Daily News for May 13, 2025

Today’s Takeaway

Why the US and China pulled back from the edge

Tree Frog Forestry News
May 13, 2025
Category: Today's Takeaway

The great tariff rollback—why the US and China pulled back from the edge. In related news: reacting to US tariff policy; Alabama’s GOP seeks higher duties on lumber; what else is hurting BC’s forest sector; Kitselas First Nation buys A&A Trading’s tenure; and Biochar breathes new life into the Espanola mill. Meanwhile: the US inflation rate was 2.3% in April;  and lumber price continue to drop.

In Forestry/Wildfire news: a University of Alberta study says the boreal forest is understated by 1/3; the US Endowment supports wood product manufacturers; Colorado’s Jefferson county faces a pine beetle outbreak; the Centre for Biological Diversity says active forest management harms forests; and wildfire updates from Kenora and Northwestern Ontario; and northern Manitoba.

Finally, West Fraser Timber’s Henderson, Texas General Manager retires after 51 years!

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Business & Politics

Alabama Republicans are asking Commerce to set tariff rates on lumber to 60%

By Ari Hawkins
PoliticoPro
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, International

Alabama Republicans are asking the Trump administration to set the duty rate on timber and lumber products to at least 60 percent, as it pursues a Section 232 investigation, according to a letter first obtained by Morning Trade. “In recent years, our $12 billion domestic cabinet industry has been devastated by unfairly traded imports of kitchen cabinets and cabinet components,” wrote Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, as well as Reps. Barry Moore, Gary Palmer, Mike Rogers, Dale Strong and Robert Aderholt in a note sent Thursday to Lutnick and Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler. The Alabama Republicans note that the U.S. kitchen cabinet industry supports 250,000 jobs around the country and 5,000 in Alabama, and warn some U.S. manufacturers are operating at as low as 30 percent capacity. [to access the full story a PoliticoPro subscription is required]

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Kitselas First Nation Expands Forestry Operations with Major Tenure Purchase

By Sabrina Spencer
Canada’s First Nations Radio (CFNR) Network
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Kitselas First Nation is expanding its role in the forestry sector with the purchase of a new forest tenure from A&A Trading Ltd. The deal includes Forest License A16836 and Road Permit RP16688, giving Kitselas an annual allowable cut of just over 10,000 cubic metres. The total purchase price was just under $1.58 million and was approved by Chief and Council in July 2024. The acquisition is supported by Kitselas Development Corporation and Kitselas Forestry LP. An initial $800,000 was transferred to Kitselas in 2024, with the potential for a second distribution to fully cover the purchase. This move strengthens Kitselas’ economic position and gives the Nation more control over its lands and resources. Kitselas Forestry LP will manage the new tenure alongside existing operations, maintaining partnerships with trusted industry players.

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It’s Not Just Trump’s Tariff War Hurting BC’s Forest Sector

By Ben Parfitt
The Tyee
May 13, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Ben Parfitt

In August 2022, shortly after Canfor Corp. announced plans to … build a new high-tech sawmill in southern Alabama, local media reported that a suite of subsidies had sealed the deal to keep the company in the state. …Canfor’s investment is just one of dozens of U.S. acquisitions made in recent years by B.C.-headquartered lumber companies. …An investigation by The Tyee shows that just three of those companies — Canfor, Interfor and West Fraser — have plowed a combined nearly US$8.4 billion to buy, expand or build 59 mills in about a dozen U.S. states over the past 20 years… To unravel this story, The Tyee looked at B.C. company investments in the United States and at B.C.’s and Canada’s lumber export data over the course of nearly four decades — data that helps illuminate what brought the province’s forest industry to this critical juncture. …With duties mounting and a rapidly declining number of economically viable trees to cut down in B.C., it seems certain that growth for B.C. lumber companies lies south of the border, not here at home.

