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The Tree Frog Forestry News
July 28, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway
Hello early bird! We just want you to know that the news team is busy adding stories to this page. Be sure to check back at 9:00 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.
Canadian lumber company Interfor to migrate corporate support functions to U.S. hub
By Barbara Shecter
Financial Post
July 28, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States
Canadian lumber giant Interfor Corp., which blamed U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber when it idled two Northern Ontario sawmills indefinitely in April, has told employees it plans to shift its corporate and functional support operations from the company’s current headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to an office in Georgia. In a memo sent to employees earlier this month and viewed by the Financial Post, chief executive Ian Fillinger said the Peachtree City office, outside Atlanta, will be established as Interfor’s “primary hub for corporate and functional support.” The July 9 memo says “a continued West Coast presence” will be maintained as part of a multi-year operational strategy and that the company hopes to handle the gradual shift to a U.S. corporate support hub largely through attrition and future hiring decisions. …According to Fillinger the changes would position the company’s support functions closer to where the business operates and strengthen how mills and customers are served….
Suspended production at Big River sawmill to cost 117 workers their jobs
The Leader-Post
July 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West
Carrier Forest Products Ltd. plans to indefinitely “curtail” production at its Big River sawmill later this year, resulting in 117 layoffs. Carrier recently announced that output from its Saskatchewan mill is to halt in October of this year, citing weak market conditions in addition to wildfires and American tariffs. “For over 100 years, the forestry industry has provided a source of income for the residents of this community as well as attracting many newcomers into town,” said Clint Panter, the reeve of the town council in Big River. …The NDP has blamed the governing Saskatchewan Party for the layoffs, stating that a lack of support for the forestry industry left the company vulnerable to tariffs, fires, disease and insects. In response, Saskatchewan Minister of Energy and Resources Chris Beaudry said the sawmill’s closure is “a direct result of the unjustified U.S. tariffs and duties, a weak pricing environment and a falling exchange rate.”
US Lumber Dealers latest on legislation, policies and trends affection building materials
The HBS Dealer
July 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States
New Tariffs Announced on Canadian Building Products—and Levied Against More than 80 Trading Partners – The White House announced a 50% tariff on certain Canadian imports under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. …The temporary 10% global tariffs imposed under Section 122 expired July 24. USTR replaced them with new Section 301 duties of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies.
Census Bureau Report New Residential Sales in June – Despite ongoing affordability challenges, new-home sales posted a modest increase in June.
Greer Outlines Trade Agenda Before Senate Committee – US Trade Representative Greer defended the continued use of tariffs and negotiated trade agreements to support domestic manufacturing, increase exports, and reduce the trade deficit.
Congress Faces Crowded Agenda Before Midterms – The House has begun its five-week August recess, while the Senate is scheduled to remain until August 7, leaving lawmakers with a narrow window to address the list of priorities before campaign season accelerates.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Nevada State Director Alida Ceballos last week announced that Tahoe Forest Products, LLC. will receive $50 million to expand and modernize timber processing capabilities at its 40-acre business in south Carson City. The investment comes through a partnership between the USDA and MapleMark Bank and will enable the business to access guaranteed loan funds to support domestic timber production, according to a USDA news release. Work first began in 2022 on the Tahoe Forest Products Saw Mill on Washoe Tribal Land behind the Topsy Lane shopping center. Operations stopped last year for “retooling and upgrading” their operations and machinery. …Ceballos said the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and President Trump, USDA has partnering with lending institutions to make the investment in new and upgraded timber processing equipment for Tahoe Forest Products, LLC, according to the news release.
Environmentalists Have Big Stake in Finch Pulp Mill Closure
By David Gibson
New York Almanack
July 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US East
The purely economic decision by Finch Paper in Glens Falls, now part of a global company, to stop purchasing Adirondack regional trees for its pulp to paper operation and to instead acquire its pulp from far beyond New York’s borders is serious – and deserves the attention it’s getting from forest product industries, harvesters, truckers, suppliers, and landowners elsewhere. …While residents will no longer have to breathe the sulfide smell from the mill, there are broadly negative effects further north. Environmental interests also have a big stake in this matter. If a large, regional, formerly reliable market for low-grade… pulp trees is suddenly eliminated, then the reduced income and opportunities for future management threatens the quality, diversity, and sustainability of Adirondack forests. It also threatens the loss of Adirondack forest-related employment up and down the supply chain, as well as forest fragmentation and loss of wildlife habitats due to sale, subdivision, and subsequent development.
