Daily News for August 24, 2026

Today’s Takeaway

Canada-US trade dispute deepens as tariff tensions escalate

The Tree Frog Forestry News
August 24, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway

Canada and the US are digging in after trade talks broke down and a new round of tariffs took effect. President Trump threatened still higher tariffs on Canada; Prime Minister Carney said Canada walked away because the US asked too much; and US Trade Representative Greer blamed Canada. Meanwhile: the WSJ says the dumbest trade war ever just got dumber; the United Steelworkers say Canada should hold the line; Canadian and American businesses are assessing the fallout, and FPAC’s Derek Nighbor opines on what Canada’s forest sector needs to survive. In other Business news: Ken Kalesnikoff says Canadian forestry is in free fall; CPKC electrical workers’ strike has ended; and more on Domtar’s work stoppage on BC’s Sunshine Coast.

In Forestry news: Mosaic installed wildfire-detection cameras on Vancouver Island; Nova Scotia is proposing a new wilderness area; Oregon receives $15M from the US Forest Service; a Montana fuels-reduction project is moving ahead, the Roadless Rule rollback continues to draw opposition, and a Washington judge upheld larger riparian buffers on timberlands. In Wildfire news: crews continue battling major fires in BC, near Boston Bar, Lillooet, and Summerland; and a wildfire near Reno, Nevada forced thousands to evacuate. 

Finally, European wildfires are uncovering—and detonating—bombs left from WW I and II.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Special Feature

Carney says trade deal became untenable when U.S. ‘asked too much and offered too little’

By Peter Zimonjic
CBC News
August 22, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, United States

Mark Carney

Prime Minister Carney told his negotiators to walk away from the table after the Trump administration introduced late unacceptable demands on culture, autos and sovereignty that, when taken in concert with their overall approach to talks, revealed the US was not interested in a “true economic partnership” with Canada. In a departure from his usual diplomatic language, Carney suggested the US sometimes signs trade deals in “pencil,” and while Canada’s government is united and working together, the same is not true of the Trump administration. “We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked,” Carney said. The prime minister revealed that the US had issues with Canada’s subsidies for French culture; the prevalence of French-language media online and even the requirement to have bilingual labels on products sold in Canada. …”The U.S. introduced, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals,” Carney said. 

Related coverage in:

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Opinion / EdiTOADial

Moving Forward with Urgency to Sustain and Grow Canada’s Forest Sector

By Derek Nighbor, CEO, Forest Products Association of Canada
The Hill Times
August 24, 2026
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada

Derek Nighbor

Despite the challenges abound, Canada has every reason to remain ambitious about the future of its forest sector. We have a renewable resource, skilled workers, world-class forestry expertise, established manufacturing capacity, and deep roots in communities across the country. Forestry is one of Canada’s natural advantages and a longstanding economic pillar, supporting jobs, exports, Indigenous economic participation, and regional economies from coast to coast. There is broad political agreement on the sector’s importance. …Canada’s forest products sector is navigating a difficult period. Trade disputes continue, markets are shifting, and operating costs are rising. Those pressures are compounded by made-in-Canada barriers: overlapping rules, slow decisions, uncertain access to usable wood, and transportation costs that make it harder for Canadian producers to compete.

The Forest Sector Transformation Task Force has brought these challenges into sharper focus. Its report makes clear that transformation will require more than isolated programs or one-off projects. It calls for stable access to cost-competitive fibre, modernization at scale, stronger trade infrastructure and market access, and coordinated action to support workers and communities. Taken together, those recommendations reinforce a basic point: retooling mills, developing new products, and reaching new markets depend on predictable operating conditions from the forest floor through to the customer. The playbook is on the table. …By the end of this year, the federal government should be able to point to legislative and regulatory work underway, clearer federal-provincial coordination, more predictable timelines, practical steps to reduce duplication, and meaningful action on the cost and reliability of moving goods. …Now we need to move forward with urgency.

