Tariff fallout is hitting Canada’s forest sector with FPAC’s Derek Nighbor calling for immediate action, and BC forest leaders fearing they will be hard hit. In Canadian news: Prime Minister Carney announced counter tariffs, says he’s open to negotiations but not as a US subsidiary; Port Alberni fears for jobs at its Domtar paper mill; and BC producers weigh production cuts and opportunities. In US news: Trump’s tariffs rattle border state economies; economist Paul Krugman says Trump has already lost; US retailers report higher lumber prices; and US builders warn of slowing construction. In other Business news: more on the fatal Longview paper mill incident; and a takeover bid offers a lifeline for Fibre Excellence’s Saint-Gaudens pulp mill.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: the USDA announced new wildfire leadership assignments for its reorganization; an Oregon State study says northern spotted owls are approaching functional extinction; two Canadian commentaries offer differing perspectives on wildfire management; BC wildfires surged following 11,000 lightning strikes; firefighters make progress on Nevada’s Hawk Fire; and California’s Timber Fire has grown beyond 12,000 acres.
Finally, and sadly, a Golden, BC man died in a workplace incident involving a logging truck.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Canada will “of course” come to the negotiating table again, but not to be treated like a “subsidiary” of the US, Prime Minister Carney said after US President Trump imposed 50% tariffs and threatened more. “An attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a subsidiary of the US… that’s not something we’re going to accept,” Carney said. …“There is a mutually beneficial deal possible here, but it has to be one that respects Canada’s sovereignty, that respects our independence, that uses our complementary strengths to build something better,” Carney added. …Trump on Monday said, “Someone should get these clowns to “fall in line” or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” …Canada’s forestry sector groups welcomed the federal government’s decision to extend support for businesses affected by Trump’s new tariffs. …The new tariffs could take off between 0.3 to 0.5 per cent off Canada’s GDP, said Deloitte’s Dawn Desjardins. 
The Domtar paper mill on the Port Alberni waterfront is the area’s biggest employer, with 350 people making specialized food packaging and food-grade papers. But in the light of a new round of 50% tariffs levied by US President Trump, Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions is worried about the future of those jobs. …In 2020, Domtar spent $13 million to switch production primarily to the food packaging grade paper, an important diversification at the time, but it’s unclear how much of it goes to the U.S. and would be subject to the new tariffs. …Industry analyst David Elstone says the entire BC forestry sector will be hit hard and it comes right after Domtar closed other mills, including at Crofton and Howe Sound. …”A billion dollars worth of BC wood products will now be subject to the new tariffs, including plywood, veneer, paper and packaging products, furniture, MDF and doors. And that’s what these tariffs go after: these value-added products,” said Elstone. 
BC’s forestry industry expects it will be one of the hardest-hit sectors by the United States’ new 50% tariffs on Canadian goods. …”This is clearly an attack on Canada,” said Derek Nighbor, president of FPAC. Nighbor said the most recent trade action by the US government captures more than $4 billion in Canadian lumber products that include not only raw materials, but also value-added and processed goods like fibreboard, particleboard, paper packaging, and wood moulding products. …David Elstone, a strategic advisor, “Unequivocally, this is the worst, absolutely worst situation we’ve ever been in.” …Kim Haakstad, CEO of COFI, said the lumber industry as a whole is deeply invested in developing international markets and relationships overseas, but cannot compete on a global stage. She said the high cost of Canadian lumber is driven by both federal and provincial harvesting regulations, making it difficult to diversify to markets beyond the US.
Hundreds of stunned B.C. businesses are scrambling. …Doug Pauze, president of Coastland Wood Industries woke up Saturday to an escalating trade war with a 50% tariff target on the wood veneer that Coastland produces. With about 50% of its product typically exported to the US… that means scaling back production. For now, he’ll will avoid layoffs among his 320 employees. What the industry needs from counter-tariffs, he added, is for Canada to put an equal focus on the same amount of competing wood products coming into Canada, because “there (are) no other market options.” …Prime Minister Carney has vowed to levy counter-tariffs on US imports. BC business owner Baha Naemi hopes his government focuses on markets where Canadians can fill any voids the counter-tariffs create. Naemi’s company, CanCorr, makes corrugated cardboard and boxes in Surrey. …BC imports more corrugated paper products from the US than it exports, creating opportunities for Canadian producers hit by tariffs.
