Thank you for visiting the Tree Frog Forestry News
August 6, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway
Hello early bird! We just want you to know that the news team is busy adding stories to this page. Be sure to check back at 9:00 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.
PM Carney says tone with U.S. already ‘quite firm’ as trade talks continue
By Émilie Bergeron
The Canadian Press in CTV News
August 5, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Carney said Canada’s tone toward the US is already “quite firm” and insisted trade negotiations with Washington remain “constructive” as an Aug. 19 deadline for new U.S. tariffs draws near. US President Trump has threatened to impose new 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports beginning Aug. 19. “We have time. We have real negotiations, constructive negotiations on several issues,” Carney said. The prime minister was asked whether Canada should change its strategy or adopt a tougher stance toward the Trump administration.Carney suggested now is not the time to shift course. He noted that Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-US trade, Dominic LeBlanc, is in Washington alongside Canada’s chief trade negotiator Janice Charette for a series of meetings aimed at advancing the talks. …Asked Wednesday about the possibility of export quotas, Carney declined to comment.
Lumber prices have risen this summer to their highest level in four years, even as home sales slump and renovation spending loses steam, the WSJ’s Ryan Dezember writes. Back in 2022, the price of two-by-fours was falling after a record-setting surge during the Covid-19 pandemic, which set off a suburban building boom and sent stuck-at-home Americans into a do-it-yourself frenzy. This time around, reduced supply rather than booming demand has driven lumber prices higher. Imports are down because of steep duties on Canadian boards and President Trump’s 10% softwood-lumber tariff. Meanwhile, low prices last year prompted sawmill curtailments and closures from British Columbia to northern Florida. …“I don’t anticipate that those mills that have been shut down are going to come back. There’s a certain amount of volume that’s just out of the system,” said Weyerhaeuser CEO Devin Stockfish. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
KINGSEY FALLS, Quebec — Cascades reported its unaudited financial results for the three-month period ended June 30, 2026. The Corporation’s second quarter sales of $1,219 million increased by $32 million compared with the same period last year. This increase reflects consolidated net benefits of $13 million from higher average selling prices and a favourable sales mix of $21 million. …For the three-month period ended June 30, 2026, the Corporation posted net earnings of $21 million compared to a net loss of $(3) million, in the same period of 2025. On an adjusted basis, the Corporation posted net earnings of $24 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to net earnings of $19 million in the same period of 2025. …Hugues Simon, President and CEO, commented: “Our second quarter results exceeded expectations, driven by a stronger performance in Packaging.”
MONTREAL, Quebec – Stella-Jones announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2026. …Sales for the second quarter of 2026 were $1,042 million, up eight million dollars, versus sales of $1,034 million for the second quarter of last year. Excluding the $29 million contribution from the acquisition of Brooks Manufacturing, pressure-treated wood sales decreased by $13 million, or 1%. …Adjusted EBITDA of $167 million, or 16.0% margin compared to $189 million, or 18.3% margin in Q2, 2025. Net income was $61 million compared to $106 million in Q2. …This performance reflected higher wood utility poles sales, largely offset by the lower market price of lumber for residential lumber and lower volumes in railway ties. Logs and lumber sales declined by eight million dollars, or 31%, primarily due to a reduction in logs trading activity. …Eric Vachon, President and CEO of Stella-Jones said “We expect margin performance to improve in the second half of the year.”
WILDLIGHT, Florida — Rayonier reported second quarter net income attributable to Rayonier of $19.1 million on revenues of $396.5 million. This compares to net income attributable to Rayonier of $408.7 million on revenues of $106.5 million in the prior year quarter. The second quarter results included $10.2 million of costs related to the merger with PotlatchDelticand timber write-offs resulting from a casualty eventof $2.3 million. Excluding these items… second quarter net income was $31.5 million. This compares to net income of $9.6 million in the prior year period. …Mark McHugh, President and CEO said, “We maintained a strong focus on operational execution during the quarter, while continuing to make significant progress on our integration priorities and positioning the combined company to realize the strategic and financial benefits of the merger.”
