Pacheedaht First Nation asserts sovereignty, calls for blockaders to leave BC’s Walbran Valley. In related news: Elder Bill Jones takes his own Nation to court; and the Walbran echoes BC’s attempt to saw the Carmanah Valley in half. In Forestry/Wildfire news: New Brunswick says there’s no evidence timber practices worsen wildfires; the US Forest Service Chief defends logging in hearing; the US Interior plans to rescind the Public Lands Rule; Colorado says past wildfires are reshaping forest regeneration; Ontario invests in invasive species projects; and a study says Canadian wildfire smoke caused 82,000 premature deaths.
In Business & Finance: Newfoundland extends its power-purchase agreement with Corner Brook Pulp & Paper; Georgia-Pacific plans to modernize its Alabama River Cellulose mill; Georgia leaders explore options after mill closures; US residential building material prices rise for the 4th straight month; and Canada’s first mixed-use tall mass timber Passive House building rises in Vancouver. Meanwhile: Trump lobbies the EU for 100% tariffs on China and India; and lumber’s steep price drop chills Trump’s timber ambitions.
Finally, BC’s 14th Chief Forester Larry Pedersen reflects on lessons from his tenure.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
BC Wood is set to welcome delegates and buyers from British Columbia and around the world to the 22nd Annual Global Buyers Mission (GBM), kicking off tomorrow in Whistler, BC. This signature event brings Canadian wood manufacturers together with pre-qualified international buyers in an exclusive, business-focused environment. The GBM opens with a welcome breakfast, where Premier David Eby will address participants and officially launch the trade show. His presence underscores the critical role of BC’s wood and forestry sector in driving innovation, sustainability, and economic growth. Nearly 800 attendees are expected, a testament to the GBM’s significance in connecting Canadian producers with global markets.
Ottawa — Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) welcomes the federal government’s announcement of new measures to support trade-exposed Canadian businesses and employees and to enable economic transformation. The measures announced today — ranging from the Strategic Response Fund to procurement reforms, tariff-response financing, workforce supports, and biofuels incentives — if well executed, can provide hope for the future for Canada’s forest sector and its 200,000 employees. In addition to the measures announced today, FPAC continues to call on the federal government to extend Clean Investment Tax Credits (ITCs) to include biomass for heat and electricity generation as part of Budget 2025. Introducing the biomass ITCs will create new jobs, improve energy security, lower carbon emissions, and help reduce wildfire risks. …“While a negotiated agreement on softwood lumber is the sector’s number one priority, today’s announcement is about trying to create stability as we modernize and innovate for the future,” said FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor.
WASHINGTON – Canada’s government joined the Canadian lumber industry in seeking a trade panel review over certain softwood lumber products from Canada under the USMCA, according to a U.S. government notice posted online on Monday. The two requests were filed with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Association following the departments July 29 decision following its investigation into the matter, the notices posted to the Federal Register said.
Western is proud to launch a refreshed brand that better reflects who we are, where we’re going and what our customers, communities, and partners expect from us. Our refreshed brand is rooted in our belief that wood plays a vital role in building a more sustainable future. Wood has always been part of everyday life – in the homes we live in, the furniture we use and the warmth and comfort we seek in natural materials. At Western, we are proud to carry that legacy forward by helping meet today’s demand for beautiful, low-carbon building materials. This brand refresh is grounded in our long-term strategy and shaped by the people who make Western what it is. It reflects our continued commitment to quality, sustainability and stewardship. Explore the rest of our site to see how our refreshed brand reflects the care we put into everything we do, from forest to finished product.
The monitor overseeing the credit-protection process for San Group, a Langley-based forestry company with debts in excess of $150 million, has applied to the courts for an extension of the process in order to complete the sale of the company’s assets. Deloitte Restructuring has asked the courts to extend the process to Oct. 31. It currently expires Sept. 5. …According to the monitor’s ninth report to the courts, filed this week, the sale of three San Group properties has now closed, and only a Langley farm remains of the major assets. The sale of the Coulson Mill in Port Alberni closed June 20 with proceeds of $12.06 million, the Langley mill site closed July 15, netting $12.37 million, and the Port Alberni value-added facility sale closed July 29, netting $8.25 million. On top of that, Tradewest Asset Solutions has now completed the sale of all of San Group’s remaining inventory, which resulted in $1.178 million being added to the pile.
