Daily News for May 26, 2026

Today’s Takeaway

Canada launches first national aerial firefighting fleet for 2026 wildfire season

The Tree Frog Forestry News
May 26, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway

Ottawa launched Canada’s first-ever national reserve of firefighting aircraft to boost provincial wildfire response capacity. In related news: Alberta utilities plan for wildfire power-shutoffs; Oregon questions the US Forest Service’s wildfire readiness; and Ukraine tallies its forest fire damage due to the war. Meanwhile: Canada Wood secures recognition of Hem-fir (N) in Japan; and Finland’s industry urges government to boosts its wood use.

In other Forestry news: the BC Forest Practices Board will audit BC Timber Sales near Hazelton; Washington state’s Pacific yew helped produce a breakthrough cancer drug; and restoring Virginia’s longleaf pines and New England’s elm—one seed at a time. In other news: San Group is fined and sanctioned for hiring migrant workers; Stora Enso is closing a softwood pulp line in Sweden; and the latest NAHB data on multifamily, custom home and single-family housing starts.

Finally, on Day 2 of Forest Safety Week: how supervisor training, wildlife awareness, and employer-led investigations can prevent future incidents.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Special Feature

Supporting Safe, Confident Leaders: BC Forest Safety Council’s Forest Supervisor Training

By Michele Fry, Director, Communications
BC Forest Safety Council
May 26, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

Effective supervision is one of the strongest predictors of a safe and productive forestry operation. Supervisors set the tone for safety culture, guide risk management, support worker development and ensure the work is done correctly. To help build these essential skills, the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC) offers several courses, both in-person and online, that are intended for new and experienced forest supervisors. These courses provide practical, industry‑specific knowledge to help supervisors meet their responsibilities, strengthen communication and make informed decisions in varied work environments. …BCFSC’s classroom and field‑based supervisor courses are instructor‑led, hands‑on courses designed to build leadership capacity through real world forestry examples. …BCFSC’s online supervisor training options are ideal for workers who are unable to attend in person, need flexible self-paced learning or want a refresher after previous training.

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Wildlife Awareness on the Road and in the Bush

By Michele Fry, Director, Communications
BC Forest Safety Council
May 26, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada West

As summer forestry work ramps up across British Columbia, workers face a range of hazards both on the road and in the field. Two risks this time of year are wildlife encounters at worksites and wildlife collisions while driving. So, whether you’re heading out to the worksite or working in remote areas, being prepared can help prevent serious incidents. Stay Alert Behind the Wheel: Wildlife collisions remain a significant risk for drivers in BC, with thousands of animal-related crashes reported every year. These incidents can lead to serious injuries, fatalities and costly damage to vehicles. …Working in Bear Country: Bears are coming out of hibernation in the spring and becoming more active across many parts of the province. Forestry workers often operate in high‑risk areas, making it important to understand how to avoid and respond to bear encounters. The best approach is prevention. Most bears will avoid people if they are aware of your presence.

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Conducting Employer-Led Investigations in Forestry

By Alexandra Skinner
The Truck LoggerBC Magazine
May 26, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

How employers can respond promptly, uncover causes, and prevent future incidents. Forestry work is inherently risky, from felling trees on steep slopes to operating heavy machinery in remote locations. Even with the best safety practices in place, serious incidents can still occur. When they do, employers are required to investigate promptly and thoroughly. An effective employer incident investigation isn’t just paperwork. It’s a structured approach to uncovering what went wrong, protecting workers, and preventing similar incidents in the future. WorkSafeBC lays out a clear framework that forestry operations can follow, from the first hours after an incident to the final corrective actions. The first step is knowing when an employer-led investigation is required. Serious injuries, fatalities, or incidents that could have caused major harm must be investigated immediately. Even minor injuries or near misses are important: understanding how a near miss happened can prevent a serious incident down the line.

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Business & Politics

Insolvent B.C. forestry company penalized $429K, banned from hiring migrant workers

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
May 25, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

A B.C. forestry company embroiled in insolvency proceedings has been handed a $429,000 penalty and two-year ban from hiring migrant workers after it was found to have violated several federal regulations. The sanctions to San Industries (part of the San Group) came after federal inspectors found it had breached five sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, rules designed to protect temporary foreign workers. According to a May 15 decision, inspectors found pay or working conditions did not match what San Industries had advertised. The employer was also found not to be engaged in the business the workers were hired for and could not show that the job it had sought to fill matched its Labour Market Impact Assessment application. And in another violation, San Industries was found to have broken federal or provincial laws for hiring and recruiting employees. …At $429,000, the penalty is the province’s second-largest on record.

