A Trump—Carney meeting today could ease tariff tensions or deepen the divide. In related news: ERA’s Kevin Mason on the high cost of replacing Canadian lumber; DHA’s Keith Christman speaks to decorative hardwood impacts; Mark Carney looks to prefabricated homes to address housing shortage; and lumber prices ease as futures hit yearly lows. Meanwhile: Georgia-Pacific is closing its Emporia, Virginia plywood mill; International Paper breaks ground at its Waterloo, Iowa packaging facility; a log yard fire at BC’s Pioneer Log Homes; and Boise Cascade reports Q1 net income of $40M.
In Forestry news: Trump’s budget proposal points to deep cuts to forest lands; Alaska and New Hampshire seek to boost forest conservation; new research on forest recovery challenges after severe fire; a new study on boreal forests at the UN Forum on Forests; New Zealand on track to ban full farm-to-forest conversions; and the latest news from FSC Canada.
Finally, meet the professionals at BCIT’s industry-driven Wood Processing Program.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Domtar’s Jackson Widjaja is planning for more 
Professionals working in the lumber and sawmill sector and looking to advance their careers can gain specialized training through BCIT’s Associate Certificate in Industrial Wood Processing, starting June 2025. The IWP program was developed with industry subject matter experts and informed by industry leaders to support upskilling and professional development within the sector. The program is 1-year, delivered online and part-time to allow students to balance work and studies.
New York — Some of the last cargo ships carrying Chinese goods without crippling tariffs are arriving at US ports. Come next week, that will change. Cargo on ships from China loaded after April 9 will carry with them the 145% tariff President Donald Trump slapped on goods from that nation last month. Next week there will be fewer ships carrying less cargo. For many importers, it is too expensive to do business with China. Yet China is still one of America’s most important trading partners. It’s where we get most of our clothes, footwear, electronics and microchips, which power appliances, thermostats and anything else that beeps. …Forty-five percent of supply chain leaders expect they’ll pass the higher cost from tariffs down to their customers, according to a new survey by Gartner, a corporate research firm. …With fewer cargo ships expected at US ports, local economies will suffer immediately, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles said.
Drax Group plc on May 1 
This newsletter includes:
The April Monthly Update includes these stories and more:
The May News & Views includes the following headlines: 
With the Southern Interior’s hottest months just around the corner, FortisBC is putting important safety measures into place to help protect communities and its electricity system against wildfires, which includes adding extra precautions that could result in power outages. To further enhance its wildfire safety practices, FortisBC has introduced a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) policy, a new precautionary measure where electricity is proactively shut off in selected areas in advance of extreme weather. FortisBC is advising its customers to be prepared for these potential outages that help reduce potential ignition sources. …According to FortisBC, customers should always be prepared to be without electricity for at least 72 hours, especially during wildfire season.
People are asked to use caution over the next several days as a combination of warm, dry conditions and strong winds in much of southern B.C. are adding to elevated wildfire danger. The BC Wildfire Service urges people to postpone any open burning until the windy conditions pass and to use extra caution when camping in the backcountry. “We are expecting active weather in the coming days that could set the stage for dangerous wildfire conditions across the province,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “This is the time of year when we’re at the most risk for human-caused wildfires in B.C., most of which are entirely preventable.” People planning to have campfires should do so safely, following any local prohibitions.
More than 80 per cent of the critical habitat for at-risk species in B.C. fails to meet federal protection standards, according to a government briefing document. The 
After we marked Earth Day last week, the significance of forests for conservation, community benefits and human health has never been more urgent to acknowledge. Forests play many critical roles for nature and people: they provide habitat for hundreds of species, act as water filters, reduce air pollution, and are places of community connection, recreation and refuge. However, many pressures, including severe storms and wildfires, invasive alien species and habitat loss threaten these ecosystems, the benefits they provide and the relationships they support. …The economic value of our forests is just as vital as their ecological importance. According to the Forest Products Association of Canada, more than 200,000 Canadians earn their livelihood directly from forestry, sustainable agriculture and eco-tourism, contributing an impressive $87 billion in annual revenue. …The call is clear: safeguarding Canada’s forests means safeguarding ourselves. Our natural resiliency, our economic prosperity and our health require us to do our part. 