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Biochar could put Espanola on the comeback trail

By Ian Ross
Northern Ontario Business
May 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

A leading clean-technology company looks to be the first tenant of a proposed bio-hub complex at the former Espanola pulp and paper mill. CHAR Technologies is focusing on setting up shop at the idled Espanola site to produce renewable natural gas and a bio-coal product from residual wood waste. The innovative Toronto company has teamed up with the BMI Group, the property’s pending new owners, to be co-developers in creating a renewable energy production facility at the mill site, now being dubbed Bioveld North. BMI is in the process of buying the property from Domtar, which closed the mill in 2023. The deal is expected to close this month. Last week, the two companies inked a “strategic partnership” agreement that involves BMI making a $2-million investment in CHAR to become a major shareholder and help fast-track CHAR’s flagship Thorold facility into commercial production later this year.

Related coverage: New products, new name, new life for the Domtar Mill in Espanola

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America has given China a strangely good tariff deal

The Economist
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

America has agreed to cut the “reciprocal” tariffs it imposed on China last month from 125% to a more digestible 10% for at least 90 days. China has agreed to do the same. It has also agreed to roll back other retaliatory measures, such as restrictions on sales of rare-earth minerals. …The result is a combination of tariffs that are far higher than Mr Trump inherited but much lower than seemed likely a few weeks ago. …On May 12th Mr Bessent all but conceded that tariffs on China had gotten out of hand. The result was the “equivalent of an embargo”. Financial chaos following Liberation Day, which included a bond-market revolt and a plunging dollar, helped Mr Bessent persuade Mr Trump to offer a 90-day reprieve to all of America’s trading partners on April 9th. After the Geneva talks, China has now been added to the list. [to access the full story an Economist subscription is required]

Related by the WSJ Editorial Board: The Great Trump Tariff Rollback – The President started a trade war with Adam Smith. He lost.

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Why the US and China pulled back from the edge

By Victoria Guida, Daniel Desrochers, Megan Messerly & Phelim Kine
Politico
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

President Trump’s deal to dramatically slash tariffs on China thrilled markets and offered a sliver of relief for businesses across the country. It also revealed an important lesson: Even Teflon Don can’t outrun economic reality. The deal in which both sides agreed to lower tariff rates by triple-digit percentages, came as anxiety mounted about a potential downturn in the US. …The agreement is an acknowledgment that a full-on economic divorce of the US and China would be too painful for both sides. …For U.S. corporations operating across borders, the de-escalation might offer some solace. But the remaining 30 percent tariff added to Chinese goods will cut heavily into profits — and be cost-prohibitive in some sectors. …One former Trump administration official said the meeting between the U.S. and China resulted from pressure on the White House from a variety of industries. …Beijing, too, was watching its economy falter.

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Strengthening Wood Products Manufacturing: US Endowment Partners with US Forest Service

The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities is proud to partner with the US Forest Service to support the backbone of sustainable forest management—wood products manufacturers. …Endowment staff joined colleagues from the US Forest Service to visit several facilities benefitting from the Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance funding, a component of the Wood Innovations Program. One notable stop was Shasta Green, a family-owned logging and sawmill operation in Burney, California. With support from the program, Shasta Green has been able to upgrade sawmill equipment and modernize kiln controls. …The Endowment and the Forest Service are also offering technical assistance through the Wood Manufacturing Facility Assistance Program. This initiative is designed to help existing manufacturers improve operations, remain competitive, and continue contributing to forest stewardship and community well-being.

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St. Paul must take action to avoid harming forest-products industry

By Robert D. Walls, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
The Duluth News Tribune
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Robert Walls

Last year, Minnesota passed an extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework with the intent to improve recycling in the North Star state. Yet, in their haste, lawmakers inadvertently put good-paying manufacturing jobs tied to the production and recycling of paper products at risk. Thankfully, lawmakers have an opportunity to change course and make alterations to the state’s EPR law that will both improve recycling infrastructure and support a U.S. forest-products industry that is a significant driver of Minnesota’s economy. Forest products are the fifth-largest industry in the state and the industry generates over $205 million in state and local taxes … Minnesota’s EPR program risks targeting the raw materials used to make paper products, not the actual paper and paper packaging that we put in our recycling bins. …By focusing the EPR law on the actual residential recycling stream and protecting high-performing commercial systems, we can build a policy that works with workers, not against them.

