Daily News for August 17, 2026

Today’s Takeaway

Thank you for visiting the Tree Frog Forestry News

The Tree Frog Forestry News
August 17, 2026
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 9:00 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Business & Politics

Canada prepares a trade proposal to the U.S. as tariff deadline looms

By CTV News
You Tube
August 15, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada has prepared a trade proposal for the U.S. as new 50% tariffs loom, with talks intensifying ahead of the Aug. 19 deadline. Mike Le Couteur reports.

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Lumber, auto tariffs remain sticking points as negotiations with U.S. enter final stretch

By Narieke Walsh and Adrian Moore
The Globe and Mail
August 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada-U.S. trade talks are down to the wire this week as Ottawa tries to avert punitive new tariffs scheduled to be imposed by the Trump administration on Wednesday. …Five sources briefed on the discussions said Section 232 tariffs on autos and lumber remained the biggest points of contention. …On forestry, the US does not want to offer any reduction of Section 232 tariffs on the sector. Instead, the US has argued that Canada should wait for the results of a separate review by the US Department of Commerce that is expected to reduce a different set of tariffs on softwood lumber. …A different source said the best Canada could hope for is an agreement from the U.S. to discuss forestry tariffs further. BC’s forestry industry has been hit hard by the Trump policies because the Section 232 tariffs on lumber stack on top of pre-existing countervailing and anti-dumping tariffs. The B.C. Lumber Trade Council’s interim president, Kim Haakstad, said Sunday she is concerned that if the 232 tariffs stay in place, more mills could close. [to access the full story a Glove & Mail subscription is required]

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U.S. Industry Applauds President Trump Standing Up for U.S. Forestry Workers

By The US Lumber Coalition
PR Newswire
August 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Canadian federal government officials and the Premiers of various Canadian provinces have it 100 percent wrong. The issue isn’t whether US trade policies are an attack on Canadian workers, or favoring non-Canadian imports. The real problem is that Canadian unfair trade practices for decades have been and continue to attack American workers and their forestry dependent communities, stated Zoltan van Heyningen, of the U.S. Lumber Coalition. The actual and ongoing solution is the strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws by the Trump Administration that is allowing the U.S. industry to invest in its future growth towards America’s full self-sufficiency of domestically sourced lumber for the US. President Trump’s Section 232 tariffs on softwood lumber imports are an integral part of the success in growing the U.S. industry that has safeguarded and grown hundreds of thousands of US jobs, emphasized van Heyningen.

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Kemi mill shutdown affects Finland’s wood market

By Markku Bjorkman
PulpPaperNews.com
August 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

A six-week production shutdown at Metsä Fibre’s large bioproduct mill in Kemi will temporarily reduce demand for pulpwood in northern Finland. At the same time, Stora Enso is considering closing the Veitsiluoto sawmill permanently. The announcements increase uncertainty for forest owners, logging contractors and transport companies, although they do not mean that the regional wood trade will come to a standstill. Metsä Fibre will suspend production at its Kemi bioproduct mill for six weeks during October and November 2026. The shutdown will allow the company to modernise the mill’s cooking system and will be coordinated with its regular annual maintenance outage. The unusually long stoppage is expected to reduce the mill’s immediate consumption of pulpwood. …The immediate consequences are likely to include softer demand and more complicated logistics during the autumn. This does not amount to a collapse of northern Finland’s wood market. 

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Finance & Economics

US consumer sentiment fell about 8% in August

By Joanne Hsu, Survey of Consumers Director
The University of Michigan
August 15, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer sentiment fell about 8% this August, ending two consecutive months of improvement. While views of personal finances saw only minor declines, expected business conditions sank 11% for the short run and 17% for the long run. Decreases in sentiment were seen across the political spectrum, with Republicans exhibiting the strongest month-to-month decline in August. Sentiment among Republicans is now 19% below readings just prior to the Iran conflict and the lowest since the 2024 election. Although the early-month weakening in sentiment was pervasive across various demographic groups, notably large reductions were seen among older consumers, lower-income consumers, and those without a college degree. These groups are all particularly vulnerable to any erosion of purchasing power stemming from inflation. Across all consumers, only 8% expect their income growth to exceed inflation in the year ahead, down from 18% in December 2024, a reflection of the belief that high prices will continue to be burdensome.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

As wildfires get worse, some states are struggling to pass fire protection rules

By Lauren Sommer
National Public Radio
August 17, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Washington has been developing new wildfire safety regulations for several years, including building codes for homes constructed in risky areas and rules for managing plants and vegetation. But restrictions that affect people’s homes and gardens can be unpopular. After public pushback, state legislators backtracked and repealed some of the requirements. Other Western states have also struggled to pass wildfire regulations affecting homeowners’ properties. …Understanding wildfire risk can be challenging in many Western states. For floods, the federal government releases national maps showing which places are at risk of inundation. Wildfire mapping is left to the states, which involves using complex computer models to determine the chances of a fire based on vegetation, terrain and fire behavior. …Washington state officials say the new wildfire maps will be released in December. …Oregon faced similar pushback while developing its wildfire regulations. …Building codes for housing in wildfire-prone areas were pioneered by California.