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Business & Politics

Trump hits back at Carney, threatens to hike auto, truck, metals tariffs to 50%

By Steve Kopack
NBC News
August 24, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

President Trump on Monday hit back at Canadian Prime Minister Carney, who on Friday had announced he would retaliate against any new US tariffs on Canadian goods. Writing on Truth Social, Trump threatened to hit imported cars, trucks, automobile parts and steel with 50% tariffs starting January 1, 2027. “Canada has been ripping off the US for years,” Trump wrote. “On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with.” Canada ranks as the third highest source of US imports. In 2025, more than $380 billion worth of goods were brought over the border. Monday’s announcement follows a wave of new tariffs that already hit Canada early Saturday morning after weeks-long negotiations between the Washington and Ottawa broke down. Carney pulled Canadian negotiators out of those talks late Friday after he said the US “proposed new terms that were uneconomic” and “unfair.”

Related coverage in: 

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The Dumbest Trade War Revisited

By the Editorial Board
The Wall Street Journal
August 23, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

President Trump took exception last year when we called his tariffs against Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history. It got dumber this weekend as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections. …Mr. Trump’s threatened tariffs took effect Saturday morning. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened to retaliate dollar-for-dollar starting Sept. 8. Both sides could still walk back from the ledge, though Mr. Trump’s escalation could make this harder for Mr. Carney politically since Canadians don’t like being bullied by Washington. …But Mr. Trump doesn’t want to update the deal. He wants to rewrite it unilaterally. … Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs and inflation. One reason for Mr. Trump’s frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy, and on trade they’re right. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]

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Steelworkers back Canada holding the line on trade, call for a stronger response to protect Canadian jobs and industry

United Steelworkers
August 22, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

TORONTO – United Steelworkers union (USW) National Director Marty Warren issued the following statement on the suspension of Canada-U.S. trade negotiations and the imposition of new 50% U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods: “Canada was right to hold the line rather than accept a deal that did not adequately protect Canadian workers, jobs and communities. We have said throughout these negotiations that no deal is better than a bad deal. The terms being discussed – including significant tariffs and restrictive quotas on Canadian steel and barriers across other key sectors – raised serious concerns for Canadian workers and industries. The new needless 50% tariffs coming into force today will have real consequences for workers, businesses and communities on both sides of the border. We support the government’s commitment to respond dollar for dollar, but retaliation alone is not enough. Ottawa must move quickly to support affected workers and industries.

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US-Canada trade collapse puts American businesses with cross-border exposure in the crosshairs

By Josh Recamara
Insurance Business Magazine
August 24, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

US companies that export to Canada – steel producers, dairy operations, appliance manufacturers, agricultural equipment makers, electronics firms, and paper producers – are now looking at a confirmed 50% tariff landing on their Canadian sales starting September 8. For any US exporter that has extended credit terms to Canadian buyers, the tariff changes the buyer’s economics immediately. A Canadian importer that contracted to purchase US steel at pre-tariff prices now faces a 50% landed cost increase it did not price in. The credit risk on those receivables has moved. Trade credit insurance for US exporters selling into Canada is the most direct policy line affected. …The second direction is less immediately visible but affects a wider range of American businesses. US manufacturers that source Canadian lumber, metals, cement, dairy ingredients or paper as production inputs are now paying 50% more for those inputs effective immediately, with no exemption for USMCA-compliant goods under the Section 338 mechanism used to impose these tariffs.

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Derek Nighbor on what the forest industry needs to survive the difficult trade road ahead

CTV News
August 22, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

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A missed opportunity for Canada to partner with the United States, the fastest growing economy in the G7

By Jamieson Greer
United States Trade Representative
August 21, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Jamieson Greer

Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week. Despite the US offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days. In addition, Canada is continuing to maintain its prolonged retaliation against the US. …This week, the United States agreed to provide significant tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber. The US offer was also forward looking, and included a historic economic and national security partnership to cooperate on export controls, combat transshipment, enhance digital trade, and align certain external tariffs. The offer would have led to supply chain coordination on aerospace, complementary actions to address unfair trade practices, critical minerals cooperation, increased enforcement against imports produced with forced labor. 

