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The Tree Frog Forestry News
December 19, 2025
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 8:30 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.
Province invests up to $7.5 million in WFP’s value-added division in Chemainus
By Robert Barron
The Chemainus Valley Courier
December 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada
CHEMAINUS, BC — Western Forest Products’ value-added division in Chemainus is receiving up to $7.5 million from the province to add two new continuous dry kilns to its manufacturing operations. The investment, from the province’s BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, will allow WFP’s facility on River Road to expand the production of high-value products and create new opportunities for second-growth hemlock to produce higher-value products, as well as increasing the stability of the forest company’s operations on Vancouver Island. Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon and Forest Minister Ravi Parmar joined Steven Hofer, CEO of WFP, to make the funding announcement, which is expected to strengthen Vancouver Island’s manufacturing sector. In addition, the ministers announced that Island TimberFrame in Cumberland is receiving as much as $325,000 to expand its production of high-value structural mass timber and wood-finishing products through the purchase and installation of new advanced manufacturing equipment. …WFP’s value-added division in Chemainus currently employs 61 workers.
Carney says sector deals with U.S. now ‘unlikely’ as USMCA talks loom
By Thomas Seal
Bloomberg News in the Financial Post
December 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada probably won’t reach a near-term deal with the United States to lower tariffs on sectors such as steel and aluminum, and negotiations are likely to be rolled into next year’s review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Canada and the US were close to a pact on metals tariffs, but President Donald Trump then terminated talks in October. …“My judgment is that that is now going to roll into the broader CUSMA negotiation, so we’re unlikely, given the time horizons coming together, to have a sectoral agreement,” Carney said on Thursday. “Although if the United States wants to come back on that in those areas, we’re always ready there — we’re very ready.” …Canada is “very ready on forest products to strike an agreement,” the prime minister added. The U.S. has placed roughly 45% duties and taxes on imports of Canadian softwood lumber, to the frustration of US homebuilders.
BC invests $2.5 million in support of high-value, made-in-BC wood products
By Ministry of Forests
Government of British Columbia
December 19, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West
Nine more forestry companies are being supported to modernize, innovate and diversify their product lines and fibre sources to make more high-value, made-in-BC products, and help protect and create jobs. “It’s no secret our forestry sector is facing many challenges, making these investments timely,” said Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar. …Through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, the Province is contributing $2.5 million to plan or complete capital projects. For example, Canadian Bavarian Millwork and Lumber in Chemainus will receive as much as $1.4 million to help build its new facility. …Additional investments include:
Delta – Leslie Forest Products – $420,000 to buy and commission new equipment that will optimize production and efficiency.
Deroche – F&T Technologies – $350,000 to commercialize a biopolymer technology that transforms wood-based materials into waterproof, fire-resistant and mould-proof solutions.
Central Saanich – Island Precision Machining – $124,000 toward new equipment for manufacturing architectural millwork and cabinetry.
Powell River – homeD Modular Building Technologies – $50,000 for a next-generation manufacturing hub.
Terrace – Kitsumkalum Development Limited Partnership – $42,817 to conduct assessments associated with restarting Skeena Sawmills.
Powell River – Tla’amin Timber Products – $38,725 for a value-added processing facility.
Vavenby – Simpcw Resources – $10,750 to undertake planning for a capital project.
US Court of International Trade Again Remands Expedited CVD Review on Canadian Lumber
Trade Law Daily
December 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 18 again remanded [returned to a lower court for consideration] the Commerce Department’s countervailing duty expedited review of softwood lumber products from Canada. After multiple remands, the sole remaining issue concerns the calculation of the CVD rate for respondent Les Produits Forestiers D&G and its cross-owned affiliates, including Les Produits Forestiers Portbec. Specifically, the issue is the method of calculation used to adjust for the amount of lumber D&G and Portbec bought from unaffiliated suppliers when determining how much of the suppliers’ subsidies were attributable to D&G. Barnett held that Commerce abused its discretion in the most recent remand by declining D&G’s request to reopen the record to provide additional information to help distinguish sales affected by the subsidies. The judge said finality concerns don’t overcome this failure. [to access the full story a subscription is required]
Domtar Paper receives modified air quality permit from North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality
The Reflector
December 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East
NORTH CAROLINA — After reviewing public comments, the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has issued a modified Title V air quality permit to Domtar Paper in Martin County. The permit authorizes Domtar to increase the amount of green logs processed at its woodyard from 2.2 million tons per 12 months to a limit of 4.4 million tons. Domtar will not make any physical modification at the mill or increase pulp production. The permit modification increases emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and triggers more stringent emissions regulations. As a result, Domtar will be required to implement the best available control technology at its woodyard, including the best practices for operation and maintenance. Air dispersion modeling reviewed by DAQ found that the increase in VOC emissions is not expected to cause an exceedance of federal health-based air quality standards.
