Canada-US trade talks are moving to the political level, with Prime Minister Carney and President Trump to be given options. In related news: Quesnel braces as Quesnel River Pulp idles 90 workers; Prince George prepares for Canfor’s Northwood closure; Alberta invests in Alberta Newsprint’s Whitecourt expansion; Tolko presses its first structural LVL beam; UFP Industries adds packaging capacity in South Carolina; and a new Mississippi sawmill locates in Albany. Meanwhile the US Endowment launches a new Forest Catalyst Network, seeking to expand markets; and Suzano and Conifex Timber reports their Q2 results.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: wildfires push Canadian forests towards being a carbon source; Wyoming forests took 100,000 years to recover from the last warming; the US Forest Service consolidates its wildfire management authorities; severe fire seasons are testing international cooperation; France prepares to salvage its fire-damaged timber; and the invasive shot-hole beetle is ravaging hardwood forests worldwide. Meanwhile: Penticton’s Indian Band Chief calls for action on wildfire risk; wildfires impact timber supply in 100 Mile House; 7 BC Woodlots have fires burning; and BC seeks input on the Williams Lake timber supply review.
Finally, with data centres driving demand, mass timber may have found its moment.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
The City of Prince George is working with several other organizations to support workers and minimize the economic impact of the imminent closure of Northwood Pulp Mill, the Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs heard Monday. Deklan Corstanje, the city’s manager of economic development, said the city participated in a meeting of a community transition team made up of representatives from Canfor, several branches of the provincial government, Northern Health, Northern Development Initiative Trust, PacifiCAN, the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, Tano T’enneh Enterprises and more. Those participants have been split into two separate working committees with the city sitting in on both. …The first group is focusing on worker supports and programs offered by the provincial and federal governments. …The other committee, Corstanje said, is working with Canfor to examine the impact of the mill’s closure and mitigate negative effects on both workers and economic development.
VANCOUVER, BC — Conifex Timber reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. EBITDA was negative $6.3 million for the quarter compared to EBITDA of negative $7.7 million in the first quarter of 2026 and negative EBITDA of $3.2 million in the second quarter of 2025. Net loss was $9.5 million or the quarter versus a net loss of $9.4 million in the previous quarter and a net loss of $8.3 million in the second quarter of 2025. …Revenues from lumber products were $19.0 million in the second quarter of 2026, representing an increase of 27% from the previous quarter and a decrease of 31% from the second quarter of 2025. … Electricity production contributed revenues of $2.8 million in the second quarter of 2026, $5.2 million in the previous quarter, and $3.6 million in the second quarter of 2025.
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With interest from Big Tech and a new bill before Congress that would expand its use in federal projects, mass timber is on the cusp of a new era of growth. Relatively stable lumber prices that buck the broader trend of increasingly expensive construction inputs are meeting with greater levels of comfort around the material’s use to drive faster adoption after years of cautious incorporation. “There’s a more robust supply chain and we’re getting more experienced,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication for Skanska USA. “When you say, ‘I want to use mass timber,’ people aren’t like, ‘What is that?’ They want to know what you want to do with it. The conversation has changed.” Construction using mass timber is expected to grow to a $5.7B market by 2030, with annual growth rates topping 20% to 30%, according to Grand View Research data. [to access the full story a BISNOW subscription is required]
I am tired of the misdirection surrounding B.C.’s wildfire crisis. …We are constantly told this is strictly a global warming issue—a convenient excuse used to tax regular people for fuel consumption and agricultural methane. But the public needs to realize the truth: local industrial forestry has its foot on the gas pedal, directly creating the explosive conditions for these fires by destroying our natural ecosystem. For decades, the logging industry has used chemical spraying—specifically glyphosate—to systematically wipe out native deciduous trees… In the eyes of timber corporations, these plants are just “weeds” competing with commercial conifer lumber. …We are living in an upside-down system where regular citizens are told to fix global emissions, while multibillion-dollar timber giants are legally allowed to spray chemicals that strip the earth of its natural ability to clean the air, process organic waste, and create oxygen and water for us.