Additional coverage in:

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Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers agree to binding arbitration ending strike

By Canadian Pacific Kansas City
PR Newswire
August 21, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

CALGARY, AB — Canadian Pacific Kansas City said today that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Canadian Signals and Communications System Council No. 11 (IBEW) has agreed to enter into binding arbitration and bring the strike initiated on May 31 to an end. The IBEW represents approximately 300 Signals & Communications employees across Canada. We welcome our employees back to work beginning Monday morning, Aug. 24.

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Ken Kalesnikoff says forestry in Canada is in free fall and mostly for domestic reasons

By Stuart McNish
Conversations That Matter in the Vancouver Sun
August 21, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ken Kalesnikoff

“Canada’s forest sector is at an inflection point,” the Canadian forest sector transformation task force says. “Despite stewarding nearly nine per cent of the world’s forests and delivering over 199,000 direct jobs in 300 forest-reliant communities, and $23.5 billion in GDP, the sector is no longer globally competitive nor an attractive destination for large-scale investment,” the group warns. “Over the past two decades, Canada has experienced declining production, capital flight, prolonged mill closures, and weakened investor and workforce confidence — trends not observed in peer forest nations such as Finland. The report acknowledges that sustained U.S. softwood lumber duties, global market shifts, insect outbreaks, and wildfires have exacerbated industry challenges. However, the task force’s conclusion is unequivocal. “The most significant barriers to competitiveness are homegrown. Absent immediate, co-ordinated, and decisive action, the forest sector faces an existential risk.” [See 23 min video here]

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Forestry giant behind idled B.C. mill received millions in government funding

By Simon Little and Alanna Kelly
CBC News
August 21, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

A day after Canada’s largest forestry company announced plans to stop work at a pulp and paper mill on BC’s Sunshine Coast, community members say they are still reeling. …”The reaction here has been shock all throughout the community, that’s all up and down the Sunshine Coast, and there’s a lot of uneasiness as well,” said Gibsons Mayor Silas White. …The mill’s owner, Domtar said the mill’s equipment would be kept in a state that allows it to be restarted, but declined further comment. …A Greenpeace report found Domtar and its subsidiaries received at least $200 million in provincial and federal funding across the country between 2020 and 2024. …”We have provided a considerable amount of support to Domtar in its facilities over the last number of years,” BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said. “The commitment that I’m looking for from Domtar is to maintain their operations in BC and to make investments.”

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What Ontario’s forestry collapse can teach us about protecting the auto industry before it is too late

By Justin Frape
The Net News Ledger
August 23, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

For nearly twenty-five years, I have lived in Northern Ontario… and watched one of the province’s foundational industries contract around us. The decline of forestry, and particularly of pulp and paper. …Today, watching the escalating trade conflict between Canada and the US and the extraordinary pressure being placed on Ontario’s automobile industry, I find myself wondering whether there is anything useful in that experience for Southern Ontario. …Act earlier. Distinguish a temporary shock from structural decline. Reduce real cost disadvantages where they exist. Use public money to secure future products and future capital rather than merely extending yesterday’s production. Protect suppliers, tooling, engineering and skilled labour, not simply the assembly building. Treat the loss of the next product mandate as seriously as the loss of the current shift. Northern Ontario learned these lessons at considerable cost. Southern Ontario now has the opportunity to use them.