PORTLAND, Maine — US President Trump’s trade war with Canada is escalating as the midterm elections approach, threatening Republican efforts to address voters’ economic concerns in a year when control of the US Senate hinges on states along the border between the US and its northern neighbor. The dispute flared over the weekend after negotiations broke down, leading Trump to raise tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian imports. Canada plans to announce tariffs of its own on Tuesday. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of Democrats’ top targets this year, warned that fallout from Trump’s approach would hurt U.S. businesses and consumers. The issue also puts pressure on Republicans in Michigan, Ohio and Alaska, states where Canada is an important trading partner. …“This is something where we don’t actually expect a huge impact,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A 50% tariff on goods coming from Canada is officially in effect after negotiations crumbled over the weekend, putting a higher price on a large list of imports including lumber and plywood. Pete Peterson, manager at Sutherlands, said prices went up as soon as the news hit. “We don’t want to raise the prices, but we’re just kind of forced to”. Peterson has worked at Sutherlands for over a decade and has seen tariff impacts before. …“Once it’s landed here, it is what it is. Prices are adjusted to what the future prices are going to be. So homeowners, they’re doing less remodeling and stuff.” …“Spring and fall are your renovation times for outdoor projects and stuff. We’re seeing a definite slowdown and people’s need for just everyday projects. Decks, fixing barns, whatnot. Construction, that’s year-round. But homeownership, that’s where our type of business really feels it.”
“Tariffs on Canadian plywood will exacerbate the pressures already weighing on the entire construction sector, with the housing market poised to bear the heaviest burden,” AIA’s chief economist Richard Branch said. “For some time now,” Branch added, “a series of destabilizing factors has clouded the road ahead, making it difficult for developers and architecture firm leaders to plan future projects with confidence. When leaders in construction can’t make informed decisions, momentum stalls—and construction activity slows further.” …Thirty-six different types of plywood are impacted by Section 338 duties. The NAHB said the tariffs will increase housing costs and slow down construction. 
The United Kingdom is forecast to consume 10.35 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2026, representing a 4% increase from 2025 and a record consumption level, according to a report filed with the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. The consumption increase will require an estimated 10.15 million tonnes of imports. The forecast reflects strong demand from the industrial biomass power sector, which is operating at near-maximum capacity as major operators maximise output ahead of structural changes to subsidy mechanisms. Industrial bioenergy accounts for approximately 93% of UK wood pellet demand, with Drax and Lynemouth power stations consuming a combined estimated 9.63 million tonnes annually. …The 4% year-on-year consumption growth from 9.95 million tonnes in 2025 represents continued reliance on biomass within the UK’s electricity generation mix. Residential and commercial heating sectors account for the remaining 7% of wood pellet demand, a significantly smaller market segment than industrial power generation.
Amid another brutal stretch of hot, dry weather across Canada, the so-called cultural burning practices of North America’s Indigenous peoples are in vogue. In fact, they’re being inflated to the point of being celebrated as an ethnically exclusive competency, supposedly distinct from western science. Parks Canada’s online resources say cultural burning must be Indigenous-led, “so as not to misappropriate cultural practices,” while claiming that prescribed fire… is a “colonial adaptation of cultural burning practised by many different Indigenous groups in Canada.” …We know that Indigenous communities have historically used low-intensity fires to maintain grasslands for grazing, corridors for travel and forests, among other purposes. The evidence of this is substantial and not in question, nor is the effectiveness of those methods in their particular contexts. But that is not uniquely Indigenous knowledge. It is a basic principle of fire management that’s understood and applied around the world.
A man has died following a workplace incident at a forestry business in Golden last week. Golden-Field RCMP responded to the scene at about 9:51 a.m. on Aug. 17, after reports of a serious workplace incident. Police said the initial investigation indicates the man was working alone on a logging truck when the vehicle moved and injured him. RCMP and B.C. Emergency Health Services attended, but the man was pronounced dead despite the efforts of first responders. The B.C. Coroners Service is conducting an independent investigation, and WorkSafeBC has also been notified and will investigate the circumstances surrounding the workplace death. An RCMP collision reconstructionist examined the scene, while Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement inspected the logging truck and found it to be in excellent mechanical condition.
The number of wildfires in British Columbia surged past 180 over the weekend, up from about 125 on Friday, as the province recorded 11,000 lightning strikes. An update from the BC Wildfire Service said a subtropical weather system brought hot temperatures and lightning that sparked fires throughout southern B.C. But it said crews were prepared for the storm that also brought significant rainfall, helping to moderate fire behaviour in a summer that’s otherwise been very dry. The service said 75 per cent of the new fires sparked during the storm had already been classified as held, under control or out by Monday. With that, the number of active blazes ticked down to just below 180 later Monday. The service has warned of the return of hot, dry and windy conditions this week. …About a third of B.C.’s active fires are burning out of control, including four major wildfires of note — the Pear Lake fire in the Cariboo, the Bald Range fire in Summerland, B.C., and the Ainslie Creek and Brunswick Creek fires in the Fraser Canyon.
An evacuation alert for 30 Lions Bay properties due to a nearby wildfire has been rescinded. The Village of Lions Bay issued the alert Sunday evening at 9 p.m. due to the Lone Tree Creek Wildfire but it was later rescinded on Monday after crews were able to hold the fire. A total of 30 homes, including properties on Oceanview Road and Kelvin Grove Road, had been told to prepare their things and be ready to leave at a moment’s notice should the alert be upgraded to an order. Those same residents were being notified directly on Monday that the alert had been cancelled. “While this is very positive news, response activities are continuing,” read a statement from the Village of Lions Bay.
