US builders and lumber dealers say tariff uncertainty brings back pandemic-era supply-chain shortages. In related tariff news: RONA pivots to Canadian-made goods; Canada’s NDP leader wants to build with wood; and Ontario and Quebec companies brace for impacts. In other Business news: Northern Pulp secures extension on Nova Scotia pulp mill study; and Stein Lumber acquires Teal Jones’ Salmon Arm plant.
In Forestry/Climate news: the EU Deforestation Regulation may boost low-deforestation countries; Canada and Quebec agree to conserve nature; the National Observer says Canada’s forests are a carbon source; the Tyee says killing wolves is no way to protect BC caribou; Washington lawmakers want to cancel the owl-killing plan; a new study says acoustic monitoring for birds is good for forestry; and prescribed burning does not make Australian forests more flammable.
Finally, does the US really need Canadian wood products supply? Apparently yes.
Kelly McCloskey, Editor, Tree Frog News
Let me propose that we respond to President Donald Trump and his supporters in a more direct fashion: by wiping them out. No, not with violent force, or vain attempts at economic annihilation, but in a way that is more, shall we say, fundamental. It would be shockingly easy to empty America’s store shelves of toilet paper. A weeks-long bog-roll panic could be provoked, right now, with only a few words from a Canadian leader. The tissue of lies behind the trade war would be wiped away, exposing the backside of Mr. Trump’s bizarre trade claims in a way that would be far more noticeable than any retaliatory tariff. …Supply chains for the rolls of tissue are so constrained, lacking in stored reserves and Canada-dependent, Kruger CEO Dino Bianco explained, that it would only take a tiny push to cause panic buying and the anxiety-inducing sound of empty cardboard tubes rattling on bathroom spindles. …It sends a clearer message: Canadians believe in trade. We want trade. And if you deprive us of it, we know how to hit you where it really hurts. [Globe and Mail subscription required for full access]
This year’s COFI convention will tackle the most pressing challenge facing BC’s forest sector – predictable access to fibre. Without this, BC’s global competitiveness and the family-supporting jobs forestry provides remain at risk. There is a path forward. Within the sustainable Allowable Annual Cut there are opportunities to surpass a minimum target of 45 million cubic meters of harvest while maintaining environmental stewardship. Achieving these outcomes will require changes to BC Timber Sales (BCTS), innovative approaches to forest landscape planning, stronger partnerships with First Nations, and community-led solutions. Join us for a solutions-oriented discussion, featuring distinguished experts: George Abbott, Treaty Commissioner, Former BC Cabinet Minister & Member, BC Timber Sales Review Task Force; David Elstone, Managing Director, Spar Tree Group; Makenzie Leine, Vice President, Business Development, A&A Trading; Jennifer Gunter, Executive Director, BC Community Forest Association; moderated by Michael Armstrong, VP and Chief Forester at COFI.
By easing the current restrictions on timber harvesting and natural gas development, B.C. Premier David Eby can reduce B.C.’s reliance on U.S. markets and improve affordability… This policy shift would create jobs, help address the cost-of-living crisis and insulate B.C. from U.S. trade volatility by diversifying its trading partners. Natural resources, namely forestry, energy, mining and agriculture, make up about 75 per cent of B.C.’s exports as of November 2024. …Yet both sectors face government-imposed constraints, from caps on logging to opposition to pipelines. Since forestry and energy dominate B.C.’s exports, robust growth depends on expanding these sectors. B.C.’s forestry industry has long been a global leader, but policies restricting access to fibre are undermining its viability. The annual allowable cut and a cap on how much timber can be harvested, along with actual cuts, have been reduced in recent years due to environmental concerns and pressure from within the NDP’s base.
SAGUENAY, QUE. — Wood, as well as aluminum, are economic drivers in Quebec’s Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region north of Quebec City. The … looming 25 per cent tariffs are leaving businesses in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean bracing for impact. Inotech, a company that specializes in manufacturing equipment for the wood industry, said the economic disruption started in early February, when Trump had initially promised to impose tariffs, before delaying them. “In Quebec, the entire wood market was paralyzed,” said Michel Marceau, the company’s CEO. “People are waiting to see what will happen and during this time, no one is investing,” added Michael Dufour, Inotech’s sales director. A recent study from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce identified Saguenay and Drummondville — a city northeast of Montreal — among the Canadian cities most vulnerable to U.S. tariffs.
These are the headlines you’ll find in this month’s newsletter:
WINNIPEG, MB
QUÉBEC – The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change announced the signing of a Canada-Quebec agreement to advance the protection and conservation of nature throughout Quebec. The Government of Canada will invest up to $100 million between now and 2027 to support the objectives of Quebec’s 2030 Nature Plan and Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy. This nature agreement reflects both governments’ commitment to implementing the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework and establishes a series of objectives to achieve this: Create and expand protected and conserved areas, and accelerate the conservation of natural environments on private land in southern Quebec, including through the implementation of urban park projects; Take action to address threats to biodiversity, better protect threatened or vulnerable species, and foster the recovery of at-risk species; Control invasive alien species; and Support Indigenous leadership in biodiversity conservation.
