Daily News for April 07, 2026

Today’s Takeaway

Iran war-risks are mounting for forest product companies as cost pressures emerge

The Tree Frog Forestry News
April 7, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway

Iran war-risks are mounting for forest product companies as cost pressures emerge, says ERA’s Kevin Mason, though broader impacts have yet to materialize. In related news: the International Monetary Fund warns of higher prices and lower growth; Packaging Corp. of America to close Richmond, Virginia plant; Washington’s timber industry is squeezed by regulations; and fires break out at Weyerhaeuser sawmill in Washington, and Rayonier paper mill in Georgia. Meanwhile: Deloitte downgrades BC’s outlook; US job growth rebounds; and UK fire safety rules could diminish timber towers.

In Forestry news: the US Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities; BC First Nations blast Premier Eby over plan to suspend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, the Nuchatlaht First Nation wins title over 40% of Nootka Island in BC; the Gorman—Osoyoos Indian Band partnership continues; ENGO slams BC Timber Sales overhaul; and BC cattle were poisoned by forest fertilizer. Meanwhile, a Globe & Mail feature on the Stanley Park rehabilitation, and NASA scientists combine satellite data and radar for early detection of forest loss.

Finally, share your voice: how you can support BC’s forest workers and communities.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Opinion / EdiTOADial

It’s only a matter of time before forest product companies suffer the consequences of the war

By Kevin Mason, Managing Director
ERA Forest Products Research
April 6, 2026
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, United States

Kevin Mason

The conflict in Iran has extended into a sixth week. Despite growing fears about economic wreckage (we have already seen cracks in consumer sentiment, mortgage rates climbing, etc.), we have yet to see any significant second- and third-order impacts on forest products commodities (the operative word is yet). Despite President Trump’s suggestion that the US will retreat from the Middle East in the next two to three weeks, risks abound. Even with a retreat, the risk to the world’s energy arteries will likely persist; it is only a matter of time before companies in our universe suffer the consequences of the war. 

Some cost inflation has shown up quickly (e.g., energy and transport) and will pressure margins as soon as Q2. While a select few companies (those in certain packaging and paper grades) may successfully hike prices to at least partially offset higher costs, for others the downside peril to underlying demand means that margin compression is a risk (prices could fall without supply reductions). As such, while our commodity price and company earnings forecasts have not declined materially, we are adopting a more cautionary approach to valuations and moving EBITDA multiples lower for companies and commodities for which we perceive at more risk. …Several producers in our space needed markets to come to the rescue this year; however, with each passing day that the world is mired in this conflict, it looks increasingly as if 2026 will become another year to survive. 

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Share Your Voice: How You Can Support BC’s Forest Workers and Communities

Forestry is a Solution
April 2, 2026
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada West

In the face of significant challenges—from mill closures to tariffs and shifting global markets—one question we hear more than any other from people: “What can I actually do to help?” When the headlines are dominated by uncertainty, it can feel like the hurdles facing the forest industry are too large for any one person to influence. But there is a powerful way to make your voice heard and tell the provincial government it isn’t just an industry priority but a priority for every British Columbian that wants a resilient future.

That way is Forestry is a Solution. Forestry is a Solution is a province-wide initiative led by a broad coalition of workers, community leaders, and industry advocates. Every name added to the list strengthens our collective message of support for communities, workers and families who depend on BC forestry. It has never been easier:

  • Visit forestryisasolution.com
  • Sign the petition to show our collective strength.
  • Send a letter using the simple, automated tool to tell your MLA why this sector matters to you.

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Business & Politics

First Nations blast Eby in leaked transcript of DRIPA meeting

By Alessia Passafiume
The Canadian Press in Business in Vancouver
April 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

David Eby

A leaked transcript of a meeting between Indigenous leaders and BC Premier David Eby, about his plan to suspend the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA, shows them accusing him of “absolute betrayal” and colonialism. Speaker after speaker in the transcript obtained by The Canadian Press, criticize Eby’s handling of DRIPA, which he says needs to be suspended for up to three years. DRIPA is at the centre of a legal and political storm after being cited by First Nations in two landmark court cases last year, including an appeal ruling that says the act should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into BC laws “with immediate legal effect.” …Eby says the government proposed to introduce legislation to implement the suspension… to give time for the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the government’s appeal in the Gitxaala case.

