Mercer seeks a capital infusion after deferring $25.8M interest payment. In related news: BC’s support for Howe Sound Pulp & Paper has renewed debate over Canfor’s Northwood closure; Kentucky sawmills face mounting closures as tariffs and fuels costs rise; and ERA’s Kevin Mason says diesel prices are hitting forestry companies across the supply chain. Meanwhile: Trump’s Section 301 tariff faces a court challenge; FPAC’s Derek Nighbor says replacing lost US exports will take time; lumber futures fell to a two-year low; and US job growth slowed in September.
In Forestry news: the Trump administration will push to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list; pine beetles are killing Colorado’s ponderosa pine; conservation groups want to halt a Tongass timber sale; hundreds rallied at the BC Legislature calling for old-growth protections; and Mosaic opened three Vancouver Island backcountry gates in a public-access pilot. Meanwhile: inspection inefficiencies and skilled-labour shortages are barriers to mass timber housing in Ontario.
Finally, Weyerhaeuser is scouting up to 10 sites for biocarbon plants for steelmaking.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
The UN’s 2026 edition of 
Washington, D.C. — A steep decline in hardwood exports, the growing popularity of man-made wood alternatives and surging fuel prices have been battering the American hardwood lumber industry. In Kentucky, 78 wood industry facilities, mostly sawmills, have closed in the last four years, according to the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. The U.S. relationship with China has been a major source of the industry’s problems and a focus of proposals to address them. China once bought about half of U.S. hardwood exports, according to the Hardwood Federation. Then, eight years ago, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on imports from China, and China retaliated with tariffs on hardwood and other American imports. The reciprocal tariffs were eventually rolled back, but China’s purchases of American hardwood never returned to their previous levels. …advocates are pushing for lawmakers to pass legislation for $12 billion in agriculture relief, including $200 million for the hardwood industry.
Fueled by supply chain interruptions due to war in the Middle East, diesel prices have reached historic highs in 2026, driving up operating costs across many industries and hiking prices for consumer goods. With narrow margins and significant volumes of feedstock to transport, biomass-to-energy facilities and wood pellet producers face a challenging financial equation. In August 2026, average U.S. diesel prices stood at $5.37 per gallon, according to AAA’s fuel price tracker. Supply chain disruptions due to conflict in the Middle East jumped significantly in 2026. U.S. Energy Information Association data has tracked this trend as diesel prices climbed from an average of $3.52 per gallon in January to $4.91 in March. Since then, prices spiked to $5.60 on average in May, rising to a crushing $6.31 national average by mid-September—an all-time record in the United States.
New housing starts in England rose sharply in the second quarter of 2026. This came even as the number of homes granted planning permission continued to decline, according to figures published Thursday by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Builders started work on 35,910 new dwellings between April and June. That was a seasonally adjusted 6% increase on the first quarter and 20% higher than the same period last year, the department’s “Housing Supply: Indicators of New Supply” release showed. Completions, however, fell to 35,800, down 3% quarter-on-quarter, though still 1% above a year earlier. Over the same period, permission was granted for 212,000 homes in the year to June 30. That was a 12% drop from the 242,000 approved a year earlier, according to provisional figures MHCLG compiled with contractor Glenigan. …MHCLG estimates 196,900 net additional homes were delivered in England in 2025-26. That was a 6% fall from the previous year. 
The University of British Columbia’s new MacIsaac Health Building is the first project on the Vancouver campus to achieve Canada Green Building Council Zero Carbon Building—Design Standard v2 certification. Designed by Perkins&Will in partnership with Danish partner Schmidt Hammer Lassen, the approximately 25,000 m2 facility brings together nursing, kinesiology, student health and well-being, clinical teaching, research, and academic space. Carbon reduction informed the project’s design and construction strategies. The building also achieved LEED Gold certification. A high-performance envelope is intended to reduce energy demand, while natural-ventilation strategies and heat-recovery systems support operational performance. The project team also completed a whole-building life-cycle assessment to identify opportunities to reduce embodied carbon. Material selection also played a major role. Mass timber forms a key part of the structure and provides exposed timber finishes throughout the building. According to the project team, the material selection helps reduce embodied carbon while referencing Pacific Northwest building traditions.
Edmonton, Alberta – The Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF-IFC) is pleased to announce the 2026 National Award recipients. Recipients have earned distinction through demonstration of exceptional achievements in the field of forestry. The Awards were presented at the Annual National Awards Ceremony and Banquet on September 28 in Edmonton, Alberta. The Institute would like to extend our congratulations to all the award recipients for 2026!