The Trump administration touted logging as the next frontier in job creation and wildfire prevention, but those goals will face confounding challenges. Trump issued two executive orders on March 1: the first to boost timber production on federal land and the second to address wood product imports. The moves were cheered by the timber industry. “These are common sense directives,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry trade group. “Our federal forests have been mismanaged for decades and Americans have paid the price in almost every way – lost jobs, lost manufacturing, and infrastructure.” Timber groups and rural lawmakers also said the orders could help manage overstocked forests and reduce the threat of wildfire. But conservation groups and forestry experts say cutting down more trees doesn’t inherently reduce wildfire risk and can actually increase it. The plan also faces pushback about environmental concerns and economics.
FRANKFURT – Bayer has told U.S. lawmakers it could stop selling Roundup weedkiller unless they can strengthen legal protection against product liability litigation, according to a financial analyst and a person close to the matter. Bayer has paid about $10 billion to settle disputed claims that Roundup, based on the herbicide glyphosate, causes cancer. About 67,000 further cases are pending for which the group has set aside $5.9 billion in legal provisions. The German company has said plaintiffs should not be able to take Bayer to court by invoking U.S. state rules given the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly labelled the product as safe to use, as have regulators in other parts of the world. “Without regulatory clarity (Bayer) will need to exit the business. Bayer have been clear with legislators and farmer groups on this,” analysts at brokerage Jefferies said in a note on Thursday, citing guidance Bayer’s leadership provided in a meeting.
President Donald Trump took action last weekend to increase domestic logging by circumventing environmental protections and to staunch the flow of imported lumber products primarily from Canada. A pair of executive orders — one addressing timber and wood product imports, the other addressing logging on federal lands — drew praise from the logging industry, condemnation from environmental and wildlife groups, and concern from the construction industry over higher prices. The order rolls back the degree to which the agencies have to comply with the Endangered Species Act or consider negative impacts of logging. …[making] it easier for environmentally damaging clear-cut logging to be approved. …The executive order on timber production … can exempt projects from complying with the landmark law. …allowing projects to proceed even if they will harm a protected species or result in extinction. Historically, the committee has been used to aid recovery from natural disasters, not to expedite resource extraction.
…in the early 2000s, a group of scientists and businessmen began arguing that forest thinning was too much for the government to take on. If Arizona had any hope of decreasing the risk of catastrophic forest fire, private industry would have to play a part. From this debate emerged Arizona Forest Restoration Products, a company that had planned to make oriented strand board from the low-dollar trees. …But …the Forest Service unexpectedly awarded the contract in 2012 to Pioneer Associates, a group it favored, even if they were arguably less qualified and had gathered almost no funding for their proposal. …Pioneer quickly went defunct, and the company that took over its contract, Good Earth, only thinned a fraction of what it promised. …And a cautionary tale as we fall into a pattern of on-again, off-again federal infrastructure funding cuts and threatened tariffs, which were enacted and then delayed on Canada and Mexico until April.
Republican-led policy directives could rewrite forest policies that affect public lands in Oregon and the rest of the West. New executive orders from the Trump administration call on federal agencies to fast-track logging projects by circumventing endangered species laws, and to investigate whether lumber imports threaten national security. …Some experts say it’s too soon to tell how these directives will affect Oregon’s timber market, particularly Trump’s order on fast-tracking timber sales to benefit logging companies and mills. Mindy Crandall, associate professor of forest policy at Oregon State University, said Canadian imports make up a large chunk of the U.S.‘s softwood lumber supply. Oregon also leads the nation 
…sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is considered the most practical option for decarbonizing air travel, which in Canada accounts for about four per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels made from … wood waste can lower fossil fuels’ carbon intensity and … require no major modifications to airplanes. B.C. has all of the conditions and resources needed to develop a sustainable aviation fuel industry, according to a panel discussion on SAF by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. But right now, most of the SAF that airlines are buying comes from suppliers in the U.S. and Europe. Despite the efforts of companies like Parkland Corp., a sustainable aviation fuel production industry is having a hard time getting off the ground in Canada. It all comes down to costs, and the Americans can produce SAF at a more cost competitive price than Canadian producers can, thanks in no small part to subsidies in the U.S.
The harvesting and burning of forest biomass to produce energy continues to surge, according to a new report entitled 
Join us for the Interior Safety Conference (ISC) on Thursday, May 1, 2025! This annual event is a must-attend for BC forestry professionals, offering a unique opportunity to delve into safety-related issues and learn ways to enhance safety across the industry. This Year’s Theme: Building Safety Through Shared Experiences. Gain powerful insights and practical knowledge through a series of compelling presentations by industry experts and speakers. The conference is FREE for anyone working in any phase of the forest industry, from silviculture to harvesting to wood products manufacturing.