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West Fraser General Manager retires after 51 years

By Amber Lollar
The Henderson News
May 11, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

HENDERSON, Texas — Henderson’s West Fraser recently celebrated the long-deserved retirement of their General Manager, Raymond Mitchell, after 51 hard-working years with the still-growing company. The company threw a blow-out bash for Mitchell. Local officials, current and former employees, and West Fraser upper management gathered on the expanded facility to celebrate Mitchell and his many accomplishments throughout his time with the company. Mitchell started his decades long tenure in the lumber industry at the ripe age of 19. He has held the title of Mill Manager since 1999.

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Finance & Economics

Lumber prices continue to drop with wood market cautious amid tariff uncertainty

By Joe Pruski
RISI Fastmarkets
May 12, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

The downward price slide of recent weeks was unabated across most framing lumber species. Uncertainty surrounding the economy and potential new developments in US trade policy contributed to a cautious market tone. Many traders lamented that they anticipated at least a modest decline in mortgage interest rates by now that has not materialized. With discounts cutting deeper across most species, the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite Price tumbled $14. That’s the composite’s first double-digit drop since April 2024. Downward price pressure intensified across the South. …Competitively priced Western S-P-F crept deeper into traditional Southern Pine markets, especially lower grades, which contributed to the downward price pressure on SYP. …Lumber futures settled sharply higher on Thursday after a prolonged downward trend.

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How major global and economic sectors are reacting to US tariff policy

Window + Door – National Glass Association
May 12, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States, International

The effects have been felt by building industries in terms of increased costs, disrupted supply chains and economic uncertainty. Last week’s webinar, “Trump’s Tariffs: Transition or Turmoil?… focused on the near-term effects of tariffs, how trade environments have shifted in response, and what the next steps of the Trump Administration might be. …Ari Hawkins, a Politico trade reporter, agreed that the administration is likely looking to the USMCA renegotiations to “really get into the weeds of a lot of these tariff disputes” with Canada. …Hawkins says that further Section 232 investigations could lead to new tariffs in the coming months on a range of products, including semiconductors, lumber and critical minerals. While the administration might make exemptions on materials like lumber before those investigations are completed, Hawkins says, they are still likely to face the Section 232 tariffs as part of the administration’s focus on incentivizing manufacturing and development within the US.

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Annual inflation rate hit 2.3% in April, less than expected and lowest since 2021

By Jeff Cox
CNBC News
May 13, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Inflation was slightly lower than expected in April as President Trump’s tariffs just began hitting the slowing US economy, according to a Labor Department report Tuesday. The consumer price index, which measures the costs for a broad range of goods and services, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.3%, its lowest since February 2021. The monthly reading was in line with the Dow Jones consensus estimate while the 12-month was a bit below the forecast for 2.4%. Markets reacted little to the news, with stock futures pointing flat to slightly lower and Treasury yields mixed. ″“Good news on inflation, and we need it given inflation shocks from tariffs are on their way,” said Robert Frick, at Navy Federal Credit Union. …Shelter prices again were the main culprit in pushing up the inflation gauge. 

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

New York City announces 500-unit waterfront housing development for Staten Island’s North Shore

By Paul Liotta
Staten Island Live
May 13, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: US East

Momo Sun

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City officials marked their latest ceremonial groundbreaking for a $400 million public investment along the North Shore waterfront. …When underway, officials say the project will be the largest mass-timber construction in the five boroughs with the Stapleton project using wood-based building materials for much of its interior. Mass timber developments, which proponents say bring lower carbon footprints and reduced construction times, have caught on in recent years, including at the Portland International Airport in Oregon. Momo Sun — regional director for Woodworks, a non-profit that advocates for mass timber developments and works with the city Economic Development Corporation — said the wood materials meet the same construction and fire requirements as any other material.

