Weyerhaeuser reported stronger Q2 earnings; International Paper and Clearwater Paper reported net losses; and Drax’s earnings fell on weaker fibre availability. In related new: Canfor’s mill closures have been “gut-wrenching”; Australia’s Maryvale Paper cuts jobs; Maine’s Woodland Pulp is fined for deadly gas release; and Domtar gives back to local communities. Meanwhile: Canada is launching an office to diversify trade; despite slowing GDP—the US economy is poised for growth; and the Softwood Lumber Board says City Accelerators grow lumber demand.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: Michael Ignatieff says Canada should ramp up water bomber production; Port Alberni debates cause of Mount Underwood wildfire; the Kitsumkalum First Nation and Terrace Timber partner on forestry; Fort St. John endorses COFI’s Forestry is a Solution initiative; West Fraser shares nature reporting framework in Alberta; rain isn’t extinguishing Colorado’s fires; Arizona plans to thin 20,000 acres/year; and Wisconsin examines effects of a prescribed burn.
Finally, a dangerous heat wave is gripping the US with 39 million under heat alerts!
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Sidney S. Frissell died in Hamilton, MT, on March 13, 2026. He was a Forestry professor and Dean at the University of Montana, woodsman and an avid birder, watercolor painter of birds in their natural habitats, and lifelong Ham radio operator. …Sid earned a Forestry degree at the University of Minnesota and went to work for the US Forest Service in Randall, Washington. Within a year he returned to graduate studies at Minnesota, earning a Master’s degree and then pursuing a PhD. …In collaboration with colleagues he made lasting contributions in wildlife ecology and management, forest recreation, and wilderness management, coauthoring a methodology for assessing sustainability of use of campsites still applied by forest managers today. After serving several years as Associate Dean of the School of Forestry at the University of Montana, he was promoted to Dean in 1986. …He retired at a relatively young age to pursue a second career in wildlife illustration and bird painting…
Drax’s Pellet Production adjusted EBITDA fell 14% to £64 million in the first half of 2026 from £74 million a year earlier, as production declined and internal sales prices fell. Pellet output decreased to 1.9 million metric tons from 2.1 million metric tons, according to Drax Group. The lower production reflected the closure of the Williams Lake pellet plant in Canada and outages at facilities in the U.S. South. Drax also weighted more production toward the second half of 2026 to align pellet supply with expected generation at Drax Power Station. Market conditions affected the Canadian business through limited fibre availability and lower margins. Canadian operations otherwise performed well during the period, while Drax continued a strategic review of the business. Cost reductions in the U.S. South also lowered Pellet Production earnings under Drax’s cost-plus transfer-pricing system.
PORT ALBERNI, BC — It’s been almost a year since Mount Underwood erupted south of Port Alberni, quickly spreading across a bone-dry slope to become the largest wildfire the area has seen in over a century. While this forest fire season has been relatively mild by comparison, some residents are questioning if slash left over from past logging fueled the rapid growth of the blaze in August 2025. …“BC Wildfire Service described that behaviour as ‘explosive’,” stated the alliance. “We are concerned that the fire’s behaviour and size were the direct and foreseeable result of fuel hazard conditions created by rapid logging and establishment of conifer plantations.” …With an investigation still underway, the BC Wildfire Service has not disclosed what caused Mount Underwood. But Mosaic believes that “preliminary information suggests it was caused by human activity.” “There were no active forestry operations in the area at the time the fire started,” stated Mosaic. 
After a visit to Stanley Park, Nina Shoroplova, a Vancouver naturalist, went on to research and write a book about the park and its trees. Stanley Park holds a fascination for many. Sometimes called the crown jewel of the city, the park contains about 600,000 trees. But the urban forest is changing in ways that challenge both the health of the ecosystem and ideas about the park itself. An outbreak of western hemlock looper killed about 30 per cent of the large trees in Stanley Park as of April 2023… Recent droughts have made the damage more severe, increasing the wildfire risk in the park… Amid some opposition, park board crews have cut down about 14,000 trees since fall 2023. …The idea that Stanley Park is an area of untamed wilderness has always held appeal. But its history and present reality are much more complex, said Sean Kheraj, author of Inventing Stanley Park: An Environmental History. …The reality is that Stanley Park’s forest has long been influenced by people. [A Vancouver Sun subscription is required for full access]
The U.S. Forest Service has promised to approve at least 20,000 acres a year worth of forest thinning projects annually to support forest restoration and wildfire protection in the footprint of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, or 4FRI. The commitment is key to the 4FRI effort to save Northern Arizona’s forests and forested communities, partly because it provides a guarantee of biomass to support loggers and support industries. The 4FRI collaboration on the Tonto, Coconino, Apache-Sitgreaves and Kaibab forests remains the most ambitious forest restoration effort on the continent. However, the fitful approvals of logging and restoration projects has hobbled the timber industry needed to thin millions of overgrown, fire-prone acres. The slow pace of project approvals has limited the growth of the logging industry, especially crucial operations that can make use of the low-value biomass produced by every thinning project.
