Mark Carney
Prime Minister Carney told his negotiators to walk away from the table after the Trump administration introduced late unacceptable demands on culture, autos and sovereignty that, when taken in concert with their overall approach to talks, revealed the US was not interested in a “true economic partnership” with Canada. In a departure from his usual diplomatic language, Carney suggested the US sometimes signs trade deals in “pencil,” and while Canada’s government is united and working together, the same is not true of the Trump administration. “We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked,” Carney said. The prime minister revealed that the US had issues with Canada’s subsidies for French culture; the prevalence of French-language media online and even the requirement to have bilingual labels on products sold in Canada. …”The U.S. introduced, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals,” Carney said.
Related coverage in:
- The Walrus: Mark Carney: Why I Rejected Trump’s Trade Deal
The US and Canada appear no closer to resolving their ongoing trade dispute. Here are five charts to help break it all down.
More than 20 lumber mills closed across B.C. over the last three years. Billions in wood products affected by U.S. tariffs. Tens of thousands of jobs lost in Canada. …While there are many factors driving the decline, recent U.S. tariffs haven’t helped. But Donald Trump is hardly the first U.S. president whose government has imposed steep duties on Canadian lumber. The tariffs are the latest chapter in a dispute that’s been going on for more than four decades. …It boils down to differences in how much Canadian and American producers have to pay for access to wood, according to 
OTTAWA — The federal government is replacing its counter-tariffs on seafood with 50% levies on a series of other American goods, according to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s office. …The decision to remove seafood from Canada’s list of counter-tariffs was made in part to avoid giving the appearance of escalation by Canada in the face of a simmering trade conflict with the United States, as the U.S. does not tariff Canadian seafood imports. Newly added to Canada’s list of counter-tariffs include: Wood charcoal; Printed matter, including printed pictures or photographs; Articles of plaster or of compositions based on plaster, including boards, sheets and tiles; Materials used in the conveyance or packing of goods, including bottles, flasks, jars and pots; And copper wire. On Tuesday, the federal government laid out its plan for countermeasures in the ongoing trade war, and announced a $7.5-billion support package for workers and businesses.
Barton: You know, it was just a week ago, incredibly, that you and your counterpart, Dominic LeBlanc, shook hands outside, seemed pretty confident that there was a deal to be had. From your perspective, what happened that caused the talks to collapse?
Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive for North Americans as the 
WASHINGTON — The US and Canada have 
The Domtar paper mill on the Port Alberni waterfront is the area’s biggest employer, with 350 people making specialized food packaging and food-grade papers. But in the light of a new round of 50% tariffs levied by US President Trump, Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions is worried about the future of those jobs. …In 2020, Domtar spent $13 million to switch production primarily to the food packaging grade paper, an important diversification at the time, but it’s unclear how much of it goes to the U.S. and would be subject to the new tariffs. …Industry analyst David Elstone says the entire BC forestry sector will be hit hard and it comes right after Domtar closed other mills, including at Crofton and Howe Sound. …”A billion dollars worth of BC wood products will now be subject to the new tariffs, including plywood, veneer, paper and packaging products, furniture, MDF and doors. And that’s what these tariffs go after: these value-added products,” said Elstone. 
TORONTO – United Steelworkers union (USW) National Director Marty Warren issued the following statement on the suspension of Canada-U.S. trade negotiations and the imposition of new 50% U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods: “Canada was right to hold the line rather than accept a deal that did not adequately protect Canadian workers, jobs and communities. We have said throughout these negotiations that no deal is better than a bad deal. The terms being discussed – including significant tariffs and restrictive quotas on Canadian steel and barriers across other key sectors – raised serious concerns for Canadian workers and industries. The new needless 50% tariffs coming into force today will have real consequences for workers, businesses and communities on both sides of the border. We support the government’s commitment to respond dollar for dollar, but retaliation alone is not enough. Ottawa must move quickly to support affected workers and industries. 