WENDAKE, QC
LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — A large fire at Weaber Lumber comes just over a month after the company filed for bankruptcy. Weaber, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 1, according to online records. The company also filed a WARN notice in July at its distribution center on 25 Keystone Drive. In that notice, the company said 145 people would be laid off from July 26 through Sept. 9 of this year. The fire broke out Monday night around 10 p.m. at the company’s headquarters at 1231 Mt. Wilson Road, and it took firefighters until Tuesday morning to bring the blaze under control over eight hours later.
SOUTH ANNVILLE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A three-alarm fire ripped through Weaber Lumber in Lebanon County. Crews responded to the fire in South Annville Township around 10 p.m. on Monday. Flames could be seen leaping from the burning building. The blaze was upgraded to the third alarm, prompting a large firefighter response. According to Lawn Fire Company Chief Dillon Wilson, approximately 1.1 million gallons of water have been used from the on-site hydrant system to combat the fire. Tankers also brought in additional water to the scene. Chief Wilson said most of the building was engulfed in flames when crews arrived. “It got ahead of us,” Wilson said. The chief believes this building might have the most combustible materials under one roof in the state. Weaber Lumber has experienced multiple fires over the years. …For 80 years, Weaber has been proudly committed to the lumber industry and is one of the nation’s leading hardwood manufacturers.
The Canada Wood Group Newsletter includes these headlines and more:
This overview traces the modern history of wood science and technology, particularly from the European perspective. It begins with the early forestry schools in 18th-century Germany, which influenced the founding of similar institutions worldwide. These schools introduced technical subjects, including wood physics, to meet industrial demand, especially from the mining sector. Before formal studies began, early research on wood properties, including moisture relations and strength, appeared in encyclopaedias. With the Industrial Revolution, interest in wood as a construction material grew, linking wood research to engineering and materials science. In the early 20th century, dedicated wood technology institutes marked the birth of wood science as a distinct discipline. …The future of wood science lies in sustainability and the efficient use of resources. As interest in renewable, bio-based alternatives to steel and concrete grows, further research on wood functionalisation and modification will be vital. 
In the September newsletter, you’ll find these stories and more:
Professor Susan Dudley at McMaster University in Ontario says drought-stricken parts of Canada could be in for some underwhelming fall foliage if stressed trees lose out on the energy needed to generate some of the season’s most brilliant colours. Dudley says trees in dried out parts of the country could see their leaves die off rather than turn red. As the days shorten, green chlorophyll in tree leaves starts to break down and reveals the yellow and orange pigments underneath. Yet Dudley says some trees, such as maple, oak and sumac, synthesize a pigment in the autumn responsible for turning their leaves into the reds and purples associated with the most brilliant foliage. If a tree is too stressed … the leaves may die off before that new pigment can fully develop and give off its most vibrant colour, leaving brown leaves associated with rapid stress-induced death…
A documentary addressing British Columbia’s escalating wildfire crisis and the urgent need for solutions is playing in Castlegar on Sept. 11. The film was produced by former Castlegar resident Murray Wilson. Wilson graduated from Selkirk College’s Forest Technology program in 1981 and then worked in Salmo and Nakusp before spending more than three decades in forestry across British Columbia. “My early forestry work in the Kootenays showed me the wildfire risks communities face and the solutions we need, which is at the heart of B.C. is Burning,” said Wilson.
As severe drought conditions continue to affect river levels in the Thompson Okanagan region, fish-population protection orders will protect endangered chinook salmon in the Salmon River and Bessette Creek by temporarily restricting water use for forage crops and identified industrial purposes. The Salmon River and Bessette Creek have seen persistent low streamflows that are threatening the survival of spawning chinook populations. The fish-population protection orders will help restore water-flow levels and protect the salmon run. Effective Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, 490 surface-water and groundwater licences and transitioning groundwater users in the Salmon River and Bessette Creek watersheds within the assessed curtailment area are affected by the orders to stop using water for forage crops, which include grass for hay, alfalfa and forage corn. Irrigation of forage crops is one of the most water-intensive agricultural water uses. 
