The collapse of the NDP–Green deal fuels early election talk, clouds future of BC forestry review. In related news: Canada considers new fines for GHG emissions, the United States plans to repeal its key climate regulation; FSC Canada’s series on climate change and forests; ENGOs sue Ottawa on BC caribou habitat inaction; and new research on post-fire carbon and fuel profiles.
In Business news: Canada’s unions issue warning ahead of CUSMA review; trade fears linger even as Canada’s outlook improves; US construction prices are on the rise; Western Forest Products and Suzano reported their Q4, 2025 earnings; Russia’s lumber production fell again; and experts warn of pulp overcapacity in Finland. Meanwhile: Forest Professionals BC honours their top members; Silvacom is one of Alberta’s top employers (again) and CWC’s Wood Design & Building is out.
Finally, insurance companies wouldn’t be pricing in climate risk if it was a hoax.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Vancouver — Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC) honoured seven individuals as part of its recognition program in Vancouver on February 5. Forest Professionals BC recognized three Distinguished Forest Professionals, one Forest Professional of the Year, one Jim Rodney Memorial Volunteer of the Year, and two authors for BC Forest Professional Magazine Best Article at the 78th Forest Professionals BC forestry conference recognition banquet. 
…Jeff Fisher (North Vancouver), BSF, RPF, Christopher Vukovic (Qualicum Beach), HBScF, RPF(Ret), and John Walker (Williams Lake), RPF, were honoured as Distinguished Forest Professionals for 2025. This category recognizes significant accomplishments over a career, for providing outstanding service to the profession of forestry and for furthering the principles of Forest Professionals BC. It is the profession’s highest honour for a registrant. 
Peter Flett, MSFM, RPF, of Penticton is the 2025 Forest Professional of the Year. Margaret Symon, RPF, PCP, of Duncan is the 2025 Jim Rodney Memorial Volunteer of the Year. Lastly, Vanessa Fetterly, BSc, RPBio, and Carl Pollard, BSc, RPF, collaborated on the 2025 BC Forest Professional Magazine Best Article.
Some of Canada’s major labour organizations are urging Ottawa to put workers at the centre of any renegotiation of the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement as preparations begin for the pact’s mandatory 2026 review. Leaders met with Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister responsible for Canada–US trade, for what they described as a high-level roundtable on the future of CUSMA amid rising trade tensions and renewed threats of U.S. tariffs. Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske said unions delivered a “clear and urgent message” that Canada should not accept a revised trade deal that weakens domestic industry or costs Canadian jobs. …Bruske was joined by leaders from several large manufacturing and building trades unions representing sectors heavily exposed to trade policy decisions, including auto manufacturing, construction and resource-based industries. Bruske said the upcoming CUSMA review should strengthen Canadian industries and working-class communities, not “hollow them out” in the rush to renew the agreement.
Municipal leaders are on the front lines of BC’s economy, where the health of the forest sector directly impacts jobs, services, and long-term community stability. This timely panel brings together mayors from across the province for a practical, solutions-focused discussion on what a competitive and resilient forestry future means for families and local economies — and what’s needed to ensure forestry remains a cornerstone industry for generations to come. Featuring mayors Maria McFaddin (Castlegar), Brad West (Port Coquitlam), Leonard Krog (Nanaimo) and Gary Sulz (Revelstoke), the conversation will offer grounded municipal perspectives from communities both large and small. The session will be moderated by Karen Brandt, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Partnerships with Mosaic Forest Management. Expect candid insights, local realities, and a forward-looking discussion on strengthening forestry and the communities it supports.
The only thing more surprising than the collapse of the co-operation agreement between the BC Greens and NDP would have been if the two sides had agreed on a new deal. …The Co-Operation and Responsible Government Accord (CARGA)… didn’t seem to be meeting anyone’s needs. For the NDP, the deal was supposed to act as a safety net for a slim one-seat majority. …It worked for last year’s budget. But outside of that, the Greens refused to back the NDP on three other confidence matters. And for that, the government agreed to advance the Green causes… [including] an early review of CleanBC and another review of the forestry system. For the Greens …it was a mixed bag, at best. The NDP did launch reviews of CleanBC and forestry, but then didn’t accept the resulting recommendations. The documents seem destined for that dusty shelf in the legislature library where unwanted reports go to die.
Finland’s forest industry could be forced to reduce capacity again as rising raw material costs and weaker market conditions weigh on profitability. That assessment comes from Juha Varis, senior portfolio manager at S-Bank. …The warning comes amid a more challenging environment for pulp and paper producers. Wood prices remain elevated while demand for several forest industry products has developed more weakly than expected, increasing investor expectations that production cuts may follow. …Björn Wahlroos said that a large and modern pulp mill in Finland could be forced to shut down due to a lack of raw material. His remarks triggered wider discussion within the sector. …Varis said overcapacity in the European forest industry is evident across several segments. He added that investors expect some reduction in capacity but that it remains unclear which companies or plants might be affected.