The Member of Parliament for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford is calling on the federal government to explore how it could potentially use the Crofton mill. MP Jeff Kibble is floating the idea of it being used by the Department of National Defense. …On Friday, crews were loading logs onto a ship at its deep sea port. It’s one of the key assets of the property that has the region’s MP calling on Ottawa to consider the property’s purchase. “What I recommended is that the government immediately conduct a feasibility study to see if this is an opportunity to expand the base at Esquimalt. We know that the opportunity to have a deep water industrial site is rare and we also know that the navy is expanding rapidly,” said Kibble. Kibble served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 28 years. …When asked about Kibble’s proposal, Domtar said it’s “exploring a variety of possibilities for the future of the site”.
It’s a dynamic moment in time for Nanaimo’s Harmac Pacific pulp mill and the whole coastal forest industry, according to CEO Paul Sandler. Sadler said that the new American 50% tariffs… are not directly impacting Harmac’s operations at this time, but the tariffs’ likely repercussions on the coastal saw and lumber mills… are very worrying. Harmac requires a significant amount of wood chips to produce its high-value kraft pulp that is used globally for tissue, packaging and paper production. …But Sadler said, the biggest news for the forest industry on the B.C. coast recently was the indefinite closure of Domtar’s Howe Sound pulp and paper mill on the Sunshine Coast. …“We need more pulp capacity on the coast to meet the demand than Harmac and the pulp operation in Port Alberni can provide. …Sadler said it’s vitally important that the region’s sawmills get back to operating at full capacity.
VANCOUVER — A leader in BC’s forestry sector is voicing support for Prime Minister Carney’s decision to walk away from trade talks with the US despite reported concessions on lumber tariffs in a scuttled deal. Kim Haakstad, president of COFI, says the breakdown of talks will create challenges for her sector, but Ottawa had to walk away if negotiators couldn’t secure a deal that worked for Canadians broadly. …BC Premier David Eby said that he understood some progress had been made in addressing the long-standing softwood lumber dispute during the most recent talks and it was “disappointing” to see that fail to materialize. …Haakstad called for measures including reducing regulatory restrictions to allow quicker access to BC lumber for a more competitive product on the global market. …She said Ottawa could also help by addressing rail transport costs, a significant barrier for Canadian lumber producers looking to sell products domestically.
BC’s forestry industry expects it will be one of the hardest-hit sectors by the United States’ new 50% tariffs on Canadian goods. …”This is clearly an attack on Canada,” said Derek Nighbor, president of FPAC. Nighbor said the most recent trade action by the US government captures more than $4 billion in Canadian lumber products that include not only raw materials, but also value-added and processed goods like fibreboard, particleboard, paper packaging, and wood moulding products. …David Elstone, a strategic advisor, “Unequivocally, this is the worst, absolutely worst situation we’ve ever been in.” …Kim Haakstad, CEO of COFI, said the lumber industry as a whole is deeply invested in developing international markets and relationships overseas, but cannot compete on a global stage. She said the high cost of Canadian lumber is driven by both federal and provincial harvesting regulations, making it difficult to diversify to markets beyond the US.
Hundreds of stunned B.C. businesses are scrambling. …Doug Pauze, president of Coastland Wood Industries woke up Saturday to an escalating trade war with a 50% tariff target on the wood veneer that Coastland produces. With about 50% of its product typically exported to the US… that means scaling back production. For now, he’ll will avoid layoffs among his 320 employees. What the industry needs from counter-tariffs, he added, is for Canada to put an equal focus on the same amount of competing wood products coming into Canada, because “there (are) no other market options.” …Prime Minister Carney has vowed to levy counter-tariffs on US imports. BC business owner Baha Naemi hopes his government focuses on markets where Canadians can fill any voids the counter-tariffs create. Naemi’s company, CanCorr, makes corrugated cardboard and boxes in Surrey. …BC imports more corrugated paper products from the US than it exports, creating opportunities for Canadian producers hit by tariffs.
The wrecking ball is readying for the former Northern Pulp mill, a once major player in Nova Scotia’s forestry sector that also came to be recognized as one of the province’s most prominent examples of environmental racism. Environment Minister Tim Halman announced an amended ministerial order on Thursday, clearing the way for the decommissioning, abatement and demolition of buildings and other infrastructure at the site in Abercrombie that sits on the edge of Pictou Harbour. Officials with Northern Timber Nova Scotia, the company that owns the property, expect the work to begin as early as September. …Halman’s amended order says all solid waste, including construction and demolition debris from the mill site, must be disposed of in an approved facility and everything must be removed within 18 months. …An official for Domtar said the work is expected to be complete in the last quarter of 2027,” Brenda Martin said.