In related news by:

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‘We got it all’: Nuchatlaht First Nation wins title over entire 210 sq. km claim

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
April 2, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

A First Nation has been granted a title over 210 square kilometres of territory off the west coast of Vancouver Island—a landmark decision that represents the first time in Canadian history a nation has won full Aboriginal title over its entire claim. B.C. Supreme Court judge had previously granted the Nuchatlaht Nation title over an 11-kilometre sliver of land on Nootka Island in 2024. The latest ruling, handed down by a three-judge Court of Appeal panel Thursday, massively expands that territory to cover more than 40 per cent of the island. “They’re jubilant,” said lead lawyer Jack Woodward. “I mean they’ve got their land back, the ancient territory that their ancestors owned.” The appeal court found the trial judge had erred when he drew an “arbitrary boundary” to delineate the Nuchatlaht territory and restrict Aboriginal title to areas of “site-specific use.”

Additional coverage in Black Press by Mark Page: Nuchatlaht win appeal against B.C., granted title over 210 sq. km of Nootka Island

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Weyerhaeuser transfers to Gorman, Osoyoos Indian Band partnership continues

By Don Urquhart
Victoria Times Colonist
April 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

West Kelowna family-owned forestry company – Gorman Group – has completed a $120 million deal to transfer harvesting tenures from Seattle-based Weyerhaeuser, with the move continuing the strategic partnership with the Osoyoos Indian Band’s Nk’Mip Forestry division. …Dan Macmaster, Head of Forestry at Nk’Mip Forestry, told the Times Chronicle that this agreement continues with the transfer of TFL 59 to Gorman and “We meet regularly to review and update all land use activity on the tenure. This agreement was put in motion with Weyerhaeuser last year and has improved and evolved since the transfer of the licence to Gorman.” …Nick Arkle, CEO, Gorman Group added, “We recognize that any Crown tenure transfer comes with important responsibilities and obligations to First Nations, communities and employees who depend on the long-term stewardship of the land and the careful use of the fibre.” …Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests said: “Gorman Group is investing in the future of forestry…”

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Fighting U.S. tariffs, Canada mulls its own as cheap imports surge

By Thomas Seal
Bloomberg in the Financial Post
April 2, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Canadian officials are considering unusual measures to protect domestic producers of vegetables and wood products from low-priced imports. The move threatens to complicate Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts to fight US tariffs and strengthen Canada’s trade relationships with other countries, while also tackling cost-of-living challenges. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne ordered an investigation last month into imports of frozen and canned vegetables. …He also said he’d received an “urgent” request for trade protection from makers of wood furniture, cabinets and flooring, adding that his department would respond soon. …The group behind the appeal on wood products, the Canadian Wood Products Alliance, is seeking a temporary tariff of 100 per cent to 125 per cent for four years, representative Alain Ouzilleau said. The measure would apply to all imports except those from the US. or Mexico, he added. …Canada wood-products manufacturers were already facing increased competition from China.

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On Montana’s border with Canada, the Blackfeet want off Trump’s train of tariffs

By Nathan Vanderklippe
The Globe and Mail
April 6, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Builder Ed Kennedy finished this powwow and event space last May in Browning, Montana, seat of the Blackfeet Nation. Mr. Kennedy got this lumber from Canada before tariffs raised the price by more than 57 per cent. ‘Now everybody wants my wood.’ …Mr. Kennedy has instead begun to seek ways to avoid tariffs altogether, laying plans for the establishment of an inland seaport on Blackfeet land that could be used to import goods from Canada for re-export, or perhaps for additional manufacturing and eventual re-export, based on a belief that centuries-old law enshrines the right of Native Americans to trade duty-free. …In the year since Mr. Trump began his large-scale imposition of tariffs, the Blackfeet have actively sought to turn their territory into a small but potentially economically important tariff-free portal. So far, they have failed. An initial case seeking tariff relief was rejected by a federal court. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]

