Thank you for visiting the Tree Frog Forestry News
The Tree Frog Forestry News
July 20, 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.
Ontario premier rips Trump wildfires criticism: ‘Absolutely unacceptable’
By Sophie Brams
The Hill
July 18, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Saturday blasted the criticism leveled at the Canadian government by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans over its handling of raging wildfires as “totally unacceptable.” “We’re trying to get through this,” Ford said, calling the rhetoric coming from some in the US “shameful.” President Trump threatened on Friday to impose additional tariffs on Canada over what he described as the government’s “willful negligence” and refusal to engage in “basic Forest Management”. The president said he planned to call Prime Minister Mark Carney to “find out what they are going to do” about the hundreds of wildfires raging across Canada.
There were 955 active fires as of Saturday. Ford described current conditions as a “terrible scenario”. …Ford suggested those lawmakers have a “short, short memory,” noting how Canadian hydro-linemen and water bombers assisted in battling wildfires in California, Georgia and South Carolina last year.
Hoekstra says Trump serious about tariff threat over wildfire smoke
By Alessia Simona Maratta and Mackenzie Gray
Global News
July 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States
US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says President Trump‘s threat to impose new tariffs over smoke from Canadian wildfires should be taken seriously. Smoke from Canadian wildfires has blanketed several major American cities. “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He said the wildfire smoke amounts to “Willful Negligence” and is “costing the US Billions of Dollars.” He added that the cost of the pollution “is incalculable” and should be “added to the tariffs Canada currently pays.” …Hoekstra would not say how large any potential tariffs could be or what legal mechanism the administration might use to impose them. But he said Canada could face consequences if the issue is not addressed. …The criticism comes despite the administration’s own moves to scale back US climate action.
PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The closure of Canfor’s Northwood pulp mill is putting renewed pressure on governments to support forestry workers in Prince George, with both union and political voices pointing to retirement bridging as one of the most urgent needs for workers facing job loss. The Northwood closure has left workers trying to understand what comes next, including when their jobs will end and whether there will be comparable work available in the region. Chuck LeBlanc, National President of PPWC, says many workers are still processing the announcement. …But finding similar work in Prince George could be difficult as there are fewer options left following years of mill closures and downsizing. …LeBlanc says one support that has been pushed before is bridging to retirement, a program that could help older workers leave the workforce with financial assistance while opening up jobs for others lower on the seniority list.
NDP was asked four years ago to rescue B.C.’s pulp mills. It didn’t
By Vaughn Palmer
The Vancouver Sun
July 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West
Vaughn Palmer
Forests Minister Ravi Parmar started the week on a positive note, announcing that the province would be making more wood available to custom cutters. The next day… Canfor announced the Northwood pulp mill will be closing permanently. …The BC Pulp and Paper Coalition said that the BC government could have done more to head off the Northwood closure. Coalition’s Joe Nemeth said …“had these two steps been taken, the closure of Northwood may well have been avoidable”. …Four years ago this month, the coalition gave the NDP government a plan for the pulp and paper sector. …The July 2022 presentation also came with a cautionary forecast about the fate of the sector without relief. There were then 16 mills operating in BC. As many as five could close over the next 10 years, the coalition warned. With the pending closure of Northwood, the coalition’s mill count will be down to 11 by the end of this year.
‘An emergency measure’: Wood products industry calls on Ottawa to impose tariff on foreign goods
By Abigil Bimman
CTV News
July 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East
COATICOOK, Que. – Alain Ouzilleau’s custom cabinet plant in Coaticook, Que., is only running at half capacity. Ouzilleau spent $25 million to expand Cabico&Co’s operations over the last five years, with a new 50,000-sq. ft building and state-of-the-art robots. But instead of growth, the double hit of 25 per cent U.S. tariffs and a flood of foreign imports now has him breaking even. He laid off about 200 of his 700-person workforce, which includes the company’s second plant in St. Catharines, Ont. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to double those tariffs to 50 per cent in January, but delayed that move by a year. However, even at the 25 per cent level, Ouzilleau says Cabico&Co “cannot be profitable.” “We’re breaking even, but we want to continue to invest,” he told CTV News at the plant. “One of the options to protect our Canadian jobs, will be having operations south of the border, which I hate to do.”
Rayonier Appoints Ryan Daniels Senior Vice President, Wood Products
Rayonier Inc.