“One of the hazards of free trade with the United States is the risk of what we’re witnessing now, that the United States could use its economic levers and turn on us as this behemouth next door that has become hostile without us having the time or opportunity to pivot,” said Tom Urbaniak, a professor at Cape Breton University….Where does Nova Scotia stand? “I don’t know,” Stephen Cole answered when asked whether the new tariffs will affect the province’s lumber and paper industries. …Sawmill owners had the same answer. Nova Scotia softwood exports south of the border have been protected under the CUSMA. “We have mostly private wood (about 70% cut off private land), so our timber market here is deemed to be a competitive market,” explained Cole. …What the Nova Scotia forestry industry doesn’t know yet is whether that CUSMA exemption remains under the new tariffs.
Exporters across Brazil shipped US$7.5 billion of pulp, paper, and wood panels over the first half of 2026, down 5.9 per cent on the same months last year, while imports of paper into a market that has always supplied itself climbed 30.5 per cent. That is according to Indústria Brasileira de Árvores, the association representing the country’s pulp, paper, and panel producers, which last week revealed that its export sales into the North American market had sunk by 22.9 per cent. “There is an excess of production from some countries being directed to Latin America and Brazil,” Paulo Hartung said, with the Ibá president putting the half-year down to wars and to a resurgence of protectionism that has disorganised international supply chains. Pulp, the biggest single line in the sector’s export schedule, accounted for $5.2 billion of that total, with export volumes down 10.5 per cent to 9.4 million tonnes, while production held near-stable at 13.9 million tonnes.
SAVANNAH, Georgia — The South, and Georgia in particular, have borne the brunt of a historic run of pulp and paper-mill closures as recycled boxes, cheap imported pulp and more thrifty packing by e-commerce giants, including Amazon.com, have hit demand. Last year, the US shed roughly 10% of its capacity to produce containerboard. …Demand for pulpwood plummeted. So did demand for wood chips, sawdust and other byproducts. Prices across the South are at the lowest level in nearly 40 years before factoring in inflation. In some parts, there’s essentially no market. Some growers are, for the first time, having to pay to have their pulpwood removed. …A search is on to create new sources of demand. Weyerhaeuser, the South’s largest timberland owner with about 6.6 million acres in 11 states, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build facilities in Arkansas and Mississippi to turn pulpwood surpluses into engineered lumber and an alternative to metallurgical coal, respectively. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
A century-old Philadelphia packaging company is closely watching tariffs and trade negotiations with Canada as it deals with rising costs for materials it uses every day. F. P. Woll & Company, a family business in Northeast Philadelphia, makes packaging for other companies and their products, ranging from cameras to kitchen sinks. Fred Woll runs the company, which has about a dozen employees and a sprawling production operation. …The latest tariffs and trade negotiations with Canada are creating another challenge for the business. One key material the company uses is CDX plywood from Canada. …The company’s concerns extend beyond the materials it needs for its own products. Woll said tariffs on materials used by its customers, including aluminum, can also affect his business if those customers cut production. …Canada is Pennsylvania’s biggest trading partner. Data shows the state sent about $14 billion in goods to Canada last year and imported about $13 billion.
The fight for restitution is on at a fallen green-energy giant, following one of the most disastrous commodity trades of the decade. The ill-fated wood-pellet trades that bankrupted Enviva during the sustainable-investing boom were made by executives hoping to trigger their own bonuses, according to creditors who are seeking more than $2 billion in damages. Instead… the nine-figure trades backfired and bankrupted the company, which once had a nearly $6 billion market value. Five of the company’s top executives concealed the inordinately large and risky trades from its board, according to a lawsuit, suppliers and others with claims. …Enviva said it wasn’t involved in the litigation, and none of the former executives named in the suit are affiliated with the reorganized company, which emerged from bankruptcy in December 2024 with new owners and leadership. …The company was considered one of the winners of the green-energy boom. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
As the dust settles in this tit-for-tat tariff row, what will be affected most on both sides of the border? …Construction materials such as steel, aluminium as well as lumber wood have had tariffs in place before the latest escalation, though Canada has now matched US rates on the metals at 50%. Carney has also imposed import taxes on several US wood products, such as plywood, and even screws used to fix timber together. That means building firms that import such materials will face higher costs and may choose to pass those on through higher prices – pushing up the cost of homes, for example. The Forest Products Association of Canada says tariffs would “raise costs on both sides of the border”, while on the US side, Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) urged Trump to make building materials exempt from his tariff agenda due to an “ongoing housing affordability crisis”.
