…Now Canada’s forest industry, a pillar of our economy since colonial times, must also look itself in the mirror. …So does that mean the Americans are right? Republican John James, a U.S. Congressman from Michigan, blamed Canada for abdicating its “responsibility to prevent a foreseeable disaster from crossing into another country’s airspace.” The short answer is no. …but the responsibility lies not with Canada, per se; the main culprit is human-caused climate change. …The current U.S. administration has recklessly and suicidally turned its back on a transition to a low-carbon economy. …Meanwhile, our own federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney has pulled away from Justin Trudeau’s bold moves to curb fossil-fuel use, and has instead championed pipelines. …The key, big-picture, is to transition to a low-carbon future. In the meantime, we can do a better job with forest management, informed by Indigenous knowledge, to avert or mitigate wildfire disaster. [Access to this story requires a Globe and Mail subscription]
A BC tribunal has upheld a $75,000 fine issued to Tolko Industries after a logging road it built in the Shuswap caused a landslide. According to a July 15 
A Saanich councillor’s attempt to recognize trees’ right to live will have to wait until next term. Saanich council voted down Coun. Nathalie Chambers’ motion to have the district endorse the principles of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Tree, which recognizes trees as vital living beings, deserving protection including the right to life, natural growth, integrity and regeneration. While all members of council took the opportunity to stress their love of trees, none supported the motion. Coun. Zac De Vries said the declaration was well-intentioned, but more clarity is needed about how it would affect current policies. …Chambers’ inspiration for the motion was the Quebec town of Terrasse-Vaudreuil, which last month voted to recognize trees as living beings with rights.
In the battle against one of the most significant forest fires of this summer, the BC Wildfire Service says that for the first time in Canada it has used a drone to ignite a controlled burn. …The wildfire service began testing remotely piloted aircraft systems on prescribed fires several years ago with the intent of using them alongside traditional aircraft and to support ground crews. The drones use a plastic sphere dispenser to drop fire into specific areas “controlling the spacing and intensity of the fires and avoiding placing firefighters in challenging or dangerous terrain.” …“The drone used for ignition is accompanied by observation drones outfitted with infrared and imaging capabilities, which gives us project intelligence not just during ignitions but through all phases of operations”. …The new technology improves firefighter safety and decision-making and helps the wildfire service “better protect communities and the environment,” it said.
Nk’Mip Forestry, with support from Siya Forestry, has planted more than 900,000 trees and native plants across Osoyoos Indian Band territory this year as part of the federal “2 Billion Trees Program.” The restoration project focuses on areas damaged by wildfire and other disturbances, including land severely burned during the 2021 Nk’Mip Creek wildfire where natural regeneration has been limited. “These sites were severely burned by the 2021 Nk’Mip Creek wildfire and were not regenerating on their own,” said Peter Flett, head of operations for Nk’Mip Forestry, in a press release issued Tuesday. “By planting now, we can help establish mixed-species forests that are better suited to future environmental conditions.” …In addition to restoring forests and wildlife habitat, the initiative is creating employment opportunities for local crews through seed collection, nursery work, planting and monitoring. The project is funded through the Government of Canada’s 2 Billion Trees Program
British Columbia is expanding the BC Timber Sales Value-Added Manufacturing Program by creating a new dedicated category that will secure fibre for custom cutters and processors. BC’s action builds on Canada’s Forest Sector Transformation Task Force, which was commissioned in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new duties and tariffs on Canadian wood products. The task force recommends strong support for value-added operators so Canada can build high-quality products at home. “British Columbia’s path forward for forestry can’t just be providing dimensional lumber to Americans. We have to make more in B.C.,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. …Custom cutters and processors are a group within the value-added wood-manufacturing sector without their own sawmilling facilities. …BC Wood Specialties Group Association’s chair, Kelly Marconi said “our custom cutting and processing members were part of the task force’s public consultation, so we are pleased to see this inclusive change.”
…As some resource roads across the province fall into disrepair … outdoor groups are working to save them. 
It was more than a decade ago that the Ontario government started to worry about its wildland firefighting program. In 2016, a report warned that fire rangers were quitting at an alarming rate, were less experienced than in previous years and were comparatively underpaid. Those issues have persisted ever since. Versions of the report repeated the warnings in 2018 and 2019, while an internal memo from 2022 warned of “an increase in the number of people leaving our organization for employment opportunities elsewhere.” …The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has pushed for major pay increases, to reclassify wildland firefighters as firefighters, not resource technicians, and more year-round jobs. …The government has vehemently denied claims it has failed to prepare for the fire season or that it is underfunding the fight to control the blazes.
