Daily News for May 27, 2026

Today’s Takeaway

Chemical tank implosion at Washington paper mill leaves 1 dead, 9 missing

Tree Frog Forestry News
May 27, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway

Chemical tank implosion at at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington leaves 1 dead, 9 unaccounted for. In related news: investigators say the Maine lumber mill explosion began in a sawdust silo; Weyerhaeuser, Alberta is fined for 2023 sawmill incident; a Tennessee lumber company is struck by tornado; and Domtar responds to lawsuit over mill odours. In other Business news: Ontario invest $14M to strengthen forest competitiveness; US trade officials push a ‘Fortress North America’ approach to manufacturing; Canada’s trade diversification shows mixed results; and tensions continue ahead of USMCA negotiations.

In Forestry news: Forests Canada and Ontario Parks restore nine provincial parks; BC explains what ‘out of control’ means in wildfire management; UBC forestry instructors help lead a UN forest report; a BC aviation firms join Canada’s new firefighting fleet; SFI announces five Climate Smart funding recipients; and Kerry Rouck is appointed to the BC Forest Practices Board.

Finally, on Day 3 of Forest Safety Week: worker competency assessments, tick safety, and the lasting lessons from a devastating sawmill injury.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Special Feature

Worker Assessments – An Important Part of a Successful and Safe Business

By Michele Fry, Director, Communications
BC Forest Safety Council
May 27, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada West

Completing worker assessments is an important part of maintaining a safe and successful operation. Typically, a supervisor is responsible for this process within a company or operation. BCFSC’s one-on-one assessments are a valuable tool to ensure there are no gaps in the knowledge, skills and attributes each worker needs to do their job safely and productively. These assessments are intended for both new workers and experienced workers. Young workers can benefit from the guidance and experience they gain through interaction with their supervisor. Experienced workers can benefit by demonstrating their skills and knowledge against an industry-developed standard.

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Preventing Tick Bites and Disease

By Gerard Messier, Manager, Program Development
BC Forest Safety Council
May 27, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada West

As BC forestry workers head into the field this season, hazards like tick exposure and wildlife encounters should be top of mind. In April, BCFSC released a safety alert on ticks, which are becoming more common in many parts of British Columbia. Ticks can pose serious health risks, including the transmission of Lyme disease and other infections. Working in dense vegetation, tall grass and wooded areas increases the chances of contact, making it essential for workers to take simple precautions and know what to look for. We are sharing this safety alert in this issue of the Forest Safety News to provide practical information to help you recognize risks, protect yourself on the job and respond quickly if you do get bitten. If you’d like to download a copy to share with your crew, click below. You can also subscribe to BCFSC’s monthly safety alert by clicking here.

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Finding strength in inspiring others

By Susan Kerschbaumer
WorkSafeBC
May 27, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada West

Nearly 28 years after Darcy Kulai was injured at work, the memory and the grief remain strikingly real, affecting him both physically and mentally. Now, he wants to inspire other young workers to stay safe on the job. In 1997, Kulai was 20 years old and working at a sawmill. He had just completed his second year at the University of Victoria. He planned to work through the summer, then transfer to Camosun College, where he was looking forward to an exciting year playing basketball on the college team. Unfortunately, that’s not how the next year played out. On an evening shift, Kulai was stationed at the “stick belt,” a conveyor located in an out-of-the- way area of the mill. …When some sticks became caught in the conveyor belt’s chain, Kulai reached in to dislodge them. …When it comes to a healthier future, Kulai sees hope. His son is now 20 — the same age Kulai was when he was injured at work. “If my son got hurt, I’d be shattered,” he says. “Being a father has made me want to do more for young people — to see if there’s a way to inspire.”