New US tariffs on Canadian wood products threaten to raise construction costs for US homebuilders and squeeze supply chains already stretched thin as a potentially long and bruising trade war gets underway. …“Basically, the fact that there’s import tariffs on Canadian shipments to the US and vice versa is going to raise the cost of production for everyone, ultimately through the housebuilder to the consumer,” wood market expert Russ Taylor told Mortgage Professional America. …The full impact on homebuilders could take a few months to become clear but the direction of travel is clear, he said. “The builders either can’t find product or the prices go higher for certain products, and then that starts to influence homebuilders,” he said. “Probably not right away – everyone’s got inventory to sell – but certainly looking ahead a couple of months from now, that’s when some shortages or stockouts could start to occur.”
KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A 50% tariff on goods coming from Canada is officially in effect after negotiations crumbled over the weekend, putting a higher price on a large list of imports including lumber and plywood. Pete Peterson, manager at Sutherlands, said prices went up as soon as the news hit. “We don’t want to raise the prices, but we’re just kind of forced to”. Peterson has worked at Sutherlands for over a decade and has seen tariff impacts before. …“Once it’s landed here, it is what it is. Prices are adjusted to what the future prices are going to be. So homeowners, they’re doing less remodeling and stuff.” …“Spring and fall are your renovation times for outdoor projects and stuff. We’re seeing a definite slowdown and people’s need for just everyday projects. Decks, fixing barns, whatnot. Construction, that’s year-round. But homeownership, that’s where our type of business really feels it.”
BUFFALO, New York — The changing tariffs policies for the U.S. and Canada are raising cost and supply issues for the home building and remodeling field with possible impact on their customers for planned and future projects… said a contractor and the operator of a lumber and building supplies business. …Domenic Cortese, of Cortese Construction, said “The implications to a new home on the costs of that home are about $10,000 more because of the tariffs. You know you’re probably going to be looking at $2,000 or $3,000 more in lumber costs for a deck just because of the tariffs.” …”The problem is we don’t have the infrastructure in place to ramp up productivity to be able to supply lumber for our needs.” …Lenco’s Stephen Coppola said, “We love the Canadian lumber. Our customers tend to like it quite a bit. But we’ve been very active in trying to find other sources.”
Japan’s housing starts increased 8.2% year-on-year in July 2026, slowing significantly from an 18.6% surge in the previous month. Still, the latest reading marked the fourth consecutive month of growth, surpassing market expectations of 7.9% growth. Owner-occupied homes rose just 0.4% (vs 15.7% in June), while rental housing growth eased markedly (10.0% vs 24.6%). In the meantime, built-for-sale homes continued to grow solidly (14.6% vs 14.2%). At the same time, starts of two-by-four homes fell further (-8.5% vs -7.4%), while prefabricated housing starts dropped 6.9%, reversing a 13.7% gain in June.
The United Kingdom is forecast to consume 10.35 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2026, representing a 4% increase from 2025 and a record consumption level, according to a report filed with the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. The consumption increase will require an estimated 10.15 million tonnes of imports. The forecast reflects strong demand from the industrial biomass power sector, which is operating at near-maximum capacity as major operators maximise output ahead of structural changes to subsidy mechanisms. Industrial bioenergy accounts for approximately 93% of UK wood pellet demand, with Drax and Lynemouth power stations consuming a combined estimated 9.63 million tonnes annually. …The 4% year-on-year consumption growth from 9.95 million tonnes in 2025 represents continued reliance on biomass within the UK’s electricity generation mix. Residential and commercial heating sectors account for the remaining 7% of wood pellet demand, a significantly smaller market segment than industrial power generation.