The District of 100 Mile House received a candid look at the current and projected timber supply for the 100 Mile House Timber Supply Area last week. On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Kane Copley, a strategic land manager for the Ministry of Forests, attended council’s regular meeting to deliver and explain the results of the 100 Mile House Timber Supply Area Timber Supply Analysis Discussion Paper. Copley said the review was conducted this year and based on information gathered from January to May. In his presentation, Copley outlined that the Ministry of Forests regularly reviews the timber supply for all areas and tree farm licenses throughout the province. These reviews are done to examine the impacts of current legal requirements and forest management practices on the timber supply, environment, economy and social conditions of the local area.
The public is invited to give feedback on the timber supply review for the Williams Lake timber supply area (TSA). People can share their thoughts on the Williams Lake TSA discussion paper by submitting comments before Oct. 5, 2026. The discussion paper provides the results of a timber supply analysis and describes the current legal requirements, geography, natural resources and forest management practices. The information will be used by B.C.’s chief forester to determine how much timber can be harvested in the TSA annually, which is known as the allowable annual cut (AAC). Before setting the new AAC, the chief forester will consider input from First Nations, industry and community members. Public feedback is a part of every AAC decision and is an opportunity for communities to provide input, which will be considered during the AAC determination.
Today, many Washingtonians may be unaware that a looming federal policy change could have major consequences for the availability, quality and cost of the freshwater they rely on daily. …In August 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture officially launched a process to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Implemented in 2001, the Rule designated special areas across nearly 60 million acres of forests within the National Forest System. …The Rule reflects scientific evidence that extensive logging and road building contributed to widespread loss and fragmentation of habitat for wildlife and salmon, and degraded water quality for downstream communities. Just how important are roadless areas in national forests? To answer this question, we conducted the science and 
FRANCE — The megafire in Gironde, southwest France, has been “contained” since July 30, but foresters are still prohibited from entering the heart of their plots that were ravaged by the flames. It is too dangerous: With lingering smoke and a still-hot ground, the passage of a vehicle could rekindle the embers. As with the nearby fire in Landiras in 2022, they will probably have to wait for the fall rains before the fire can be officially declared extinguished. A race against time will then begin to fell all the burned trees as quickly as possible before the appearance of the destructive bark beetle and in the hope of selling the timber for the best possible price, depending on the extent of the burn. …The most damaged parts could be turned into heating pellets, while the preserved sections could be used for pallets, the paper industry or as timber. [to access the full story a Le Monde subscription is required]
The European Union Deforestation Regulation has been postponed, amended and simplified since it came about in 2023, yet the central compliance challenge confronting wood pellet producers has barely changed. Producers shipping into the European Union will need to demonstrate that their fiber is legal and deforestation-free, identify the plots where the wood was harvested and preserve the connection between those plots and the finished product. That requirement reaches beyond conventional sustainability certification and deep into supplier networks that were not designed to provide plot-level information. …The delay has given the industry a longer runway, but the remaining work lies at the hardest end of the supply chain: beyond the pellet plant, beyond direct suppliers and back to the land itself. Producers that can make that connection auditable will enter the next phase with more than a completed due diligence statement; they will possess a clearer view of the fiber networks on which their businesses depend.
Scientist, Tim Searchinger, has resigned from the World Resources Institute amid disagreement over how to tally forest carbon in accounting rules that are under development. Those rules, which are being drafted by Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) — a global standard-setting body overseen in part by the non-profit — will shape how companies in the forest industry report their carbon footprints. A senior research scholar at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Searchinger said that he will be leaving his role as technical director of land-related issues this month because of what he said are shortcomings in the GHG Protocol’s process in drawing up the new rules. …Danny Cullenward, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, stepped down from his seat on the body’s Independent Standards Board in June over the same issue. …The argument centers on two competing approaches to calculate carbon stores and emissions from forests. 
Thessaloniki, Greece –