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Business & Politics

U.S. floats tariff breaks for Canada, Mexico if they co-ordinate on external levies

By Mark Rendell
The Globe and Mail
May 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The United States’ top trade official says he’s pushing for changes to continental trade rules to prioritize U.S. content in manufacturing supply chains, but sees a path to preferential tariff rates in North America if Canada and Mexico co-operate with external tariffs on other countries. At the same time, Jamieson Greer warned that negotiations with Canada around the future of the country’s auto sector could be difficult, while discussions about trade in commodities should prove easier. …Canada has not yet started formal talks with the U.S. and won’t be at the negotiating table this week in Mexico City. The three governments have to decide on July 1 whether to extend the agreement for 16 years or move to a period of annual reviews for 10 years. …Ottawa has signalled an openness to this type of “Fortress North America” approach. But Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to see the U.S. lower its sectoral tariffs on automobiles, steel, aluminum, copper and wood products in return for moves toward deeper integration in key sectors. [A Globe and Mail subscription is required for full access to this story]

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Canada’s push to diversify trade away from U.S. seeing mixed results: report

By Catherine Morrison
Canadian Press
May 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

OTTAWA – A small group of cities across the country drove Canada’s progress on diversifying trade in 2025, while others fell behind, says a new report from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. The report says Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Saskatoon and Kelowna, B.C., are the cities that made the strongest gains in export diversification beyond the U.S. market last year. Of the cities surveyed, Calgary and Ottawa-Gatineau posted the largest increases in exports to non-U.S. markets between 2024 and 2025 — 64.67 per cent and 64.04 per cent, respectively. … The chamber’s new report says recent Statistics Canada data on business responses to U.S. tariffs suggests many Canadian firms are “adapting cautiously” rather than fundamentally repositioning their operations. The report says that while exports to non-U.S. markets rose sharply between 2024 and 2025, much of that growth came from existing exporters expanding their reach rather than new firms entering global markets. 

 

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US plans tariffs on USMCA countries, has issues with Canada

By ‌David Shepardson and David ​Lawder
Reuters in Newsmax
May 26, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The Trump administration intends to maintain tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said as the US launches negotiations to revamp the North American free trade pact. The US has “significant” trade issues with Canada. …”The US is going to have tariffs,” Greer said. “I mean, even with somebody like Mexico, or other countries that are in our own hemisphere, ⁠we’re going to have tariffs as long as we have a giant trade deficit.” His comments that the 6-year-old US-Mexico-Canada ​Agreement will not continue as a tariff-free trade pact echo comments he made privately last month to industry executives in ⁠Mexico — that auto and steel tariffs will remain in place under the revamped USMCA. …Greer said the Trump administration’s issues with Canada go well beyond trade “irritants” and it was difficult to see how the two can work out their differences.

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Kerry Rouck appointed to Forest Practices Board

By Tanner Senko, Communications Manager
BC Forest Practices Board
May 26, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Kerry Rouck

VICTORIA – Kerry Rouck has been appointed to the Forest Practices Board for a three-year term. Rouck, based in West Kelowna, is a registered professional forester with a master of science in forestry from the University of British Columbia. He has nearly 30 years of experience in private-sector forestry, including working with Indigenous communities and a range of tenure holders. Rouck brings extensive operational forestry experience to the board, including first-hand knowledge of forest practices, tenure management and the challenges facing the forest sector. As a woodlot owner and manager, he has practical experience applying forest practices on the ground. Rouck is also active in supporting forestry education and community involvement. He works with the Charles Bloom Secondary School forestry program and woodlot, and has served as a councillor and chair of the board of examiners with Forest Professionals British Columbia.

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Ontario Investing $14 Million to Strengthen Forest Sector Competitiveness

By Natural Resources
The Government of Ontario
May 26, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

SAULT STE. MARIE — The Ontario government is investing more than $14 million to build a modern, digital system to inventory the province’s forest resources, giving industry access to better information to invest, grow and create jobs. …this investment will modernize the Forest Resources Inventory (FRI) Information Management System, the essential database of Ontario’s managed forests, by replacing outdated systems with cutting-edge technology to make critical forest data more accurate, accessible and easier to use. …Through a strategic partnership with Microsoft, powered by Databricks technology, the province is developing customized digital tools to modernize how Ontario collects, stores and shares forest inventory information, strengthening the sector’s long-term competitiveness and resilience in the global economy. This work is a key commitment in the Roadmap to Protecting Ontario’s Forest Sector, Ontario’s 10-year plan to defend forestry workers and businesses, adapt to global market pressures and grow long-term demand for Ontario wood products.