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Washington state timber industry buffeted by regulations, trade war

By Megan Boyanton
The Seattle Times in the Chronicle
April 5, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — Countless logging trucks rumbled through timber country, their drivers headed toward Hampton Lumber’s sawmill in Morton. …”We take our logs and get every bit out of it that we possibly can. And we replant,” said plant superintendent Tony Gillispie. “We want this to last for hundreds of years.” But will Washington’s timber industry overcome its ongoing slump and endure for centuries? Myriad issues are at play, with fingers pointing in every direction. The private sector, which harvests the majority of Washington’s wood, feels squeezed by policies restricting its access to state trust lands in the fight against climate change. …Meanwhile, the state government points to the residual effects of trade wars, particularly with China, after Washington’s exports of forest products hit a 21-year low in 2025. Local demand for lumber has also dropped in line with the recent slowdown in construction activity across the state.

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Emergency crews respond to explosion at Weyerhaeuser plant in Columbia Falls

KPAX Missoula & Western Montana
April 4, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

COLUMBIA FALLS, Montana — Emergency crews have cleared the scene at Weyerhaeuser in Columbia Falls after an explosion started a fire at the plant Saturday morning. Columbia Falls Fire Chief Karl Weeks told MTN the department was dispatched to the MDF plant on Mills Drive at 6:40 a.m. due to an explosion. Heavy smoke was coming out of the west side of the building, according to Weeks. Several agencies were called in to help including Whitefish, Bad Rock, Evergreen, and Three Rivers. No injuries were reported in the explosion, which is still under investigation. A cause has not yet been determined. Fire crews cleared the scene at 2:46 p.m. Saturday. Cleanup was turned over to Weyerhaeuser. Weeks said Saturday’s incident is not connected to another explosion in February 2025 at the plant. That explosion was caused by an electrical issue.

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Packaging Corporation of America to close Richmond, Virginia packaging plant

Packaging Gateway
April 6, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

RICHMOND, Virginia  — Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) is shutting its converting plant in Richmond, Virginia, resulting in the loss of 110 jobs, effective June. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing, the Illinois-based containerboard producer said it will coordinate with state and local authorities in Virginia on support for employees who lose their jobs. The company also said it will assist workers interested in relocating to other PCA sites. Mark Romaniuk, deputy general counsel at the company, described the move as “a difficult business decision.” …PCA also referenced a satellite warehouse in North Chesterfield, Virginia, which employs six people. …The decision to close the Richmond plant follows downsizing in Washington state. …The closures affected 168 jobs – 60 in Allentown and 108 in Salisbury.

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Fire breaks out at Rayonier Paper Mill in Jesup, Georgia

By Sarah Smith and Evan Smoak
WSAV News 3
April 5, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

JESUP, Georgia — The Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) Paper Mill in Jesup caught fire on Saturday, according to the Wayne County Fire Department. Fire Chief Jared Huffman told WSAV the initial call came in around 10:30 p.m. but first responders were able to contain the fire within approximately 30 minutes before fully extinguishing it at approximately 1:30 a.m. Sunday. On Sunday, a representative from RYAM shared the following comment on the fire “On Saturday evening around 10:00 PM, a fire occurred in the digester area at RYAM’s Jesup facility. The company’s on-site team shut down the affected equipment and extinguished the fire with assistance from local first responders. There were no injuries or off-site impacts, and the facility is otherwise operating normally. The area has been secured and the company is completing standard follow-up work.”

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Finance & Economics

Deloitte downgrades B.C.’s economic outlook amid declining forestry sector, population decrease

By Alec Lazenby
Vancouver Sun
April 2, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada West

The economic headwinds facing B.C. are expected to have an even greater impact than originally expected, with accounting firm Deloitte Canada downgrading its economic forecast for the province in its most recent update. Originally projecting 1.6 per cent GDP growth in 2026 in its January report, the financial consulting giant now predicts B.C. will have “muted” growth of only 1.2 per cent. Dawn Desjardins, chief economist at Deloitte Canada, said some of the main culprits are the declining forestry sector, which continues to face mill closures and thousands of job losses due to a lack of fibre, as well as crippling U.S. duties, a population decrease, and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement.