Beavers are the answer to community wildfire danger, not more logging
Letter by Catherine Slater
North Island Gazette
August 5, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West
I saw “BC Is Burning” produced by the Truck Loggers Association last March in Campbell River. This documentary states that Climate Change is a rising threat to rural communities. There are dramatic scenes of forests and homes burning. The film’s solution is more “Active Forest Management.” It promotes extensive tree and woody debris thinning (even in protected areas such as OGMAs) to reduce wildfire “fuel load,” processing these harvests into new carbon-sequestering or carbon-replacing products, regenerating the forest with seedlings in these “fire-smarted” areas. Community wildfire safety and jobs are addressed by this proposed solution, a win-win situation. But, where is the health of a natural forest ecosystem? …How can we maintain intact forests AND keep rural communities safer from wildfire? Beavers! Beaver ponds reduce community wildfire danger as humidifiers and wetland firebreaks. …The BC Wildlife Federation promotes widespread beaver reintroduction…
He still calls himself “a recovering forester.” BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee, a former RPF turned political heavyweight spent 30 years in the bush before becoming one of the most powerful Indigenous voices in Canadian forestry. Terry Teegee explains why BC keeps paying billions for wildfires it could have prevented, and who he thinks is really slowing down reconciliation.
‘Nothing that Canada can do’: Experts push back on Trump’s criticism of Canada’s wildfire response
By Tammy Ibrahimpoor
CTV News
August 5, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East, United States
U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Canada is failing to properly manage its forests, and that the cost of wildfire smoke drifting south should be added to tariffs on Canadian goods, has prompted renewed questions about whether more could be done to prevent the massive blazes that have blanketed parts of North America with smoke. But wildfire experts say the answer is far more complicated. “The short answer is there’s nothing that Canada can do about these major wildfires that are causing wildfire smoke to travel thousands of kilometres,” said Anabela Bonada, managing director of climate science at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo. …“The No. 1 thing is all of us reducing our emissions, and that goes for the U.S. as well,” Bonada said. “But we are looking at smoky summers ahead, so we need to do everything possible to protect ourselves and people that live in our home.”
Ending native forest harvesting for carbon credits is madness
By Jason Ross
Wood Central Australia
August 6, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International
Rob de Fégely
AUSTRALIA — The forester who advised successive Australian governments on forest policy for eight years has argued that a country cannot stop making the wood it uses without importing the environmental cost along with the timber. That is according to Rob de Fégely, whose column ran in the Australian Financial Review on Thursday, twelve days before the Senate votes on whether to disallow the Improved Native Forest Management method behind the Great Koala National Park. “Ending native forest harvesting is not environmental leadership,” de Fégely wrote. …“The demand does not disappear,” de Fégely wrote of what follows when a country stops making its own wood, an effect economists call leakage, which moves the harvest rather than ending it. Australia already runs a wood trade deficit, buying $6.9 billion in wood products a year and selling $2.8 billion. …“Harvesting changes forests, but it does not destroy them,” de Fégely wrote.
BC Wildfire crews and other officials accessing the Fraser Canyon are encountering everything from downed power lines and poles, to “treepedos.” As Boston Bar residents hope to head home following the Brunswick Complex fire, the Fraser Valley Regional District used social media over the B.C. Day long weekend to explain why that may take more time and effort than anyone expected. To illustrate the difficulty, they shared an image of a tree smashed on Highway 1, calling it a treepedo. “Treepedo (noun): A dead tree that falls over and rockets down a hill and lands on the road,” the district posted. “Treepedos are the reason the southern access is a definitely ‘no way’ for us to travel. Also giant boulders but we don’t have a cute name for that.” …The Brunswick Creek Complex wildfires are still considered out of control, and all evacuation orders remain in place as of Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 11 a.m.
