Daily News for October 19, 2026

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Today’s Takeaway

BC forest industry challenges NDP plan to limit tenure compensation

The Tree Frog Forestry News
October 19, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway

BC’s forest industry pushes back on proposal to limit compensation for tenure transfers to First Nations. In related news: Vaughn Palmer questions the secrecy of BC’s land transfers; Kim Haagstad says major projects are good but forestry is sustainable; layoffs begin at Saskatchewan’s Big River sawmill; New Brunswick mill workers rally ahead of layoffs; UPM touts its wood-based biorefinery, and investor interest in US timberlands is up. In Wood Product news: BC Wood highlights new opportunities; Alabama celebrates Woods to Goods Week; and Asia Pulp & Paper faces green certification restrictions. 

In Forestry news: Canadian researchers says delays hurt endangered species; North Carolina NGOs dispute bioenergy’s climate claims; US loggers pass on federal timber sales; Stora Enso received wood from disputed sites in Finland; Indonesian wildfires threaten forest carbon; and a reality check at upcoming UN biodiversity conference. Meanwhile: a BC forestry contractor was fined following a flash fire in a cutblock.

Finally, South Korea’s paper industry challenges the myth that paper destroys forests. 

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Business & Politics

Layoffs begin at Big River, Sask., sawmill as workers call for more support

By Jasmine Pelletier
CTV News
October 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Brandon Nicholson

PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan — This week marks the first round of layoffs at the Big River sawmill, and workers want to see more action to protect Saskatchewan’s forestry sector. Brandon Nicholson from the United Steelworkers said “I’ve had members from the community that don’t even work at the mill reaching out to me and expressing their concern”. Earlier this year, sawmill operator Carrier Forest Products announced that it would be curtailing operations at the Big River sawmill, affecting 117 jobs. The company attributed it to tariffs, market conditions and forest loss from last year’s wildfires. Nicholson said increased access to trees further north and a boost in domestic demand for forestry products could help prevent job losses in the sector. …The province said it is helping tariff-impacted workers with the Canada-Saskatchewan Workforce Tariff Response program, supported with $15.6 million in funding.

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B.C. needs more than major projects to build a strong economy

By Kim Haakstad, president and CEO, Council of Forest Industries
Victoria Times Colonist
October 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Kim Haakstad

We are spending a lot of time talking about major projects these days. …But somewhere along the way, we seem to have decided that they are the only answer to our economic ­challenges. There’s a catch with that approach: For most major ­projects, the biggest boost ­happens during construction. …We can build major ­projects while strengthening the ­industries that already provide jobs, investment and economic activity in communities across British Columbia. Forestry is one of those industries. Forestry literally and figuratively built British Columbia. …Unlike a construction project, forestry’s economic contribution doesn’t end when the assembly is complete. Forestry supports jobs on Vancouver Island, in the North, the Central Interior, the ­Southern Interior and throughout the Lower Mainland… It offers established networks, skilled workers and global customers ready to generate revenue right now. Yet instead of leveraging this advantage, we seem to have accepted managing the ­industry’s decline. …British Columbia needs major projects. We should pursue them with ambition. And we must bring that same ambition and urgency to forestry.

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Another secret comes back to bite NDP’s David Eby

By Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
October 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

VICTORIA — The New Democrats have been working in secret to limit the province’s obligation to pay compensation to forest companies for the loss of timber-cutting rights on some 400 parcels of land being transferred to First Nations. The NDP government says it can no longer afford to pay compensation because of “ongoing fiscal restraints,” meaning the record debt and deficits accumulated under Premier David Eby. The plan was laid out in confidential documents leaked to Northern Beat, an online publication, and published Thursday. This latest revelation is reminiscent of the deal the New Democrats struck before the last election to deliver $104 million and six square kilometres of public land to the shíshálh nation on the Sunshine Coast. The Eby government signed that deal in confidence weeks before the formal start of the election campaign. The terms were not made public until January 2025, well after the New Democrats were returned to office. [A Vancouver Sun subscription is required for full article access]

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B.C. forest industry bristles at proposal to reduce compensation in First Nation land transfers