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Waugh Thistleton Architects set to build “tallest mass timber office building in the US”

By Tom Ravenscroft
Dezeen Magazine
August 17, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

BELLEVUE, Washington — Architecture studios Waugh Thistleton Architects and Mithun have designed a 12-storey mass-timber office block in Bellevue, Washington. Designed for developer and contractor Skanska, the Bevel tower will become the tallest timber office building in the USA, when it completes. It is also Waugh Thistleton Architects’ first project in the US. “Bevel will be our first built project in the US, but more importantly with a building of this scale it demonstrates that timber is ready to take its place at the forefront of American architecture,” said co-founder Andrew Waugh. The 55-metre-high office block will have a hybrid timber and steel structure with mass-timber columns, beams and ceilings exposed throughout the building. According to US WoodWorks, the building will be the tallest mass-timber office building in the US. …”It’s also expanding the idea of what’s possible with these projects,” said WoodWorks CEO Jennifer Cover.

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Forestry

Canadair water-bomber builder feels heat of demand as wildfires rage around the world

By Kyle Bakx
CBC News
August 15, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

As Canada, the US and Europe grapple with another brutal wildfire season, pressure is building on the manufacturer of the Canadair “Super Scooper” water bombers to increase production, and on the federal government to bulk order the planes. Calgary-based De Havilland is taking the rare step of reviving production of the Canadair after acquiring the water bomber program. The planes had been built by Bombardier up until 2015. The world-renowned aircraft are built by hand with the majority of assembly in Calgary. The revived production line was announced in 2022 and is beginning to produce results as the first two aircraft are taking shape and on schedule to be completed and delivered in early 2028. Canadian premiers and European leaders are desperate to get their hands on those aircraft. …If De Havilland is unable to respond to the growing demand for water bombers, there is the risk that foreign companies may develop their own.

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Concern raised with ‘firebomb’ piles from mitigation work at Salmon Arm park

By Lachlan Labere
The Vernon Morning Star
August 14, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Salmon Arm Deputy Fire Chief Carmen Guidos was called in by council to help extinguish concern wildfire fuel mitigation work done at the Park Hill trail system has exacerbated the fire risk. On the agenda for city council’s May 10 meeting was a letter from resident Stig Keskinen regarding the timing of the city’s ongoing wildfire fuel mitigation program that saw work done along the Park Hill trails in May and June. In the letter, Keskinen posits this is not the time of year to do such work. One reason for this are the resulting “dozens of piles” of forest debris now drying throughout the trail system. …Keskinen wanted to know when they would be dealt with ….Guidos confirmed that is the plan, to burn in the fall – similar to what was done with the wildfire mitigation work at Little Mountain.

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BC Is Quietly Planning to Split Forest Lands into Three Use Zones

By Ben Parfitt
The Tyee
August 17, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC’s government is contemplating carving the province into three zones to “provide greater clarity” to the timber industry, and discussions have so far left out First Nations. The zoning plan is outlined in an email sent in early July to public servants in the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. “The concept will consider three zones: commercial forestry, multiple-use and conservation and protection,” the leaked email reads, adding the zones will “provide greater clarity to achieve both investment stability and community economic benefits, and biodiversity and ecosystem stewardship goals for the land base.” The email provides no detail on how much forest might ultimately be placed in each of the zones, leaving open questions about just what impact the proposed plan would have on everything from at-risk species to rural and First Nations communities, and a logging industry that has been on a sharp downward spiral for years.

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Extreme fire weather is B.C.’s ‘new reality,’ this scientist says. That doesn’t make these blazes ‘normal’

By Francesca Fionda
The Narwhal
August 14, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Mike Flannigan

…Global experts are calling extreme fire weather our “new normal”. But as fire scientist Mike Flannigan looks at B.C.’s wildfires of the past, he rejects the term. “We’re moving into uncharted territory. This is our new reality. Some people might say ‘normal,’ but to me, normal sounds like a plateau. We’re on a trajectory, and it’s downward.” Flannigan is a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops whose expertise has earned him the BC Innovation Research Chair in predictive services, emergency management and fire Science. He’s been studying fire for decades. He recently spoke to The Narwhal from Kamloops and shared some data that showed a dramatic increase in area burned across the province in the last 10 years compared to the previous six decades. We asked him to break down what this all means for the future of wildfires in B.C. and the country.

