Citing supply chain challenges, US lumber dealers call for tariff relief and trade stability. In related news: Prime Minister Carney heads to Europe seeking deeper ties; while BC forest leaders say domestic costs are behind the sector’s crisis. Meanwhile: the City of Nanaimo takes raw-log export ban to the UBCM; Castlegar Mayor Maria McFaddin is the new head of Forestry Works for BC; and Canada’s inflation rate held steady at 3%.
In Wood Product news: SFI on the role of wood sourcing in lower-carbon buildings; researchers say building materials can reduce embodied carbon; Thompson Rivers University looks at fire-resilient housing; the University of Toronto opened its mass timber, zero-carbon building; and Clemson dedicated its new SYP mass timber forestry building.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: researchers say roadless US forests burn at the same rate as forests with roads; wildfire experts say competing strategies are hampering US risk reduction; scientists can detect bark-beetle forest stress before mortality is visible; the Roadless Rule repeal faces opposition in Illinois; and Ontario pledges better wildfire communication after criticism. Meanwhile: the BC Community Forestry Association released its 2026 Indicators Report, while BC announced their plan to expand the program.
Finally: BC’s Working Forest Landscape Model’s first candidate area is near Campbell River.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
This past summer once again saw wildfires rip through the BC Interior resulting in lost homes and uprooted communities. As always, we’re left wondering why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? In the case of the Summerland fire, CBC reported that fuel management and prescribed burning work had been planned in some of the affected areas but had not been carried out. But the situation is more nuance than the reporting suggests. Considerable mitigation work had taken place around the community over the past two decades including fuel management treatments, ecological burns, and targeted grazing. The effectiveness of those efforts, along with other factors across the landscape and efforts of individual local residents, will no doubt be studied in detail in the months ahead. The impact of this wildfire does not mean mitigation failed. Quite the opposite; it suggests that preventative work matters, that FireSmart initiatives by homeowners are imperative, and that communities are safer because of it.
Indigenous land titles, data centres and human-bear conflicts are among the top-of-mind concerns for municipal politicians, as they gather for their annual fall convention and attempt to influence the provincial government’s agenda. The Union of B.C. Municipalities convention this year is being held in Vancouver from Sept. 14 to 18. … The City of Nanaimo is calling for a ban on exporting raw logs and lumber cants. A cant is a raw log with its bark removed. The motion identifies a lack of adequate and affordable wood fibre supply as a key factor in the continued curtailment or permanent closure of B.C. sawmills and pulp mills. Over the past five years, on average, about 3.2 million cubic metres of raw logs have been exported. The ban would be to “ensure that forests harvested in B.C. from Crown land and private managed forest lands are processed in B.C., encouraging value-added manufacturing in B.C. and supporting employment in B.C.’s forest industry,” the motion states.
KAMLOOPS — Forestry stakeholders in British Columbia, from loggers to truckers, First Nations, unions and specialty groups have signed an open letter to Premier David Eby demanding immediate action on the forest sector. Pulp is the main game for forestry in Kamloops, with the Kruger mill employing hundreds in the community either directly or indirectly. U.S. Section 338 tariffs are expanding, expected to hit the pulp sector. “Unlike lumber, the tariffs aren’t as dramatic of a direct hit because we sell about 90 per cent of our pulp offshore, not to the United States,” said Joe Nemeth from the B.C. Pulp and Paper Coalition. …Kamloops MLA and forest critic Ward Stamer was in favour of the actions outlined, highlighting the need for a quick response from government to save the sinking industry. …Solutions around permitting and increasing allowable cut, some of the quicker changes the province could enact. Without that change, Nemeth is worried for the future.
VANCOUVER – British Columbia forestry groups have written to Premier David Eby saying the industry is at a “breaking point” and calling for urgent action to address challenges ranging from slow-moving provincial processes to steep U.S. tariffs. The letter dated Sept. 4 said the entire industry is at risk, from logging and transportation to pulp and paper and value-added manufacturing. “…Government must respond with the urgency that crisis demands,” said the letter from contractors, manufacturers, unions and others linked to the sector. …But other challenges are “homegrown,” it said. The province “can control many of the costs, regulations, policies, permitting processes and fibre-access decisions that determine whether those companies survive it,” the letter said. …Eddie Petryshen, with Wildsight, said the “falldown” of the forest industry has been predicted — and ignored — for decades. …Parmar highlighted the province’s plan to shift to a “working forest” model, saying that it would address concerns the industry has been raising.