Domtar Agrees to Settlement to Reduce Emissions in Arkansas
Arkansas Office of Public Affairs
July 24, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East
The Justice Department, on behalf of the EPA and the Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment lodged a proposed settlement with Domtar resolving alleged Clean Air Act and Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act violations involving the company’s kraft pulp and paper facility in Ashdown, Arkansas. Under the proposed consent decree, Domtar will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty, divided between the United States and the state of Arkansas. In addition, the company will implement projects to address excess emissions from its operations and correct its inadequate inspection and monitoring practices. The projects include installing the proper pollution controls on Domtar’s brown stock washer, updating leak detection and repair procedures to ensure compliance with the regulations, increasing the frequency of monitoring for leaks, and conducting performance testing on the boilers. The estimated cost to complete the required injunctive relief and bring operations into compliance is at least $2.6 million.
The number that matters in Trump’s new tariffs on Canada is 2.5, not 50
The Editorial Board
The Hub
July 23, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States
Two numbers describe President Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, and they point in opposite directions. 50% is the rate, imposed Monday under Section 338 of the Tariff Act. 2.5% is the effect. The Hub‘s reporting on the proclamations puts the affected goods at roughly 5.5% of Canadian exports now crossing the border duty-free. Weight the new duties by those trade flows and Canada’s average effective tariff rate rises by about 2.5 percentage points, pushing the blended rate toward 10%. The composition of the list reinforces the arithmetic. …Before this round, Canada faced the lowest overall tariff rate of any US trading partner—roughly 6% weighted by 2024 trade flows. Even after the duties take effect in mid-August, Canada remains among the least-tariffed economies selling into the American market. …At the level of the firm, the damage is real and concentrated. …At the level of the national economy, the needle barely moves. Both readings are true simultaneously.
Canadian raw materials price indices decline in June despite uptick for wood products
Statistics Canada
July 24, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada
Prices of products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), declined 1.4% month over month in June and gained 12.4% year over year. Meanwhile, prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), decreased 6.9% month over month and increased 20.7% year over year. …StatCan said improved prospects for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following the announcement of a tentative agreement between the US and Iran contributed to lower energy prices. …Higher prices for lumber and other wood products (+2.6%), which recorded its sixth consecutive monthly gain, were the main moderator of the IPPI‘s monthly decline in June 2026. Rising prices for softwood lumber (+6.1%) drove the June increase, with the product group registering its largest month-over-month increase since November 2024.
US Remodeling Spending Poised for Further Slowdown
JCHS – Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
July 27, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States
Cambridge, Massachusetts – Annual spending on home improvements and repairs is expected to continue losing momentum through mid-2027, according to the latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Year-over-year growth in renovation and repair spending is expected to slow to just 0.5 percent in the second quarter of 2027. “Growth in remodeling permitting and retail spending on building products have flattened recently, suggesting that renovation activity is cooling,” said Rachel Bogardus Drew, Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Center. “Our forecast suggests this will lead to a third straight quarter of decelerating year-over-year growth, with spending projected to be $519 billion through mid-2027.” “Reduced housing starts and broader economic uncertainty are also limiting stronger gains in remodeling spending,” said Chris Herbert. “Until home sales rebound from current low levels, remodeling expenditures are likely to stay at this pace.”
As Trump threatens wildfire smoke tariffs, Canada looks to reduce fire risk
By Mitchell Fox
CBC News
July 28, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States
While US President Trump threatens tariffs over wildfire smoke drifting south, Canadian fire experts say large forest fires are inevitable. Over the past week, Trump has criticized Canadian fire management and said the country is “poisoning” U.S. air. …But experts say Canada’s worsening fire seasons reflect a harder reality: not every blaze, or the smoke that comes from it, can be stopped. “Saying that you would need to extinguish very huge fires like this is similar to trying to stop a hurricane,” said Martin Girardin, a forest ecology researcher with NRCan. …As of Monday, more than 900 fires were burning across Canada and more than 3.7 million hectares had burned in 2026, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System dashboard. Girardin said climate change is helping drive worse fire seasons by bringing warmer temperatures and drier conditions, while many forests also have a buildup of fuel, including mature trees and other biomass.