By Derkick Penner
The Vancouver Sun
October 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC’s key forest industry group is critical of a pre-election government effort to limit compensation to forest tenure holders when land is transferred to First Nations as part of reconciliation efforts. A confidential government briefing document and presentation leaked this week refer to a commitment to transfer 400 parcels of Crown land to First Nations. However, due to “continuing fiscal constraints,” the documents outline proposals to limit, through changes to the Forest Act, the amount of compensation owed to companies or entities that hold timber rights on those parcels. Timber companies support reconciliation efforts, understanding that “those need to happen,” but any effort to curb compensation for cutting rights is unfair to an industry struggling with so many other issues, said Kim Haakstad, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries. …“We think it is not acceptable to have us pay for these costs, especially at this time when the sector is in a deepening crisis.” 

Related coverage:

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Nackawic mill workers rally in face of impending layoffs

By Shane Fowler
CBC News
October 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

NEW BRUNSWICK — Nearly 100 mill workers, union leaders and politicians marched through the streets of Nackawic in the shadow of the pulp mill that is soon set to close its doors to hundreds of its employees. AV Nackawic will lay off around 350 workers around the end of October as it is scheduled to enter an “idle” phase while its future remains undecided. Union workers marched as part of a National Day of Action organized by Unifor, but in Nackawic, the event took on a heavier meaning. People gather in a parking lot with a large pulp mill operating in the background. “It’s a struggle,” said Grant Charlton, president of Unifor Local 219 and a chemical plant worker at AV Nackawic. …But for many, including Nackawic-Millville Mayor Tim Fox, it’s not a question of if the jobs will be lost but if they’ll ever return.

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Alternative Investing Investors are buying up vast tracts of timberland across U.S. in one of market’s longest-term bets

By Kevin Williams
CNBC News
October 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

When the economy and the market look shaky … some investors have also been looking timber. The pitch is easy to like: a natural asset that grows on its own, matures into a harvest and can be cashed in all while you use it for recreation. Institutions have been buying timberland at a rate of one million acres per year, according to Bank of America, and some financial advisors say individual investors … are also taking a look at the asset class. But it is far from a rush, and investors who already own timberland caution that it may not be very profitable in the short term. …Financial institutions point to the asset class as one of interest specifically for the long-term investor. Ken Shepard, at Bank of America Private Bank said that timberland is not a tactical asset class that can be easily entered or exited in response to short-term market conditions. 

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UPM inaugurates pioneering biorefinery in Germany

UPM.com
October 15, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

GERMANY — UPM inaugurated its biorefinery in Leuna, Germany, marking the start of a new industrial platform for renewable chemicals made from wood. The biorefinery converts lignocellulosic biomass, primarily wood from sustainably managed forests and sawmill residues, into biochemicals. With an annual capacity of 220,000 tonnes, it is the largest facility of its kind in the world. The ramp-up has progressed further. Enzymatic hydrolysis and the production of lignin-derived specialty chemicals have reached stable operation, and UPM is ramping up sales of these products. …The biochemicals will be used in everyday products, from clothing and packaging to cosmetics, construction materials and tires. Many of these are still made from fossil-based raw materials. …The biorefinery uses beechwood from thinnings and sawmill residues. Using enzymatic hydrolysis, it breaks the biomass down into industrial sugars and lignin. The facility represents a total investment of €1,370 million.

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Finance & Economics

Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.1% in September

By Promit Mukherjee
Reuters
October 19, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.1% in September, data showed on Monday, as higher gasoline and diesel prices pushed the ​consumer price index above the Bank of Canada’s upper limit once again after ‌three months. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast inflation of 3.2% in September, up from 3% in August. The September inflation figure is the last CPI data before the BoC’s monetary policy decision later this month. On a month-on-month basis, ​CPI rose by 0.1% in September from a drop of 0.1% in August, Statistics ​Canada said. BoC Governor Tiff Macklem has said that new forecasts that will ⁠be released alongside the rates decision will show higher inflation in Canada. The higher CPI was ​largely driven by a 19% rise in energy prices on an annual basis, following a 15.4% ​rise in August. 

