PLIB has launched the Fundamentals of Lumber Grading, a comprehensive introductory online training course providing detailed foundational knowledge of lumber grading. This is the first of several training programs PLIB plans to offer on the agency’s new Education and Training website. Our on-demand courses prepare graders to identify lumber characteristics, accurately apply grading rules, and transition confidently to hands-on training. With real grading footage, 3D scanner models, and expert guidance, PLIB’s Grader Training Program will help your team build precision and efficiency where it matters most.
Canada Wood’s April 2026 Market News highlights how targeted technical work, partnerships, and education are advancing Canadian wood products across Asia. In Korea, fire and acoustic testing is helping pave the way for broader adoption of wood in mid-rise construction. In Japan, efforts to integrate Canadian dimension lumber into traditional post-and-beam systems are opening new hybrid opportunities, while a villa project in Okinawa showcases wood’s performance in demanding climates. At the same time, rising domestic lumber production in Japan signals increasing competition. In China, a technical exchange led by Dr. Steven Craft is supporting dialogue around mass timber fire safety, while education initiatives are shaping the next generation of designers. The newsletter also reflects on Canada–Japan collaboration in post-disaster rebuilding and highlights innovation showcased at Tokyo’s Nikkei Show—together illustrating how Canada Wood continues to expand market access, strengthen relationships, and position wood as a practical, sustainable building solution.
Today, not only is Canada in a housing affordability crisis, but Build Canada Homes (BCH), the new federal agency-turned-Crown Corporation tasked with building affordable housing at record speed and scale, is already largely staffed, selecting projects, and hoping to break ground by this fall.
Kalesnikoff Mass Timber is launching a new line of modular timber classrooms today at the world’s largest mass timber conference in Portland, Oregon, showcasing its innovation to thousands of attendees. The company said that the classrooms are designed to address growing pressures on school infrastructure across North America. “Many communities are growing, leaving local schools at capacity,” said Chris Kalesnikoff, President and C.E.O. of Kalesnikoff. “These new modulars can be built and deployed rapidly, are cost effective, and create a warm and exceptional learning environment for students and staff.” The modular classrooms, constructed of cross-laminated timber (CLT) from Kalesnikoff’s mass timber facility in the West Kootenays using high-quality B.C. wood, are highly adaptable. They can function as a single classroom or be combined into larger expansions or entirely new schools. They can also be built in single-storey, or stacked configurations, and arrive with pre-installed heating, plumbing and digital systems.
A 17-storey mass timber-Passive House tower under construction in downtown Vancouver will help push forward clean, tall timber construction techniques, the company building the mixed-use structure at 981 Davie St. says. The builders, 
The Associated Press, one of the world’s oldest and most influential news organizations, said Monday it is offering buyouts to an unspecified number of its US-based journalists as part of an acceleration away from the focus on newspapers and their print journalism that sustained the company since the mid-1800s. The News Media Guild, the union that represents AP journalists, said more than 120 of the staff members it represents received buyout offers on Monday. The news organization is becoming more focused on visual journalism and developing new revenue sources, particularly through companies investing in artificial intelligence, to cope with the economic collapse of many legacy news outlets. Once the lion’s share of AP’s revenue, big newspaper companies now account for 10% of its income. “We’re not a newspaper company and we haven’t been for quite some time,” Julie Pace, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP, said.
As more U.S. states consider extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, the American Forest & Paper Association warns the policy could raise the cost of everyday goods, Midland reports. EPR raises costs for American families because it shifts recycling expenses onto manufacturers. Global studies show when there are new regulatory fees, prices for packaged items increase. EPR works like a consumption tax. It ultimately increases the overall cost of groceries, household goods and paper products. As a result, Americans will feel the impact when shopping at the grocery store and for everyday necessities, according to AF&PA. EPR will increase costs without improving paper recycling. …Extended Producer Responsibility requires companies to pay for collecting, recycling and disposing of their products. That’s true even for materials like paper that are already widely and successfully recycled today.
As with any other natural resource, building with wood starts with ensuring each piece is up to snuff. And while there are machines to help vis-a-vis bots spotting knots, human eyes and judgement remain essential. To help expand that human portion of the grading project, the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB) has rolled out the Fundamentals of Lumber Grading. 
A cross-sector group of packaging producers, farmers, restaurants and grocers has filed a class action lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of SB 343, California’s controversial recycling labeling law. The coalition argues the legislation imposes unconstitutional restrictions on free speech, ultimately working against recycling participation programs by making it harder for consumers to understand what can and cannot go in the bin. At the heart of the complaint is SB 343’s prohibition on the use of widely recognized recycling symbols and claims, even when those claims are factually accurate, according to the suit. Under the law, producers cannot label packaging as recyclable unless it meets state-defined, “rigid” criteria that allegedly fails to reflect how recycling actually works. …“SB 343 establishes labeling standards that could discourage innovation and limit the ability to provide accurate recycling information to consumers,” the American Forest and Paper Association stated.