Roots of prosperity – Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog on forestry
By Ian Biana
Resource Works
July 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West
Leonard Krog
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog argues forestry still underpins jobs, sustainability and public prosperity, while warning misinformation and policy drift threaten one of British Columbia’s enduring strengths. Leonard Krog has seen forestry from nearly every angle. He knows it as a worker, as a family story and as a policymaker. A lawyer and politician, Krog served 18 years as an NDP MLA before becoming Mayor of Nanaimo in 2018. Born in Nanaimo and raised in Coombs, he has long been a prominent voice in B.C. public life. That background shaped the force of his argument: forestry remains central to the province’s future. Krog’s perspective is rooted in history, but his focus is firmly on what comes next. Krog places forestry at the heart of Nanaimo’s economic identity, even as the city has diversified. …Krog’s sharpest comments target public misunderstanding. …“There is just far too much myth and mythology and misinformation out there.”
The BC Forest Practices Board to audit three woodlots in the Kamloops area
By Tanner Senko
BC Forest Practices Board
July 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West
VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will audit forest planning and practices on three woodlot licences in the Thompson Rivers Natural Resource District, beginning August 3, 2026. Woodlot licence W0314, held by Agnes Jackson, is near Lac Le Jeune, approximately 25 kilometres south of Kamloops. Woodlot licence W0315, held by Adams Lake Indian Band, includes areas around Adams Lake and north of Chase. Woodlot licence W1602, held by Indian Gardens Ranch Ltd., is near Tunkwa Lake, approximately 20 kilometres south of Savona. Auditors will examine harvesting, roads and structures, silviculture, protection activities and associated planning. All three woodlots have been significantly affected by wildfires in recent years. This audit will take place within the territories of numerous First Nations in the Thompson Rivers region. …Parties that may be adversely affected by the findings will have an opportunity to respond before the final report and any recommendations are released publicly.
Stronger Protections for Ontario’s Most Vulnerable Species are Needed
By Ontario Nature
PR Newswire
July 28, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East
TORONTO — On World Nature Conservation Day, a new report published by Ontario Nature demonstrates how Bill 5’s Species Conservation Act (SCA), which repealed the Endangered Species Act (ESA), creates critical protection gaps for 106 migratory birds, aquatic species and species of Special Concern. The report – Bridging the Gap: Assessing Recent Changes to Species at Risk Protections in Ontario – shows that the ESA provided an effective, though imperfect, framework for species conservation and recovery. The loss of this framework is a symptom of a much broader trend in weakened environmental protections across the province and beyond, where the most vulnerable species and habitats are seen as “red tape”. This pattern exacerbates the ongoing biodiversity crisis, which will ultimately undermine the economic and social resilience of Ontario, in addition to further imperiling our precious natural world.
‘We’re losing our ability to manage forest fires’ as West becomes hotter and drier, researcher says
By Leia Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
July 28, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West
Trump administration officials and members of Congress walked along the burn scar from Utah’s devastating Cottonwood Fire last week…. If the forest had been thinned, with “a lot fewer trees per acre, and maybe even some controlled burns to take the underbrush out, there’s just not the fuel there when these fires start to make them catastrophic fires,” Rep. Bruce Westerman said. The Arkansas Republican chairs the House Natural Resources Committee. But these traditional fire prevention methods may no longer work with a changing climate that makes hot, dry weather increasingly the norm said Dominik Kulakowski, a professor of geography at Clark University in Massachusetts. “The implication of that,” he said, “is that we’re losing our ability to manage forest fires.” …The Trump administration issued a directive this year calling on federal agencies to aggressively suppress all fires — including the smaller ones that forests evolved with and may keep them healthy.
Wildfires 50 percent contained, Gov. Tim Walz weighs special session for economic aid
Minnesota Public Radio News
July 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East
Tim Walz
As firefighters and line crews continue to make progress containing several wildfires in northeast Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz says he’s been talking with legislative leaders about holding a special session to help area residents and business. Meanwhile, Sunday St. Louis and Lake counties downgraded several evacuation zones, which will allow some people who had been evacuated will soon be able to return to their homes. The governor declared a peacetime emergency earlier this month to allocate some state resources to fighting the wildfires. State law requires lawmakers to be called back into session if the peacetime emergency extends beyond 30 days. The 30th day is Aug. 11, so Walz says the special session would likely take place on Aug. 12, so it doesn’t conflict with the Aug. 11 primary elections. At a news briefing on the fires in Ely Monday morning, Walz said he doesn’t know yet if he will need to extend the emergency declaration beyond Aug. 11…
Four conservation organizations announced the successful completion of a landmark project that has conserved more than 78,000 acres in the Magalloway River region of western Maine. Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, Forest Society of Maine, Northeast Wilderness Trust and The Nature Conservancy—together, the Magalloway Collaborative—worked in close coordination on all aspects of the effort, from initial negotiations through fundraising and completion of the conservation transactions, to connect a corridor of more than half a million acres of contiguous conserved lands. This multifaceted land conservation project maintains existing recreational access to the property’s lands and waters, creates new public preserves, restricts future development and sustains the regional economy through continued forest management opportunities while creating buffers around key waterbodies. …The Magalloway project’s balanced conservation approach was negotiated in partnership with Wagner Forest Management, representing Bayroot, LLC, the property owner. Most of the property (more than 62,500 acres) will continue to be managed by Wagner.