July 17, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East
Ryan Daniels
WILDLIGHT, Florida — Rayonier announced the appointment of Ryan Daniels as Senior Vice President, Wood Products, effective immediately. Mr. Daniels has served as Interim Senior Vice President, Wood Products, since March 20, 2026. Mark McHugh, President and CEO said “Ryan brings deep industry experience and a proven leadership track record.” …Mr. Daniels joined PotlatchDeltic Corporation in September 2023 as Director, Wood Products Operations, serving in that capacity until the merger of equals between Rayonier and PotlatchDeltic closed earlier this year. Prior to joining PotlatchDeltic, Mr. Daniels served in leadership roles at Hood Industries, Coastal Forest Resources, Weyerhaeuser, and Georgia-Pacific.
Cambium acquires General Woodcraft, connecting a 75-year old specialty wood leader to its modern market for wood
By Cambium
PR Newswire
July 16, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US East
WASHINGTON — Cambium, the modern market for wood, today announced its acquisition of General Woodcraft, a Connecticut-based specialty wood products company founded in 1949. The acquisition expands Cambium’s presence in the building products market and adds premium materials and deep technical expertise to a platform built to connect and modernize how wood is sourced, priced, and moved. The deal marks Cambium’s fifth acquisition in five years, following Lumber Tracker, OE Custom, Forward Forestry and Intectural, signaling continued momentum as it builds the national market for wood. General Woodcraft brings Cambium more than seven decades of experience across decking, siding, rainscreen systems, architectural millwork, hardwoods, and specialty building materials. Its portfolio centers on premium, domestically sourced options, including Mataverde SaferWood, its ignition-resistant thermally modified line, and the Climate Shield rainscreen system.
On mass timber, the Florida Building Commission can’t see the forest for the trees
By Peter Schorsch
Florida Politics
July 15, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East
Commissioners rejected national standards their own technical experts recommended — again. Twenty-two proposals. Two technical advisory committees. …The Florida Building Commission rejected it all. I have written before about the Florida Building Commission’s troubling habit of discarding the recommendations of its own technical experts. That wasn’t a one-off. The same pattern is now blocking Florida from adopting nationally accepted standards for mass timber construction. …This is not a bet on unproven technology. The tall mass timber provisions are already the law in 44 states, either statewide or through local adopting jurisdictions — 38 of them statewide. And the projects are already here. A six-story mass timber office building just topped out in Fort Lauderdale. Approved plans for Pensacola’s Maritime Park include 11- and 16-story mass timber towers — poised to be the tallest in the state. Every one of those projects must squeeze through Florida’s “alternative means and methods“ process. …Inconsistency. Uncertainty. Unnecessary cost.
…Already, forestry technicians are fanning out across Oregon’s federal forests, marking small-diameter trees with orange paint for removal by logging companies. Such “thinning” reduces the amount of fuel that can feed a wildfire. …But increasingly, that orange paint marks a dead end. Most Oregon mills aren’t built to handle these small diameter logs, and those logs are worth so little that cutting and hauling them often costs more than they are worth. …The Department of Forestry says roughly 13 million acres of state forestland need thinning to cut fire risk. But in many of the places that need it most, there’s no mill close enough to take the wood. …This year, two federal thinning sales, the Austin ODOT sale on the Malheur National Forest near John Day and the Pint sale on the Ochoco National Forest near Prineville drew zero bids at auction. …It’s a gap neither Salem nor Washington has been willing to name.
How B.C.’s forest policy is making Canada’s climate problem worse
By Stewart Muir
Resource Works Society
July 17, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West
BC’s wildfire emissions in 2023 exceeded those of seven of the world’s ten largest national emitters. …At the same time, provincial policy has systematically reduced the managed forest harvest and shuttered 21 mills since 2023. …The policy of locking forests away from active management—while presented as environmental protection—is contributing to the very climate outcome it claims to prevent. Decadent, unmanaged stands are the fuel that feeds catastrophic wildfire. A well-managed, productive forest economy would reduce Canada’s climate impact more than any policy of exclusion. …The argument for locking forests away from harvest assumes that standing forests are always a carbon sink—absorbing more CO₂ than they release. This is true for young, actively growing forests. It is not true for old, decadent stands. …The solution is not less forestry. It is more forestry—done well, done sustainably, and done with the explicit goal of reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions: uncontrolled wildfire in unmanaged forests.