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Stora Enso Plans to Close Softwood Pulp Line 3 at Skutskär Mill in Sweden

Stora Enso OYJ
May 25, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

SWEDEN — Stora Enso announced plans to permanently close softwood pulp production on fiberline 3 (L3) at its Skutskär pulp mill in Sweden. The company also said that it will restructure the mill to focus on fluff. Change negotiations with union representatives at the Skutskär mill are starting. According to Stora Enso, softwood pulp demand in Europe has declined since 2023 and price levels have been dropping while wood costs have increased. Currently, Skutskär’s fiberline L3 softwood pulp operates at negative margins. …The planned L3 closure and the reorganization would impact a maximum of 80 employees at Skutskär. Stora Enso said the plan is to stop production during Q3-Q4 2026, subject to the completion of the change negotiations and fulfillment of customer orders. Fluff pulp production will continue operating as usual, while potential further expansion is being investigated.

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Finance & Economics

First Quarter 2026 Multifamily Construction, Custom Home and Single-Family Built-to-Rent Data

By Robert Dietz, Chief Economist
NAHB Eye on Housing
May 26, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts increased year-over-year during the first quarter of 2026. For the quarter, 107,000 multifamily residences started construction. Of this total, 103,000 were built-for-rent. This built-for-rent total was 21% higher than in the first quarter of 2025.

With overall single-family construction down 5% for the first four months of 2026, custom home building has been a relative bright spot. With spec home building down and the stock market up, custom building has expanded its market share. There were 36,000 total custom building starts during the first quarter of 2026. This is up 3% relative to the first quarter of 2025.

Single-family built-for-rent construction fell back in the first quarter of 2026, as a higher cost of financing, increased multifamily supply and policy concerns over Congressional legislation related to institutional capital froze parts of the development market. 

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Canada Wood Japan Secures Recognition of New Hem-fir(N) Design Values

By Canada Wood Group
LinkedIn
May 25, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, International

Canada Wood Japan has helped secure an important market-access outcome for Canadian Hem-Fir (N) dimension lumber in Japan. In collaboration with the National Lumber Grades Authority and the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board, Canada Wood Japan worked with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to obtain recognition of the revised standard design values for Hem-Fir (N) dimension lumber graded under NLGA standards. For builders, designers and structural engineers in Japan, design values are essential. They provide the basis for structural calculations and help determine where and how lumber can be used in code-compliant buildings. When grading rules or design values are revised in Canada, those changes must also be properly understood and accepted by Japanese regulatory authorities to ensure continued market access. …Canada Wood Japan demonstrated that the revised Hem-Fir (N) design values would continue to meet Japan’s structural safety requirements and would not compromise the performance of conventional wooden buildings. 

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Finnish Sawmill Industry Association urges government to boost public wood building

The Lesprom Network
May 25, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The Finnish Sawmill Industry Association is urging the government to accelerate wood construction and broaden the use of domestic wood in building, saying Finland is not using wood construction enough to raise value added for domestic wood, support investment and strengthen regional vitality. It calls for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment to lead a national wood-construction program and appoint a high-level cross-government steering group, the Finnish Sawmill Industry Association reported. The association links wood construction to Finland’s competitiveness and industrial policy and says the market’s development should be treated as part of efforts to cut emissions from the built environment. It also calls for increasing the use of domestic wood more broadly in construction, beyond wood construction in a narrow sense. …It calls for regulation and permitting processes to be developed in a direction it says enables investments and links wood construction to Finland’s clean-transition investment goals. 

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Forestry

Ottawa launches national aerial firefighting fleet for 2026 wildfire season

By Craig Lord
The Canadian Press in the Chronicle Journal
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

OTTAWA – The federal government has set up Canada’s first-ever reserve of firefighting aircraft to help provinces and territories respond to the 2026 wildfire season. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, or CIFFC, has leased 10 aircraft and two unspecified support assets for 150 days starting this month, thanks to a $317-million spending allocation in the federal budget. The government said that the Pan-Canadian Aerial Asset Program will boost national firefighting surge capacity by increasing provincial and territorial access to aircraft during periods of intense wildfire activity. Provincial and territorial wildfire agencies will be able to request the use of four air tankers, one spotter plane and five heavy lift helicopters to fight wildfires. The fleet will be sourced from British Columbia-based firms Conair Group, Coldstream Helicopters and VIH Helicopters. …This is the first time a national fleet of aircraft will be available to respond where needed.