Maine timber companies to access revamped $32 million federal grant
By Peter McGuire
Maine Public Radio
December 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East
Maine timber companies are in line to receive substantial incentives to manage forests and grow healthier, more valuable trees. A $32 million award to the New England Forestry Foundation was recently finalized by the US Department of Agriculture. The funding package, through the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative, replaces similar funding provided under the “climate smart commodities” program. While there are some adjustments to the program, it achieves the same purpose, according to the foundation Deputy Director Andi Colnes. The grant will largely subsidize commercial and pre-commercial thinning, Colnes said. It will also provide funding to expand market opportunities, particularly for mass timber construction, she added. …According to Colnes, the program is able to cover about 50,000 acres of New England forests, mostly commercial timberland in Maine. The foundation said 23 commercial, conservation and public forest owners are already enrolled in the project.
How’s the BC economy holding up in the face of the Trump trade war?
By Marc Lee
Policy Note – Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
December 18, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States
President Trump’s tariff and trade policies dominated the world’s political discourse through 2025. …The good news is that the BC economy has been fairly resilient through 2025. …BC trade resilience can also be attributed to a broader export commodity mix, dominated by forestry, agricultural and seafood products, as well as mining and oil and gas. …Forest products were tagged with a sectoral tariff of 10 per cent in October 2025, on top of new anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on softwood lumber. …This has put tremendous pressure on an industry. …It’s difficult to disentangle the impact of tariffs from overall adverse trends in the BC forest industry, many mill closures and curtailments in recent years. BC forestry exports are among the most exposed to the US market, with about 75% of forestry exports headed south. Exports of softwood lumber were down 26% in August 2025 compared to August 2024. Pulp and paper exports were also down 9% on a year-to-date basis compared to 2024.
Vancouver overstepped authority when it logged Stanley Park trees without board approval, rules judge
By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
December 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West
A B.C. court has issued a rebuke to the City of Vancouver, declaring it overstepped its authority when it authorized the cutting down of thousands of trees in Stanley Park without approval from the park board. Handed down Dec. 17, the decision from B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jasvinder Basran analyzed a multi-stage approval to cut down thousands of trees in Vancouver’s largest park. In 2023, the city entered into an $1.9-million supply agreement with B.A. Blackwell and Associates to remove an initial 7,000 trees over six months [due to] a hemlock looper moth infestation… According to Basran’s judicial review, the initial decision to cut down trees in Stanley Park … was made without the proper authority. …The judge found the city circumvented the park board’s authority in the first phase of the tree removal, but that it went through the proper channels to approve the second and third stages of the work.
BC Timber Sales ‘flexible’ to Sunshine Coast views on cutblock harvesting
By Connie Jordison
The Coast Reporter
December 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West
Over an hour of discussion followed BC Timber Sales’ (BCTS) presentation at the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s (SCRD) Dec. 11 committee of the whole meeting. …BCTS representatives, a delegation at the committee meeting, faced a direct ask from Gibsons area alternate director Annemarie De Andrade to pause harvesting activities on TA0519, in the Gibsons aquifer recharge area pending further study of the impacts of such logging. “We can continue to listen and continue with a light footprint, but we cannot pause,” was the response from BCTS’s Chinook Business Area timber sales manager Stacey Gould. She explained BCTS has a role as a revenue generator for the province. …That “lighter” BCTS footprint… is havesting about half of the volume it is permitted to on the lower Sunshine Coast. To make up for that, higher levels of harvesting need to be undertaking in other locations.
Mercer Peace River Pulp and Svante Co₂ Capture Demonstration Unit
Mercer International Inc.
December 18, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada
NEW YORK, NY – Mercer International announced that its subsidiary, Mercer Peace River Pulp (MPR), and Svante Technologies (Svante) have commenced operation of a previously announced carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture demonstration unit at the Mercer Peace River pulp mill in northern Alberta. The pilot project is designed to evaluate Svante’s solid sorbent carbon capture technology on biogenic CO₂ emissions from the mill’s recovery boiler flue gas. As a cost-efficient step, this stage builds on the previously announced Front-End Engineering and Design Phase 2. …“Commissioning this demonstration unit… allows us to evaluate carbon capture performance in our operating environment and gather practical data on what would be required for any future scale-up,” said Bill Adams. “The results from this on-site demonstration will help us evaluate the decarbonization potential of this technology for biogenic emissions and inform longer-term planning across our pulp operations.”
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 8:30 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.
CHEMAINUS, BC — Western Forest Products’ value-added division in Chemainus is receiving up to $7.5 million from the province to add two new continuous dry kilns to its manufacturing operations. The investment, from the province’s BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, will allow WFP’s facility on River Road to expand the production of high-value products and create new opportunities for second-growth hemlock to produce higher-value products, as well as increasing the stability of the forest company’s operations on Vancouver Island. Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon and Forest Minister Ravi Parmar joined Steven Hofer, CEO of WFP, to make the funding announcement, which is expected to strengthen Vancouver Island’s manufacturing sector. In addition, the ministers announced that 
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada probably won’t reach a near-term deal with the United States to lower tariffs on sectors such as steel and aluminum, and negotiations are likely to be rolled into next year’s review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Canada and the US were close to a pact on metals tariffs, but President Donald Trump then terminated talks in October. …“My judgment is that that is now going to roll into the broader CUSMA negotiation, so we’re unlikely, given the time horizons coming together, to have a sectoral agreement,” Carney said on Thursday. “Although if the United States wants to come back on that in those areas, we’re always ready there — we’re very ready.” …Canada is “very ready on forest products to strike an agreement,” the prime minister added. The U.S. has placed roughly 45% duties and taxes on imports of Canadian softwood lumber, to the frustration of US homebuilders.