Canada’s nascent mass timber industry escaped a direct hit from the Trump administration… But steep US levies on the wider Canadian forestry sector still present sizable challenges for manufacturers as they chase a global market for engineered wood forecast to grow to more than US$12 billion by 2035. …Engineered-wood products such as CLT and glulam were left off the latest tariff list. Yet the emerging mass timber industry could feel the “broader hit”. “Mass timber does not become mass timber without the raw wood inputs,” said FPAC’s Derek Nighbor. …Canada Wood knows what it takes to develop a market for Canadian lumber products in China and other Asian nations. But CEO Bruce St. John cautioned that shifting exports to markets other than the US will “take years still” and require more than simply shipping Canadian lumber to overseas buyers. …Canada Wood’s Lance Tao noted, Canada’s opportunity in Asia’s engineered wood market is still less about shipping finished “modules” to the region and more about selling lumber to Chinese mass-timber manufacturers.
Certain forces affecting the built environment are beyond human control. …At the same time, increasingly stringent fire- and life-safety requirements have raised expectations for structural systems performing under multiple hazard conditions. For decades, steel and concrete have been the default materials for meeting these demands. However, in recent years, timber construction has emerged as a viable engineered system capable of meeting prescribed wind-load criteria and code-required fire-resistance standards, offering construction professionals a viable solution for mitigating risk and protecting both buildings and occupants. …Heavy timber and mass timber can withstand extreme wind and fire through a combination of material properties and engineered design. Timber’s ductility allows it to absorb and distribute wind forces, while high-wind connectors, hold-downs, and continuous load paths help resist uplift and lateral loads during hurricanes. …Code-recognized fire-resistance design, appropriate member sizing, tested assemblies, and protective materials allow timber systems to meet rigorous life-safety requirements. 
AUSTRALIA — Forest & Wood Products Australia released a draft standard for cross laminated timber design to provide a dedicated framework for the structural design of CLT elements. The Standard has undergone independent technical review and provides comprehensive design methods for structural CLT components, subject to the requirements and limitations described in the Scope. Developed through collaboration with industry, researchers and technical experts, the Standard is intended to give architects, engineers and builders a national method for designing cross-laminated timber floors, walls and stairs, under a 46-page document out for comment. …Industry Benefits include consistency across engineering, manufacturing and certification practices; growing use of CLT and mass timber construction in Australia; and an independently reviewed basis for CLT structural design. …The public comment period for this Standard is open for a six-week period to 29 September.
The U.S.-Canada trade war escalated sharply over the weekend. …There are a few obvious implications of the trade war that could fall on Canada’s environment and the nation’s natural resources:
Forestry critic and B.C. Conservative MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson Ward Stamer wants to see the province salvage more wildfire-burned wood faster. He said that only about 5% of burned wood is logged on average in B.C. following a wildfire — a number he’s prefer to see rise to 25%. The former logger said he also wants to see cutting license issued faster, noting most burned trees are useless if not harvested within two years. …Stamer said once a trees dies, it begins deteriorating and each species does so at different rates. He said most burned trees that aren’t harvested within two years may only be good for low value chips, as opposed to other products such as plywood, veneer and saw logs. …Forestry Minister Ravi Parmar said the salvage rate is closer to eight to 10%. Parmar said the province is always trying to increase its salvage rate.
The province has ended its state of provincial emergency. The state of emergency was first declared Aug. 8 following a night of fast-moving fires, including the Bald Range wildfire that led to the evacuation of the District of Summerland. At the time, more than 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes. It was then extended Aug. 21 through to Aug. 29, but the province says the decision to end it early follows advice from emergency management officials. However, the province says the wildfire risk in B.C. remains high. The ending of the state of emergency has no effect on the current evacuation orders, evacuation alerts or local states of emergencies put in place by local governments or First Nations.
Amid another brutal stretch of hot, dry weather across Canada, the so-called cultural burning practices of North America’s Indigenous peoples are in vogue. In fact, they’re being inflated to the point of being celebrated as an ethnically exclusive competency, supposedly distinct from western science. Parks Canada’s online resources say cultural burning must be Indigenous-led, “so as not to misappropriate cultural practices,” while claiming that prescribed fire… is a “colonial adaptation of cultural burning practised by many different Indigenous groups in Canada.” …We know that Indigenous communities have historically used low-intensity fires to maintain grasslands for grazing, corridors for travel and forests, among other purposes. The evidence of this is substantial and not in question, nor is the effectiveness of those methods in their particular contexts. But that is not uniquely Indigenous knowledge. It is a basic principle of fire management that’s understood and applied around the world.