With France and Spain struggling to contain raging wildfires, and others from Germany to Greece on high alert, Europe is discussing how to stop this happening again next year. …Addressing the root causes of wildfires, such as increasingly frequent heat waves, will require long-term policies. But there are ways to reduce the risk in the short term, said Tammouz Eñaut Helou, secretary-general of the French forest owners’ association UCFF. This includes raising awareness about how to prepare for outbreaks of fire and “maintaining access through forests to allow firefighters to operate more effectively during interventions”. …Environmentalists say it’s the entire structure of our forests that needs to be rethought. “The fires … are spreading through timber plantations. These monocultures are more than twice as likely to burn as natural forests,” the director of UK environmental group Earthsight, Samuel Lawson, said on Sunday. …Helou, representing the planters of such forests, disagrees.
IKEA strengthens Romanian timber supply chain audits amid growing scrutiny over old-growth forest sourcing
By Rajlekha Patra
Wood & Panel Europe
July 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International
Inter IKEA Group has intensified oversight of its Romanian timber supply chain, choosing to strengthen supplier verification processes instead of withdrawing from one of its most challenging sourcing markets. The move comes as allegations concerning timber harvested from old-growth forests continue to attract attention. Ulf Johansson, Head of Raw Materials at Inter IKEA Group, said stronger monitoring provides a more effective response than ending procurement from Romania altogether. …According to Johansson, every supplier’s sourcing plan is reviewed annually to verify where timber originates and how it has been obtained. The company requires all wood used in IKEA products to carry certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Suppliers must also comply with the company’s mandatory IWAY MUST sourcing standard, which establishes requirements for responsible material procurement. …That position has been challenged by Greenpeace who published a report alleging that suppliers had harvested timber from forests with high biodiversity value.
Ontario dismantled its climate policy. Now it’s burning
By Mark Winfield, professor, York University
The Hamilton Spectator
July 25, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East
The wildfire situation in northwestern Ontario has drawn growing global attention. There have been extraordinary stories of close calls and narrow escapes from the rapidly advancing fires. Complaints are coming (ironically) from the United States over the impacts of the resulting fire smoke on American cities. In the short term, attention is rightly focused on the immediate responses to the fires. …At the same time, the fires need to be viewed in a longer-term context. Increased incidences of large-scale forest fires, particularly in the boreal region stretching across Canada from Labrador to the Yukon, have been a predicted impact of climate change in Canada for more than three decades. …The province needs to both adapt to the reality of a changing climate and its consequences and develop a serious strategy for not making the problem worse. So far, Ontario is failing on both fronts.
Washington County supports Port Angeles site proposal for bioenergy development
By Emily Hanson
The Peninsula Daily News
July 27, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West
PORT ANGELES, Washington — The Clallam County commissioners are set to throw their support toward a company exploring the possibility of repurposing the former McKinley Mill site. The commissioners discussed a letter of support for Candelaria Industries’ Biopower Redevelopment Proposal with the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities’ request for proposals for repurposing closed wood products facilities for bioenergy development. Candelaria Industries purchased the former McKinley Mill site in June and is evaluating potential reuse of the industrial property and existing infrastructure. …On June 15, the endowment launched a funding opportunity to assessed closed wood products facilities for bioenergy development, the site states. Up to $500,000 in funding is available “to test the renewable energy and economic potential of idled industrial sites in forest-dependent regions,” according to the site.