The Bank of Canada’s latest survey of financial-market participants pointed to a modestly brighter growth outlook than the central bank’s own projections, even as trade tensions with the US remain the dominant threat hanging over Canada’s economy and housing market. In the fourth‑quarter Market Participants Survey, 93% of respondents cited an “increase in trade tensions” as the top downside risk to Canadian growth, well ahead of tighter global financial conditions and weaker consumer spending. Participants still assign a 20% probability to a recession over the next six months, but their median forecast calls for real GDP growth of 1.6% by the end of 2026 and 1.9% by late 2027, slightly stronger than the Bank’s own projections of 1.1% and 1.5%. While the survey suggests some stabilization in expectations, it underscores that tariff policy remains the key macroeconomic swing factor. …PwC Canada’s latest survey among 133 CEOs showed that only 27% expect the domestic economy to improve over the next 12 months.
VANCOUVER – Western Forest Products reported adjusted EBITDA of negative $6.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. In comparison, the Company reported Adjusted EBITDA of $14.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 and Adjusted EBITDA of negative $65.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, which included a non-cash export tax expense of $59.5 million related to the determination of final duty rates from the sixth Administrative Review. Net loss was $17.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, as compared to a net loss of $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, and net loss of $61.3 million in the third quarter of 2025. …For the full year 2025, the net loss was $82.4 million compared to to a net loss of $34.5 million in 2024. …“Despite more challenging markets and higher softwood lumber duties and tariffs in 2025, we enter 2026 with a significantly improved balance sheet to navigate the expected near-term market uncertainty,” said Steven Hofer, President and CEO of Western Forest Products.
Russia’s lumber industry is entering a period of sustained pressure as production volumes continue to fall and regulatory risks increase. Official data shows that lumber output declined by more than 2.5% last year, reinforcing concerns across the forestry and wood processing sectors. According to Rosstat, Russia’s lumber production dropped from 29.2 million cubic metres in 2024 to 28.48 million cubic metres in 2025. Output remains well below historical highs. Current production is estimated to be 2 to 3 million cubic metres lower than the 2019 peak of roughly 32 million cubic metres. The downturn reflects structural challenges rather than short-term disruption. Domestic demand has weakened. Export markets have narrowed. Access to European machinery and technology has been reduced. These pressures are being felt across both logging and downstream processing operations. China now absorbs more than 70% of Russia’s lumber exports. …Softwood lumber production fell by 3.5% last year. Output declined to 25.7 million cubic metres. 
Biological legacies (i.e., materials that persist following disturbance; “legacies”) shape ecosystem functioning and feedbacks to future disturbances, yet how legacies are driven by pre-disturbance ecosystem state and disturbance severity is poorly understood—especially in ecosystems influenced by infrequent and severe disturbances. Focusing on wet temperate forests as an archetype of these ecosystems, we characterized live and dead aboveground biomass 2–5 years post-fire in western Washington and northwestern Oregon, USA, to ask: How do pre-fire stand age and burn severity drive variability in initial post-fire legacies, specifically aboveground biomass carbon and fuel profiles? …Our findings demonstrate the importance of pre-disturbance ecosystem state in dictating many aspects of initial post-disturbance structure and function, with important implications for managing post-fire recovery trajectories in some of Earth’s most productive and high-biomass forests.
With global temperature rising and extreme weather becoming the new normal, ballooning insurance premiums and shrinking coverage are hitting Canadians hard. Basement floods and severe winter storms have brought the financial fallout of climate change home—it is no longer a hypothetical. …“The fact that every insurance company has climate scientists on staff and insurance companies are all pricing in climate risk; there is no financial incentive for them to do that if it wasn’t real,” said Dr. Kate Marvel, a NASA climate scientist. If climate change were a hoax, insurers would simply undercut one another, offering cheaper coverage and dismissing long-term risk, Marvel explained. Instead, they are doing the opposite; quietly rewriting the rules of risk as extreme weather becomes more frequent, more destructive and more expensive. …The question is whether governments will act quickly enough to adapt to a warming climate and confront who pays for the damage when they don’t.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday will revoke a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for US action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the White House announced. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final rule rescinding a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding. That Obama-era policy determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. …White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said… the action “will save $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations,” she said. …The endangerment finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet. It is used to justify regulations, such as auto emissions standards, intended to protect against threats made increasingly severe by climate change — deadly floods, extreme heat waves, catastrophic wildfires and other natural disasters.