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

BC Wood highlights new markets, mass timber innovation and industry opportunities

The BC Wood Specialties Group
October 16, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada West

BC Wood’s October 16 edition of Wood Connections highlights efforts to expand international markets and strengthen British Columbia’s value-added wood products sector. With U.S. tariffs underscoring the need for market diversification, BC Wood reports on opportunities in China and Mexico, while announcing the return of its Global Buyers Mission to Whistler in September 2027. Other highlights include OT Timber Frames’ expansion into dowel-laminated timber manufacturing, new opportunities for wood producers to connect with architects through WoodTALKS, and upcoming UBC training programs in mass timber construction and kiln drying. The newsletter also features Russ Taylor’s perspective on offshore market diversification, a profile of BC Wood’s first woman Chair, Kelly Marciniw, and updates on federal forest sector supports, wood packaging regulations and forestry scholarships.

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Asia Pulp & Paper faces green certification restrictions over Indonesian fires

By Chin Hugo Shan
The Straight Times
October 19, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

SINGAPORE – Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has been issued a Notice of Temporary Restrictions on its green label by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) as fires from its suppliers’ land have been causing the current haze in the region. Under this notice, APP is subjected to daily fire response reporting requirements and strict monitoring to ensure effective fire prevention and suppression in the concession areas managed by its suppliers, said the council on Oct 19. These suppliers are Bumi Mekar Hijau, Bumi Andalas Permai and Sebangun Bumi Andalas (SBA) Wood Industries. APP’s Singapore Green Labelling Scheme Plus (SGLS+) certificate may be suspended if its additional reporting is unable to demonstrate that strengthened monitoring, fire prevention and suppression measures have been implemented effectively, SEC added. “If so, the use of the SGLS+ logo on products associated with the certification would have to cease,” it said.

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‘Making paper destroys forests?’ — a long-standing myth about the paper industry

By Hong Suk-hee
The Korea Herald Business
October 18, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

©Hansol

Paper is made from trees. Use more paper, use more trees. Trees come from forests. Therefore, using more paper destroys forests. This is a long-standing misconception — one that falls apart under scrutiny. A useful analogy: eating more rice does not make rice paddies disappear, because farmers harvest the crop and replant. The same logic applies to paper. Just as rice is cultivated in paddies, trees for papermaking are grown on managed plantations, harvested, and replanted. The difference is timing — rice is replanted every year, while plantation trees take several years to mature. South Korea’s leading paper companies, including Hansol Paper, Moorim and Hankuk Paper MFG, have been running plantation programs at home and abroad, according to industry data released Friday. …The use of internationally certified raw materials is also expanding. Hansol Paper holds FSC certification across all its facilities and supplies certified products. KleanNara uses FSC-certified pulp in its Sunu tissue line and other products. 

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Forestry

What the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Leadership in Conservation Award Recognizes

By Dan Foster
Domtar Corporation
October 16, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

In May 2026, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) honored Domtar with its 2026 SFI Leadership in Conservation Award, presented at the SFI Annual Conference in Montréal. SFI recognized Domtar for its deep and sustained engagement with SFI’s Climate Smart Forestry Initiative, its contributions to field-level forest research and its conservation work on habitat and biodiversity alongside other certified organizations. SFI recognizes an SFI-certified organization, a team of partners or an individual for outstanding conservation achievements and innovation. …Announcing the award, SFI’s chief conservation officer, Lauren T. Cooper, said Domtar shows “the type of leadership that is helping shape the future of conservation” in North American forests. …Domtar and SFI have partnered since 2004 across forestry operations, certification, sustainability and innovation. Today, 100% of Domtar’s forest operations and most manufacturing facilities are certified to SFI standards.  

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Endangered species in Canada face extensive delays receiving protection

By Peter Thompson, Mary Ann Perron, Sara Cannon and William Bugg
Phys.Org
October 15, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

For more than 20 years, Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) has protected wildlife that are at risk of being lost. …Nevertheless, these protections are routinely delayed for years. Our recently published research has found that since 2017, species that need SARA protections have waited nearly two and a half years on average to formally receive legal protections, well beyond the timelines the federal government set for itself. And that only includes species the government has decided to protect. …In 2017, the federal government introduced a nonbinding policy recommending that consultations take no more than 12 months, or 24 months for species requiring extended consultation. But that hasn’t reduced delays. For the species forwarded to the Cabinet since 2017, this middle stage ran an average of 477 days (about 16 months) past the recommended timeline. Before the policy, the average was 484 days. …Some species have been stuck in limbo for more than 20 years.