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Okanagan farmers, wineries face mounting losses as wildfire hits harvest season

By Kathy Michaels
Business in Vancouver
August 13, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Thousands of pounds of fruit are going to waste in Summerland as farms on the frontlines of a firefight sit empty just as the window for harvest opens, offering a devastating blow in what has already been a difficult year. Adrian Arts, executive director of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association, said that growers have been hit by heat, drought and now wildfire this year alone. Peaches that were to be harvested last week will likely rot on the tree and the remaining fruits that aren’t quite ready for harvest will likely be ruined by ash, Arts said. “I’m guessing a lot of that crop is going to be abandoned along with the peaches, plums, and other fruit ripening this week,” he said. Arts said the repeated crises are exposing weaknesses in existing government support programs that are no longer meeting their needs.

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Residents, stakeholders across B.C. unite to stop deactivation of valued Interior forest road

By Evert Lindquist
Pentiction Western News
August 15, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Citing public safety concerns, the B.C. government is starting to permanently close off a forest service road (FSR) near Trout Lake that accesses homes and runs up the Incomappleux River toward Glacier National Park. Property owners, backcountry users, industry and environmentalists have voiced outrage over the province’s plans, describing lack of meaningful consultation and a strong rationale for the road to remain accessible. …The province has taken issue with the Incomappleux FSR due to hazardous events such as a rockfall in 2006 that damaged the structural integrity of a crevice bridge, prompting Ministry of Forests engineers to recommend closure. It’s said funds aren’t available to maintain the road, which has officially closed off since 2005, gated since 2017, and slated for deactivation since 2021. …If the province proceeds with deactivation, no alternative access exists for some 140 parcels and 28 landowners along a 13-kilometre stretch between the closure and farther up the Incomappleux Valley.

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A line in the forest: B.C. is logging its last old growth. Protesters are trying to stop it

By Annika Hammerschlag
Associated Press in Victoria Times Colonist
August 16, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

PORT RENFREW — The five-car caravan crept down a gravel logging road as the day’s last beams of golden light filtered through the trees. About 20 forest defenders were making a stand in southwest Vancouver Island, at a spot where a logging company was expected to cut old-growth trees the following morning. …It was a small, inconclusive victory in a fight that has spanned generations. But for those gathered in the forest, it mattered. “There is no dispute about what happened to our land,” said Bill Jones, a First Nations Pacheedaht elder who sat in the road as daylight crept in. …“There’s nothing left — it’s practically naked, bare,” he said. “There’s [a] few remnants here and there, and so we have to save what we can.” …Although the province says more than 11 million hectares of old growth remain, scientists say there is only about 415,000 hectares of productive old growth capable of growing the largest trees.

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Smoky skies continue across Southern B.C. Sunday

By Nicholas Johansen
Castanet
August 16, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Smoke continues to linger over much of Southern B.C. Sunday. Environment Canada’s air quality warnings remain in place for a large portion of the region, including the Thompson-Okanagan. While most of the area is under a “yellow” warning, the South Okanagan and Fraser Canyon regions are under the more severe “orange” warning. Multiple wildfires are actively burning in and around B.C.’s Southern Interior and putting up plenty of smoke, including the Bald Range fire in Summerland and the Ainslie Creek fire in the Fraser Canyon, along with several fires south of the border. Environment Canada warns that the elderly and very young, people with lung or heart conditions, and people who are pregnant should reduce their time spent outdoors during smoky conditions. No air quality warnings are in place for the Metro Vancouver area or the East Kootenays. Smoky conditions are forecast to persist through Monday.

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Wildfires and drought challenge wildlife across Colorado: Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Kiowa County Press
August 14, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Drought and wildfires are straining wildlife and the habitats they depend on across Colorado, prompting Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to closely monitor habitat conditions as animals face increased stress in their search for food, water and shelter. Wildfires rapidly alter ecosystems by removing vegetation that provides food and cover for wildlife. While ecosystems are adapted to periodic fire and will recover over time, large wildfires may reduce habitat quality, displace animals and increase competition for limited resources. Species unable to relocate quickly or that rely on specialized habitats are especially vulnerable this summer. …CPW is adjusting hunting and fishing season structures and license quotas in areas affected by wildfire damage, closing boating ramps during extreme drought conditions, and establishing voluntary and mandatory fishing closures to help sustain healthy habitats and wildlife populations. …Give wildlife extra space and respect area closures. Do not feed wildlife; let them find natural food sources. 