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Canada-U.S. trade war: the hard questions it demands of us as Nova Scotians

By Aaron Beswick
The Chronicle Herald
August 24, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

“One of the hazards of free trade with the United States is the risk of what we’re witnessing now, that the United States could use its economic levers and turn on us as this behemouth next door that has become hostile without us having the time or opportunity to pivot,” said Tom Urbaniak, a professor at Cape Breton University….Where does Nova Scotia stand? “I don’t know,” Stephen Cole answered when asked whether the new tariffs will affect the province’s lumber and paper industries. …Sawmill owners had the same answer. Nova Scotia softwood exports south of the border have been protected under the CUSMA. “We have mostly private wood (about 70% cut off private land), so our timber market here is deemed to be a competitive market,” explained Cole. …What the Nova Scotia forestry industry doesn’t know yet is whether that CUSMA exemption remains under the new tariffs.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

BC Institute of Technology Tall Timber Student Housing is Rick Hansen Gold Certified

By Ben Hill
British Columbia Institute of Technology
August 5, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada West

The BCIT Tall Timber Student Housing building has added to its list of awards with a Rick Hansen Gold Certification. Rick Hansen is a unique accessibility certification that is based upon the user experience of people with varying disabilities affecting their mobility, vision, and hearing. The certification covers every aspect of a building’s design from access to interior facilities like washrooms and the building’s emergency systems. Tall Timber Student Housing scored 84.2% overall with particularly strong scores for the interior services and environment, access to the building, and wayfinding and signage inside. Jana Foit, Principal at Perkins&Will explains, “The Rick Hansen Accessibility Certification provided a template for the design of everything from accessible washrooms and kitchens to access routes and building furnishings, which are all part of the finished building.” …Find out more about the building’s unique mass timber design here or check out BCIT’s Mass Timber Training Hub for programs.

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What Oregon wood industry will do with $15M from US Forest Service

By Makenzie Stamets
Statesman Journal
August 22, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

The U.S. Forest Service is investing more than $15 million in Oregon’s wood product industry to boost rural economics, support active forest management and promote wood and energy infrastructure. …Oregon’s wood industry will use the funds to support a number of projects, varying from repairing equipment to engineering renewable energy systems. The University of Oregon will use the grant money to encourage adoption of mass timber by addressing acoustical considerations. Neiman Enterprises, Inc. in Gilchrist plans to restore a combined heat and power plant that converts wood residuals into renewable on-site heat and electricity. Chuck Eggert of Biodynamics, LLC. said the award will repair idle equipment at the Hines mill to help the company create wood pellets and other products from salvage logs. Malheur Forest Products in John Day will use the grant money for multiple projects including modernizing and reopening an idle sawmill to handle small diameter and low value logs.

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Forestry

First Nations wildland firefighters feeling sidelined while international help fights fires across country

By Chris MacIntyre
CBC News
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Yukon First Nations Wildfire

It’s been a mild wildfire season in the Yukon so when Canadian provinces needed additional resources to fight wildfires, Yukon First Nations Wildfire was ready to go. But according to CEO Nick Mauro, the call never came. “Our crews are standing by and ready to go,” Mauro said. “However we’ve been advised that the Yukon government currently does not have the capacity to send our crews south to assist.” Mauro said the situation is frustrating, wondering why other jurisdictions are bringing in international help when he and his crews are available. Mauro said it’s not a bad thing that international crews are coming to help, but said while that’s happening essential local resources are being ignored. “The reality is that the wildfire system that we currently operate in Canada wasn’t made for the transfer of indigenous resources,” Mauro explained. “It’s meant to transfer government resources, and get governments to help each other.”

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What drunken forests can teach us about Canada’s thawing permafrost

By Rebecca Gao
Be Giant
August 20, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

©Govt NWT

…As permafrost thaws across the Arctic, the ground under these trees becomes unstable, causing trees to tilt or even sink into the newly boggy ground. And when drunken forests eventually die, the disruptive impact on the ecosystem extends to water quality, because dead trees falling into nearby bodies of water release carbon and mercury as they decompose. That’s why researchers at the Scotty Creek Research Station are monitoring drunken forests, as well as other signs of climate change, including water quality, soil biogeochemistry, greenhouse gas fluxes and soil carbon storage. …The station is located just over 60 kilometres south of Fort Simpson, and started as a seasonal camp in 1999 before becoming an all-season research facility in 2003. Since then, the station has had to move twice because of rapid permafrost thaw, which caused the land around the station to become increasingly boggy.