Oliver, BC — The Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) and the Gorman Group, through Similkameen Forest Products Ltd. (SFP), signed a partnership agreement on July 20, 2026, that gives the OIB a direct role in the planning and management of Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 59. TFL 59 is located east of Oliver within the OIB’s traditional territory. It is a long-term tree farm licence that provides the holder of the licence the opportunity to manage a defined forest area, and it has been held and managed by SFP. Through its forestry company, Nk’Mip Forestry LLP (Nk’Mip), the agreement means that the OIB will now be involved in the management work from the beginning of the forest planning process.
In this update, you’ll find these stories and more:
Regulators in Vermont have issued a waiver to permit biomass plants Ryegate Power and the McNeil Generating Station in Burlington to purchase low-grade wood that had been destined for a Glens Falls mill, Finch Paper, before it suddenly discontinued its pulpwood operation in July. Typically, per a condition in its permitting, Ryegate’s wood comes from harvests that are initially reviewed by Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists. “A temporary waiver of [Ryegate’s] harvesting policy requirements would allow wood that was intended for Finch to be sold to the Ryegate Power Station without otherwise required Department of Fish and Wildlife review and approval,” the Vermont Public Utilities Commission (PUC) order stated. According to testimony provided to the PUC, Finch purchased approximately 2,000 tons per week of softwood and hardwood from Vermont. It was the primary market for about 40% of the state’s pulp and nearly all its hemlock pulpwood.
Are you looking to enhance your skills in the lumber and sawmill sector? Onboarding new employees that would benefit from formal education in the field? Are you seeking to provide your employees with essential business skills for professional development? BCIT is currently offering two Associate Certificates to help you: 
Lexington, Ky.— Wood has been used to build homes and other structures for thousands of years. Now, new technology is allowing builders to use it in ways that would have been difficult to imagine just a few decades ago. Chad Niman, forest products Extension specialist in the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources says cross-laminated timber (CLT) is changing the way that structures are built around the U.S. and world, making it important to keep up with the development of this construction method to improve the health of our forests and buildings. The UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment will bring together experts from across the nation for the 2026 Regional Cross-Laminated Timber Conference, Oct. 12-14 at The Campbell House in Lexington. The three-day conference will focus on CLT and other types of mass timber. 
For decades, architectural sustainability was dominated by operational performance. Better insulation, efficient mechanical systems, photovoltaic panels, passive solar strategies, and high-performance envelopes became the principal instruments for reducing environmental impact. Those measures remain important, but they no longer describe the entire carbon problem. A building can perform efficiently in operation while carrying an enormous historical carbon burden embedded in its concrete frame, steel reinforcement, glass, aluminum, masonry, finishes, foundations, and infrastructure. Once these materials have been manufactured, transported, assembled, and incorporated into a structure, their associated emissions cannot simply be erased by installing efficient equipment. This is where the concept of material memory becomes architecturally significant. Existing buildings contain not only physical material but also the emissions already invested in producing that material. Retaining a structural frame therefore represents more than preservation. It can function as a form of carbon avoidance.
At Stora Enso’s mill in Varkaus, Finland, recovered cardboard packaging is converted into new fibre raw material. The same fibre can be recycled up to 7 times before it becomes too short and weak for further use. The site contains Finland’s largest recycled-fibre processing facility. Covering approximately 3 hectares, it receives used packaging from households, retailers and packaging manufacturers. More than 95 per cent of paperboard and cardboard packaging is recycled in Finland. However, domestic collections do not provide enough material for the mill, which also imports recovered packaging from Sweden and the Baltic countries. Approximately 20 truckloads of recovered material arrive at the site each day. The compressed bales contain products such as milk cartons, pizza boxes and cereal packages.
The Province, in partnership with Na̲nwak̲olas Council, has identified the first candidate area to explore a proposed three-zone forest management model in B.C. The B.C. government is working closely with First Nations, along with industry, local governments and interested parties to identify other candidate areas. Candidate areas will be used to explore a three-zone model for public forests that supports a more co-ordinated approach to land use, stewardship and economic priorities that integrate with ongoing planning processes. The intended outcome is to demonstrate how this model can improve predictability for industry, workers, First Nations, local communities and conservation interests
As part of the City of Rossland FireSmart program, contractors will complete FireSmart fuel treatment projects on municipal land parcels within the community beginning this week. The objective of the fuel management project is to reduce hazardous forest fuels and to decrease wildfire risk to the adjacent residents and the community, noted a release from the city. “The goal for the project is to reduce hazardous surface fuel accumulations close to homes and the community,” it stated. Expected activities include: Reduction of woody surface fuels from tree mortality and winter storm damage; Removal of dead standing trees; Retention of the healthy, large trees to maintain a cool and moist under storey; Retention and protection of all healthy, deciduous trees and shrubs (leaves have a high moisture content and are low flammability); Retention and protection of high value wildlife trees; and Debris disposal (chipping).