It was more than a decade ago that the Ontario government started to worry about its wildland firefighting program. Back in 2016, a 
Hiring young workers can be an effective way to address labor needs, but forestry employers should understand that federal and state laws place significant restrictions on the work employees under age 18 may perform. Before hiring a minor, employers should familiarize themselves with those requirements to ensure they remain compliant while making informed staffing decisions. The federal government generally defines the youth labor force as individuals between the ages of 16 and 24. Under federal employment law, however, workers under age 18 are subject to additional protections that do not apply to older members of that group. Many forestry occupations are considered particularly hazardous under regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. States may also impose their own requirements governing the employment of minors, so employers should review both federal and applicable state laws before hiring a worker under age 18.
America’s top forester has fronted Congress as US wildfires burn through more than 3.9 million acres, with the 2026 fire season on track to rank among the most severe in recent years. That is according to Dan Newhouse, chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture, who told Wednesday’s hearing with US Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz that crews are battling 72 large fires among more than 40,000 recorded nationwide this year. Newhouse, a Republican whose central Washington district has lost hundreds of homes to fires still burning, used his opening statement to link the crisis to a “generational decline” in the health of the nearly 200-million-acre National Forest System. A fire that started in the north of his district at the end of last week has already grown to nearly 70,000 acres, he said. Overgrowth, invasive species outbreaks, underused management tools, litigation, and maintenance backlogs are dragging the system down, Newhouse said.
A windowless warehouse on the outskirts of Davis shelters pieces of California’s forests. …“This is like the mothership of forestry in California right here,” said Stewart McMorrow, staff chief for wildfire resilience at Cal Fire, standing outside the heavy metal door of the state seed bank at Cal Fire’s Lewis A. Moran Reforestation Center in Davis. Private landowners especially rely on these seeds — some now more than a half-century old — to reforest property destroyed by wildfire. At the pace California is burning, it’s nowhere near enough. Climate change and more than a century of overzealous fire suppression are now fueling wildfires so severe that they’re wiping out the very forests that need fire to thrive — leaving iconic landscapes at risk of turning into brush and scrub, permanently. Over the past quarter century, high-severity wildfires have burned 2.3 million acres of California’s forestland so completely that the trees are unlikely to return on their own.
Oregon forestry officials will need to manage hundreds of thousands of acres of western state forests to better support critical species, water and air quality and to decrease greenhouse gas emissions under a new management plan the Board of Forestry approved Wednesday. The seven-member board voted 5-2 to pass the 168-page 
As tribes across the West seek the return of federal lands through U.S. Congress, land trusts have advanced a complementary strategy: helping tribes buy back private lands from willing sellers — including timber companies — with public funding and conservation dollars. That approach is also gaining support in Oregon where five federally recognized tribes are pursuing federal legislation that would transfer public lands into tribal ownership. In a letter last week to the state’s congressional delegation … urged lawmakers to invest in tribal acquisitions of private lands while preserving environmental protections and public access on federal lands. …Historically, land trusts focused on buying and preserving environmentally valued land via conservation easements and other deed restrictions [that] limited people’s access to the land or prohibited most human activities. In recent years, the trusts have started to reexamine that approach, particularly when working with tribes who strongly believe that land should exist in relationship with people.
Two Western Washington tribes are suing the Trump administration to save endangered-species habitats nationwide. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Seattle by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and the Squaxin Island Tribe, follows the Trump administration’s recent reinterpretation of the Endangered Species Act. The Interior Department and the Department of Commerce announced they were nixing the decades-old interpretation of the act: Damage to an endangered species’ habitat would no longer be viewed as “harm” to the species. The species act would only be used to prevent directly injuring or killing endangered wildlife. “It’s devastating because of the impacts on the ESA-listed Chinook salmon,” Swinomish tribal chair Steve Edwards said. …Noah Greenwald said companies would have little incentive to enter into or continue habitat conservation plans. …Nick Smith said the new rule could make projects like tree thinning in fire-prone forests easier to carry out.
NEW ZEALAND — With El Nio forecast to bring drier, windier conditions and elevated fire danger across many parts of New Zealand this summer, maintaining a strong level of readiness will be particularly important. A 
ITALY — The good news is that European forests continue to grow: according to the 2025–2026 Annual Report of the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS), a body representing around 80 per cent of European sawn timber production, European forests now cover over 232 million hectares, equivalent to 35.4% of the continent’s land area, and over the last 35 years they have expanded by more than 23 million hectares, with an average increase of around 665,000 hectares each year. At the same time, Europe’s forest stock has reached 38.3 billion cubic metres, an increase of around 45% compared with 1990. Yet – and this is the less positive news – the availability of raw materials for the timber industry remains one of the main challenges to the sector’s competitiveness and to Europe’s sustainability objectives, as emerged from the Forestry-Timber General Assembly organised in Bologna by Filiera Legno (an association representing almost 600 companies in the timber industry). 