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More than 80 kilometres of Forest Service Roads eyed for deactivation in Merritt area

The Merritt Herald
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

About 83 kilometres of Forest Service Road segments across the Merritt Timber Supply Area have been identified for possible deactivation over the next three years, with work aimed at reducing erosion, protecting waterways and addressing safety concerns on inactive roads. BC Timber Sales is planning the work as part of its ongoing management of Forest Service Roads in the Merritt TSA, according to the Ministry of Forests. The tentative list includes segments in the Gordon Tyner, Pimainus, Skuhun, Wallace Creek, Finnegan Red Creek, Matthew Creek, Tulameen Champion, Olivine Champion Creek, Jim Kelly Creek, Sunday Summit, Victor Lake, Cook Creek, Mellin Pennask Lake and Pattinson Lake areas. The province says the road list remains tentative and could change as detailed assessments are completed. …Future wildfire response, silviculture, range management and recreational access will also be considered during planning.

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Mosaic Invests in New Wildfire detection Technology Atop Nanaimo’s Mount Benson

Mosaic Forest Management
August 20, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

New smoke detection cameras are now on alert for wildfires. The first of its kind on Vancouver Island, Mosaic Forest Management has installed the cameras in Nanaimo on Mount Benson to help identify the start of nearby wildfires earlier and faster, day or night. The technology uses cameras with 360-degree coverage and up to 50 kilometres of range to continuously scan the landscape, automatically zooming in when a potential smoke plume is detected. The system can distinguish between smoke, clouds and fog and between different kinds of fires like a campfire. Detection to verification takes minutes before an alert is sent to Mosaic, where it’s reviewed by an internal team before BC Wildfire Service is notified so a response can be mobilized. …The system was developed by SenseNet, a Canadian company based in Vancouver. …nearby landowners stand to benefit as well. Any alert the camera generates, regardless of whose land it’s on, will be passed to BC Wildfire Service.

 

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B.C.’s land management decisions led to catastrophic flood, claims suit

By Stefan Labbé
Victoria Times Colonist
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A ranch outside of Williams Lake, B.C., is taking the province to court, claiming its prior decisions to approve logging, prescribed burns and water diversion triggered a major landslide and downstream flood that devastated the property. Wineglass Cattle Co. Ltd. operates a 1,000-hectare ranch abutting the Chilcotin River. …On July 31, 2024, a massive landslide 30 metres high and 600 metres long occurred about six kilometres upstream of the ranch. …The event blocked the Chilcotin River. …What started out as a small creek quickly accelerated as escaping water cut a rushing river through the slide. …According to the lawsuit, the enormous volume of water, debris and sediment sent downstream caused significant damage at the ranch….Wineglass alleges the danger of a landslide was made worse after B.C. authorized nearby logging activity, carried out prescribed burns to help reduce the intensity of wildfires, and permitted the reconstruction of water diversion to licencees in the area.

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Nova Scotia moves to designate 5,100 hectares as new wilderness areas

By Melanie Price
CTV News
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

©Prov of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is proposing to expand its network of protected lands and waters, with plans to designate more than 5,100 hectares as new wilderness areas. The proposal includes parts of the Margaree River watershed and old-growth forest in Cape Breton, a coastal area along the province’s Eastern Shore, and a mix of forest, coastline and lake shoreline in the Halifax region. The province opened a public consultation on Friday that will run until Oct. 20, giving Nova Scotians the opportunity to weigh in on the proposed protections, which include: three new wilderness areas, additions to seven existing wilderness areas, and an addition to one existing nature reserve. If approved, the new designations would help move Nova Scotia closer to its goal of protecting 15 per cent of its land and water by the end of 2026, building on the roughly 800,000 hectares, or 14.56 per cent of the province, that are already under protection.

Additional information from the Province of Nova Scotia: Public Consultation Opens on New Protected Areas

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California should fight Trump’s plan for US national forests

By Laura Deehan, Environment California
San Francisco Chronicle
August 24, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Laura Deehan

In 1905, Republican President Teddy Roosevelt made a speech at the Grand Canyon and warned Americans not to “treat any part of our country as something to be skinned for two or three years for the use of the present generation, whether it is the forest, the water, the scenery.” …Those words seem especially relevant now, following the news that the Trump administration is proposing to roll back the “roadless rule” protections against logging, road-building and other industry in nearly 45 million acres of pristine U.S. national forest land.  …Fewer than 1% of wildfires in the lower 48 states since 2010 have started in roadless areas of national forests. …If the new rule is approved, more than 4 million acres of California’s pristine, wild forests … would be open to industrial logging, mining and road building. …We are urging Californians to submit comments opposing the rollback within the 30-day public comment period.  [A subscription to the SF Chronicle is required for full access]

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Feds Moving at Full Throttle to Reverse Roadless Rule Protecting National Forests

By Callie Fausey
The Santa Barbara Independent
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

©Los Padres USFS

The federal law that prohibits paving and logging National Forest land is officially on the chopping block, and conservationists warn that the cleaver could strike lands on the Central Coast. The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects 59 million acres of National Forest land from logging and roadbuilding — including 635,000 remote acres in Los Padres National Forest. It protects the backcountry, where old-growth forests provide shelter for wildlife and opportunities for outdoor recreation, while keeping the air and watersheds clean. But on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) filed a proposed rule to rescind the Roadless Rule in its entirety. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’s intent to revoke the Roadless Rule has been on conservationists’ radars for more than a year. But now, the threat is materializing. …More than 99 percent of public comments submitted during the initial process opposed the administration’s efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule

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Flathead Forest Set to Approve Swan Valley Logging Project Under Emergency Authority

By Tristan Scott
The Flathead Beacon
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Land managers with the Flathead National Forest plan to approve a fuels-reduction project in the Swan Valley near Holland Lake using an emergency determination on the grounds that it lies in a “high-risk fireshed,” according to an Aug. 18 decision notice. Foresters say the project is eligible for an Emergency Action Determination (EAD) because it proposes to reduce wildfire risk while preserving the area’s old-growth forests. Initially released for public scoping in 2023, the Rumbling Owl Fuels Reduction Project spans 6,200 acres on the Swan Lake Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest southeast of Condon and east of Highway 83. According to an environmental assessment prepared by Jeff Durkin, the district silviculturist for the Swan and the project leader on Rumbling Owl, the project meets the newly established criteria for EAD authorization, which the agency has increasingly used to expedite approval of logging projects featuring a fuels-reduction component.

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Judge upholds larger riparian buffers on Washington timberland

By Don Jenkins
The Capital Press
August 21, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — A Thurston County, Washington judge upheld larger riparian buffers on timberlands in Western Washington, affirming a rule that will take 200,000 acres out of timber production. In ruling from the bench Aug. 21, Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller said the Forest Practices Board lawfully adopted the new buffer rule after years of study. She acknowledged the economic hardship faced by timberland owners and that her ruling will be appealed. The board, which regulates logging, voted 7-5 last year to expand buffers along streams without fish. The rule will go into effect Aug. 31 and require continuous 65- to 75-foot buffers. The old rule called for 50-foot buffers on half the length of streams. The Washington Department of Ecology said bigger buffers were need to prevent logging from raising stream temperatures in most cases. The timber industry says the buffers will immediately eliminate $1.8 billion worth of timber and have little environmental benefit

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Dark boreal forests of Canada absorb enough heat to cancel up to a fifth of their climate benefit, scientists warn

By United Nations University
EurekAlert!
August 20, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada Dense evergreen plantations in Canada’s boreal forest absorb so much winter sunlight that the resulting surface warming can offset 6 to 20 percent of the climate benefit they are credited with. Canada’s current carbon accounting frameworks measure the carbon stored but largely omit the heat absorbed by these forests, according to a new Policy Brief from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The result is inflated mitigation estimates and public investment in forests that may not deliver the cooling they promise. The Policy Brief “From Carbon Accounting to Net Cooling: Securing the Albedo-Carbon Double Win in Canada’s Boreal Forest” argues that Canada should judge reforestation by its net effect on temperature rather than by tonnes of carbon stored. “Canada has an opportunity here that few countries have,” said Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of UNU-INWEH. 

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Why Biogenic CO₂ Could Become a New Revenue Stream for Pulp Mills

Resource Wise
August 24, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

For decades, the economics of a pulp mill have centered primarily on fiber, energy and established byproducts. But as low-carbon markets develop, another potential source of value is emerging from the mill itself: biogenic carbon dioxide. Biogenic CO₂ is generated from biomass rather than fossil sources. As governments and companies look for ways to reduce emissions, captured biogenic CO₂ can potentially serve two very different low-carbon markets: as feedstock for synthetic fuels and as a source of permanent carbon dioxide removal. That is beginning to change the conversation around carbon capture. Rather than viewing CO₂ solely as an emissions-management challenge, some pulp mills may increasingly be able to view it as a potential product. For pulp mills, that creates an important strategic question: Which market offers the greatest value for each ton of captured CO₂? …Biogenic CO₂ is just one of several emerging opportunities reshaping the economics of pulp production.

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Health & Safety

Wildfires expose — and detonate — buried bombs and mines from WWI and WWII

By Sam McNeil
The Associated Press in ABC News
August 22, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: International

ELSENBORN, Belgium — The wildfires burning across Europe this summer have exposed a potentially deadly threat lurking beneath the blackened landscape: rusty bombs and mines from World War I and II that threaten crews responding to the flames. Some of the weapons have exploded in the intense heat. Blasts have been reported in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, where a bomb-disposal team was dispatched to check a forest threatened by flames near a site of fierce fighting in the Limburg province in 1944. …This wildfire season was supercharged by heavy rains in January that spurred vegetation growth, which became kindling when the summer heat arrived. Those temperatures, combined with drought conditions, low humidity and stiff winds, offered an ideal environment for fire. …Unexploded ordnance is even more dangerous around wildfires because heat can trigger the explosives, said Jonas Tepe, a spokesperson for North Rhine-Westphalia, just across the border in Germany.

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Forest Fires

1 of 4 fires held east of Coquihalla Highway, slight growth on another

By Yashvika Grover
Trail Times
August 23, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BC Wildfire Service

Four fires sparked west of Tulameen and east of the Coquihalla Highway remain out of control. Of the four fires that sparked west of Tulameen and east of the Coquihalla Highway, one blaze is now considered held. The Mount Britton blaze grew to 0.4 hectares as BC Wildfire crews and local fire departments got on top of the fire and kept it within the existing perimeter. However, the Holm Creek blaze has grown to an estimated 3.89 hectares. The largest of the four fires, in the Lower Mount Rabbit area, along the Lawless Creek Forest Service Road, remains at 12.17 hectares and is the closest to Tulameen. The Upper Murphy fire remains at .3 hectares.

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No growth on Summerland’s Bald Range wildfire despite gusty winds

By Ty Lim
The Kelowna Capital News
August 23, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

Summerland — The Bald Range wildfire 15 kilometres west of Summerland remains at 25,021 hectares, despite gusty winds on Sunday. According to the BC Wildfire Service, the fire behaviour remained lower than in previous days, thanks to rain from Saturday’s thunderstorm, which added moisture to forest fuels. “The northern parts of the Bald Range fire received 6 to 7 mm of rain yesterday, however, the south of the fire received minimal rain,” stated BCWS. However, starting Monday, the Okanagan will enter another period of warming and drying. BCWS says area residents can expect to see increased fire behaviour and activity to the south and west. “We are maintaining 24-hour operations, including ground crews, structure protection personnel, heavy equipment and aviation resources,” explained BCWS. …Several areas remain under evacuation orders and alerts…

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Smoke keeps wildfire quieter than expected, buying crews time before shift in weather

By Tim Petruk
Castanet
August 21, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BCWS

Ainslie Creek / Boston Bar — Smoke hanging over a large blaze burning out of control west of Merritt has kept fire behaviour lower than expected on Friday, giving crews a better-than-anticipated day ahead of another potentially challenging weather change Saturday. The unexpectedly calm day has given firefighters more time to strengthen guards and secure the 67,048-hectare Ainslie Creek wildfire’s perimeter before a weather system brings thunderstorms, higher winds and potentially dry lightning Saturday. “It’s quite warm out there and very dry,” Emily Fardad, fire information officer for the Brunswick Complex, told Castanet on Friday afternoon. “We were expecting an increase in fire behaviour today, however due to that smoke that’s sitting out there on top of everything, it’s actually kept it lower than expected.” Crews are continuing to mop up Wednesday’s successful planned ignition near the Alexandra Bridge in the Fraser Canyon, while farther north firefighters are building and strengthening guard lines.

Related News in the Kelowna Capital News, by Barbara Roden: Riley Creek fire south of Lillooet still out of control at 3,799 hectares

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Highway 1 from Yale to Boston Bar still closed due to Ainslie Creek fire

By Barbara Roden
The Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal
August 23, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BC Wildfire ServiceFraser Canyon / Boston Bar – Highway 1 remains closed from Toll Road (Yale) to just south of Boston Bar due to the Ainslie Creek wildfire, which is still listed as out of control and was estimated at 67,707 hectares as of Sunday morning (Aug. 23). The fire continues to burn above the highway in the Fraser Canyon near Spuzzum and Alexandra Bridge, to the east of the highway and river. Debris fall, including trees and rocks, continues to be a hazard, and periodically impacts Highway 1. All drivers heading north are still able to travel Highway 1 as far as Yale, while southbound drivers are able to travel via Highway 1 from Cache Creek through Spences Bridge and on past Lytton to Boston Bar, where the highway is closed. Fire activity remained low over Saturday night due to a decrease in temperature, light rain, and an increase in humidity.

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Evacuation notice issued as Windmill fire reaches nearly 4,000 acres

By Paul Hamby and Alex Mitchell
The Billings Gazette
August 21, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

© Montana DNRC

Montana — Evacuation notices were issued Friday for those in the vicinity of a fire burning in Stillwater County. Authorities told those living in the vicinity of the Windmill fire, burning just a few miles north of Reed Point, to leave immediately. The announcement came around noon Friday. The area under an evacuation order spanned a length of land between Columbus and Reed Point, on the north side of Interstate 90. As of Friday, 100 people were assigned to fighting the Windmill fire, which is being fueled by burning in grass, juniper, sagebrush and timber in the region. Crews estimated that the fire has torched nearly 4,000 acres.

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Fast-moving wildfire amid shifting winds threatens Reno, Nevada, forcing thousands to evacuate

By John Raby, Jack Brook and John Seewer
Associated Press
August 23, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

An out-of-control wildfire that jumped over fire trucks and made it difficult for crews to reach hot spots destroyed homes in northwest Reno, Nevada, on Sunday. Shifting winds challenged firefighters trying to bring it under control, and authorities urged some 90,000 people to evacuate. At least six people — three first responders and three civilians — were injured. Officials said the fire was “human-caused” but did not provide details on how they reached that conclusion, or whether it was intentionally set or accidental. The Hawk Fire began Saturday and grew to more than 23 square miles as it spread Sunday across the Peavine Peak area of the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest, where rugged foothills are ringed by homes and businesses near the California state line. There was zero containment. Some 42,000 residents have been ordered evacuated as the “GO NOW” zone expanded, reaching the edge of the University of Nevada. An additional 45,000 people were in the adjacent evacuation warning zone. 

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