Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Trade policy continues to be uncertain and changing rapidly in both the U.S. and Canada. Canada recently issued a surtax remission for decorative hardwoods imported from the U.S. Trade representatives from Taiwan and Japan, among others, have visited the U.S. to discuss tariff deals, while others, including Vietnam, have had phone conversations. DHA is closely monitoring the outcomes of the discussions and their impacts on our industry. We’ll talk more about the details at our upcoming annual meeting in San Antonio from May 13–May 15. All DHA members are encouraged to attend. Picking up on DHA efforts to push back on misleading marketing of fake wood products, the Missouri General Assembly has introduced legislation to counter the misleading marketing as “wood” for products like vinyl and laminate that only look like wood. Missouri Forest Products Association Executive Director Brian Brookshire will talk about the legislation at our annual meeting. Click the Read More for the full newsletter. 

The April Monthly Update includes these stories and more:

• The SLB’s 2024 Annual Report highlights the organization’s impact in diversifying demand for lumber by removing barriers for light-frame construction in nonresidential and multifamily projects and pursuing new market opportunities for mass timber and hybrid construction. …Partnerships and collaboration with stakeholders such as the USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities are essential to meeting the SLB’s goals. 
• A wood education roundtable at the International Mass Timber Conference in March brought together 17 academic leaders from architecture programs across the nation to explore new strategies for integrating wood—especially mass timber—into postsecondary architecture programs…
• The American Wood Council and the Construction Fire Safety Coalition launched an updated website and rebrand. 
• The SLB, Think Wood, and several industry association partners had a joint trade show experience at the 2025 International Builders Show to highlight the benefits of wood in single-family construction and remodeling. 

The Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA) has released a new technical publication, Allowable Load Tables for Machine-Graded Lumber, providing six newly developed load tables for the two most commonly produced grades of machine-graded Southern Pine lumber: 2,400F – 2.0E and M-23. Together, these grades account for more than 75% of all machine-graded Southern Pine lumber produced. This new publication, designed as a supplement to SFPA’s widely used Southern Pine Headers & Beams guide, reflects the growing production and use of machine-graded Southern Pine lumber. Developed through collaboration among SFPA member companies, the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau (SPIB), and discussions at the 2024 MSR Lumber Producers Council meeting, the new tables support the increasing demand for Southern Pine lumber in structural applications. Production of machine-graded Southern Pine lumber has surged, more than doubling since 2015 to reach 806 million board feet in 2024, according to the MSR Lumber Producers Council’s 2024 Annual Production Survey.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched LEED v5, the latest version of its flagship LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building program. LEED v5 builds on the 25-year legacy and global impact of LEED, updating and strengthening the most widely recognized, influential sustainability standard for the building industry while providing user-friendly tools for building owners and teams to pursue certification through enhanced technology updates. “Since its public launch 25 years ago, LEED has profoundly impacted millions of people in cities and communities around the world,” said Peter Templeton, president and CEO of USGBC. “LEED v5 raises the bar, further defining and evolving best practices and giving stakeholders across the building industry clear pathways to address today’s challenges to our health, climate and communities.”

The American Wood Council (AWC) released a new, first-of-its kind online tool designed to help users better understand where their wood products are coming from and the safeguards in place throughout the supply chain to ensure sustainability measures. The tool will provide greater insight into the sourcing of wood products used in low-and zero-carbon construction. The pilot project of the website was funded by the Softwood Lumber Board and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities funding. The new Wood Sourcing Tool tells the sustainability story through the incorporation of data based on a wood product’s mill grade stamp or region, information critical to tracking a specific product’s journey from the forest to the end user. This new tool also features a set of frequently asked questions about sustainable forestry and regional facts about wood sourcing.

U.S. national forests have comprehensive sustainable management practices, thanks in part to strong laws passed through the legislative process, such as the National Forest Management Act of 1976 and the Endangered Species Act in 1973. …The recent White House Executive Order requiring the Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production criticizes the policies that balance the use of our national forests and our purported inability to “fully exploit our domestic timber.” This order diminishes the value of our forests to that of just a commodity resource. This order runs the risk of us repeating mistakes our country has already learned. …Expediting the review of timber projects risks the insufficient evaluation of impacts to the vitality and productivity of the forests, as well as, to the habitats of endangered species, which is likely to see conservation groups and logging companies become confrontational once again. …We propose ways in which this can be achieved without ravaging our national forests…