The Trump administration’s attempt to weaken the Endangered Species Act is easy to criticize. This month, it proposed a rule that would limit what constitutes “harm” under the law to only direct actions against wildlife, such as hunting, wounding or trapping. Destroying their habitats would no longer count. …As scientists warn that the world is entering a period of mass extinction, lawmakers would be wise to rethink federal conservation strategies. This means reforming the Endangered Species Act to better incentivize citizens to protect the country’s precious biodiversity. …The government could, for instance, turn protected species into assets by giving landowners financial incentives to assist in conservation efforts. …President Donald Trump and his party are unlikely to embrace these reforms. But Congress in recent years has shown that there is strong bipartisan appetite to strengthen protections for endangered species. The best way forward is to embrace market-oriented strategies.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources recently began a multi-faceted forest restoration project across approximately 150 acres of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Verlot. The Pilchuck Restoration Project is led by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Federal Lands Program under the agency’s Good Neighbor Authority agreement with the USDA Forest Service. Established in 2014, the GNA allows DNR to leverage its resources with federal and local partners to perform a variety of restoration activities on federal lands. Operators are following a carefully designed prescription focused on thinning out the small-diameter, younger trees that, due to past management practices, are overcrowding tree stands to the detriment of the larger, older trees.
A big change could be coming to U.S. wildlife conservation policy. In mid-April, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to change how the term “harm” would be defined in the Endangered Species Act. …According to Paula Swedeen, policy director at Conservation Northwest, the goal of the change is to bring the definition of “harm” in the ESA closer to what the Trump administration believes is its originally-intended meaning. …Washington state has its own conservation plans that are already in place on state lands. According to Swedeen, there’s reason to think that the changes to the ESA won’t impact those too much. …According to Swedeen, the spotted owl is one of the best examples of how endangered species could be put at risk by the proposed new ESA reading. …changes could also impact other endangered species in Washington, like the grizzly bear
NEW HAMPSHIRE yield tax on timber, often called the “timber tax,” was established in 1949 and has been locally collected to offset property taxes ever since. …The yield tax on timber has been an essential tool for promoting conservation, helping the timber industry, and stabilizing municipal revenues in heavily timbered towns. …The legislation would, “…encourage conservation of the forest resources of [New Hampshire] by releasing growing wood and timber from the yearly burden of local property taxes and substituting a yield tax….” The timber tax has been very effective achieving these goals… The current policy strikes an excellent balance between industry and conservation. There is a new government-promoted industry threatening New Hampshire’s timber industry, loggers, timber processors, and heavily timbered towns that depend on timber tax revenues. Carbon credits.
BRUSSELS – For fashion companies grappling with the EU’s ambitious anti-deforestation law, a recent tweak from the European Commission may appear to offer some relief. As the December deadline looms for the landmark EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Brussels has eased what some companies claimed were daunting reporting requirements. Instead of the initially mandated declaration for every shipment of goods linked to forest destruction, companies now only need to submit a single annual due diligence statement. …The Commission hopes this new simplification – which also includes allowing authorised representatives to file for company groups and enabling reuse of statements for re-imported goods – will shave off a significant 30% in reporting burdens and associated costs for affected businesses. However, the EU Commission’s simplification is being met with concern by environmental campaigners. As Reuters reported, the streamlining of paperwork has sparked fears that the teeth of the EUDR might be blunted.
MONTREAL – Academics at McGill University in Montreal are providing the U.S. scientific community a platform to protect climate research under attack. Six months ago, researchers at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management launched the Sustainability Academic Network — SUSANHub.com — a database that centralizes climate research and data. “We initially created this platform to connect researchers and professionals in sustainable development and climate change,” said Juan Serpa, a professor at the Desautels Faculty of Management, describing the platform as a kind of “LinkedIn” for the field. But at a time when the administration of United States President Donald Trump is firing climate researchers, banning certain words from scientific articles, cutting funding for environmental research, threatening to withdraw financial support from universities, and deleting scientific reports from government websites, the McGill platform has taken on a different significance. “The goal is to protect scientific data against threats from the U.S. government,” Serpa said.
The 
Israel asked Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy and Croatia to help extinguish major wildfires that broke out Wednesday morning in several locations near Jerusalem and along Highway 1 leading to the city as communities along the road were instructed to evacuate. At least one man suspected of involvement in igniting the fires was arrested, according to Israeli broadcaster Kan, which reported that the suspect is now detained at the Oz police station in east Jerusalem. Israel police did not confirm or give any details on what started the fires. …Foreign Minister Gideon Saar asked his counterparts in the four countries to send firefighting airplanes and helicopters to Israel, including supertankers. Ynet reported that Greece and Italy are sending supertankers and that the Palestinian Authority offered to send firefighters, though Israel has not yet responded to the offer. International aid is expected to arrive Thursday morning.