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Forestry

North American boreal forest holds 31 per cent more trees than thought

By Bev Betkowski
University of Alberta
May 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A new University of Alberta study calculates that there are 277 billion trees in the North American boreal forest, including 30 billion in Alberta, and it could benefit climate mitigation. Estimated using a sophisticated machine learning algorithm, the numbers are 31 per cent higher than a count made through an earlier attempt in a major 2015 global study. “Our research provides by far the most accurate and credible answer to the question of how many trees are in our boreal forests,” says study lead Fangliang He, a forest ecologist and Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity and Landscape Modelling in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. The work fills a crucial knowledge gap that “reduces the uncertainty in estimating and managing tree density to promote forest productivity that enhances forest carbon sink potential,” he adds. “Knowing that there are 31 per cent more trees than previously estimated suggests our boreal forests have greater capacity to mitigate climate change.”

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The myth of sustainable logging: lessons from a life in the woods

By Bruce Ellingsen, director, Cortes Island Community Forest
National Observer
May 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Bruce Ellingsen

I grew up in logging camps on the BC coast. …Back then, we didn’t talk about “sustainability.” …Today, that word is everywhere — but the way we’re managing BC’s forests tells a different story. We call current forestry “sustainable,” but it isn’t — not in any real or lasting way. …So how do we fix it? We start by grounding forest policy in ecology, not economics alone. If we applied this ecological rule [predator-prey systems] to forestry, it would mean taking no more than 15 to 20 per cent of the forest’s mean annual increment, its yearly growth. Not 50 per cent. Not clearcuts. A modest share allows the system to keep functioning over generations. …I know this kind of shift would have real economic impacts. I also know we’re already feeling them. Timber supply is dropping. Mills are closing. Companies are moving south. The current model isn’t just ecologically unsound, it’s economically unsustainable. [A subscription to the National Observer may be required for full story access]

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Jefferson County Open Space working to gain control of spike in pine beetles at park

By Danielle Kreutter
Denver 7
May 12, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

EVERGREEN, Colo. — Crews with Jefferson County Open Space (JCOS) are working to reduce a spike in pine beetles in ponderosa pine trees at an Evergreen park. When the bark of infected trees is pulled back at Elk Meadow Park, the problem is clear. Pine beetles burrow into the trees and lay their larva under the bark. The larva live right on top of the living tissue of the tree, suck up the nutrients and end up killing the tree. They then pupate, turn into adults and fly off to the next tree. …”We are totally OK with a few trees being killed from the pine beetle that creates variable habitat for our wildlife species, and so at a small scale, mountain pine beetle is a good thing,” Steve Murdock, the interim manager of JCOS’ Natural Resource Stewardship. said. However, the numbers that Colorado communities, including Jefferson County, are seeing are well above what would be beneficial for a forest.

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Timber harvest benefitting University of Washington sparks concern among residents of small, pro-logging town

By McKenna Sweet
The Daily (University of Washington Student News)
May 12, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

NASELLE, Wash. — One self-service library, high school, and grocery store serve the 519 people of Naselle, Washington. The piles of felled logs along the roadsides dwarf the passing cars, signaling to drivers that this town was built on logging. Many Naselle residents have family roots in the forestry sector, allowing them to be intimately familiar with its demands. They also do not often push back on timber harvests that pose no threat to endangered species or their habitats. But an upcoming harvest will fell trees surrounding one of two creeks that supply the town’s water: this is where most residents draw the line. …The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will auction off 105 acres of state-owned forest in Naselle on May 29 after they determined the area was suitable for harvest. The revenue from the highest bid will go to UW. …UW received approximately $20 million from the DNR from 2020 to 2024, $8.6 million of which was from timber sales. 