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127-year-old Tennessee lumber company struck by tornado

By Larry Adams
Woodworking Network
May 26, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US East

NEW TAZEWELL, Tenn. — A tornado tore thru a more than century old lumber business on Friday, May 22, destroying one building and damaging large sections of its main warehouse. Duncan Lumber, established in 1909 in New Tazewell, Tennessee, is working to partially reopen after taking a direct hit from an EF-0 rated tornado. Mark Large was the only employee on site when the storm hit. He was in the warehouse counting lumber and moved to another building minutes before the tornado hit. He was unharmed. The tornado touched down in New Tazewell at 6:58 p.m. on Friday night, with surveyors estimating wind speeds of up to 85 miles per hour, which devastated a local, family-owned business, Duncan Lumber. “It hit behind the building, came through the building and went out the front wall,” said Andy Duncan, the owner of Duncan Lumber. “Blew it out on the street.”

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Domtar responds to lawsuit over odors from Kingsport plant

By Slater Teague
WJHL Tennessee
May 26, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

KINGSPORT, Tennessee — Domtar Paper has filed a response to a federal lawsuit over alleged “noxious odor emissions” from the company’s Kingsport recycled packaging mill. The civil lawsuit names two Kingsport residents as class representatives in a proposed class action. In the response filed on May 18, Domtar’s attorneys denied that the company releases noxious odors that invade the plaintiff’s property. The company also said the plaintiffs’ claims about regulatory violations are inaccurate. In the response, Domtar denies that members of the public “have suffered damages or injury due to noxious odors emitted from the facility.” The company argued that the plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed because “the alleged damages are too speculative, remote and wholly out of proportion to the negligence or nuisance alleged.” …Domtar continues to work on a new wastewater system designed to eliminate odors that the company has admitted to causing.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

How engineered timber could reshape mid-rise housing

By Rebecca Keillor
Vancouver Sun
May 26, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ricardo Brites

Ricardo Brites has spent much of his career helping move engineered timber buildings from ambitious design experiments into practical housing solutions. Originally from Portugal, Brites completed his PhD in timber engineering before working in the United Kingdom during Europe’s rapid expansion of mass timber construction. At the time, Europe was already delivering large-scale timber buildings while North America was still cautiously testing the concept. …Today, as director of engineering and VDC at Mercer Mass Timber, Brites works across Canada and the United States on projects ranging from libraries and universities to large-scale residential and commercial developments. …Today, as director of engineering and VDC at Mercer Mass Timber, Brites works across Canada and the United States on projects ranging from libraries and universities to large-scale residential and commercial developments. …Canada, particularly British Columbia, has become one of North America’s most active mass timber markets.

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Forestry

What does it mean when a fire is Out of Control?

By BC Wildfire Service
Facebook
May 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

When you hear a wildfire is classified as Out of Control, it’s easy to picture massive flames racing through the forest. But Out of Control is used as an operational term, not a description of how dramatic or aggressive a wildfire looks. A wildfire is classified as Out of Control when it is spreading, or expected to spread, beyond the current containment lines. Think of it like plumbing, a slow leak and a burst pipe are both uncontrolled situations, but they behave very differently. One may grow slowly over time and require monitoring and management. The other may move quickly and need immediate, aggressive action. Wildfires can behave the same way.

