The first half of 2026 will look a lot like 2025 for most forest products—says Kevin Mason of ERA Forest Products Research. In related news: BC Premier Eby reflects on a tumultuous 2025; Michael 2026 looks to offer BC more trade uncertainty; New Brunswick premier Holt wants a softwood lumber deal; and Canada’s kitchen cabinet makers say US tariffs are still crippling despite Trump’s recent postponement of his planned rate increases.
In other news: a BC First Nation looks to carve a niche with mass timber; PowerWood Canada has pellet mill plans in Alberta; West Fraser amalgamates its five Alberta subsidiaries; and Wisconsin hopes to secure a wood-based aviation fuel plant. Meanwhile: two perspectives on BC’s legal reality on Land Title and DRIPA; old growth push-back in Quebec and BC; and the USDA plans to update its reporting rules for foreign-based forest land owners.
Finally, why old books smell so good, according to science.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
President Trump has delayed new tariff increases on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities for a year, pushing their implementation to 2027, according to a 
Manitobans should expect higher cabin and home insurance premiums in 2026, one expert says, after a 2025 fire season that destroyed at least 130 properties in the province and forced more than 32,000 people to leave their communities. Owners may also encounter new caps on payouts or exclusions in their policies that won’t cover certain hazards or parts of a property, or may find insurers will not provide coverage at all, said Jason Thistlethwaite, an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo’s school of environment, enterprise and development. “Insurance is a business, and they’re going to be looking to recoup those losses,” said Thistlethwaite, who studies the economic impacts of climate risk and natural disasters.
MACKENZIE COUNTY, Alberta — An agreement with Calgary-based PowerWood Canada Corp. will bring two new wood pellet manufacturing facilities to the Mackenzie County region in Northern Alberta, Canada. Josh Knelsen, Mackenzie County Reeve, announced Dec. 23 the agreement. “This is a leading-edge, first-of-its-kind project in Canada that turns wildfire-damaged wood into clean energy and helps reduce reliance on coal,” said Knelsen. The two facilities represent the potential for up to 300 direct jobs,” with many more across forestry, construction, transportation, and local businesses. …Construction on two sites is expected to begin by mid-2026. …The facilities will also see the introduction of Canada’s first steam explosion pellet production process – developed by leading industrial systems engineers Valmet and capable of producing black wood biofuel pellets with 94% less carbon release than coal. …PowerWood Canada plans to open a second Alberta plant and has developed expansion plans for further plants in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
WASHINGTON — A mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement on trade kicks into high gear this year as US President Trump continues his campaign to realign global trade and poach key industries from America’s closest neighbours. …Since the president’s return to the White House, however, confidence in CUSMA’s future has waned. Trade with Canada may not be front of mind for Trump, said Fen Osler Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa and co-chair of the Expert Group on Canada-U.S. Relations. It’s more like the “proverbial iceberg,” he said. “It’s what you don’t see that matters. And that’s the kind of hidden economic wiring of a very deep and highly interdependent relationship.” …Trump has complained repeatedly about long-standing irritants in the United States’ trade relationship with Canada — the supply management system for dairy products, the alleged subsidization of the softwood lumber sector, other non-tariff barriers.
SUNDRE, Alberta – The general manager of what will soon become the former West Fraser – Sundre Forest Products said there will be no impact on staff or operations amid a corporate reorganizing. According to a December letter to vendors, West Fraser is “undertaking an internal corporate reorganization, whereby Blue Ridge Lumber, Spray Lake Sawmills, Crowsnest Forest Products, Sundre Forest Products, and Manning Forest Products will be amalgamated into one company and renamed West Fraser Alberta Wood Products Ltd.” The new entity is to remain a wholly-owned subsidiary of West Fraser Mills Ltd., and the amalgamation and rebranding will be effective as of end of day on Dec. 31. “There’s zero impact to operations,” said Jason Foote. “This restructure is administrative”.
The smell of an old book … escapes as a cover is eased open or a stiff page lifted, settling briefly in the air between hand and paper. In libraries and second-hand shops, it is a faint but persistent smell… It is often associated with comfort and habit, yet it has a material basis. Conservators and chemists treat it as evidence of physical change. Paper, ink, glue, and binding age continuously, releasing compounds that remain present long after printing. What is sensed is the slow chemistry of use and storage. …Paper accounts for much of the smell associated with old books. From the nineteenth century onwards, most paper was produced from wood pulp containing cellulose fires and lignin. Over time, these components undergo chemical change. Cellulose chains fracture and shorten. Lignin oxidises and breaks into smaller fragments. These processes release volatile organic compounds that drift from the page surface.
