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The Tree Frog Forestry News
October 28, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway
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Canfor Announces $96 Million Investment to Strengthen Arkansas Regional Hub
By Arkansas Economic Development Commission
GlobeNewswire
October 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East
EL DORADO, Arkansas — Canfor Southern Pine (CSP) is investing approximately $96 million USD to strengthen its Arkansas operations through a phased modernization and logistics expansion at its Iron Mountain facility in El Dorado. The mill modernization is being completed in two phases, along with the construction of a shipping transload facility. The first phase, which upgraded the planer, was completed in the second quarter of 2025. The second phase will modernize and expand Iron Mountain’s sawmill and log yard operations and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026. …Together, these projects will more than double Iron Mountain’s annual net production to approximately 220 million board feet and create approximately 75 additional jobs at the facility and in logistics. They will also enhance operational efficiency, strengthen regional integration, and position Canfor’s Arkansas operations for long-term growth and competitiveness. …Iron Mountain joined Canfor in August 2024 following the acquisition of Arkansas Resolute El Dorado.
Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON)
October 27, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada East
At a time when Canada and the U.S. are struggling to address severe housing affordability challenges, the tariff war is pushing construction costs in both countries in precisely the wrong direction. While government leaders on both sides of the border have repeatedly pledged to increase housing supply, lower costs and make homeownership more attainable, escalating tariffs and counter-tariffs on both the residential and industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction industry are having the exact opposite effect. …Developers are already grappling with persistent labour shortages, elevated interest rates, soaring land prices, development charges and regulatory hurdles. Added to that list is now a new and destabilizing force: tariffs on key construction materials and building components that are essential to housing projects. …Every tariff imposed somewhere in the supply chain eventually leads to higher prices. That matters because the Canadian and American construction industries are deeply integrated.
US new single-family home sales fell 0.6% in September
The US Census Bureau
October 27, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for September 2026. Sales of new single-family houses in September 2026 were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 676,000. This is 0.6 percent (±13.8 percent)* below the August 2026 rate of 680,000, and is 5.3 percent (±12.5 percent) below the September 2025 rate of 714,000. The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September 2026 was 476,000. This is 1.0 percent (±0.9 percent) below the August 2026 estimate of 481,000, and is 2.3 percent (±4.0 percent) below the September 2025 estimate of 487,000. This represents a supply of 8.4 months at the current sales rate. The months’ supply is 1.2 percent (±14.7 percent) below the August 2026 estimate of 8.5 months, and is 2.4 percent (±14.1 percent) above the September 2025 estimate of 8.2 months.
Affordability Challenges Push US New Home Sales Lower
By Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington
NAHB Eye on Housing
October 27, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States
High mortgage rates and economic uncertainty continued to keep potential home buyers on the sidelines and constrain new home sales in September. New home sales declined from August and remained below year-ago levels, with year-to-date sales also lagging for 2025. Although builders have increasingly adjusted prices and offered incentives to attract buyers, elevated mortgage rates and ongoing affordability concerns continue to constrain sales activity. Sales of newly built single-family homes declined 0.6% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000, following a downwardly revised August estimate, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. …New single-family home inventory in September was at 476,000 units and down 2.3% from a year ago. At the current sales pace, the months’ supply of new homes stood at an elevated 8.4 months, roughly unchanged from a year ago.
UPM-Kymmene reports Q3, 2026 net income of €79 million
By UPM-Kymmene Oyj
PR Newswire
October 28, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International
HELSINKI — UPM-Kymmene released their Interim Report Q3, 2026. Highlights include; sales totaled €2,202 million (2,226 million in Q3 2025); Comparable EBIT decreased by 8% to €131 million, 5.9% of sales (142 million, 6.4%). Profit before tax was €79 million. …On April 29, 2026, the Board of Directors of UPM approved a demerger plan for the separation of the Plywood business into an independent listed company. As a result of the proposed demerger, the Plywood business is presented as a discontinued operation in accordance with IFRS 5…. the commentary in this report relates to UPM’s continuing operations. …Massimo Reynaudo, CEO, said “This was a softer quarter following a strong first half. The broader global uncertainty and persistently high energy costs were visible in more cautious customer activity.
Canadian Filmmaker Explores Finnish Forest Management to Prevent Wildfires
October 28, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West, International
Canadian documentary filmmaker Murray Wilson travelled to Joensuu to film his new documentary, Smoke Season, and interview Finnish forestry experts. The Forest Joensuu network helped organise his visit. …Wildfires are a growing problem in British Columbia. Since 2017, fires have destroyed an average of more than 900,000 hectares of forest annually. In Finland, meanwhile, less than 500 hectares of forest are affected by wildfires each year. Wilson wanted to find out how Finnish forests are managed and what Canada could learn from Finnish practices. …[Wilson believes] that wildfire management should focus more on prevention rather than simply responding to fires once they break out. His first documentary, BC is Burning, aimed to spark discussion about forest management and wildfire prevention in British Columbia. Wilson is continuing this work with his new documentary, Smoke Season. The film examines wildfires, their impacts and the potential to prevent them through different forest management practices.
Why do we still clearcut forests? Why do we spray glyphosate?
By Rob Froese, Professor and Endowed Chair in Forest Growth & Yield
The University of Alberta
October 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West
These are questions that forestry professionals encounter regularly. We have scientific and technical explanations for our practices, but how effectively do we communicate them? And how well do we understand the concerns of people outside our profession? Murray Wilson has spent considerable time exploring that divide. A University of Alberta forestry alumnus, industry leader and documentary filmmaker, Murray has engaged with more than 4,000 audience members about forestry and what shapes public perceptions of forest management. I’m pleased to welcome Murray back to the University of Alberta for our 96th Forest Industry Lecture, where he’ll share what he’s learned about the trust gap in forestry. Everyone is welcome, including forestry professionals, students, researchers, environmental organizations and anyone interested in how forests are managed.
