California plans to extend its cap-and-trade program despite Trump’s order opposing climate initiatives. In related news: ground proofing forest carbon protocol assessments; Georgia launches carbon registry for mass timber projects; and Toronto’s prefab timber buildings could save carbon emissions. In Forestry news: weather conditions are expected to fuel Alberta’s wildfires; anxiety in Banff ahead of wildfire season; and Whistler, BC confronts wildfire with bold new plans.
In Business news: International Paper closes two paper plants in Texas; Richelieu Hardware consolidates its Canadian operations; industry groups question BC’s new forestry council; a UBC professor says Trump risks another great depression; Canada’s inflation rate drops to 1.7%; US consumer sentiment inches down; and Moody’s downgrades US credit rating for the first time ever.
Finally, the National Fire Protection Association releases new standard for combustible dust.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Canada’s inflation rate eased to 1.7% in April, driven by a drop in prices after the federal government removed the consumer carbon tax, according to Statistics Canada. The slowdown came after the inflation rate hit 2.3% in March. Lower crude oil prices were also a factor in the decline, the data agency said. Despite the decline in headline inflation, core inflation measures all rose in April, some above three per cent — well above the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target rate. The central bank watches those numbers closely because they strip out volatile sectors and don’t factor in one-offs like the removal of the carbon tax. …The central bank is set to make its next interest rate decision on June 4. Porter still expects that the Bank of Canada will cut, given the outlook for weak economic growth in 2025, but said the bank might need more time to see how inflation plays out.
The United States has officially lost its perfect credit rating. On Friday, Moody’s, for the first time in its history, downgraded U.S. government bonds from the gold star rating of “AAA” to “AA1,” the silver medal equivalent. This wasn’t a total surprise. S&P and Fitch had already lowered the U.S. rating, so this was Moody’s catching up to the crowd. But make no mistake: Moody’s didn’t just pick a random Friday in May to make this move. Moody’s wanted to send a message to Republicans in Congress: Rethink the tax bill. Or, better yet, don’t do it. …The Republicans’ bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade. …Moody’s cited concern over how big the U.S. debt already is (more than $36 trillion) and how Congress has taken almost no action to stop the annual deficits that keep adding to that tab. [to access the full story a Washington Post subscription is required]
BANFF — Looking out over a budding meadow with blackened tree stumps on the edge of Banff National Park, Cliff White points to a dark thicket of trees where the empty plot ends. “The next fire in here is going to be incredible,” says the former Parks Canada fire management co-ordinator, standing in the expansive Carrot Creek fire break. …The Rockies are facing another year of drought conditions. …In the race to mitigate the damage from future fires, stewards of Alberta’s parks have turned to loggers to create fire guards like Carrot Creek. The areas are designed to starve a fire of fuel and create enough empty land for embers to fizzle out on the ground. …Each fire break represents the start of a new ecosystem that Parks Canada will need to maintain.
With fire season arriving earlier and burning longer each year, Whistler is pushing forward with a suite of new wildfire risk mitigation measures—ranging from forest fuel-thinning and emergency planning to updated bylaws and collaborative research. At the heart of the work is a recognition wildfires are no longer rare events, but a growing threat made worse by climate change. “We are acutely aware that the wildfire risk is rising in Whistler and it’s the single biggest climate change related risk and vulnerability for all of us here,” said the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) manager of climate and environment Luisa Burhenne at the May 13 council meeting. The RMOW has treated more than 100 hectares of high-risk forest, representing about one-third of its 2030 target.
While the persistent, multi-year presence of a destructive pest known as spruce budworm has been noted by Alberta Forestry and Parks, an entomologist for the provincial government said the localized impact is not yet considered an epidemic. “We mapped some minor infestations that are on private land south of the Sundre area,” said Forest Health Specialist Caroline Whitehouse. “That kind of extends along that narrow band of spruce between the public forest and private land all the way west of Diamond Valley,” Whitehouse said. “And then it does peak into the Kananaskis forest area a little bit, but it’s really quite minor in that region”… Steve Bouchet, owner of Everblue Nursery who first established a plantation near Sundre in 1996, said he is less worried about his own tree farm where he can deploy mitigation strategies to attack the aggressive pest but harbours concern about damage trees in the greater area could suffer.
Earlier this week, Clean Air Task Force (CATF), alongside a team of leading U.S. forest carbon scientists, published a deep dive into the rules that govern a wide range of forest carbon credit certifications relevant to North America. The assessment examines rules of the road for quantifying carbon credits and identifies what works well, where there are weaknesses, and opportunities for improvements to ensure that forest carbon credits achieve their promised climate benefits… CATF’s assessment scored some elements of California’s current forest protocol that lays out the requirements for carbon credit certification as robust, such as the 100-year monitoring period for stored carbon in forests, and others as weak, like the risk assessment procedure. While high-quality credits are possible under the current protocol, the bar needs to be raised to guarantee that credits are delivering on their promise.
For the past 10 years, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has been working to consolidate several industry-specific standards for combustible dust. In December 2024, the NFPA completed its goal by issuing “NFPA 660–Standard for Combustible Dusts and Particulate Solids.” This new standard combines six existing standards, including NFPA 61 (agricultural dust) and NFPA 664 (wood dust), into a single standard that covers all industries where combustible dust and particulates are generated, used and handled. Building permitting authorities, code enforcers and fire agencies use the NFPA standards to establish the basis of design and operation for new and existing industrial sites, so it’s important for pellet mill owners and operators to be aware of NFPA requirements, especially for new projects and plant modifications. NFPA 660 covers both administrative and engineering requirements at facilities with combustible dust, and its goal is to minimize fires and explosions, help companies maintain business continuity, and, most importantly, protect workers and the public.