario wants to bury carbon dioxide deep underground. Here’s what that means

By Olivia Bowden
The Narwhal
November 19, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

A new law, Bill 27, could allow for large-scale geologic carbon storage to reduce the emissions from industrial processes like natural gas power generation, cement and steel-making, but critics say it’s not a silver bullet. …Ontario’s associate minister Sam Oosterhoff is impressed by Suncor Energy. The company… “cares deeply about reducing emissions.” And Oosterhoff believes they should do it through a process known as carbon capture and storage. That’s why Ontario should pass new legislation that would enable this process for high-emitting industries like cement and steel. …Bruce Hart, an adjunct professor in earth sciences at Western University, said he’s optimistic about Ontario’s carbon storage plans, given the types of rock available in the southwestern part of the province. …Aly Hyder Ali, at Environmental Defence, characterizes it as a tactic that allows emitters to expand fossil fuel production, not a meaningful solution to climate change.

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COP30 was expected to deliver a historic commitment to halt deforestation

Forests News, Center for International Forestry Research
November 22, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

While the summit launched new financial instruments and strengthened the recognition of Indigenous rights, the final binding text is conspicuously silent on the one commitment that matters most right now: a concrete, mandatory roadmap to halt deforestation. …The Brazilian Presidency pushed hard for two ambitious roadmaps: one to phase out fossil fuels and one to halt deforestation. The strategy was to link them, acknowledging the obvious: we cannot save the Amazon if the world keeps warming. …The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change process proved unable to digest the complexity of the forest–climate nexus. We have effectively moved from a consensus-based approach to a plurilateral one, where progress rests on voluntary clubs of nations rather than global law. …If the political outcome disappointed, the financial and rights-based elements provide a measure of hope: The Tropical Forests Forever Faculty—a mechanism that pays nations for standing forests as an asset class, not just for avoided deforestation.

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COP30 pushes through uneasy climate deal that sidesteps fossil fuel concerns

Reuters in CBC News
November 22, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Brazil’s COP30 presidency pushed through a compromise climate deal on Saturday that would boost finances for poor nations coping with global warming but omitted any mention of the fossil fuels driving it. In securing the accord, Brazil had attempted to demonstrate global unity in addressing climate change impacts even after the world’s biggest historic emitter, the United States, declined to send an official delegation. But the agreement, which landed in overtime after two weeks of contentious negotiations in the Amazon city of Belém, exposed deep rifts over how future climate action should be pursued. …After tense overnight negotiations, the EU agreed on Saturday morning not to block a final deal but said it did not agree with the conclusion. …Panama’s climate negotiator, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, said “A climate decision that cannot even say ‘fossil fuels’ is not neutrality, it is complicity. And what is happening here transcends incompetence,” he said.

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COP30: Forests drive agricultural success, not conflict, report shows

UN FAO
November 19, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Belém, Brazil – Forests are at the heart of COP30 discussions in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belém. But less is said about how forests provide a vital support system for agriculture. Promoting synergies between the two is therefore essential for sustainable agrifood system transformation in the face of climate change, according to a report released today at COP30 in Brazil. Published jointly by the FAO, the Stockholm Environment Institute, Conservation International, and the Nature Conservancy, Climate and ecosystem service benefits of forests and trees for agriculture underscores how the often-overlooked services provided by forests and trees can strengthen agrifood systems. The report calls for policies, investment and better management to turn this evidence into action. The report draws on extensive research on how forests moderate temperatures, sustain rainfall and regulate the water cycle.

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