Canada unveiled a forest sector transformation plan, and new funding to strengthen competitiveness. In related news: Minister Hodgson said the forest sector is the trade ‘canary in the coal mine‘; while FPAC, COFI, and Unifor urge quick implementation. Meanwhile: the BC Lumber Trade Council says CUSMA could solve the softwood lumber dispute; Saothair completes acquisition of EAM Corp. from Domar; and West Fraser released its 2025 Sustainability Report.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: Kelowna tops Canadian cities most at risk from wildfires; updates on Ontario’s Gogama fire and BC’s Swede Creek fire; US Forest Service offers incentives to employees ahead of relocations; scientists inject elm trees with a killer fungus to save them; and a Michigan seedling census predicts future forests. In Safety news: Canada marked Clean Air Day with a focus on wildfire smoke; and a worker was killed at an Alabama lumber mill.
Finally, Western Red Cedar Lumber Association awards Jeff Derby Cedar Champion Award to Gorman Group’s Nick Arkle.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
VANCOUVER, BC 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Andrea Salinas (D-OR) introduced the Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act. This marks the third consecutive year that legislation promoting mass timber for federal contracts has been introduced. This bipartisan legislation provides incentives for the use of mass timber building materials in federal contracting, giving timber and other forest products companies the ability to compete for construction, renovation, or acquisition of public buildings, and for military construction. The bill creates a two-tier contracting preference for mass timber and other innovative wood projects. The first-tier preference applies to mass timber that is made within the U.S. and responsibly sourced from state, federal, private, and Tribal forestlands. The optional second tier applies to mass timber products that are sourced from restoration practices, fire mitigation projects, and forest owners. Additionally, this bill contains a reporting requirement for a whole building lifecycle assessment. 
In this edition of Market Insights, you’ll find:
The natural cooling effect of snow in northern forests following forest fires is rapidly diminishing. As a result, a fragile climate equilibrium threatens to disappear, potentially leading to additional warming in one of the most climate-sensitive regions on Earth. This is the conclusion of new research by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. …After a forest fire, the landscape in northern regions often remains open and covered with snow for a long time. This snow reflects a great deal of sunlight and makes the Earth’s surface brighter—an effect known as snow albedo. For years, this compensated for part of the warming caused by CO2 emissions from forest fires. [The study found] that the cooling effect of snow has decreased by nearly 30 percent since the 1960s. Whereas in the past almost half of Canadian forest fires eventually reached natural climate equilibrium …this now applies to only about one in four or five fires.
Kelowna has topped the list of Canadian cities most at risk from wildfires in 2026, according to a report from a Toronto-based online insurance company. Using data from Natural Resources Canada’s recently upgraded Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, MyChoice said Kelowna has a wildfire Risk Index score of 6.8/10. It was the only city to get a “very high” rating on the MyChoice Canada’s 2026 wildfire risk map. “While Prairie cities recorded more severe forecast fire weather conditions, Kelowna’s extremely high community exposure, driven by dense wildland-urban interface development, surrounding forest fuel, and historical wildfire activity, pushed it to the top overall,” said MyChoice in its annual wildfire study. To calculate the wildfire risk index, MYChoice gave equal weight to two factors: Forecast fire weather severity and community exposure.
The Syilx Okanagan Nation is calling on the federal government to issue an emergency order protecting critical habitat for Southern Mountain Caribou. In a filing under Section 80 of the federal Species at Risk Act, the Syilx Okanagan Nation is calling for immediate and enforceable protections for habitat used by the Columbia North, Frisby-Boulder and Central Selkirk herds, which occupy areas within Syilx Okanagan territory in southern British Columbia. “The current provincial and federal recovery measures have failed to address ongoing habitat destruction and cumulative effects across caribou ranges,” Chief Dan Wilson of the Okanagan Indian Band said in a media release. … “The continued logging of critical caribou habitat is inconsistent with Syilx Forestry Principles and Standards, yet the province continues to authorize logging in these core areas,” Coun. Jordan Coble, chair of the Syilx Nation Natural Resource Committee said in a media release.
In 2025’s budget, Ontario allotted $135 million for its Emergency Forest Firefighting fund, which Firefighter Noah Freedman describes as money that “keeps the lights on.” The province ended up spending double that: $271 million, according to this year’s budget. But that same document penciled in just $150 million again for this year. The province did not respond to requests from Canada’s National Observer asking why the budget hasn’t been increased. Not allotting adequate funds translates to real impacts on the frontlines, said Freedman, who is also vice president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 703. He said last season was “riddled with logistical problems” due to a lack of available funding: not having crews and helicopters where they were needed, and scrambling to request more… “None of that is because of our leadership in our agency. It’s a result of not getting anywhere near the funding that we need to truly be decision-makers,” Freedman said.
NAPLES, Maine — The New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) is giving out grants to landowners to help preserve some of Maine’s oldest trees. The organization got $4.3 million from the U.S. Forest Service in 2024 to pay loggers to put off cutting late-successional and old-growth forests, which are typically over 100 years old. The first grant was awarded to Chaplin Logging Inc. in Naples to conserve 23 acres of late-successional forest and improve other parts of their land. This type of forest is rare for southern Maine. The one on the Chaplins’ property has been mostly untouched for likely more than a hundred years. According to Brian Milakovsky, senior forester of NEFF, these trees provide a unique habitat for many important species and they’re good for the atmosphere. …Since these trees are being taken out of production, part of the grant is going toward timber stand improvement, removing undesirable trees in landowners’ other, younger forests.
European timber organisations have made a last, united call for changes to be made to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) before it comes into force this December. Eighteen organisations from various sectors, including timber, panels and packaging groups, called for an EUDR Information System “without flaws and technical constraints, aligned with business practice”. The coalition underlines that the Information System must be operationally workable and aligned with real business practices. The EUDR Information System, which represents the backbone of the traceability feature of the EU regulation, is aimed to prevent products linked to deforestation from entering the EU market. Particular coalition concerns relate to DDS aggregation, technical limitations of the TRACES-based system, the usability of simplified declarations for SMEs and micro-enterprises and the lack of clear procedures in the event of system disruptions or outages.
A bill aimed at making Louisiana more enticing to the wood pellet industry has sailed through the state Legislature. House Bill 670 won unanimous approval in the Louisiana House and Senate and was granted final passage on Wednesday (May 27). It would ease regulations for pellet manufacturers while directing state support toward workforce development, financial incentives and infrastructure improvements designed to meet the industry’s needs. The industry has come under fire for repeatedly breaking air pollution rules in Louisiana and Mississippi and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions in the United Kingdom, where most of the pellets are burned to produce energy marketed as “sustainable biomass.” The bill’s supporters admitted they knew little about the industry but backed the measure in hopes of reviving the state’s struggling logging sector. …“This bill uses taxpayer money to support a foreign industry and makes it easier for them to pollute Louisianians’ air and water,” said the Dogwood Alliance. 
A massive fire near Gogama has doubled in size again overnight. This morning (June 4), the Ministry of Natural Resources mapping has the fire at 2,945 hectares. That’s more than double what it was last night, when it was reported as 1,100 hectares. Here’s what you need to know about the situation today: