Bob Brash argues that BC forestry’s challenges go well beyond US tariffs, while forest protection and management flexibility dominate the US Roadless Rule debate. In related news: Ontario First Nations are training wildfire firefighters; US lawmakers proposed expanded death benefits for fallen firefighters; and Australian researchers link bushfire risks to the loss of Indigenous burning.
In Business news: the US Lumber Coalition welcomed a NAFTA panel ruling upholding softwood duties; the Structurlam–Walmart legal dispute was settled; former Dryden pulp mill workers are offered health follow-up assessments; and the Supreme Court will hear CN’s appeal involving Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries. Meanwhile: John Puri says the US trade deficit has nothing to do with tariffs; Jock Finlayson says B.C.’s spending problem is now a fiscal crisis; BC Wood offers HR compliance essentials for small businesses; and New Zealand is funding five wood energy projects.
Finally, a Ukrainian cardboard and paper mill suspends production after missile strike.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
The Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear an appeal involving CN Rail and Alberta Pacific Forest Industries that could clarify the courts’ authority to review decisions of the Canadian Transportation Agency. The case centres on whether factual findings by the agency can be challenged through judicial review, despite statutory limits on appeals.
Walmart has settled its case over more than US$80 million in claims against Structurlam, the Canadian mass timber manufacturer it hired to supply its new head office. That is according to the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which approved the settlement with the trust representing Structurlam’s creditors in July and closed the case in August. … According to the trust, Walmart first brought forward deadlines for one building in July 2022, then redesigned six of the eight main buildings a month later. The trust said Walmart also stopped paying for accepted timber and refused further deliveries over a glulam fault … The retailer ended the contract in January 2023, saying Structurlam had failed to deliver fully and on time and had not fixed the problems within the time allowed. … No objections to the settlement were lodged before the court approved it.
In August, the U.S. trade deficit hit a seasonally adjusted $106 billion, the highest total since President Trump announced his sweeping tariff regime. Since those tariffs, the trade deficit has stayed around normal levels. …President Trump imposed the tariffs, in his own words, to close a trade deficit which he deemed a “national emergency.” …All of this was complete nonsense. …First, the nation does not lose money when it imports more goods and services than it exports. …Second, the nation isn’t even sending more dollars abroad than it receives when you zoom out beyond mere imports and exports. Foreigners typically want to do something more with the dollars they get. So virtually every dollar sent abroad returns to America in one form or another. Through our trade deficit, we receive many more tangible goods of value than we have to give up in return because the U.S. economy is exceptionally attractive.
Business registrations in Russia’s forestry and logging sector fell sharply in the first eight months of 2026 while liquidations increased, according to Rusprofile calculations reported by Kommersant. …Russia recorded 1,210 new registrations of companies and sole traders in forestry and logging during January–August 2026, down 19.9% from the corresponding period, according to calculations by business-information service Rusprofile cited by Kommersant. Over the same eight months, 1,590 liquidations were recorded, an increase of 9.6%. That left liquidations 380 above registrations. Rusprofile calculated that the number of businesses closing was 31.3% higher than the number entering the sector.
The community of Smithers has been relatively untouched by wildfires… However, drought has significantly impacted the area and the threat of wildfire has become ever present… Our local community wildfire suppression group, the Woodmere Emergency Services Society … visited a recent BC Timber Sales block that was harvested and sold to Hampton Lumber in Burns Lake. …In the spring of 2026 we had a field visit with Hampton to look at the slash/fuel left behind on this block. While Hampton had no legal obligation to do any further clean up, we were impressed that the company recognized the issue and agreed to clean up the block. …at the end of September 2026, we saw that Hampton has gone above and beyond our expectations and has done an exceptional job at their own expense. …Companies like Hampton are what give forestry a good name in British Columbia.
Alterations made to Australia’s forests during British colonial rule have amplified the effects of climate change and rendered the country more prone to bushfires, a new study suggests. The research provides evidence for the value of cultural burning by Indigenous communities, scientists from the University of Melbourne say. “Climate records show seasons of comparably dangerous fire weather such as those seen during Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday reoccurred in the region repeatedly before colonisation, yet the open landscape maintained by cultural burning protected the land from catastrophic fire,” Michael-Shawn Fletcher, an author of the new study, said. “When colonisation ended that care, the forest expanded and thickened across the region, loading with fuel.” The study, published in the journal Nature, reconstructed the last 1,000 years of vegetation, fire and erosion in the Croajingolong National Park, East Gippsland, one of the most fire-prone forests in the southeast.
New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority on Oct. 1 announced it is investing in five new wood energy aggregation facilities and four projects that aim to produce torrefied biomass and wood pellets. Funding awarded to the torrefied biomass and wood pellet projects is in the form of repayable grants that will help cover costs associated with developing detailed information required for final investment decisions (FID). If brought to market, the four projects could produce more than 500,000 metric tons of wood fuel annually, spread across torrefied biomass and white wood pellets. Awards made to torrefied biomass and wood pellet projects include… five wood energy aggregation facilities to secure low-grade wood from commercial forestry alongside the private sector. According to EECA, the sites will provide a central repository for nearby forest operations to collect, store and prepare wood that would otherwise go unused or left in the forest. 