Five years after the release of the Old-Growth Strategic Review report, the BC NDP’s momentum towards a “new, holistic approach” to the management of old-growth forests has slowed almost to the point of regression. “Rather than the ‘paradigm shift’ we were promised, we’ve seen Premier Eby’s government doubling down on its prioritization of timber and industry profits over all other values,” said Eddie Petryshen, Wildsight Conservation Specialist. After its public release on September 11, 2020, the BC NDP government promised to enact all 14 recommendations made in the landmark Old-Growth Strategic Review (OGSR). The goal: to shift its focus towards ecosystem health, rather than timber. Since then, temporary logging deferrals have been put in place in high-risk old-growth stands in some parts of the province, and a 2023 Draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework was released for public review. 
Amid calls from some First Nations and municipalities in northeastern Ontario to stop glyphosate spraying on Crown land, environmental groups are raising concerns over the herbicide’s effect on biodiversity. …Wildland fire ecologist Bob Gray said leafy deciduous trees, like aspen, are more resilient to wildfires than softwood conifers like pine and spruce. “Softwoods are highly resinous,” he said. “The foliage and bark is highly flammable. When you’ve got large contiguous areas of conifer forest, you can have large continuous forest fires.” If a timber company’s goal is to promote the growth of softwoods for harvest, at the expense of hardwoods, it can make that area more prone to wildfires. …Jocelyne Laflamme is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia found that aspen becomes more flammable in the fall, when they lose their leaves. …In August, forest company Interfor cancelled plans to spray herbicides on trees along the north shore of Lake Huron.
As wildfires tear through New Brunswick’s forests at record rates this year, researchers say the resulting damage is reshaping bird habitats — displacing some species while creating new opportunities for others. “With every disturbance in a forest, you have winners and losers,” says Joe Nocera, a forestry and environmental management professor at the University of New Brunswick. In this case, the winners will be woodpeckers. Wildfires, while destructive, are a natural part of forest ecosystems, said Amy-Lee Kouwenberg, an associate director at Birds Canada explained. They clear out underbrush and create habitats that support a wider range of species, boosting biodiversity in the long run. Woodpeckers thrive in burned areas, and the resulting tree cavities they leave behind are used as nesting sites that other birds rely on. …Species like the Canada warbler, wood thrush and Bicknell’s thrush — all of which depend on dense, mature or shrubby forests — are particularly vulnerable . 
Activists are pushing for more information about where aerial spraying of glyphosate is happening after the Nova Scotia government has stopped releasing the locations for spraying of the herbicide by forestry companies. However the forestry sector says the use of the herbicide gets unfair attention, and identifying the locations draws protesters who block access to woodlots. Glyphosate is used by some woodlot owners to …reduce competition for more profitable softwood species… Previously, the provincial government provided premises identification (PID) numbers for where aerial sprays were approved. That didn’t happen when four approvals for spraying were issued in August. “We don’t have to tell everyone where these PIDs are, because it attracts people who don’t know the full story about forest management to show up roadblock your private woodlot, and prevent you from managing it as you see fit,” said Todd Burgess, executive director of Forest Nova Scotia. 
Air quality warnings are becoming a feature of Ontario summers, but for most, the source has felt far away. As southern Ontarians stayed indoors … under air quality warnings this summer, fires closer to home ignited. In July and August, the province experienced a number of wildfires in places including the Kawarthas, a couple hours northeast of Toronto, and near the town of Huntsville, in the cottage country region of Muskoka. Farther north, First Nations communities like the Pikangikum First Nation and North Spirit Lake First Nation were evacuated due to wildfires and smoke… How do wildfires in southern Ontario stack up to the massive fires farther north, and what can be done? Here’s what you need to know. …fires in southern Ontario are different for two main reasons: the forest type and the many, many people here.