My grandfather, Gordon Gibson Jr., taught me to speak up when I see injustice in the world, and I am seeing it now. I am absolutely furious regarding Premier Eby’s plans to destroy old-growth and primary forests. They are the lungs of our atmosphere, and cutting them down is not only an attack on our future, it’s anti-Canadian. The only possible benefit to the logging would be to make a few people richer, most of whom are not Canadian, and those people do not care about the longevity of our species. We are facing a major extinction event, at the end of which the planet will not be able to support human life. I ask the province to listen to the science, and to care about the people who you are tasked with caring for. Care about our futures, and our dreams. …Stop the deforestation of old growth, and save the lungs of our planet.
The BC Conservative leader fostered fear and falsehoods in his 
VICTORIA — The BC government says cutting red tape has allowed provincial pulp mills to more than double their use of timber salvaged from forest fires. The Ministry of Forests says in a statement that mills processed more than one million cubic metres of wildfire chips in 2024-25, up from 500,000 cubic metres in 2023, and representing about seven per cent of all processed wood. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says that BC can’t let anything go to waste, including logs that have been burned in wildfires.” The statement says pulp mills rarely accepted burned timber before 2022, but both government and industry recognized the opportunity of turning wildfire-affected fibre into wood chips. It says that faster permitting and stronger partnerships between government and industry made it even easier to use that type of timber and the work will continue in 2026.
In 2025, the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) worked tirelessly with people and communities to fight wildfires and build community resilience throughout the province. “We’re coming off our second-worst wildfire season in Canadian history,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “From technology to equipment and training, all to protect people and communities, the BC Wildfire Service has shown us that they are a global leader in wildfire work. Thanks to the dedicated members working tirelessly to fight the threat of wildfire. In 2026, we will raise the bar even higher. …Since April 1, 2025, more than 1,350 wildfires burned an estimated 886,360 hectares of land in B.C. The 2025 season compared to the past five years:
QUEBEC — A rare old-growth forest in Quebec’s Mauricie region is at the centre of a growing conflict between conservation advocates and the provincial government, after forestry roadwork was authorized in an area currently under review for protected status. The forest, known as the Grandbois Lakes forest, is located near Sainte-Thècle, in the Mékinac Regional County Municipality, northeast of Shawinigan. Composed largely of red spruce trees, the ecosystem is considered one of the last intact forests of its kind in southern Quebec. Despite its ecological value, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests has approved the construction of a winter road through part of the forest — a step that could lead to logging in the coming months. The roadwork is slated to be carried out by the forestry company Forex Langlois. …Environmental groups and local residents gathered to oppose what they say is a threat to an irreplaceable ecosystem.
USDA on Monday published a notice in the Federal Register looking to update the reporting requirement for foreign land ownership under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA). …The proposed changes come as Congress and state lawmakers have demanded more updates and better reporting on foreign ownership from USDA, spurred mainly by Chinese ownership of agricultural land. …USDA’s latest report on foreign agricultural land holdings shows people from outside the country own nearly 45 million acres of land, as of the end of 2023. That takes up about 3.5% of all privately-held agricultural land. Foreign holdings also increased by more than 1.5 million acres from 2022. Nearly half of foreign land holdings, 48%, are forest land, with 29% being cropland and 21% pastures. Canadian investors make up about one-third of all foreign holdings, or 15.3 million acres, followed by the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.
OREGON– The Bureau of Land Management’s state office in Oregon increased its timber sales in 2025, leading to one of its largest years for sales by board-feet and dollars in decades. The increase coincides with a provision of the tax and spending bill approved by Congress in July, that requires BLM to increase the timber it makes available for harvest by 20 million board-feet each year through 2034. BLM data show that the timber sales through the office totalled 290.6 million board-feet this year, an increase of 66.8 million from the previous year. …2025 was the third-highest year for BLM timber sales through the Oregon office by both board-feet and sale price, topped only by 2019 and 2021. Sales this year brought in $63.7 million.
WISCONSIN — Hayward is the “first choice” for a German company considering building a $1.5 billion plant to convert wood and wood waste into sustainable aviation fuel, but the company also is talking to Minnesota, Michigan and other states, said Matthias Mueller, CEO of Synthec Fuels. …Hayward has good access to energy and to rail and highway transportation, it is not far from the Minneapolis and Chicago airports, and it is home to Synthec’s partner Johnson Timber, Mueller said. European investors have committed to providing $1.5 billion to build that plant, but Wisconsin lawmakers are working to make the state more attractive with the Forestry Revitalization Act that would provide $210 million in tax credits and loans. …The proposed plant annually would use 890,000 tons of woody biomass to produce 48 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel.