Ottawa launched Canada’s first-ever national reserve of firefighting aircraft to boost provincial wildfire response capacity. In related news: Alberta utilities plan for wildfire power-shutoffs; Oregon questions the US Forest Service’s wildfire readiness; and Ukraine tallies its forest fire damage due to the war. Meanwhile: Canada Wood secures recognition of Hem-fir (N) in Japan; and Finland’s industry urges government to boosts its wood use.
In other Forestry news: the BC Forest Practices Board will audit BC Timber Sales near Hazelton; Washington state’s Pacific yew helped produce a breakthrough cancer drug; and restoring Virginia’s longleaf pines and New England’s elm—one seed at a time. In other news: San Group is fined and sanctioned for hiring migrant workers; Stora Enso is closing a softwood pulp line in Sweden; and the latest NAHB data on multifamily, custom home and single-family housing starts.
Finally, on Day 2 of Forest Safety Week: how supervisor training, wildlife awareness, and employer-led investigations can prevent future incidents.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Effective supervision is one of the strongest predictors of a safe and productive forestry operation. Supervisors set the tone for safety culture, guide risk management, support worker development and ensure the work is done correctly. To help build these essential skills, the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC) offers several courses, both in-person and online, that are intended for new and experienced forest supervisors. These courses provide practical, industry‑specific knowledge to help supervisors meet their responsibilities, strengthen communication and make informed decisions in varied work environments. …BCFSC’s classroom and field‑based supervisor courses are instructor‑led, hands‑on courses designed to build leadership capacity through real world forestry examples. …BCFSC’s online supervisor training options are ideal for workers who are unable to attend in person, need flexible self-paced learning or want a refresher after previous training.
A B.C. forestry company embroiled in insolvency proceedings has been handed a $429,000 penalty and two-year ban from hiring migrant workers after it was found to have violated several federal regulations. The sanctions to San Industries (part of the San Group) came after federal inspectors found it had breached five sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, rules designed to protect temporary foreign workers. According to a May 15 decision, inspectors found pay or working conditions did not match what San Industries had advertised. The employer was also found not to be engaged in the business the workers were hired for and could not show that the job it had sought to fill matched its Labour Market Impact Assessment application. And in another violation, San Industries was found to have broken federal or provincial laws for hiring and recruiting employees. …At $429,000, the penalty is the province’s second-largest on record.
Canada Wood Japan has helped secure an important market-access outcome for Canadian Hem-Fir (N) dimension lumber in Japan. In collaboration with the National Lumber Grades Authority and the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board, Canada Wood Japan worked with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to obtain recognition of the revised standard design values for Hem-Fir (N) dimension lumber graded under NLGA standards. For builders, designers and structural engineers in Japan, design values are essential. They provide the basis for structural calculations and help determine where and how lumber can be used in code-compliant buildings. When grading rules or design values are revised in Canada, those changes must also be properly understood and accepted by Japanese regulatory authorities to ensure continued market access. …Canada Wood Japan demonstrated that the revised Hem-Fir (N) design values would continue to meet Japan’s structural safety requirements and would not compromise the performance of conventional wooden buildings. 
The Finnish Sawmill Industry Association is urging the government to accelerate wood construction and broaden the use of domestic wood in building, saying Finland is not using wood construction enough to raise value added for domestic wood, support investment and strengthen regional vitality. It calls for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment to lead a national wood-construction program and appoint a high-level cross-government steering group, the Finnish Sawmill Industry Association reported. The association links wood construction to Finland’s competitiveness and industrial policy and says the market’s development should be treated as part of efforts to cut emissions from the built environment. It also calls for increasing the use of domestic wood more broadly in construction, beyond wood construction in a narrow sense. …It calls for regulation and permitting processes to be developed in a direction it says enables investments and links wood construction to Finland’s clean-transition investment goals. 
HAZELTON – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of BC Timber Sales (BCTS) and timber sale licence holders in the Kispiox Timber Supply Area (TSA) portion of the Skeena Business Area, starting Monday, June 1, 2026. The audit will examine harvesting, roads, silviculture, protection activities and associated planning. These activities will be assessed for compliance under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. BCTS operates throughout the Kispiox TSA, within the Skeena Stikine Natural Resource District. Activities in the audit area are administered from the Hazelton Field Office. The audit area overlaps the territories of the Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow, Nisga’a, Lake Babine Nation, Kitselas, and Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha First Nations. …The area includes mountainous terrain, rivers and lakes that support recreation, wildlife habitat and important fish populations, including several salmon species, bull trout, Dolly Varden and lake trout.
With Oregon facing what state leaders say could be another difficult wildfire season, questions are emerging about whether major changes inside the U.S. Forest Service could eventually impact how quickly fires are detected and attacked across the West. “All indications suggest a more challenging fire season ahead of all of us,” said Oregon Governor Tina Kotek… The warning comes after a historically warm winter, low snowpack levels, and worsening drought conditions across parts of Oregon. At the same time, the Forest Service is undergoing major national restructuring efforts, including consolidating research facilities and closing its nine regional offices nationwide. …Still, federal firefighters and local fire leaders say they do not expect major disruptions to wildfire response this season. “I think there’s just a growing amount of apprehension about what it’s gonna look like on the ground level in a couple of years’ time,” said Kieran Evans, a squad leader with the Forest Service.
After a series of record-breaking US heatwaves, the 2026 bee swarm season in North America has started 17 days earlier than last year, pushing beekeepers to adapt to a rapidly shifting season while raising new questions about how honeybees are responding to the climate crisis. According to a 