Fourth Firefighter Dies Following Knowles Fire Burnover in Colorado
US Department of the Interior
July 25, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: US West
Nathan Matthews
On Friday, July 24, U.S. Wildland Fire Service firefighter Nathan Matthews, 43, of Lincoln, Nebraska, died from injuries sustained while responding to the Knowles Fire in western Colorado on June 27. Nate was assigned to the Rifle Helitack crew and was one of five firefighters involved in a burnover while engaged in initial attack operations on the Knowles Fire. Three firefighters — Emily Barker, 38, of Clinton Township, Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27, of Glendale, Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 27, of Warrior, Alabama — died at the scene. Nate had been receiving medical care for burn injuries suffered during the incident. “This is another heartbreaking loss for our wildland fire family,” said U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy. “We mourn the loss of Nate while continuing to grieve the deaths of Emily, Nick and Sydney. …We remain committed to supporting those affected and honoring the legacy of all four firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation.”
Local firefighting crews will get a bit of a reprieve soon as help from other parts of North America are set to start arriving in British Columbia today. As of Monday afternoon, there are more than 130 wildfires burning across B.C., covering tens of thousands of hectares of land. Hundreds of people are out of their homes as a result of evacuation orders, while hundreds more have been told to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said local crews are working flat out to try to stop the fires from spreading. … A total of 25 firefighters from Yukon will arrive in B.C. on Monday, and on Tuesday 66 Albertan firefighting personnel will be on deck to help out their neighbours. Next week 114 personnel from Mexico are expected to join wildland firefighting efforts in British Columbia. …Sebastian Kallos with the B.C. General Employees’ Union, said outside support is a must for local crews.
Residents of Central and Eastern Oregon faced smoke-filled skies and closed highways Monday morning after hot, dry weather and strong winds fueled wildfires and burned homes over the weekend. Oregon currently has dozens of active, large fires burning statewide, covering more than 1 million acres, according to Jessica Neujahr, public affairs officer for the Oregon Department of Forestry. She said conditions are so dry that “any small ember right now could potentially start the next large wildfire.” Lightning storms sparked many of today’s wildfires, and more could be on the way. Forecasters expect another round of lightning in northeastern Oregon Thursday afternoon. …As of Monday, the Big Grass Fire, near Jordan Valley, also grew to nearly 200,000 acres, with only 5% containment, prompting Level 3 “Go Now!” evacuation orders for residents in the area. …Six homes and five agricultural buildings have burned in the Bench Fire. It’s covering about 40,200 acres.
French wildfire created a monster cloud, unleashing lightning that ignited more fires
By Thomas Adamson
The Associated Press in the Canadian Press
July 27, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International
PARIS — A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe and more commonly documented in North America and Australia, where it occurs only over some of the most extreme fires. France’s national firefighters federation said it had never before recorded one in the country. …At about 6:20 p.m. Friday, two days after the fire began, the departmental fire and rescue service said it had generated a pyrocumulonimbus. The cloud weakened overnight as humidity rose, then formed again several times. An electrified black thundercloud…
What to Know About the Deadly Wildfires in Western Europe
By Miranda Jeyaretnam
Time Magazine
July 26, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International
More than 300,000 people were evacuated and at least one person killed because of wildfires in France and Spain, with fire crews battling the blazes for several days. The two countries are facing massive wildfires that began last week amid successive heat waves in Europe that produced record high temperatures in several countries and led to thousands of excess deaths. …Fire crews were dealing with a 280-km perimeter of fire covering 77,000 hectares across Madrid, Ávila, and Toledo, Spain’s Secretary-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies Virginia Barcones told state broadcaster TVE. …In France, around 55,000 people were ordered to evacuate villages near Bordeaux… Much of Europe has been affected by successive heat waves that have raised the risk of wildfires. With temperatures expected to rise again and little rain forecast in many fire-affected areas, that danger is only expected to increase this week.
Hello early bird! We just want you to know that the news team is busy adding stories to this page. Be sure to check back at 9:00 am (PST) for the full line up of articles.
Canadian lumber giant Interfor Corp., which blamed U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber when it idled two Northern Ontario sawmills indefinitely in April, has told employees it plans to shift its corporate and functional support operations from the company’s current headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to an office in Georgia. In a memo sent to employees earlier this month and viewed by the Financial Post, chief executive Ian Fillinger said the Peachtree City office, outside Atlanta, will be established as Interfor’s “primary hub for corporate and functional support.” The July 9 memo says “a continued West Coast presence” will be maintained as part of a multi-year operational strategy and that the company hopes to handle the gradual shift to a U.S. corporate support hub largely through attrition and future hiring decisions. …According to Fillinger the changes would position the company’s support functions closer to where the business operates and strengthen how mills and customers are served….