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Woodlots BC highlights election priorities, forest stewardship and funding opportunities

Woodlots BC
October 18, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

In the latest edition of Woodlots Weekly, Woodlots BC outlines three priorities ahead of the October 24 provincial election: strengthening wildfire protection through locally managed forests, maintaining woodlot tenures to support rural jobs, and recognizing the benefits of community-based forest stewardship. The organization also announces its membership in Canadian Forest Owners, providing a stronger voice for B.C. woodlot licensees in national forest policy discussions. Other highlights include the availability of presentations from the recent Woodlots BC conference, new Innovation in Action grants of $25,000 to $50,000 for innovative silviculture projects, and funding opportunities through the Forest Enhancement Society of BC for wildfire risk reduction and ecosystem rehabilitation.

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Loggers pass on timber sales as demand drops

By Scott Dance
New York Times in Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
October 18, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Forest Service opened 947 acres in a remote section of western Colorado to commercial logging in July, officials expected at least a few companies to jump at the opportunity. Not one did. That isn’t just a problem for the loggers. Timber sales are an important tool for preventing catastrophic wildfires. …President Donald Trump has taken steps to promote the U.S. timber industry, increasing access for logging companies to federal lands …Yet loggers are passing up on timber sales across federal lands because of an accelerating downturn in the industry. …Logging has been declining for decades in the US, but the slide has accelerated as costs for fuel and equipment rose and the prices for many types of forest products dropped, said Scott Dane, executive director of the American Loggers Council. Forest Service officials said it is not unusual to get zero bids for a timber sale; about 15% of sales do not attract bidders. 

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Judge halts US Forest Service plan that would move Oregon HQ to Salem

By Zach Urness
Statesman Journal
October 16, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A federal judge temporarily blocked a sweeping plan to reorganize the U.S. Forest Service by moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City and closing nine regional offices — including one in Portland. U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ruled Oct. 13 that the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, cannot proceed with planned office closures or force employees to relocate while a lawsuit challenging its reorganization continues. …The Forest Service did not immediately address how the ruling would impact its plans. “The Department is reviewing the Judge’s decision and will file its response with the Court,” the federal agency said in a statement. …A coalition of unions, nonprofits, conservation groups and cities challenged the plans, arguing that the USDA was violating congressional rules on how federal funds can be spent. …The injunction is unlikely to completely derail the reorganization.

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Alabama Woods to Goods Week recognizes forest industry’s workers and economic impact

By Sherri Blevins
Yellow Hammer News
October 18, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

Alabama’s forests help support livelihoods for loggers, truck drivers, mill workers and landowners across the state. Alabama Woods to Goods Week, set for Oct. 18–24, will recognize those workers and the industry’s role in the communities they call home. Gov. Kay Ivey has proclaimed the observance for the sixth year, coinciding with National Forest Products Week. According to the Alabama Forestry Association, forestry and forest products generate approximately $37.5 billion in total economic output for Alabama and support 123,692 jobs through the economic activity they create. The association describes forest products as the state’s second-largest manufacturing industry. With forests covering more than two-thirds of Alabama, the industry’s reach begins with the land itself. It continues through logging operations, trucks carrying timber and mills turning that timber into products. Woods to Goods Week gives students, public officials and other participants opportunities to learn more about that work. 