…The last recorded sighting of wild northern spotted owls in BC was in 2023… Spuzzum First Nation Chief Janice Kuester says the loss is deeply upsetting. …But that doesn’t mean there’s no hope. …Biologist and ecological consultant Jared Hobbs says re-establishing the species in B.C. is possible, “but we have to stop eroding the recovery options.” …An effort to have an emergency order issued for the owls failed in 2023 …Instead, the government said it was committed to collaborating with B.C. and Indigenous communities, in part through an ongoing federal recovery strategy. That plan identifies logging and species competition as the two main threats facing the owls, and sets a goal of restoring a stable population of 250 of the birds. Part of that goal involves introducing captive-bred spotted owls back into the wild. In B.C., the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program has roughly 40 spotted owls, and is working to breed and release more.
PRINCE GEORGE – The City of Prince George will add its voice to growing calls for a provincial examination of the link between forest management practices and the severity of wildfires in British Columbia after council voted to support pursuing an independent public inquiry. The resolution, brought forward by the city’s Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, received council support despite concerns from some members about cost and effectiveness. Coun. Brian Skakun, co-author of the resolution, said the province must take a closer look at how forests are managed and whether current approaches are helping or contributing to increasingly destructive wildfire seasons. “I think the province, along with First Nations, have to look at what we’re doing wrong,” Skakun said. …Council will take the resolution to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and send letters to the Premier, the Minister of Forests and the Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness requesting provincial action.
Nine graduate students in B.C. have been awarded scholarships through the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF), including three students in the Okanagan. Studying at the University of B.C. Okanagan (UBCO), Madeline Frazer, Peter Baker and Kara Atkinson were each awarded $10,000 to support applied research in wildlife and habitat stewardship, management, policy and decision-making. “Their projects reflect the breadth of the challenges and opportunities in wildlife management, from species-focused research on grizzly bears, elk, mule deer, caribou, snakes and birds to broader work on the impact of climate change on species, evaluating invasive species management, the impact of silviculture and forest harvest on ungulate, and the history of land management on ecosystems,” said Dan Buffet with HCTF.
…When the Species Conservation Act replaced Ontario’s long-standing Endangered Species Act, the change, introduced under Bill 5 in June 2025, stripped provincial protection from several species and narrowed habitat protection for others — 106 species lost protections, a July 2026 report by Ontario Nature found. It also introduced a new model for environmental assessments that is “proponent-led,” leaving developers largely responsible for assessing their own environmental impact and cutting government biologists out of the process almost entirely. A recording of the meeting, which involved about 25 staff members in the species at risk branch of the Ministry of Environment, was shared with The Narwhal by one participant… sources reveal the new act has had a significant impact on the people tasked with protecting Ontario’s most vulnerable species — reducing them from experts to rubber stamps, if anything at all, for the industries they once held to account.
THUNDER BAY — The City of Thunder Bay is benefiting from an infusion of government cash as it continues to plant thousands of trees, largely to mitigate the destruction of the urban forest canopy caused by the invasive emerald ash borer. The federal government and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities have announced details of a recent round of funding under the Growing Canada’s 
The deadline to submit public comment on a proposed plan to repeal the Roadless Rule has been extended. …Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture filed a plan to repeal it. The agency said in a press release that the rule is a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work. The rescission would increase logging opportunities, aligning with the Trump administration’s goals to increase natural resource extraction in Alaska. That set off a 30-day federally mandated public comment period, allowing the public to submit feedback on the plan, which will be used in developing final rulings and environmental analyses. The public comment period was initially scheduled to end Sept. 21. That deadline has now been pushed to Oct. 6. The new public comment deadline is now after federally mandated subsistence hearings that are scheduled for later this month.
A sweeping bipartisan bill that seeks to prevent catastrophic wildfires and restore fire-ravaged forests has revealed a schism in the nation’s environmental movement as some conservation advocates find themselves allied with a longtime foe: loggers. The Fix Our Forests Act, which Congress is close to passing, aims to speed up forest management projects on public and tribal lands by reducing regulatory and legal hurdles. The proposed legislation comes at a time of increasingly devastating wildfires and has garnered wide support among Republicans and the timber industry. However, the traditional Democratic coalition of environmental groups is split over the role humanity has to play in forest management. …Among the major environmental groups that oppose the legislation are the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity. …But the Nature Conservancy and other groups have voiced support for the bill, citing the constant and imminent threat that increasingly severe wildfires pose to communities and ecosystems.