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Masters of International Forestry Instructors Make Global Impact as Lead Authors of Landmark UN Forest Report

By the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship
The University of British Columbia
May 26, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

When the United Nations released its Global Forest Goals Report 2026 this month in New York, the expertise behind it traced back to the classrooms of UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship’s Master of International Forestry program. Professor Terry Sunderland and Lecturer Peter Wood, director and coordinator of the MIF program respectively, served as lead authors of the report, released at the UN Forum on Forests. It is one of the most comprehensive assessments of global forest management ever produced, drawing on voluntary submissions from 48 nations representing more than half of the world’s forests. The fact the report’s lead authors are also shaping the next generation of international forestry professionals at UBC FES is no coincidence — it is exactly the kind of real-world engagement the MIF program is built around.

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Island firm to supply two helicopters for national firefighting fleet

Canadian Press in the Victoria Times Colonist
May 26, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A North Saanich aviation company will provide helicopters as part of the federal government’s first reserve of firefighting aircraft to help provinces and territories respond to wildfires this season. VIH Helicopters is supplying two Sikorsky S-92A heavy helicopters for the season, with contracts starting immediately and continuing to Oct. 18. They’re among 10 aircraft and two unspecified support assets being leased for 150 days starting this month by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, thanks to a $317-million allocation in the federal budget. …Along with VIH Helicopters, which is based at Victoria International Airport, the fleet will be sourced from B.C.-based firms Conair Group and Coldstream Helicopters. …Kelsey Winter, executive director of CIFFC, said at a media event at the Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa on Monday that the newly leased fleet will add to the existing model, not replace it.

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Forests Canada and Ontario Parks Complete Projects to Restore and Enhance Provincial Parks

By Forests Canada
PR Newswire
May 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

TORONTO – In an effort to restore the natural beauty and support species conservation in provincial parks impacted by extreme weather events, invasive species, tree loss due to insects and disease, or shoreline erosion, national charity Forests Canada and Ontario Parks have worked together to plant 12,000 native trees and shrubs across nine provincial parks. “Forests Canada is proud to lead the restoration efforts and promote the long-term health of these incredible spaces,” Jess Kaknevicius, CEO, Forests Canada, says. “We approach our forest recovery work in a systematic way – considering every stage from seed collection and seedling production to planting and long-term survival, and we are honoured to put our knowledge, experience and network of partners to work benefitting Ontario’s provincial parks.” This past fall and spring, 4,500 potted trees and shrubs of 39 different native species were planted in targeted areas… 

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Inside the Fight to Protect an Urban Forest in BC

By Sarah Cox
The Tyee
May 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Three years ago, Barb Round heard heavy machinery chewing through the urban forest behind her home in Campbell River, a small city on east Vancouver Island that bills itself as the salmon capital of the world. Round waved down a man in a hard hat and asked why the excavator was working in the greenway, which is a haven for birds, dotted with pocket wetlands and adjacent to Simms Creek, home to four salmon species. “He explained to me that the property had been sold,” Round, a retired nurse, tells The Tyee. “Everyone in the neighbourhood thought it was protected land.” When residents found out a local developer planned to cut down much of the forest and fill in the wetlands to build a large housing development near the creek, “they were gobsmacked,” Round says.

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Sustainable Forestry Initiative Announces First Round of U.S. Funding Recipients to Implement Climate Smart Forestry Practices

Sustainable Forestry Initiative
May 26, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Washington, D.C. — Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) is pleased to announce funding to five organizations that are expanding climate-informed management practices across 5,000 acres in five states. These awards are provided through the SFI project Advancing Carbon Stewardship Practices for Large Landowners in the United States, and targets priority interventions in the Lake States and the Pacific Northwest. Part of the SFI Climate Smart Forestry Initiative, “These awards reflect the power of large-scale forest managers to deliver meaningful climate outcomes,” said Lauren T. Cooper, Chief Conservation Officer at SFI. “By investing in forest decision-makers who are committed to long-term care of their lands in a changing climate, we are learning alongside these partners to ensure that Climate Smart Forestry practices are durable, scalable, and rooted in local expertise, priorities, and values.”