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US Job Growth Rebounds in March

By Jing Fu
NAHB Eye on Housing
April 3, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The U.S. labor market showed signs of a modest rebound in March following a weak February, as payroll employment increased and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%. Job growth was led by healthcare, construction, and transportation and warehousing. However, signs of cooling are emerging. Job openings posted their largest decline in nearly a year and a half in February, pointing to a potential easing in labor demand. Meanwhile, growing geopolitical uncertainty adds further downside risk to the labor market outlook. Wage growth slowed in March, with average hourly earnings rising 3.5% year-over-year. This pace is 0.7 percentage points lower than a year ago. Importantly, wage growth has been outpacing inflation for nearly two years, which typically occurs as productivity increases. …Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population either looking for a job or already holding a job—declined 0.2 percentage points to 61.9%. 

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‘All roads lead to higher prices and slower growth,’ warns IMF chief as Iran war hits global economy

By Joseph Wilkins
CNBC News
April 7, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International

Higher inflation and weaker growth ahead are inevitable for the global economy as a consequence of the Iran war, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday as the institution prepares to cut its forecasts. “All roads now lead to higher prices and slower growth,” IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said Monday night. Before the war, the IMF anticipated issuing a small upgrade on its outlook for global growth of 3.3% in 2026 and ​3.2% in 2027, according to Georgieva. But those expectations have since been upended as the Iran conflict has sent shockwaves through the global economy that are unlikely to unravel anytime soon, even if the war is brought to a rapid resolution. …“Directionally, it is stagflation,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It’s higher inflation and weaker economic growth that is the result of policy — tariff policy and immigration policy.”

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Associated Press (AP) says it will offer buyouts as part of pivot away from newspaper-focused history

By David Bauder
The Start Beacon
April 6, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

The Associated Press, one of the world’s oldest and most influential news organizations, said Monday it is offering buyouts to an unspecified number of its US-based journalists as part of an acceleration away from the focus on newspapers and their print journalism that sustained the company since the mid-1800s. The News Media Guild, the union that represents AP journalists, said more than 120 of the staff members it represents received buyout offers on Monday. The news organization is becoming more focused on visual journalism and developing new revenue sources, particularly through companies investing in artificial intelligence, to cope with the economic collapse of many legacy news outlets. Once the lion’s share of AP’s revenue, big newspaper companies now account for 10% of its income. “We’re not a newspaper company and we haven’t been for quite some time,” Julie Pace, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP, said.

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Proposed fire safety rules could ‘spell the end for timber towers’

By Josh Butler
The Architect’s Journal
April 7, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

©Waugh Thistleton

England — Architects have expressed concern that the government’s latest consultation on fire safety guidance may effectively make it impossible to build timber-based buildings above 11m. The consultation on changes to Approved Document B (ADB) was opened by the Health and Safety Executive on 25 March, and sets out new guidance for the construction of buildings taller than 11m that seemingly prohibits timber from being used as either a load-bearing material or as external cladding. ADB is the primary statutory guidance document in England for meeting the legal requirements of the Building Regulations 2010 on fire safety. The proposal has left industry experts speculating about how strictly the guidance will be implemented and interpreted by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), and its effect on …using sustainable materials such as timber. …Andrew Waugh, whose practice Waugh Thistleton Architects has championed timber construction, told the AJ: ‘This proposed revision to Part B is, frankly, deeply frustrating and flawed.

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Forestry

Ministry of Forests addresses logging concerns for residents of Vernon’s BX area

By Darren Handschuh
Castanet
April 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Ministry of Forests has responded to residents’ concerns about a proposed logging project in the north BX area of Vernon. Area residents launched a petition last month in an effort to halt the 24-hectare logging operation near Hartnell Road and Brookside Creek. “Forestry plans to clear a significant amount of very old cedar and fir trees along the steep Brookside Creek catchment area. It will be highly visible from the many communities in Vernon,” the petition stated. In an email, the MOF said the area will not be clear cut. “BC Timber Sales is in the early stages of developing a wildfire risk-reduction project in the Brookside Creek area to increase forest resiliency against wildfire. Suggestions that the area will be clear cut are incorrect,” the MOF said. …The ministry said wildfire risk reduction projects are guided by a fuel management prescription … typically resulting in relatively high levels of tree retention.