Nine more forestry companies are being supported to modernize, innovate and diversify their product lines and fibre sources to make more high-value, made-in-BC products, and help protect and create jobs. “It’s no secret our forestry sector is facing many challenges, making these investments timely,” said Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar. …Through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, the Province is contributing $2.5 million to plan or complete capital projects. For example, Canadian Bavarian Millwork and Lumber in Chemainus will receive as much as $1.4 million to help build its new facility. …Additional investments include:
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 18 again 
NORTH CAROLINA — After reviewing public comments, the 
Maine timber companies are in line to receive substantial incentives to manage forests and grow healthier, more valuable trees. A $32 million award to the New England Forestry Foundation was recently finalized by the US Department of Agriculture. The funding package, through the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative, replaces similar funding provided under the “climate smart commodities” program. While there are some adjustments to the program, it achieves the same purpose, according to the foundation Deputy Director Andi Colnes. The grant will largely subsidize commercial and pre-commercial thinning, Colnes said. It will also provide funding to expand market opportunities, particularly for mass timber construction, she added. …According to Colnes, the program is able to cover about 50,000 acres of New England forests, mostly commercial timberland in Maine. The foundation said 23 commercial, conservation and public forest owners are already enrolled in the project.
President Trump’s tariff and trade policies dominated the world’s political discourse through 2025. …The good news is that the BC economy has been fairly resilient through 2025. …BC trade resilience can also be attributed to a broader export commodity mix, dominated by forestry, agricultural and seafood products, as well as mining and oil and gas. …Forest products were tagged with a sectoral tariff of 10 per cent in October 2025, on top of new anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on softwood lumber. …This has put tremendous pressure on an industry. …It’s difficult to disentangle the impact of tariffs from overall adverse trends in the BC forest industry, many mill closures and curtailments in recent years. BC forestry exports are among the most exposed to the US market, with about 75% of forestry exports headed south. Exports of softwood lumber were down 26% in August 2025 compared to August 2024. Pulp and paper exports were also down 9% on a year-to-date basis compared to 2024.
A B.C. court has issued a rebuke to the City of Vancouver, declaring it overstepped its authority when it authorized the cutting down of thousands of trees in Stanley Park without approval from the park board. Handed down Dec. 17, the decision from B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jasvinder Basran analyzed a multi-stage approval to cut down thousands of trees in Vancouver’s largest park. In 2023, the city entered into an $1.9-million supply agreement with B.A. Blackwell and Associates to remove an initial 7,000 trees over six months [due to] a hemlock looper moth infestation… According to Basran’s judicial review, the initial decision to cut down trees in Stanley Park … was made without the proper authority. …The judge found the city circumvented the park board’s authority in the first phase of the tree removal, but that it went through the proper channels to approve the second and third stages of the work.
Over an hour of discussion followed BC Timber Sales’ (BCTS) presentation at the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s (SCRD) Dec. 11 committee of the whole meeting. …BCTS representatives, a delegation at the committee meeting, faced a direct ask from Gibsons area alternate director Annemarie De Andrade to pause harvesting activities on TA0519, in the Gibsons aquifer recharge area pending further study of the impacts of such logging. “We can continue to listen and continue with a light footprint, but we cannot pause,” was the response from BCTS’s Chinook Business Area timber sales manager Stacey Gould. She explained BCTS has a role as a revenue generator for the province. …That “lighter” BCTS footprint… is havesting about half of the volume it is permitted to on the lower Sunshine Coast. To make up for that, higher levels of harvesting need to be undertaking in other locations.
NEW YORK, NY – Mercer International announced that its subsidiary, Mercer Peace River Pulp (MPR), and Svante Technologies (Svante) have commenced operation of a previously announced carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture demonstration unit at the Mercer Peace River pulp mill in northern Alberta. The pilot project is designed to evaluate Svante’s solid sorbent carbon capture technology on biogenic CO₂ emissions from the mill’s recovery boiler flue gas. As a cost-efficient step, this stage builds on the previously announced Front-End Engineering and Design Phase 2. …“Commissioning this demonstration unit… allows us to evaluate carbon capture performance in our operating environment and gather practical data on what would be required for any future scale-up,” said Bill Adams. “The results from this on-site demonstration will help us evaluate the decarbonization potential of this technology for biogenic emissions and inform longer-term planning across our pulp operations.”