Carrier Forest Products Ltd. plans to indefinitely “curtail” production at its Big River sawmill later this year, resulting in 117 layoffs. Carrier recently announced that output from its Saskatchewan mill is to halt in October of this year, citing weak market conditions in addition to wildfires and American tariffs. “For over 100 years, the forestry industry has provided a source of income for the residents of this community as well as attracting many newcomers into town,” said Clint Panter, the reeve of the town council in Big River. …The NDP has blamed the governing Saskatchewan Party for the layoffs, stating that a lack of support for the forestry industry left the company vulnerable to tariffs, fires, disease and insects. In response, Saskatchewan Minister of Energy and Resources Chris Beaudry said the sawmill’s closure is “a direct result of the unjustified U.S. tariffs and duties, a weak pricing environment and a falling exchange rate.”
The purely economic decision by Finch Paper in Glens Falls, now part of a global company, to stop purchasing Adirondack regional trees for its pulp to paper operation and to instead acquire its pulp from far beyond New York’s borders is serious – and deserves the attention it’s getting from forest product industries, harvesters, truckers, suppliers, and landowners elsewhere. …While residents will no longer have to breathe the sulfide smell from the mill, there are broadly negative effects further north. Environmental interests also have a big stake in this matter. If a large, regional, formerly reliable market for low-grade… pulp trees is suddenly eliminated, then the reduced income and opportunities for future management threatens the quality, diversity, and sustainability of Adirondack forests. It also threatens the loss of Adirondack forest-related employment up and down the supply chain, as well as forest fragmentation and loss of wildlife habitats due to sale, subdivision, and subsequent development. 
Two numbers describe President Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, and they point in opposite directions. 50% is the rate, imposed Monday under Section 338 of the Tariff Act. 2.5% is the effect. The Hub‘s reporting on the proclamations puts the affected goods at roughly 5.5% of Canadian exports now crossing the border duty-free. Weight the new duties by those trade flows and Canada’s average effective tariff rate rises by about 2.5 percentage points, pushing the blended rate toward 10%. The composition of the list reinforces the arithmetic. …Before this round, Canada faced the lowest overall tariff rate of any US trading partner—roughly 6% weighted by 2024 trade flows. Even after the duties take effect in mid-August, Canada remains among the least-tariffed economies selling into the American market. …At the level of the firm, the damage is real and concentrated. …At the level of the national economy, the needle barely moves. Both readings are true simultaneously.
While US President Trump threatens tariffs over wildfire smoke drifting south, Canadian fire experts say large forest fires are inevitable. Over the past week, Trump has criticized Canadian fire management and said the country is “poisoning” U.S. air. …But experts say Canada’s worsening fire seasons reflect a harder reality: not every blaze, or the smoke that comes from it, can be stopped. “Saying that you would need to extinguish very huge fires like this is similar to trying to stop a hurricane,” said Martin Girardin, a forest ecology researcher with NRCan. …As of Monday, more than 900 fires were burning across Canada and more than 3.7 million hectares had burned in 2026, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System dashboard. Girardin said climate change is helping drive worse fire seasons by bringing warmer temperatures and drier conditions, while many forests also have a buildup of fuel, including mature trees and other biomass.
TORONTO — On World Nature Conservation Day, a new report published by Ontario Nature demonstrates how Bill 5’s Species Conservation Act (SCA), which repealed the Endangered Species Act (ESA), creates critical protection gaps for 106 migratory birds, aquatic species and species of Special Concern. The report – Bridging the Gap: Assessing Recent Changes to Species at Risk Protections in Ontario – shows that the ESA provided an effective, though imperfect, framework for species conservation and recovery. The loss of this framework is a symptom of a much broader trend in weakened environmental protections across the province and beyond, where the most vulnerable species and habitats are seen as “red tape”. This pattern exacerbates the ongoing biodiversity crisis, which will ultimately undermine the economic and social resilience of Ontario, in addition to further imperiling our precious natural world.
Trump administration officials and members of Congress walked along the burn scar from Utah’s devastating Cottonwood Fire last week…. If the forest had been thinned, with “a lot fewer trees per acre, and maybe even some controlled burns to take the underbrush out, there’s just not the fuel there when these fires start to make them catastrophic fires,” Rep. Bruce Westerman said. The Arkansas Republican chairs the House Natural Resources Committee. But these traditional fire prevention methods may no longer work with a changing climate that makes hot, dry weather increasingly the norm said Dominik Kulakowski, a professor of geography at Clark University in Massachusetts. “The implication of that,” he said, “is that we’re losing our ability to manage forest fires.” …The Trump administration issued a directive this year calling on federal agencies to aggressively suppress all fires — including the smaller ones that forests evolved with and may keep them healthy.