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Alberta utilities expand planned wildfire power shutoffs in Bow Valley

By Michelle McCann
CBC News
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

As wildfire seasons become longer and more destructive, Alberta electricity providers are introducing programs designed to intentionally shut off power in high-risk areas, like the Bow Valley, before wildfires start. The strategy, known as Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), involves intentionally shutting off electricity during extreme conditions to reduce the risk of power lines sparking wildfires. This month, electricity providers AltaLink and FortisAlberta presented the program to Canmore town council. …Utilities say the decision to proactively shut off power would depend on extreme weather conditions such as wind speed, humidity, vegetation dryness and wildfire danger ratings —all of which can increase the risk of power lines sparking a wildfire. “It is not a decision we take lightly,” says AltaLink vice-president of operations Evan Mitchell. “We need to see conditions where, if a spark were to start, there is a risk it could produce a catastrophic wildfire.”

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Lindsay Cuff Receives Killam Teaching Prize

UBC Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Lindsay Cuff

Lindsay Cuff is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, jointly appointed with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. She has developed, implemented, and shared innovative approaches to teaching and strives to weave real-world applications into the classroom. She is a UBC Sustainability Fellow, contributes to an interdisciplinary team developing an Indigenous Land Stewardship Program, and is the author of the open educational textbook Writing Place. As an instructor of discipline-specific scholarly writing, Lindsay supports students from diverse backgrounds, including those in their first year, helping them discover writing as a powerful tool for learning, reflection, and connection. Her impact is reflected in the outstanding feedback she receives from students, who consistently describe her teaching as motivating, engaging, and inspiring.

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Cheakamus Community Forest awards inaugural grants to Sea to Sky stewardship and recreation projects

By Luke Faulks
Pique News Magazine
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Three Sea to Sky organizations have been named the inaugural recipients of the Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) Community Benefit Program, which has awarded more than $25,000 to projects tied to forest education, habitat stewardship, recreation access, and invasive species management. The funding, announced on May 19, comes from the community forest’s carbon offset sales revenue. …The community forest said the program reflects its broader goal of operating “as a model of regenerative forestry and reconciliation” while supporting partner communities through locally driven initiatives. The announcement comes ahead of the CCF’s spring 2026 information session, scheduled for May 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Istken Room at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre.

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Forest Practices Board to audit BC Timber Sales operations near Hazelton

By Tanner Senko, Communications Manager
BC Forest Practices Board
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

HAZELTON – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of BC Timber Sales (BCTS) and timber sale licence holders in the Kispiox Timber Supply Area (TSA) portion of the Skeena Business Area, starting Monday, June 1, 2026. The audit will examine harvesting, roads, silviculture, protection activities and associated planning. These activities will be assessed for compliance under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. BCTS operates throughout the Kispiox TSA, within the Skeena Stikine Natural Resource District. Activities in the audit area are administered from the Hazelton Field Office. The audit area overlaps the territories of the Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow, Nisga’a, Lake Babine Nation, Kitselas, and Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha First Nations. …The area includes mountainous terrain, rivers and lakes that support recreation, wildlife habitat and important fish populations, including several salmon species, bull trout, Dolly Varden and lake trout.

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Could changes at the U.S. Forest Service impact wildfire response in Oregon?

By Vasili Varlamos
KATU 2 News
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

With Oregon facing what state leaders say could be another difficult wildfire season, questions are emerging about whether major changes inside the U.S. Forest Service could eventually impact how quickly fires are detected and attacked across the West. “All indications suggest a more challenging fire season ahead of all of us,” said Oregon Governor Tina Kotek… The warning comes after a historically warm winter, low snowpack levels, and worsening drought conditions across parts of Oregon. At the same time, the Forest Service is undergoing major national restructuring efforts, including consolidating research facilities and closing its nine regional offices nationwide. …Still, federal firefighters and local fire leaders say they do not expect major disruptions to wildfire response this season. “I think there’s just a growing amount of apprehension about what it’s gonna look like on the ground level in a couple of years’ time,” said Kieran Evans, a squad leader with the Forest Service.

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Wyoming’s Hageman aims to block future ‘roadless areas,’ despite overwhelming support to keep public land pristine

By Mike Koshmrl
Oil City News
May 24, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Harriet Hageman

Rep. Harriet Hageman wants to stop future administrations from reinstating a 25-year-old policy that prevents roadbuilding on 59 million acres of the national forest, including 3.3 million acres of federal land in Wyoming. A rescission of the Clinton-era 2001 Roadless Rule is already underway. In June 2025, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced her intention to repeal the “roadless” class of land that’s found on nine national forests in Wyoming. Subsequently, Rollins solicited public comment on that plan, which, based on the responses, is extraordinarily unpopular. More than 99% of the 200,000-plus people and groups who responded opposed the proposed rescission, according to a Center for Western Priorities analysis. A Hageman-led bill, House Resolution 7695, would codify the Trump administration’s undoing of the Roadless Rule in law and also prevent it from reappearing. The legislation states that any future secretary of agriculture “may not take any action to propose, finalize, implement, administer, or enforce any rule substantially similar to the rule.” 