Colorado’s state-specific rule for largely protecting roadless areas in its national forests will be spared from a Trump administration effort to remove such protections on a broader basis. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release on Wednesday that a public comment period is opening on her previously announced proposal to do away with the 2001 national roadless rule. But the Agriculture Department also said in the news release that state-specific rules in Colorado and Idaho won’t be affected by the proposal. Altogether, the proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres, the release said. Eliminating the rule would open roadless areas to road-building. The existing rule has limited activities such as logging in those areas, and was instituted at the end of the Clinton administration.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would invest more than $8 million in five new projects, including one in North Carolina. These projects will improve forest health by reducing wildfire risk and improving water quality. …North Carolina has two primary wildfire seasons, one in the spring and one in the fall. …The five new projects include efforts across several states to restore and protect essential landscapes. The National Forest is launching the “Alabama Chattahoochee Fall Line Restoring Longleaf” project in Alabama. Colorado and Wyoming will see work in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest through the “Headwaters of the Colorado” initiative. Montana’s Lolo National Forest is beginning the “Blackfoot River Valley Landscape Mosaic” project, while North Carolina’s National Forests are moving forward with “Uwharries to Sandhills, Phase 2.” Finally, Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest will focus on “Hood River Wildfire and Watershed Resilience.”
…Sweden, like Canada, sits atop vast boreal forests — part of the same great green belt circling the Northern Hemisphere. These forests act as planetary lungs, storing more carbon than even the Amazon. But the Swedish government’s latest forestry inquiry, En robust skogspolitik för aktivt skogsbruk, is heading in a troubling direction: grow more trees, cut them faster, and burn or export more biomass in the name of “green energy.” It sounds like a climate solution. But here’s the problem: forests are not factories. Most of the carbon in a boreal forest isn’t stored in the trees at all. It’s locked underground — in roots, fungi, humus, and delicate microbial networks built up over thousands of years. When forestry is intensified — shorter harvest cycles, heavier machines, wider clear-cuts — that underground bank of carbon is steadily drained. The trees grow back, yes, but the soil can take centuries to recover, if it recovers at all.
Researchers warn that simultaneous fires across Europe are overwhelming firefighting resources. Climate change made weather that fuelled Portugal and Spain’s deadly wildfires this summer around 40 times more likely, new research has found. Blazes in the Iberian Peninsula broke out at the end of July. Fuelled by temperatures above 40°C and strong winds, the flames spread extremely rapidly. The area burned by these wildfires has now broken records across Spain and Portugal. A new super rapid scientific analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA) has found that these hot, dry and windy conditions were made more likely and more intense by human-caused climate change. Dr Clair Barnes, researcher for the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, warns that the “astonishing” size of these fires is a “sign of what is to come” with hotter, drier, more flammable conditions becoming more severe with climate change.
WorkSafeBC will be holding a virtual public hearing on 
It’s been a summer of blue skies for British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, but that’s changed with a wave of wildfire smoke rolling into the region. The Metro Vancouver Regional District has issued an air quality advisory for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley due to elevated levels of fine particulate matter causing hazy conditions across the region. At a Wednesday briefing, B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said conditions were expected to worsen, with much of Southern B.C. to be affected in the days to come. “We should expect to see wildfire smoke come south in the days ahead. Weather forecasters are saying that the smoke is going to be a major factor in the next 24 to 72 hours,” Parmar said. “There are already reports of smoke hitting communities. We do expect more smoke to arrive in the central and southern interior tonight or tomorrow, and reach Abbotsford and the coast by Friday.”
The local service district of Lethbridge, N.L., is partially evacuated after a wildfire started in a bark pile and its adjacent forest outside Sexton Lumber late Sunday afternoon. The evacuation zone includes the areas of Oldford’s Hill to Southwest Bridge and Bayside Drive and Forest Drive, where the saw mill is located. Anthony Paddon Elementary in Musgravetown has been converted into a reception centre for impacted residents. In a social media post, the school announced that it will be closed to students on Monday, as it supports the efforts of emergency responders. The elementary school in Lethbridge, Hertiage Collegiate, is closed as well. In a social media post the school says more updates will be provided at 10:30 a.m. N.T. Route 233 remains impassible in both directions to all traffic. As of Sunday, three water bombers and ground crews were working the fire, and crews remained on the scene overnight to monitor conditions.