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Cattle Were Poisoned by BC’s Forest Fertilizer. Now Someone Will Pay

By Amanda Follett Hosgood
The Tyee
April 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The B.C. government is recommending a fine against those responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen cattle last fall, but the Ministry of Environment and Parks won’t say who, exactly, investigators believe is to blame for poisoning in the Quesnel area. The October incident prompted public outcry… The cattle … were believed to have been poisoned when they consumed nitrogen fertilizer meant to accelerate timber growth. B.C.’s Ministry of Forests said that laboratory analyses of the fertilizer and animal tissues are still being completed. …Meanwhile, the investigation under the Environmental Management Act has concluded with investigators recommending an administrative penalty — a fine imposed on a person or business alleged to have violated a regulatory requirement. …James Steidle, of Stop the Spray BC, worries that the poisonings did not result from a mishap but from standard forestry practices.

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If a tree falls

By Jesse Winter
The Globe and Mail
April 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

High in a tree in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, an arborist dangles from a climbing harness with a chainsaw… The work is part of a significant – and, to some, distressing – intervention to address the Hemlock looper moth outbreak that killed almost a third of the public park’s 600,000 trees between 2020 and 2023. …what’s happening in the park underscores the broader challenges of managing city green spaces in the era of climate change. …The city says those dead trees pose many risks, and the only way to deal with them is with saws. Joe McLeod, the city’s associate director of urban forestry, called it a “risk mitigation project for public safety.” …To better understand the twin risks of wildfire and falling trees, the city hired veteran wildfire ecologist and forester Bruce Blackwell. …None of this has sat well with Stanley Park Preservation Society founder, Michael Robert Caditz. …But fuel mitigation isn’t about preventing the most common fires; it’s about protecting against the worst possible ones, the kind of fires that occur on the most extreme weather days, when high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds combine to drive the wildfire risk into the red. [A Globe and Mail subscription is required for full story access]

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Celebrating the 2026 Silver Ring recipients

By the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship
The University of British Columbia
April 1, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Each year, the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF-IFC) Silver Rings are presented to new graduates to welcome them as forestry professionals. The Silver Ring is a symbol of achievement, presented to those who have completed a CIF-IFC recognized program. The ring signifies a national bond among forestry professionals and a commitment to sustainable forest stewardship. The first Silver Ring ceremony was hosted in 1953 at UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship. It has since become a growing tradition at forestry schools across Canada. The ring is typically worn on the little finger of the recipient’s dominant hand. The maple leaf engraved on the ring is to be pointed towards the tip of the finger, representing a growing professional responsibility. The Silver Ring unites graduates from forestry programs across Canada in a shared promise to uphold the values and responsibilities of the forestry profession.

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Conservation North slams changes to Forests and Range Practices Act

Prince George Daily News
April 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Textbook disaster capitalism. That’s how a forest advocacy group describes the Ministry of Forests’ Forest Statutes Amendment Act, a set of legislative changes to the Forests and Range Practices Act. “As social license for continuing to log primary forests dries up, the Ministry of Forests doubles down, accelerating logging while claiming that BC is a global leader in sustainable forest practices,” said Jenn Matthews, in a Conservation North news release. …The proposed changes would also expand ‘salvage’ logging, a controversial practice where trees are harvested following a natural disturbance. “Salvage logging – especially in forests that have never been logged – damages soils, wildlife habitat, and water flows,” said Conservation North’s director, ecologist Michelle Connolly. “Moreover, when you log after natural disturbance, you’re robbing the forest of key building blocks (including still-living trees) for the forest that will follow. The Ministry’s claim that this is forest stewardship is garbage.”