With France and Spain struggling to contain raging wildfires, and others from Germany to Greece on high alert, Europe is discussing how to stop this happening again next year. …Addressing the root causes of wildfires, such as increasingly frequent heat waves, will require long-term policies. But there are ways to reduce the risk in the short term, said Tammouz Eñaut Helou, secretary-general of the French forest owners’ association UCFF. This includes raising awareness about how to prepare for outbreaks of fire and “maintaining access through forests to allow firefighters to operate more effectively during interventions”. …Environmentalists say it’s the entire structure of our forests that needs to be rethought. “The fires … are spreading through timber plantations. These monocultures are more than twice as likely to burn as natural forests,” the director of UK environmental group Earthsight, Samuel Lawson, said on Sunday. …Helou, representing the planters of such forests, disagrees.
Inter IKEA Group has intensified oversight of its Romanian timber supply chain, choosing to strengthen supplier verification processes instead of withdrawing from one of its most challenging sourcing markets. The move comes as allegations concerning timber harvested from old-growth forests continue to attract attention. Ulf Johansson, Head of Raw Materials at Inter IKEA Group, said stronger monitoring provides a more effective response than ending procurement from Romania altogether. …According to Johansson, every supplier’s sourcing plan is reviewed annually to verify where timber originates and how it has been obtained. The company requires all wood used in IKEA products to carry certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Suppliers must also comply with the company’s mandatory IWAY MUST sourcing standard, which establishes requirements for responsible material procurement. …That position has been challenged by Greenpeace who published a report alleging that suppliers had harvested timber from forests with high biodiversity value.
The wildfire situation in northwestern Ontario has drawn growing global attention. There have been extraordinary stories of close calls and narrow escapes from the rapidly advancing fires. Complaints are coming (ironically) from the United States over the impacts of the resulting fire smoke on American cities. In the short term, attention is rightly focused on the immediate responses to the fires. …At the same time, the fires need to be viewed in a longer-term context. Increased incidences of large-scale forest fires, particularly in the boreal region stretching across Canada from Labrador to the Yukon, have been a predicted impact of climate change in Canada for more than three decades. …The province needs to both adapt to the reality of a changing climate and its consequences and develop a serious strategy for not making the problem worse. So far, Ontario is failing on both fronts.
PORT ANGELES, Washington — The Clallam County commissioners are set to throw their support toward a company exploring the possibility of repurposing the former McKinley Mill site. The commissioners discussed a letter of support for Candelaria Industries’ Biopower Redevelopment Proposal with the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities’ request for proposals for repurposing closed wood products facilities for bioenergy development. Candelaria Industries purchased the former McKinley Mill site in June and is evaluating potential reuse of the industrial property and existing infrastructure. …On June 15, the endowment launched a funding opportunity to assessed closed wood products facilities for bioenergy development, the site states. Up to $500,000 in funding is available “to test the renewable energy and economic potential of idled industrial sites in forest-dependent regions,” according to the site.
PARIS — A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe and more commonly documented in North America and Australia, where it occurs only over some of the most extreme fires. France’s national firefighters federation said it had never before recorded one in the country. …At about 6:20 p.m. Friday, two days after the fire began, the departmental fire and rescue service said it had generated a pyrocumulonimbus. The cloud weakened overnight as humidity rose, then formed again several times. An electrified black thundercloud…
More than 300,000 people were evacuated and at least one person killed because of wildfires in France and Spain, with fire crews battling the blazes for several days. The two countries are facing massive wildfires that began last week amid successive heat waves in Europe that produced record high temperatures in several countries and led to thousands of excess deaths. …Fire crews were dealing with a 280-km perimeter of fire covering 77,000 hectares across Madrid, Ávila, and Toledo, Spain’s Secretary-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies Virginia Barcones told state broadcaster TVE. …In France, around 55,000 people were ordered to evacuate villages near Bordeaux… Much of Europe has been affected by successive heat waves that have raised the risk of wildfires. With temperatures expected to rise again and little rain forecast in many fire-affected areas, that danger is only expected to increase this week.