Nine months after its first prescribed burn in 150 years, a 22-acre patch of forest on Wisconsin Point is starting to show the effects. On one side of the road to the beach, the understory, or plants growing from the ground, are tall and dense. It’s not what a healthy red pine forest should look like, said Callie Grones, an outreach coordinator with the Lake Superior National Estuarine Reserve. On the other side at the “burn unit,” the ground is a little clearer, although still very green, the bottoms of the pine trees are charred and wild blueberries are thriving. …“Ojibwe people, when they were living out here, they used fire almost in a routine,” Grones said. The forest’s health was maintained through that fire.” … Stewardship Coordinator Kirsten Rhude said it will take a few years before the full advantages of the burn appear. 
At its July 2026 meeting, WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors approved amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. The amendments relate to 
Dangerous heat is gripping parts of the United States, with more than 39 million people under heat alerts across much of the South as temperatures are expected to rise over the weekend. Temperatures in some cities have climbed above 100°F. …The “heat dome” that brought extreme heat to much of the central and eastern U.S. has shifted west and is expected to intensify before expanding into the intermountain West and northern High Plains this weekend. Parts of the Southwest are forecast to reach 110-120°F from late this week into early next week, with some locations expected to experience one of their 10 hottest days on record. Extreme heat warnings are in effect on Friday across parts of six states: Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma and western Arkansas. …Such levels are “dangerous for anyone without adequate cooling or hydration,” the weather service warned.
B.C. Hydro says it will have to replace hundreds of power poles due to wildfires raging in the southern part of the province, but that its major transmission lines have escaped major damage. “There is quite a long list of items that are going to be replaced,” B.C. Hydro spokesperson Bob Gammer told CBC’s Daybreak North. The Pear Lake wildfire, burning near Clinton, has torched more than 230 power poles and knocked out power to about 1,100 customers. In the Boston Bar area, the fires of the Brunswick fire complex have left about 100 customers without power and burned 34 transmission poles. Significant quantities of power line and transformers will also need to be replaced, Gammer said. However, the fires have not knocked out any of B.C. Hydro’s major 500 kV transformer systems, and all of its primary transmission corridors — which supply power to millions of British Columbia — remain in service, the Crown corporation told CBC News.
WOODBINE, Ga. — Firefighters are continuing to battle an 800-acre wildfire in Camden County after smoke from the fire forced a portion of Interstate 95 to close overnight. The wildfire started Wednesday evening after a lightning strike in a remote marsh area, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission. Officials said the location of the fire has made it difficult for crews to access from the ground. “This is a very, very remote area with limited access as the majority of the fire is out in the marsh area,” Stockett said. The Georgia Forestry Commission said crews are using multiple resources to fight the fire, including helicopters and forestry personnel working to strengthen containment lines. Stockett said the fire was about 800 acres and 50% contained as crews continued working in the area. Smoke from the wildfire created visibility issues along I-95, leading officials to temporarily close part of the interstate. The roadway has since reopened.
BORDEAUX, France — Firefighters in southwestern France said Friday they were working on four active hotspots as they tried to put out fires that ripped through 100,000 acres of forest, villages and farmland over the past week. Lt. Col. Eric Pitault, the spokesman for firefighters in the Gironde region, said that while the situation had “stabilized,” there are still several zones that are difficult for responders to access. He said authorities were hoping to have full control by the weekend. Tens of thousands of people near Bordeaux who were evacuated due to fire risk were allowed to return to their homes on Thursday night, as the rest of Europe continued to tackle a historic heatwave. “It’s the first somewhat optimistic day,” said Sophie Brocas, prefect of Bordeaux’s Gironde region, as she allowed the 84,000 evacuees to return home. Some 60,000 had been allowed to return to their homes on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.