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World faces nature reality check at UN biodiversity conference

By Virginia Furness
Reuters
October 18, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

LONDON – World leaders, diplomats and nature experts gather in Armenia this week to assess lagging efforts to halt biodiversity loss, with ​countries off track on most global targets and divisions over funding still unresolved. The 17th UN “Conference of the Parties”, dubbed COP17, is ‌the first major review of progress under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the landmark 2022 agreement that aims to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030. The climate-focused COP31 begins on November 9 in Antalya, Turkey. While the world is likely to reach an estimated 27.5% of land protection by 2030, scientists say many of the broader goals needed ​to halt biodiversity loss remain well off track. From pesticide use to unsustainable fishing and subsidies for a host of damaging activities, the ​deterioration of ecosystems threatens food production, water security and economic stability across the planet. Countries are currently not on track ⁠to meet 22 of the 23 goals set out in the Kunming-Montreal framework…

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Stora Enso Now Admits Taking Wood From Google’s Disputed Felling

By Jason Ross
Wood Central Australia
October 18, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Stora Enso has reversed its earlier denial and confirmed it took wood felled for Google’s planned data centres at Muhos and Kajaani, making it the last of Finland’s three largest forest companies to do so. The company said that about 5,000 cubic metres of pulpwood and sawlogs reached its Oulu operations through a supplier whose contract ended in May. “The amount is equivalent to five per cent of the daily wood use at UPM’s pulp mills in Finland,” Janne Kiiliäinen, at UPM Forest, said on Friday. Kiiliäinen. …Metsä Group took about 5,000 cubic metres from Google’s Otanmäki site at Kajaani and about 50 from Muhos, the company confirmed on Friday. …Finland’s Licensing and Supervisory Authority has given Tuike Finland, Google’s project company, until this Friday to stop felling. …Google said it acted in good faith, and the halt will stay in place until environmental impact assessments for both projects are complete.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

‘Clean’ energy, local costs: Advocates challenge bioenergy’s climate claims

By Will Atwater
North Carolina Health News
October 19, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: US East

“Displace fossil fuels. Grow more trees. Fight climate change.” Says Enviva, the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets. Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer, says its projects capture methane from hog manure and convert it into “clean, low-carbon renewable natural gas.” Environmental advocates pushed back … at a Climate Week panel in New York last month. “Wood pellet biomass, manure biogas and crop-based biofuels are dirty, expensive and only harm our climate, environment and communities,” said Matt Williams, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, in opening remarks at “Bio-Energy or Bio-Scam: A Course Correction for Climate and Communities,” a panel at the event. As the impacts of climate change … grow harder to ignore, the bioenergy industry, which turns trees and animal waste into fuel, is pitching itself as a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Critics say those claims leave out the costs to the climate and to nearby communities.

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Indonesian wildfires threaten forest carbon projects

By Amy Chew
The Nikkei Asia
October 19, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

KUALA LUMPUR — Indonesia’s wildfires are not only burning swaths of jungle, plantation and farmland. They are also threatening the country’s four recently launched projects that issue carbon credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars by preventing greenhouse gas emissions from 225,000 hectares of forest. Hundreds of people in the project areas, two of which are on Borneo and two on Sumatra, are battling extreme heat and thick acrid smoke to stop fires encroaching into the protected lands. There have been no reports yet of fires damaging the carbon sinks. “[The] fires are intense in the region right now. … We are working to prevent fire in the project and surrounding area,” said Dharsono Hartono, cofounder and CEO of Rimba Makmur Utama, the company behind the Katingan Mentaya Project (KMP) in Central Kalimantan province, which comprises 149,800 hectares of forest and peatland. …Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has forecast that the wildfires might continue until December.

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Health & Safety

Nakusp forestry contractor fined after worker seriously injured in flash fire

By Storrm Lennie
My Kootenay Now
October 16, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

A Nakusp forestry contractor has been fined more than $45,000 after a worker was seriously injured in a flash fire at a cutblock near Passmore. WorkSafeBC imposed a $45,302.81 fine against Galena Contractors Ltd. on Aug. 12. According to the penalty summary, the incident happened while workers were fuelling a mobile cable yarder when a flash fire broke out, seriously injuring a worker. The WorkSafeBC investigation found a portable fuel transfer pump had been modified after a previous malfunction, compromising its safety features and exposing electrical components that could ignite fuel. The company was cited for several high-risk violations, including failing to ensure equipment was properly repaired and maintained, failing to control ignition sources around combustible fuels and failing to conduct regular workplace inspections.

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