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‘Active Management’ Harms Forests — And It’s About to Get a Whole Lot Worse

By Dominick DellaSala, David Lindenmayer and Diana Six
The Revelator
May 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Over the past few years, many decisionmakers and forest managers have increasingly called for “active management” of natural forests — human intervention via mechanical thinning and other forms of commercial logging and road building — in response to increasing wildfires, beetle outbreaks, and intense storms. Many activists oppose these methods, saying they do more harm than good. For instance, actions that seek to suppress naturally occurring wildfires may make those fires more intense when they happen. But active management activities have scaled up in response to economic drivers, misinformation on natural disturbance processes, and more climate-driven extreme events that trigger large and fast-moving fires. …Our research daylights the expanding active management footprint while creating science support for decision-makers to choose more prudently on behalf of maintaining or restoring integrity and for activists to push back when policy is inconsistent with conservation science principles.

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Forest Fires

B.C. firefighters arrive in Manitoba to battle out-of-control wildfire

By Katherine Dow
CTV News
May 12, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

Dozens of firefighters from British Columbia arrived in Manitoba over the weekend to help local first responders battle an out-of-control wildfire in northern Manitoba. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Friday he put out a call to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) for help from other jurisdictions to fight the flames. British Columbia responded, sending 42 firefighters. “I’m just happy to say that B.C. has answered the call. We’re there for other provinces. I know they’ll be there for us,” Kinew said at a news conference Friday. According to Manitoba’s fire map, a 20,000-hectare fire west of The Pas was still burning out of control as of Monday morning. It broke out over a week ago, engulfing 100 hectares, with heavy winds and little moisture causing it to more than quadruple in size in 24 hours.

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Highway 11 in Northwestern Ontario closed due to forest fire

By Gary Rinne
Northwest Ontario News Watch
May 12, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada East

ATIKOKAN — A forest fire forced the closure of a section of Highway 11 in Northwestern Ontario. Ontario 511 reported the closure of both lanes of the highway at 5:27 pm EDT Monday. The road was blocked between Highway 623 at Sapawe and Highway 633 near Kawene. According to witnesses at the scene, Ministry of Natural Resources waterbombers were working steadily on the fire. The MNR estimated the fire had burned 180 hectares by 8:30 pm, and listed the outbreak as “not under control.”

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Ministry of Natural Resources makes progress on a 1,300-hectare forest fire

By Gary Rinne
North West Ontario News Watch
May 13, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada East

KENORA — The largest wildfire of the season in Northwestern Ontario has consumed 1,300 hectares of forest, but Ministry of Natural Resources crews have been aided by more favourable weather conditions. Heading into the weekend, there were concerns about the fire’s proximity to Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, as it was only 12 kilometres to the south and the fire was exhibiting some extreme behaviour. However, there was minimal growth on the fire’s perimeter on Saturday, and the wind changed direction, blowing from the south to direct fire activity and smoke away from the community. The MNR expects southerly winds will persist for a few days.

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Favourable winds, suppression efforts keep large forest fire away from northwestern Ontario First Nation

CBC News
May 12, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada East

Favourable winds and provincial firefighting efforts have led to the cancellation of a stage one evacuation for Wabaseemoong Independent Nations as a large forest fire burns nearby. The fire, known as Kenora 14, was discovered on Thursday 12 kilometres from Wabaseemoong. It has since grown to more than 1,000 hectares in size, and is not under control. “We had another update meeting (Sunday) morning, and it looked promising that we won’t have to do any evacuation,” said Waylon Scott, chief of Wabaseemoong. “We were at the midst of doing a stage one evacuation, which is basically the vulnerable population.” Scott said the evacuation has now been put on hold. Chris Marchand, fire information officer with Ontario’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES), said southerly winds have kept the fire from advancing any closer to Wabaseemoong, and helped keep smoke out of the community.

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