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Should We Kill One Kind of Owl To Save Another?

By Jason Mark
Mother Jones
August 17, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The northern spotted owl is in trouble—per usual. This vanishingly rare subspecies of spotted owl earned its iconic status in the late ’80s and early ’90s, during the height of the Timber Wars in the Pacific Northwest. For forest defenders, the spotted owl is a sacred totem. For loggers, it’s been a pest. In 1990, federal officials reclassified the raptor as a threatened species, and greens won the Timber Wars with the establishment of the Clinton-era Northwest Forest Plan. The spotted owl left the trees standing—yet the number of spotted owls continued to decline. The culprit? The barred owl. …Today, just 15,000 spotted owls remain across North America; in comparison, there are some 3.5 million barred owls. So officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service have come up with a bold plan to help the spotted owls: Shoot the barred owls.

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The future of logging and conservation is one and the same

by Jonathan Leibowitz and Robert T. Perschel
VT Digger
August 14, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

The closure of Finch Paper’s pulp mill in Glens Falls, New York, is a blow that will echo across the Northeast for years. For loggers, truckers, foresters and woodlot landowners, this is not some distant threat to worry about in the future. It is — today — lost income, lost markets for wood and the continuing fraying of a way of life. One of us has spent a career in forestry; the other leads a wilderness protection organization. …we both understand a truth: The amount of land we can set aside as wilderness depends on how well we manage the rest of the forest and thus the health of the timber industry. Both wildlands and managed woodlands are needed. …Put simply, wilderness advocates should be rooting for a thriving forest economy. And loggers should welcome a network of wildlands that keeps large forest blocks whole … and models the full range of what these forests can be. 

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Forest Fires

European countries battle multiple wildfires as record heat grips the continent

By Angela Charlton
The associated Press in PBS News
August 14, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

PARIS — Firefighters across Europe struggled against multiple fires Friday as a new wave of record-breaking heat baked a swath of the continent, their task further complicated by exceptionally parched landscapes. …With France experiencing its driest year ever, a new fire raced through woodlands overnight in the Landes region on the southwest coast. The blaze forced more than 500 people to evacuate their homes in the town of Luglon as hundreds of firefighters deployed to the area.

  • In the central English town of Stourbridge, where a huge blaze started Thursday, TV footage showed the fires consuming houses, with many left without roofs as flames burned inside the charred walls. 
  • Spanish authorities on Thursday night transferred the remains of three 11th Century kings from a monastery in the northeastern Aragón region near an active wildfire.
  • All 1,800 residents of the village of Gey in western Germany were evacuated after a wildfire with shifting winds in the nearby Hürtgen forest threatened to reach their homes.
  • In Croatia, one person was killed and 14 people were hospitalized, of whom seven remained in life-threatening condition early Friday, from a fire that raged overnight by the coastal town of Omis and forced more than 1,000 people to evacuate their homes. 
  • Albania has been battling dozens of wildfires in recent weeks, with 11 active fires reported across the country Friday.
  • Belgium was expecting to hit its highest temperature of the summer on Friday, climbing to 37 C (98.6 F) in the capital, Brussels. The mercury was also set to hit 37 C (98.6 F) in the neighboring Netherlands. The country is suffering from severe drought, with water shortages

Additional related coverage: 

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Why FireSmart discounts still aren’t standardized, even as mandatory rules gain support

By Josh Recamara
Insurance Business Magazine
August 17, 2026
Category: General
Region: Canada, Canada West

As wildfires continue burning across BC, experts are renewing calls to make FireSmart wildfire mitigation principles mandatory rather than voluntary. Mike Flannigan, at Thompson Rivers University, argued that in high-risk locations, FireSmart measures only work if applied consistently – because one unprotected neighbouring property can still spread embers that ignite a FireSmart-compliant home nearby. The debate is not new. …For brokers, the more consequential story is one the industry has been aware of for years: FireSmart certification exists, can be verified, and demonstrably reduces risk – but there is still no standardised way for that to translate into a lower premium in Canada. …Standard homeowner policies still cover fire damage regardless of whether a property meets FireSmart standards, and evacuation-related coverage still triggers independent of mitigation status. But as more provinces and municipalities weigh mandatory resilience requirements… FireSmart certification is likely to become a more common client question.

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