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Biomass’ first year of mapping Earth’s vegetation

Spatial Source
May 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

After its first year in orbit, ESA’s Biomass satellite is offering new views of Earth’s vegetation cover. Launched in April 2025, the satellite — one of the European Space Agency’s Earth Explorer missions — has been busily mapping forests and other vegetation, with the primary aim of determining the extent of stored carbon and how it changes globally with time. The spacecraft is equipped with a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar and 12m-wide mesh antenna, used for interferometric imaging. The radar’s 70cm wavelength is optimised for penetrating forest canopies and measuring ‘biomass,’ the woody trunks, branches and stems where trees store most of their carbon. “With Biomass, we are poised to gain vital new data on how much carbon is stored in the world’s forests, helping to fill key gaps in our knowledge of the carbon cycle and, ultimately, Earth’s climate system,” said ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli.

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Health & Safety

Northern Alberta sawmill convicted in death of worker, fined $355K to pay for safety training program

By Iman Janmohamed
CBC News
May 25, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta — Weyerhaeuser Company was convicted last week in the death of a sawmill employee and as a result, has been ordered to pay $355,000 for the development of a comprehensive training program for inexperienced workers. Weyerhaeuser was convicted on May 19 after pleading guilty under Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker, who died on the job three years earlier on Nov. 18, 2023. The worker was using a pike pole to clear a blockage from a wood chipping machine at a Grande Prairie lumber mill when it was unsafe to do so, said the province. The man was then fatally struck by the pike pole. …Northwestern Polytechnic in Grande Prairie will use the funds the court ordered Weyerhaeuser to pay to develop the Northern Industrial Safety Pathways Program. …Mary Catherine McAleer said  “We continue to focus on learning from this tragic incident and strengthening our safety program.

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Chemical tank implosion in Washington state kills 1 and leaves 9 missing

By Claire Rush and Rebecca Boone
Associated Press in KCRA
May 27, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: US West

LONGVIEW, Wash. — A massive chemical tank holding nearly a million gallons of a highly corrosive liquid imploded and collapsed Tuesday at a Washington paper mill, killing at least one worker and leaving nine others unaccounted for with no hope for rescue, authorities said. Another nine people were injured, some severely, in the spill at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview. The cause remained unclear. “At the moment we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made,” Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during a Tuesday evening news conference in which officials repeatedly referred to the situation as a recovery effort. That effort would not resume until Wednesday morning, when emergency responders planned to work on stabilizing the collapsed tank, which still had about 90,000 gallons (more than 340,000 liters) of a chemical brew known as “white liquor” inside, and then search for the missing, Goldstein said.

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Investigators say fatal Maine lumber mill fire was accidental and started in silo

By Patrick Whittle
The Associated Press
May 26, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

MAINE — The fire and subsequent explosion at a Maine lumber mill that killed a firefighter and injured a dozen other people was accidental and originated at the base of a silo, authorities said Tuesday. …Rapid ignition of particulate material resulted in an explosion in the silo that caused it to lift from its concrete base and release large amounts of sawdust and other materials, the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office said. The silo then toppled and the surrounding area became engulfed in fire, the office said. Investigators will return to the facility in the coming months to conduct a more detailed examination, the fire marshal’s office said. “Investigators also determined the facility’s fire suppression system, which was located near the top of the silo, did not activate because temperatures at that elevation did not reach the activation threshold after the fire originated at the base of the silo,” the office’s statement said.

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Forest Fires

Fire that burned 8,500 hectares in Nova Scotia in 2025 now officially extinguished

By Frances Willick
CBC News
May 26, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

A wildfire that ripped through 8,500 hectares in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley last year has now officially been deemed extinguished. The fire burned in the West Dalhousie area from mid-August until late September, though crews remained working at the site until late October. It destroyed 20 homes and forced hundreds of people to flee. While the blaze may have faded from the attention of some people in the province, the Department of Natural Resources was still keeping tabs on the area until Tuesday, when the fire was declared extinguished. …Jim Rudderham, , the director of fleet and wildfire management for Natural Resources, said it is possible for fires to continue burning underground through the winter despite rain and snow, but while “holdover fires” are common in Western Canada, he has not yet encountered one in Nova Scotia.

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