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Still hope for BC forestry — But the clock is running

By Jim Rushton
Resource Works
April 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

After roughly 100 sawmills, pulp mills, and engineered wood plants closed down or cut shifts since 2000, and thousands of loggers lost their jobs, the trade union representing those workers has its hands full. The consensus is: this is do-or-die time to stabilize the forest industry in British Columbia. USW Canada – District 3 represents workers across Western Canada, including BC’s unionized forestry workforce. Recently, District 3 Director Scott Lunny offered a forward-looking view of the industry on a podcast, despite the challenges it faces. Jeff Bromley, the union’s Wood Council Chair, put it this way: “What’s the alternative—giving up on rural communities throughout the province? We accept the responsibility to manage a transition in the best interest of our members.” …The Provincial Forest Advisory Council’s report, From Conflict to Care, has tabled a set of recommendations — and the Steelworkers Union agrees with its main thrust.

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Tla’amin Nation, B.C. enhance collaborative stewardship

By Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship
Government of British Columbia
April 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Government of British Columbia and Tla’amin Nation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance collaborative stewardship actions in Tla’amin Nation territory, focusing on advancing key treaty commitments through a shared stewardship framework. The MOU, or the yiχmɛtštəm ʔəms gɩǰɛ Territorial Stewardship Action Plan, sets out how the B.C. government and Tla’amin Nation will work together to care for land and water, heritage resources, and Tla’amin wildlife harvesting rights in the region. In the Tla’amin language, yiχmɛtštəm ʔəms gɩǰɛ means “together we are taking care of the land.” “With the signing of this memorandum of understanding, the Province and Tla’amin Nation have taken a significant step forward to implement key commitments of the Tla’amin Treaty,” said Randene Neill, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.

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Faster Detection of Forest Loss

NASA Earth Observatory
April 6, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

Tropical forests span 1.6 billion hectares of Earth. …But over the past two decades, an average of 10 million hectares of these forests have been lost each year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, affecting the ecosystems and communities that depend on them. NASA scientists recently developed a new method for tracking tropical forest loss that delivers deforestation alerts more than three months faster than current methods. Although the technique was designed for the Amazon rainforest, data from a recently launched satellite are expected to expand its application globally. …To address Landsat’s cloud challenge, researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center tuned into a different wavelength. Led by Africa Flores-Anderson, associate program manager for NASA’s Ecosystem Conservation Program, the team piloted a system for the Amazon that combines existing satellite-based approaches with cutting-edge radar data. …Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) doesn’t require daylight or clear skies. 

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Forest Service will close research stations that study wildfire risk

By Eric Niiler
The New York Times in the Salt Lake Tribune
April 4, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Washington — The U.S. Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities in 31 states under a reorganization plan announced this week, threatening science that looked at how wildfires, drought, pests and global warming are putting pressure on forests. The agency plans to consolidate its research division into a centralized office in Fort Collins, Colorado, and move field researchers to locations in nearby states. But employees said they feared the move would lead many scientists to leave instead. The reorganization will also move the agency’s headquarters to Salt Lake City from Washington, affecting 260 employees. …The agency is closing six research and development facilities in California, five in Mississippi, four in Michigan and three in Utah, among others. It will also close all of its nine regional offices, which currently manage 154 national forests. Some states will have their own offices and others will be consolidated. …One senior scientist, speaking anonymously, said that the Forest Service wasn’t clear about whether the scientist’s research work would continue to get funding or where the scientist would be relocated…

Additional coverage:

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Rural Washington schools struggle with drop in logging dollars

By Aspen Ford
The Washington State Standard
April 6, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

In the North Cascades… the Mount Baker School District is facing a budget deficit exceeding $1 million, which local officials say is tied to declining timber sales on state lands. Three years ago, the rural district entered into what’s known as “binding conditions,” an arrangement where the state now oversees its day-to-day financial operations. Since then, it’s cut around 30 employees and increased class sizes. “Our main reason that we went in binding conditions was a precipitous drop in timber revenue,” said Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt, school board president. The district’s timber revenue predicament is not unique among rural school districts. And it highlights rising tension around how the state is managing its public forests at a time when Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove has limited logging of some older tracts of trees. In the backdrop is a debate about whether Washington’s K-12 schools should depend heavily — or at all — on timber harvests.