Thursday, November 5, 2026 | 4:00–5:30 p.m. Mountain Time
University of Alberta, Edmonton Attend in person or online via Zoom
Canada’s iconic water bomber is having a moment. But is it the answer to the wildfire crisis?
By Francesca Fionda
The Narwhal
October 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West
This legendary aircraft, which was invented in Canada and transformed the way wildfires are attacked around the world, has been used since the 1960s. But while wildfires have increased in intensity and frequency, the country hasn’t added any new water bombers in over a decade. For months, Calgary-based aerospace company De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited has been pushing for a national fleet of 50 new planes, lobbying the federal government and urging Canadians to write to their members of Parliament. …“Forest fires won’t wait,” reads a full-page newspaper ad bordered with flames. “It’s time for a national water bomber fleet.” …Many experts we spoke with hedged the idea with concerns or questions about how many planes Canada really needs, their effectiveness, wait times and costs. Some said dollars should be better spent on a variety of aircraft or, better yet, wildfire prevention.
Logging of forest with big trees near Castlegar draws protests
By Greg Nesteroff
My Kootenay Now
October 28, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West
Roadbuilding has begun to allow logging of a forest near Castlegar that’s home to BC’s tallest documented ponderosa pine. The 59-meter tall tree, which has been dubbed Lieutenant Dan and is estimated at 600 years old, is not in danger of being cut down. But a local resident who has led a campaign to protect the area, says it isn’t the only old tree in the Cai Creek watershed. “Lieutenant Dan is safe, but there are hundreds of other fir, cedar, and almost-as-big pine in the forest,” said Matt Casselman. According to UBC’s Big Tree Registry, Cai Creek is also home to BC’s ninth and tenth-tallest western white pines, measuring about 42 and 32 meters high, respectively. …Casselman said he met with BC Timber Sales in 2023 to discuss plans for the area, but no changes were made as a result. …Last Thursday, a handful of protesters with Last Stand West Kootenay set up on the Cai Creek Forest Service Road.
What the new B.C. Conservative government has promised the Southern Interior
By Kathy Michaels
Castanet
October 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West
The newly elected B.C. Conservative government may have to dig deep to fund promises made throughout the Southern Interior while on the campaign trail. …The Conservatives have pledged/Promised to:
implement a wildfire action plan aimed at reducing risk before fires start and improving the response when they do. …the plan includes purchasing firefighting aircraft; clearing dangerous forest fuels around communities; making prescribed burns easier to undertake; and allowing qualified firefighting resources to work together more quickly during emergencies.
a series of changes aimed at reviving BC’s forestry sector, including a harvest floor of 45 million cubic metres, faster permitting and reduced costs for mills. The plan also calls for changes to old-growth deferrals, expanded support for value-added wood manufacturers, and a biomass and bioenergy strategy that would begin with Clean Fuels Hubs in Prince George and Kamloops.
Deaths associated with wildfire smoke up about 275% in Canada, new report says
By Kiera Osborne
CBC News
October 28, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada
Deaths linked to wildfire smoke in Canada have exploded by about 275 per cent since the early 2000s according to a major global report that tracks connections between health and climate change. The report, published Tuesday in The Lancet, found that an average of approximately 4,000 deaths were associated with wildfire smoke in Canada each year between 2021-25. That’s compared with an average of only 1,050 annually in 2003-12. …Ian Hamilton, the chair in planetary health at the George Institute for Global Health at Imperial College in London, co-authored the study, says the year range used for wildfire smoke-associated deaths, 2003-12, is meant to represent a historical baseline. According to the report, Canada lost approximately 5.2 million hectares of tree cover in 2024, 148 per cent more than in 2016 — and wildfires accounted for 86 per cent of the loss. …The report also says 80 per cent of Canada’s heatwave days in 2025 were directly attributable to fossil fuel-driven climate change.
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.
At a time when Canada and the U.S. are struggling to address severe housing affordability challenges, the tariff war is pushing construction costs in both countries in precisely the wrong direction. While government leaders on both sides of the border have repeatedly pledged to increase housing supply, lower costs and make homeownership more attainable, escalating tariffs and counter-tariffs on both the residential and industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction industry are having the exact opposite effect. …Developers are already grappling with persistent labour shortages, elevated interest rates, soaring land prices, development charges and regulatory hurdles. Added to that list is now a new and destabilizing force: tariffs on key construction materials and building components that are essential to housing projects. …Every tariff imposed somewhere in the supply chain eventually leads to higher prices. That matters because the Canadian and American construction industries are deeply integrated. 
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for September 2026. Sales of new single-family houses in September 2026 were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 676,000. This is 0.6 percent (±13.8 percent)* below the August 2026 rate of 680,000, and is 5.3 percent (±12.5 percent) below the September 2025 rate of 714,000. The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September 2026 was 476,000. This is 1.0 percent (±0.9 percent) below the August 2026 estimate of 481,000, and is 2.3 percent (±4.0 percent) below the September 2025 estimate of 487,000. This represents a supply of 8.4 months at the current sales rate. The months’ supply is 1.2 percent (±14.7 percent) below the August 2026 estimate of 8.5 months, and is 2.4 percent (±14.1 percent) above the September 2025 estimate of 8.2 months.