As we move into fall, this is a time share the important role community forests play across BC. September 30 is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a time to reflect on our shared history, to listen and learn, and to recognize that reconciliation is ongoing work. Across BC, community forests are contributing to that work by building relationships with First Nations …and learning from the knowledge and values that First Nations bring to caring for the land. …With a provincial election underway, the BCCFA will be working throughout the campaign to bring our priorities forward and help candidates understand what community forests are delivering for BC and what is needed to strengthen the community forest program. In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll find information on:
Okanagan backcountry patrols are still turning up campfires burning without anyone around, weeks after campfire restrictions were eased across the region. Kane Blake, founder of the Okanagan Forest Task Force, says volunteers have discovered multiple campfires over the past several weeks that were left burning with no one present to monitor them. …Under B.C.’s Wildfire Regulation, a Category 1 campfire must be watched and patrolled while it is burning. The person responsible must maintain a fuel break around the fire and have either at least one firefighting hand tool or eight litres of water available. Leaving a fire unattended can also result in enforcement under the Wildfire Act and Wildfire Regulation. B.C.’s current listed fines include $1,150 for lighting, fuelling or using a fire against regulations. For the Okanagan Forest Task Force, Blake says the goal is also to educate younger generations about safely enjoying the backcountry.
Mission’s forestry department reported a net loss of $234,506 in the second quarter of 2026, but is expected to be profitable by the end of the year. According to the department’s quarterly report from the September 21 council agenda, market uncertainty led to lower volumes harvested during the quarter. The department reported a net profit of $301,844 in the second quarter of last year and projected a net profit of $733,511 for Q2 of 2026. However, the department released just 39 per cent of its budgeted volume to date because market uncertainty. “Continued challenges exist in the timber market. In addition to tariffs from the United States, fuel prices have increased substantially in 2026, which has impacted shipping costs,” the report reads. The report highlights trade friction with the United States as “one big challenge” moving forward, but also notes reasons for optimism for the remainder of 2026 and beyond.
Re: 
For harvesting to be profitable on the scale necessary, we need a competitive market for logs, and our forest products industry was decimated with the earlier cessation of harvesting on federal lands. Today, 25% of our lumber supply, worth about $19.7 billion, is imported from Canada. While we ignored our federal forests, the Canadians have been exhausting their easier pickings. With only difficult sites left, they are cutting back, with more cutbacks planned in the future. In the last decade, lumber production there has decreased by 55%. This is an opportunity that we need to capitalize on. By reestablishing a modest forest products industry, we could create a market for the material we need to thin and harvest. Were we to replace the Canadian lumber with domestically produced lumber, the downstream financial stimulus could add an additional $39.4 billion to our GDP. …Let’s consider some of the possible end products for the thinned and harvested timber.
Officially known as “inventoried roadless areas,” roadless areas are protected under a federal rule enacted 25 years ago that generally prohibits logging and road-building. In Montana they cover about one-third of the state’s 17 million acres of public land administered by the U.S. Forest Service. …The original intent of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, in part, was to curb the spread of roads and development into the agency’s wildest landscapes. It was also a recognition that the Forest Service’s sprawling road network — today comprising 368,000 miles — was already beyond its capacity to maintain. …President Donald Trump’s administration announced last summer it would move to rescind that roadless rule, effectively returning those lands to the land-use designations established by each individual national forest. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, released a 
In this months newsletter, you’ll find these stories and more:
In an interview with The Ethical Corporation, Inter-IKEA Group’s global head of forestry Mikhail Tarasov pointed to biodiversity loss as one of the biggest threats to the world’s forests. Competition for forest resources and accelerating climate change, which is driving wildfires and the spread of pests and disease, add to the challenge for IKEA. The company, which processed 14.7 million cubic metres of round wood for its products last year, is one of the world’s largest consumers of timber, most of it sourced from Europe. That figure, however, represents a 30% reduction in its consumption since 2019, in part by recycling and reusing wood in its products. IKEA is working to promote better forest management so that decisions on the harvesting of trees take account of local conditions, and combine management with protection and regeneration. The different IKEA entities own over 500,000 hectares of forest. Tarasov’s group is piloting “climate smart” forestry on 16,000 hectares in Latvia.
The global fiber industry is navigating a challenging market environment, shaped by changing demand, competitive pressures and the need to continually adapt. How can producers strengthen their competitive position — and where will future growth come from? At CELCO 2026, Christian Skilich, Chief Pulp & Chief Technology Officer at Lenzing Group, will share Lenzing’s perspective on the evolution of the fiber market, the importance of innovation in maintaining competitiveness, and the company’s strategy for future growth. In his presentation on Competitiveness, Innovation & the Future of Fiber, Christian will examine the close relationship between competitiveness and innovation, offering attendees a practical look at how one of the industry’s major producers is positioning itself for the next phase of the market. He will explore how the fiber market has developed in recent years, why innovation is critical in responding to today’s challenging market environment and Lenzing’s new strategy and its priorities for the years ahead. 