Canada wildfires: A look at where they are burning from coast to coast
The Associated Press in CTV News
July 18, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada
More than 950 wildfires are scorching Canada from coast to coast, the national wildland fire summary says. Roughly 241 blazes are out of control. The fires have prompted Environment Canada to issue air quality warnings from B.C. to Quebec, as well as the Northwest Territories. Here’s a look at what is happening:
British Columbia: Nearly 115 wildfires are burning in British Columbia. BC Wildfire Service says a majority were sparked by lightning…
Manitoba: Multiple out-of-control wildfires are burning in Manitoba’s north…
Northwest Territories: Fires forced about 1,300 residents of Fort Simpson and 130 from Wrigley to leave their communities in late June…
Ontario: Nearly 200 wildfires are blazing across the province, already scorching more land than all of last year’s fires…
Nova Scotia: Crews in Nova Scotia are fighting an out-of-control wildfire northeast of Halifax…
Wildfires in Northern Ontario have prompted evacuations, blocked rail traffic and halted forestry operations, as smoke blanketed much of the province and parts of the United States this week. There are 177 active wildland blazes in Ontario, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, prompting evacuation orders in several communities, such as Armstrong, Lac La Croix First Nation and Whitesand First Nation. While firefighters battle the blazes, conditions are being monitored and some services and businesses have been suspended. Canadian National Railway’s freight network continues to be disrupted. The mainline north of Lake Superior has been closed since Monday and transcontinental freight trains are being rerouted. …Via Rail, which operates mainly on CN tracks, has cancelled service between Toronto and Winnipeg until July 19. …Domtar, one of the country’s largest lumber companies, suspended all harvesting and road building in northwestern Ontario because of the wildfires. [A Globe and Mail subscription is required for full access to this story]
Oregon wildfire updates as Kotek invokes Conflagration Act for blazes
By Bettina Wu
The Register-Guard
July 18, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West
Tina Kotek
Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act twice within 24 hours, mobilizing task forces across the state to fight the Akawa Butte Fire, Brewer Fire and the Rowe Creek Complex, which consist of the Camel Hump, Crosswhite, and Redrock fires in Wheeler County. Of the 58 new fires, 13 are considered “large incidents” ignited in the Northwest area that spans Oregon and Washington, according to the Incident Management Situation Report published by the National Interagency Coordination Center. Of the fires that started this week, 18 were confirmed to be caused by lightning in the Willamette National Forest, according to a post on its Facebook. Each is small, with the largest at 0.5 acres, and 15 of them are under control or contained. Here is an update on Oregon’s largest fires. East Evans Creek Fire grows to nearly 14,000 acres in southern Oregon. …Lower Dry Creek Fire grows to over 8,000 acres
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.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Saturday blasted the criticism leveled at the Canadian government by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans over its handling of raging wildfires as “totally unacceptable.” “We’re trying to get through this,” Ford said, calling the rhetoric coming from some in the US “shameful.” President Trump threatened on Friday to impose additional tariffs on Canada over what he described as the government’s “willful negligence” and refusal to engage in “basic Forest Management”. The president said he planned to call Prime Minister Mark Carney to “find out what they are going to do” about the hundreds of wildfires raging across Canada.
US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says President Trump‘s threat to impose new tariffs over smoke from Canadian wildfires should be taken seriously. Smoke from Canadian wildfires has blanketed several major American cities. “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He said the wildfire smoke amounts to “Willful Negligence” and is “costing the US Billions of Dollars.” He added that the cost of the pollution “is incalculable” and should be “added to the tariffs Canada currently pays.” …Hoekstra would not say how large any potential tariffs could be or what legal mechanism the administration might use to impose them. But he said Canada could face consequences if the issue is not addressed. …The criticism comes despite the administration’s own moves to scale back US climate action.
PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The closure of Canfor’s Northwood pulp mill is putting renewed pressure on governments to support forestry workers in Prince George, with both union and political voices pointing to retirement bridging as one of the most urgent needs for workers facing job loss. The Northwood closure has left workers trying to understand what comes next, including when their jobs will end and whether there will be comparable work available in the region. Chuck LeBlanc, National President of PPWC, says many workers are still processing the announcement. …But finding similar work in Prince George could be difficult as there are fewer options left following years of mill closures and downsizing. …LeBlanc says one support that has been pushed before is bridging to retirement, a program that could help older workers leave the workforce with financial assistance while opening up jobs for others lower on the seniority list.
BC’s wildfire emissions in 2023 exceeded those of seven of the world’s ten largest national emitters. …At the same time, provincial policy has systematically reduced the managed forest harvest and shuttered 21 mills since 2023. …The policy of locking forests away from active management—while presented as environmental protection—is contributing to the very climate outcome it claims to prevent. Decadent, unmanaged stands are the fuel that feeds catastrophic wildfire. A well-managed, productive forest economy would reduce Canada’s climate impact more than any policy of exclusion. …The argument for locking forests away from harvest assumes that standing forests are always a carbon sink—absorbing more CO₂ than they release. This is true for young, actively growing forests. It is not true for old, decadent stands. …The solution is not less forestry. It is more forestry—done well, done sustainably, and done with the explicit goal of reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions: uncontrolled wildfire in unmanaged forests.