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Restoring Virginia’s lost longleaf pine trees, one seed at a time

By Katherine Hafner
WHRO Public Media
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

©VirginiaForestryDept

Longleaf is a crucial part of Virginia’s natural and economic heritage… At the Department of Forestry’s nursery in Sussex County last week, a small group of staff and volunteers formed an assembly line along a large machine, manufacturing longleaf pine seeds. About 200,000 of them, which will eventually be planted throughout southeastern Virginia. The annual “seed sowing” is part of a long-term effort to restore longleaf pines to the region. The iconic species once dominated the Southeast landscape… But longleafs were decimated by years of logging and development. The Longleaf Cooperators of Virginia, a coalition of state agencies, nonprofits and universities, has been working to bring back the trees. “It’s amazing to see those seeds and know some of them could become trees for 400 years,” said Brian van Eerden, director of the Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Pineland Program. “We have the ability to control the fate of the forest.”

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Researchers at Vermont orchard work to bring back the American elm tree in New England

By Greta Solsaa
VT Digger
May 25, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

©USFS

BENSON — Elm trees in New England were nearly wiped out by disease more than 50 years ago, but a small number of the majestic trees survived. Now researchers are hoping to restore the trees to the landscape and even limit flood damage in the process. A decade ago workers with the U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy planted around 5,300 elm trees in a 28-acre orchard in hopes of restoring the once-abundant tree to New England’s landscape. Elm trees suffered a mass die-off in the 1970s… The tree is tied to the region’s history and is integral for future flood resilience, he said. Researchers identified 53 “survivor” elm trees in New England … that survived around outbreaks of Dutch elm disease, said Chris Hansen, a research technician with the University of Vermont. This experiment will test if the trees are truly resistant. 

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In Ukraine, damages from forest fires since the start of the full-scale war have exceeded UAH 1 trillion (about CAD $33–35 billion)

UNN.ua/en
May 26, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

KYIV — Since the beginning of the war, fire has destroyed 165,000 hectares of forest, and damages have exceeded 1 trillion hryvnias (about CAD $33–35 billion). Enemy shelling remains the main cause of the fires. Damages from forest fires in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war have exceeded UAH 1 trillion. In the last week alone, the amount of environmental losses increased by tens of billions of hryvnias, a significant portion of which is attributed to the destruction of forest stands. This was reported by “Forests of Ukraine,” according to UNN. …Since the beginning of the Great War, approximately 165,000 hectares of forests have already been destroyed by fire the report states. Most fires occur due to Russian shelling and combat operations in frontline and border regions. The highest number of fires last week was recorded in the Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Experts sound alarm as North America’s bees start swarm season unusually early

By Maya Yang
The Guardian UK
May 17, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

After a series of record-breaking US heatwaves, the 2026 bee swarm season in North America has started 17 days earlier than last year, pushing beekeepers to adapt to a rapidly shifting season while raising new questions about how honeybees are responding to the climate crisis. According to a new report published by Swarmed, a tracking network of more than 10,000 beekeepers, focused on safe and ethical honeybee relocation, this year’s unusually early swarm season follows several years of record colony declines worldwide. …The early start to this year’s swarm season follows the largest honeybee die-off in recorded US history. …Mateo Kaiser, Swarmed’s managing director, said: “We saw a very warm winter in the west this year and … this is having an impact on bees. …Kaiser pointed to the growing threat posed by the varroa mite, alongside the role the climate crisis may be playing in shifting bees’ reproductive cycles.

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Health & Safety

From Forest to Pharmacy: An Insider’s Account of the Race to Bring Taxol to Market

By Burt Rosen
American Council on Science and Health
May 26, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States

©BCGov

Here’s a rare treat. It’s one thing to read about Taxol, one of the most important breakthroughs in modern cancer treatment. It’s another thing to hear the story from someone directly involved in the effort to bring the drug from Pacific yew trees to cancer patients. Burt Rosen, former Director of Government Affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb, recounts the scientific, political, and environmental battles behind Taxol’s path to market. In the annals of medical and political history, few episodes better illustrate the conflict between environmental conservation and medical necessity than the effort to bring Taxol to patients. Derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree—one of the slowest-growing trees in the world—Taxol emerged in the late 20th century as a promising new treatment for ovarian and other cancers. However, its path from the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest to the patients who desperately needed it required navigating an acute supply crisis, a sudden shift in clinical trial ethics, and an extraordinary legislative rescue mission within the halls of Congress.

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