OLYMPIA, Washington – The Washington Forest Protection Association (WFPA) and Washington Farm Forestry Association (WFFA) will appeal a Thurston County Superior Court decision upholding the state’s expanded buffer rule for non-fish-bearing (Np) streams. The appeal will ask whether forest-practices rules can be changed without first showing that existing protections are failing to protect fish and water quality. WFPA and WFFA said the state’s own record shows expected downstream benefits to fish are negligible to minor, and Ecology acknowledged the expanded rule may still allow temperature changes in non-fish streams. “This is not a conservation win if the state’s own record shows limited fish benefits, and immense harm to working forests and rural communities,” said Jason Spadaro, Executive Director of WFPA. …Elaine Oneil, Executive Director of WFFA. “If a rule strands harvestable timber or makes a parcel uneconomical to manage, that harm cannot be fixed later.” …The court has ruled, but policy questions remain.
CALIFORNIA — Tall trees are generally associated with high-biomass forests. This is particularly true for forests dominated by Sequoia sempervirens, the world’s tallest tree species. Extreme decay resistance, the ability to survive high-severity fires, shade tolerance and prolific trunk reiteration (resprouting) make the species unique, allowing tall redwood forests to accumulate more biomass and store more aboveground carbon than any other vegetation type. …A new study published in Forest Ecology and Management combined ground-based measurements and repeated (2007–2025) airborne laser scanning (ALS) to inventory the tallest redwoods and quantify forest biomass. …Forest biomass changed substantially over time. Large areas of primary forest gained biomass during the prestorm interval (2007–2022), averaging 10–13 metric tons per hectare annually. …These ALS-derived estimates of biomass change may be somewhat exaggerated. …Nonetheless, the amount of crown damage probably rivaled losses of live-tree biomass to treefall in California’s Redwood National and State Parks. 
WASHINGTON — A Thurston County, Washington judge upheld larger riparian buffers on timberlands in Western Washington, affirming a rule that will take 200,000 acres out of timber production. In ruling from the bench Aug. 21, Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller said the Forest Practices Board lawfully adopted the new buffer rule after years of study. She acknowledged the economic hardship faced by timberland owners and that her ruling will be appealed. The board, which regulates logging, voted 7-5 last year to expand buffers along streams without fish. The rule will go into effect Aug. 31 and require continuous 65- to 75-foot buffers. The old rule called for 50-foot buffers on half the length of streams. The Washington Department of Ecology said bigger buffers were need to prevent logging from raising stream temperatures in most cases. The timber industry says the buffers will immediately eliminate $1.8 billion worth of timber and have little environmental benefit
For decades, the economics of a pulp mill have centered primarily on fiber, energy and established byproducts. But as low-carbon markets develop, another potential source of value is emerging from the mill itself: biogenic carbon dioxide. Biogenic CO₂ is generated from biomass rather than fossil sources. As governments and companies look for ways to reduce emissions, captured biogenic CO₂ can potentially serve two very different low-carbon markets: as feedstock for synthetic fuels and as a source of permanent carbon dioxide removal. That is beginning to change the conversation around carbon capture. Rather than viewing CO₂ solely as an emissions-management challenge, some pulp mills may increasingly be able to view it as a potential product. For pulp mills, that creates an important strategic question: Which market offers the greatest value for each ton of captured CO₂? …Biogenic CO₂ is just one of several emerging opportunities reshaping the economics of pulp production.
The U.S. Forest Service has expanded its emergency closure order due to wildfires burning across the Mt. Hood National Forest. The Austin and Narrows fires, located in the Clackamas River Ranger District, prompted officials to shut down all public entry and travel across several roads and popular recreation sites, including Lake Harriet, Timothy Lake and Bagby Hot Springs. …The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office says the closure will keep people safe and away from crews working to contain the fires. The USFS is also warning people to continue to follow fire restrictions in order to avoid sparking any new wildfires. The agency says this season’s drought conditions combined with hot and dry weather have increased wildfire risks. The Austin Fire has burned more than 9,000 acres and is still zero-percent contained as of Thursday afternoon. The fire remains under investigation.