All evacuation orders and alerts will remain in place on Wednesday, Central Okanagan Emergency Operations (CORD) has announced. In total, 2,223 properties (approximately 5,113 residents) are on order and 425 (approximately 976 residents) are on alert. “We know residents want to return home, and we want that too,” stated CORD. “Evacuation orders will remain in place until it is safe to return, including addressing hazards such as damaged utilities, hazard trees and unsafe road conditions. At this time, Westside Road remains closed from Highway 97 in Vernon to Caesar’s Landing. The Quilpituk Creek wildfire is displaying Rank 1 and 2 fire behaviour on Wednesday, Aug. 5. This means the blaze currently is “a smouldering ground fire to low vigour surface fire, characterized by visible open flame and unorganized inconsistent flame fronts,” said BCWS.
Hello early bird! We just want you to know that the news team is busy adding stories to this page. Be sure to check back at 9:00 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Carney said Canada’s tone toward the US is already “quite firm” and insisted trade negotiations with Washington remain “constructive” as an Aug. 19 deadline for new U.S. tariffs draws near. US President Trump has threatened to impose new 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports beginning Aug. 19. “We have time. We have real negotiations, constructive negotiations on several issues,” Carney said. The prime minister was asked whether Canada should change its strategy or adopt a tougher stance toward the Trump administration.Carney suggested now is not the time to shift course. He noted that Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-US trade, Dominic LeBlanc, is in Washington alongside Canada’s chief trade negotiator Janice Charette for a series of meetings aimed at advancing the talks. …Asked Wednesday about the possibility of export quotas, Carney declined to comment.
Lumber prices have risen this summer to their highest level in four years, even as home sales slump and renovation spending loses steam, the WSJ’s Ryan Dezember writes. Back in 2022, the price of two-by-fours was falling after a record-setting surge during the Covid-19 pandemic, which set off a suburban building boom and sent stuck-at-home Americans into a do-it-yourself frenzy. This time around, reduced supply rather than booming demand has driven lumber prices higher. Imports are down because of steep duties on Canadian boards and President Trump’s 10% softwood-lumber tariff. Meanwhile, low prices last year prompted sawmill curtailments and closures from British Columbia to northern Florida. …“I don’t anticipate that those mills that have been shut down are going to come back. There’s a certain amount of volume that’s just out of the system,” said Weyerhaeuser CEO Devin Stockfish. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
MONTREAL, Quebec – Stella-Jones announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2026. …Sales for the second quarter of 2026 were $1,042 million, up eight million dollars, versus sales of $1,034 million for the second quarter of last year. Excluding the $29 million contribution from the acquisition of Brooks Manufacturing, pressure-treated wood sales decreased by $13 million, or 1%. …Adjusted EBITDA of $167 million, or 16.0% margin compared to $189 million, or 18.3% margin in Q2, 2025. Net income was $61 million compared to $106 million in Q2. …This performance reflected higher wood utility poles sales, largely offset by the lower market price of lumber for residential lumber and lower volumes in railway ties. Logs and lumber sales declined by eight million dollars, or 31%, primarily due to a reduction in logs trading activity. …Eric Vachon, President and CEO of Stella-Jones said “We expect margin performance to improve in the second half of the year.”
I saw “
U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Canada is failing to properly manage its forests, and that the cost of wildfire smoke drifting south should be added to tariffs on Canadian goods, has prompted renewed questions about whether more could be done to prevent the massive blazes that have blanketed parts of North America with smoke. But wildfire experts say the answer is far more complicated. “The short answer is there’s nothing that Canada can do about these major wildfires that are causing wildfire smoke to travel thousands of kilometres,” said Anabela Bonada, managing director of climate science at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo. …“The No. 1 thing is all of us reducing our emissions, and that goes for the U.S. as well,” Bonada said. “But we are looking at smoky summers ahead, so we need to do everything possible to protect ourselves and people that live in our home.”