CONCORD, New Hampshire — A bill moving forward at the State House aims to address a decades-old discrepancy in how wood strength is rated. New Hampshire lawmakers approved Senate Bill 529, which gives preference to US-harvest lumber. The bill requires state-funded building projects to include design specifications for US-sourced spruce-pine-fir. …In the early 1990s, the U.S. and Canada developed separate systems to rate the strength of framing lumber. Canadian lumber is labeled SPF, while American lumber is labeled SPFs. SPFs ended up with a lower design strength value, even though the wood used on both sides of the border is nearly identical. …Over time, the difference in design specifications has given Canadian lumber a competitive advantage, putting Hampshire lumber at a disadvantage. While lawmakers can’t change international industry standards, they can influence how the state purchases lumber for its own construction projects.
BRIMLEY, MI – The Bay Mills Indian Community will receive $50,000 in state funding to support planning and design of a long-term care facility in Brimley, making it the only Upper Peninsula project selected in the first round of Michigan’s Mass Timber Catalyst Program. The planned facility is among 10 projects statewide sharing $400,000 in grants aimed at expanding the use of mass timber construction in Michigan. The state received six applications from the Upper Peninsula. “We received six applicants for a number of different projects in the Upper Peninsula,” said Patrick Mohney, senior lands program manager with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Public Lands. “This shows that interest in this building technique is growing.” Nine Lower Peninsula projects were also selected, with individual grants ranging from $25,000 to $60,000. Recipients include a woodworking school in Adrian, a municipal building in Grand Rapids, and mixed-use facilities in several locations.
The UK construction sector is being encouraged to increase its use of homegrown timber, as industry experts highlight the benefits of locally sourced materials over imports. Despite the availability of sustainable domestic options, nearly 80% of timber used in the United Kingdom continues to be imported. This reliance is now being questioned across the supply chain. …A key issue raised within the sector relates to timber grading. Architects and engineers frequently specify higher grades such as GL28 or C24 without fully assessing project requirements. This trend has developed due to historical dependence on imported Scandinavian timber, where C24 is the standard grade. In contrast, the most common grade produced in the UK is closer to C16. This mismatch has led to inefficiencies. British timber is often overlooked. Specifications are sometimes made without full evaluation. The ‘Trust UK C16’ campaign is aiming to address this imbalance. 
DENMARK — The timber industry is intensifying efforts to expand the use of wood in construction, with a new action plan aiming to raise its market share to 20% by 2030. Launched under the “TiB 2.0” initiative by industry body Træ i Byggeriet, the strategy seeks to accelerate adoption by addressing key barriers, including restrictive building regulations, entrenched industry practices and limited knowledge of wood’s capabilities. Lauritz Rasmussen, head of the organisation’s secretariat, said the initiative builds on growing interest in timber as a sustainable building material but acknowledges progress has been too slow. He stated that “all reason dictates that we should use more wood for the climate, the environment and for the qualities for which wood is recognized”. The plan focuses on increasing visibility, improving documentation and promoting knowledge-sharing to influence decision-makers. Leadership changes also form part of the strategy, with Per Thomas Dahl of CLT Denmark appointed as the new chairman.
The construction industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to conventional materials production. Because of this, there is an urgent need for sustainable alternatives. Bio-based materials offer a promising alternative but remain underutilized. This study examines wood to derive insights that could support the broader adoption of bio-based alternatives. This research explores the systemic drivers and barriers to the diffusion of wood through interviews with key actors. A system dynamics model is developed to capture the main factors affecting wood diffusion and their interdependencies. …It shows that successful diffusion requires systemic innovation, necessitating collaboration across the ecosystem. This systemic analysis offers important insights for other bio-based materials, which differ in resource availability, applications, and production cycles, but face similar barriers such as workforce shortages, scalability, and societal acceptance. Overcoming these barriers requires targeted trainings and supportive policies. 
Awareness of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label for responsible forest management continues to rise in Germany, reaching 77% in 2025, a recent survey has indicated. According to the 2025 Global Consumer Awareness Survey, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the FSC, recognition of the label has reached 77% among German consumers – up six percentage points since 2022. The study, based on more than 32,000 consumers globally, shows that 59% of German respondents trust brands more if they offer FSC-certified products. Across the DACH region, awareness remains high, particularly in Switzerland (81%) and Austria (68%). …The data reflects a broader behavioural shift: while environmental issues receive less public attention, consumers increasingly act on sustainability through everyday purchases. …For retailers and brands, the growing demand for credible sustainability claims is becoming increasingly significant.
The wood industry produces enormous quantities of lignocellulosic by-products, such as sawdust, and their incineration for energy recovery results in substantial carbon emissions and the loss of valuable raw materials. Here, we introduce struvite as a fully recyclable inorganic binder for the consolidation of sawdust into high-performance hybrid materials. The mineral binder is produced in situ by an enzymatically induced solution-mediated phase transformation driven by ureolytic protein bodies extracted from watermelon seeds. The resulting material exhibits excellent fire resistance with a long time to ignition (51 ± 1 s), low peak heat release (118 ± 2 kW m−2), and fast flame self-extinction due to efficient char-layer formation. Moreover, it displays high compressive strength (4.71 ± 0.37 MPa). Crucially for sustainability, the struvite binder can be recovered under mild aqueous conditions without loss of performance, offering a valid path toward a circular materials economy.