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Opinion: Safeguarding the Roadless Rule saves the Tongass Forest

By Joel Jackson, president, Organized Village of Kake
The Anchorage Daily News
April 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

For generations, the Organized Village of Kake and other Southeast Alaska tribes have been stewards of the Tongass National Forest… This is not just land; the forest is our heritage and way of life. …The forest’s old growth trees store more carbon than they release, making the Tongass the nation’s greatest natural climate defense. …Yet this irreplaceable ecosystem faces a threat. The Trump administration is attempting to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a policy that for more than 25 years has safeguarded nearly 58 million acres of national forests. The administration is proposing to strip protections from 44.7 million acres of ancestral homelands, including the Tongass National Forest. This is not just bad policy; it is a direct violation of tribal treaty rights, trust and federal law. The Roadless Rule is simple and effective. It prevents destructive road-building and industrial-scale logging in remote forest areas while preserving access for recreation, subsistence and cultural practices.

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A warm winter in the West: Understanding the 2026 snow drought

By Brandon McWilliams
USDA Forest Service
April 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Mountains across the West have lost their usual wintry look this year. Snowpacks in the Cascade Range, the central and southern Rockies, and the Sierra Nevada are significantly below average. As of February 1, 2026, Oregon, Colorado, and Utah reported the lowest snowpack levels on record since continuous snow data collection began in the early 1980s. …This condition is a snow drought—a period when snowpack is abnormally low relative to the time of year and location. Many of the areas with low snow received ample precipitation early in the season. November and December snowfall was near normal in many parts of the West and looked to be setting the stage for a reasonable snow year. However, warm and dry January conditions and scattered rain-on-snow events in February caused much of the early accumulated snow to melt. This condition has put large parts of the West in a warm snow drought.

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New book guides readers through histories and forests of campuses across the eastern U.S.

The University of Georgia
April 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the eastern US own acres of forested land, ranging from Virginia Tech’s modest 11-acre Stadium Woods to Rutgers University’s 500-acre William L. Hutcheson Memorial Forest.  The forthcoming “Woodlands of the Mind” features 15 campus forests in 11 states, spanning from North Georgia to the Ohio Valley to coastal Maine. The selected forests represent diverse ecosystems and management systems, with some left wild and others more controlled and aimed for recreation than conservation. While some are protected in perpetuity, others face development and money troubles, and all face ecological threats. But each forest is unique, representing the various ways they serve their campuses, whether for research, recreation or preservation.  For wanderers and armchair adventurers alike, these essays discuss each forest’s ecology, landscape architecture and history. 

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University of Maine ecology professor Brian McGill named a 2026 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow

The University of Maine
April 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Brian McGill

University of Maine ecology professor Brian McGill has been named a 2026 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, one of the highest honors in the scientific community. AAAS Fellows are a group of scientists, engineers and innovators recognized for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching and technology, to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public. …McGill’s work established the importance of prediction in ecology and identified unifying principles in the field. He also pioneered solutions to conceptual issues in his discipline related to the widely-used and vaguely-defined term biodiversity. …Through the blog “Dynamic Ecology,” McGill and two co-authors shape the way research is conducted in labs across the planet and provide mentorship globally on successfully navigating academic cultures.

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A common pest could wreak havoc across forests already vulnerable from January’s ice storm

By Shamira Muhammad
Mississippi Public Broadcasting
April 6, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

January’s ice storm stressed out trees, making it harder for them to ward off disease and insects. It may have also created an environment where species of pine bark beetles that have been documented for centuries, especially ips and southern pine beetles, can flourish and attack vulnerable evergreens. “You can go from having just a few trees that are damaged or killed by the beetles to having acres damaged or killed by beetles if you’re not really monitoring that,” said Garron Hicks, Assistant Forest Management Chief with the Mississippi Forestry Commission. “Unfortunately, often when landowners notice evidence of the beetle, it’s too late for that tree.” That’s especially true for pine trees whose needles have already begun to turn brown or red. …Hicks urges landowners especially in north Mississippi, the region hit hardest by the winter storm, to look out for signs of beetle damage like pitch tubes.

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