Canada’s first robotic roof-truss line has opened in Ontario, while JD Irving opened its prefabricated building-components facility in Maine. In related news: US off-site built housing opportunity is small but growing; and Ontario’s housing market is forecast to rebound in 2027. In Business news: Ottawa announced $463M for the Saint John Trade Corridor; an Ontario NDP official calls for public ownership of Interfor’s Ear Falls mill; a Virginia sawmill reopening faces opposition; and Century Sunshine is building a new pulp mill in China.
In Forestry news: Ottawa announced new funding for Yukon’s bioenergy sector; the US Endowment committed $5M to a forest-sector venture fund; US utilities want the Fix Our Forests Act passed; and the US Forest Service is being sued over wilderness protection. Meanwhile, Europe’s worsening wildfires are linked to rural abandonment; and UK lawmakers call for dedicated firefighting aircraft. In Wood Products news: South Korea is expanding domestic timber use; and an Australian CLT school building won the country’s top timber design award.
Finally, the UN says a new El Niño foreshadows more extreme weather to come.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Canada’s first robotic roof truss manufacturing line is located in Huron County, Ontario. “The robotics go slower than human beings, but they’re consistent,” said the Founder and President of Atlas Engineered Products, Hadi Abassi. Abassi bought Clinton Truss in 2018, with the idea of revolutionizing how roof trusses were built in Canada. Two years ago, he started construction of this $20 million facility in Vanastra, Ont., to robotically manufacture roof trusses, streamlining the production process from start to finish. “And not just trusses. We have the same system, and same vision for the component construction, for the walls section and floor sections,” said Abassi. With 10 factories across Canada, Abassi aims to build homes piece by piece, and deliver them to construction sites across North America, speeding up the on-site home construction process. …Helping to enable the expansion in Vanastra, a $4 million grant from Natural Resources Canada’s Forestry Innovation Support Program.
CHINA — Century Sunshine is building a new pulp mill in Rizhao, Shandong province, China, with key technology delivered by Valmet. The mill is designed for an annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of hardwood or softwood pulp and 400,000 tonnes of softwood pulp. The delivery includes two parallel cooking and fiberlines – one Valmet Continuous Cooking swing line producing bleached softwood or hardwood pulp, and another producing bleached softwood pulp for fluff and dissolving pulp. …The mill will produce fluff, dissolving, softwood and hardwood pulp. The project forms part of Century Sunshine’s three-phase “Paper-for-Plastic” investment program, which targets 2.65 million tonnes of annual new paper production. Startup is expected in June 2028. …Century Sunshine Pulp and Paper is part of the Century Sunshine Paper Group in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. 
TORONTO — A new report says Ontario’s housing market is expected to improve “modestly” next year as favourable economic conditions help push buyers off the sidelines, though higher borrowing costs could dull the extent of the rebound. Desjardins senior economist Kari Norman said the province’s housing sector “is in the midst of a striking contradiction.” Her report called the market “weak” despite improved affordability, greater buyer choice and easing rental conditions. The forecast predicts existing home sales will rise nearly five per cent in 2027 compared with this year, driven by lower prices, rising disposable incomes, policy supports for first‑time buyers and some release of pent‑up demand. But activity would still be well below long‑term norms, the report noted, while balanced market conditions should lead to average price growth of 2.4 per cent next year. The analysis said the interest rate backdrop will likely remain challenging.
The total market share of non-site-built single-family homes (modular and panelized) was just 3% of single-family homes in 2025, according to NAHB analysis of completion data from the 
Europe is emerging from one of its worst wildfire seasons on record. Deadly blazes this year ripped through countries including Spain, France and Greece, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate and burning 699,000 hectares – four times the size of London. The disasters highlighted how climate change is fuelling hot and dry conditions that amplify wildfires. But another, often-overlooked factor played a pivotal role in some instances: How governments and private landowners are managing Europe’s emptying countryside. In the 195s, the countryside west of Madrid, Spain’s capital, was a mosaic of crop fields and pastures. If a fire ignited, the fragmented landscape would limit its spread. By 1975, the first signs of decline rural activity were visible in aerial photographs. …In the decades that followed, young forests took root. The woodland spread grew denser, joining together to form more continuous forest. Now, if a fire starts, the continuous vegetation provides fuel for the flames to spread.