EUGENE, Ore. — After more than 2.5 million acres burned across Oregon this fire season, forestry and agriculture experts gathered in Eugene Thursday to discuss ways to prevent another record-breaking year. The Healthy Forests Roundtable at the Veterans Memorial Association building focused on what participants described as a need to shift more attention toward wildfire prevention and forest management. One of the main solutions discussed was thinning forests to reduce the amount of fuel available to burn. Participants said removing excess trees and vegetation can make forests more resilient when fires start. But they also pointed to a challenge facing that work: Oregon has fewer mills available to process timber removed from forests. …The roundtable also highlighted what participants described as a disconnect between state and federal forest management. Harvests on federal lands have dropped 90% since 1990, according to information presented during the discussion.
Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached a record high of 55bn t/CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2025, up by 0.9pc on the year, data from the EU’s independent emissions database for global atmospheric research (Edgar) show. These figures include the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector — which can act either as a source of carbon or a carbon sink. Excluding LULUCF, global GHG emissions rose to 54.1bn t/CO2e in 2025, an increase of 0.7pc on the year, Edgar found. The highest-emitting countries in 2025 were China, the US and India, with shares of 29.5pc, 11.1pc and 8.3pc of the global total, respectively, Edgar data show. …Of the top six emitters, the US and Indonesia recorded the most substantial increases in emissions in 2024-5 — a rise of 2.2pc or 131.5mn t/CO2e for the US and one of 1.2pc or 16.1mn t/CO2e for Indonesia.
Two B.C. companies are receiving provincial support to deploy clean-energy technology that strengthens backup power reliability for general aviation aircraft in B.C., replacing diesel generators with battery storage to keep critical services, such as wildfire response, medical transport and search and rescue, running during emergencies. With as much as $1 million being provided through B.C.’s Integrated Marketplace, Abbotsford-based Fast Air will deploy a mobile battery and solar power system developed by Richmond-based Holinova at the Abbotsford International Airport. …The Fast Air-Holinova project is the second project launched under Integrated Marketplace’s Forestry Innovation and Emergency Management Testbed. Announced in December 2025, the Forestry Innovation and Emergency Management Testbed enables testing of technologies that may generate insights and data that could be implemented throughout the province. The data could provide insights to help: improve emergency response; improve resilience; streamline emergency processes; and build efficiencies in the forestry sector.
PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Schools in the capital of Indonesia’s South Sumatra province switched to remote learning Wednesday as worsening haze from forest and peatland fires pushed air pollution to unhealthy levels, adding to disruptions that have already affected more than 1.4 million students across the country, officials said. Indonesia has been plagued by forest and land fires for decades but an intensifying El Nino pattern and a prolonged dry season made the impact of the fires especially dire this year. Toxic haze and smoke have spread far beyond Indonesia’s borders in Southeast Asia, creating a regional health crisis. The smoke has drifted as far as the Philippines, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away, and breached Malaysia’s emergency-level threshold, forcing authorities to declare an emergency last week in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo Island. …Large fires have burned thousands of hectares in Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Sumatra regions.
ANKARA, Turkey — Firefighters on Tuesday battled a wildfire in Turkey’s Mediterranean coastal province of Antalya that forced hundreds of people from their homes and injured at least two people, the state-run news agency reported. The fire broke out Monday evening in Antalya’s Aksu district and, fueled by strong winds, quickly spread into the neighboring Kepez district, Anadolu Agency reported. Two people were hospitalized with injuries to their legs while six others affected by smoke were treated on site, the report said. Authorities evacuated people from at least 254 homes in Aksu and Kepez and temporarily closed a highway between Antalya and the city of Isparta, located some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north. More than 2,000 homes in the region were affected by power outages, Anadolu reported. The agency said at least five firefighting aircraft, 10 helicopters, 110 fire extinguishing trucks and 600 personnel were deployed to battle the blaze.
The BC Forest History Association Speaker Series. Jordon Gabriel, from the Líl̓wat Nation will present: Learning From the Land: Indigenous Knowledge, Forestry, and the Path to Reconciliation. We will explore how Líl̓wat knowledge and contemporary forestry practices are being brought together through cultural burning, wildfire risk reduction, fuels management, community forestry, and collaborative stewardship. Our key takeaway is that reconciliation in forestry must prioritize Indigenous voices, knowledge, and authority in land stewardship to support healthier forests, safer communities, cultural continuity, employment, and responsibility to future generations. Líl̓wat Forestry Ventures Ltd. is a leading forestry management corporation within the Líl̓wat Nation in Mount Currie, British Columbia. Jordon Gabriel, from the Líl̓wat Nation, is one of the Forestry Technicians helping to ensure sustainable management of the Nation’s forests and the preservation of all cultural values for generations to come. Jordon worked with the BC Wildfire Services for 20 years.