West Fraser’s shares rose 25% on reports that CVC Capital and Kronospan have expressed interest in acquiring the company. In other Business news: Mercer International released its 2021 sustainability report; Intelligent City seeks to scale its mass timber building business; and Biden creates panel to stave off rail worker strike. On the market front: US builder confidence plunges, as US housing starts drop, and lumber prices decline.
In Forestry/Climate news: BC receives federal monies for disaster recovery; Ontario plants 2.5 million trees; decades of prescribed fire credited with saving Yosemite’s sequoias; and a 3-part solution to Montana’s wilderness challenge.
Finally, heat and wildfire updates from France and Spain, and now Scotland too.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Private equity firm CVC Capital and wood panel manufacturer Kronospan have submitted a joint expression of interest to acquire Canadian lumber company West Fraser Timber. Shares in West Fraser, which has a market capitalization of $10.6 billion, rose 25 per cent in pre-market trading on the news. CVC and Kronospan have informed West Fraser’s management they would like to proceed with deal negotiations, the sources said. The acquisition terms they proposed could not be learned. There is no certainty that the parties would agree to any deal, the sources said. …Privately held Kronospan, run by Austrian businessman Peter Kaindl, is a European maker of wood panels such as particle board and laminate flooring. CVC has 125 billion euros (US$128 billion) in assets under management, according to its website.
NEW YORK — Mercer International announced the release of its first sustainability report. The Mercer “Fit for Future” 2021 Sustainability Report reaffirms the Company’s commitment to team members, communities, the environment and biodiversity, safety, and shareholders. The report illuminates how the Company is advancing its environmental and sustainability ambitions and… introduces the Company’s 2030 target to reduce its Scope 1 GHG emission intensity by 35%, as validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative. …“This inaugural report highlights our sustainability aspirations, the initiatives we are advancing to improve our operations, and the progress we are making each year,” said Juan Carlos Bueno, President and CEO. …Bill Adams, VP of Sustainability and Innovation, added, “we have made considerable advancements in our disclosure of our social and governance initiatives including diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.”
New U.S. home-building activity fell to a nine-month low in June and permits for new construction projects slipped as well, the latest indication of a cooling housing market as surging mortgage rates reduce affordability. Housing starts fell 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.559 million units last month, the lowest level since September 2021, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Data for May was revised higher to a rate of 1.591 million units from the previously reported 1.549 million units. …Permits for future homebuilding fell 0.6% to a rate of 1.685 million units. …While it is unclear how much higher mortgage rates will climb, it’s almost certain they will remain high for some time with the Fed set to raise interest rates again at its meeting next week and more hikes to come through the end of the year.
You are invited to participate in the 19th Annual Global Buyers Mission™ (GBM) – an invitation only trade event developed to bring together pre-qualified international buyers of wood products from around the world, with Canadian manufacturers of products that include finished materials, building supplies, mass-timber components and panels, remanufacturing products and service suppliers. To apply for booth space, email 
Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2022 Green Dream Internship Program. The national initiative is set to showcase the experiences and perspectives of eleven summer students working in the forest sector over the next six weeks. Theprogram is designed to promote young Canadians who are passionate about working in the forest sector and have a strong commitment to the environment and their community. Interns are selected to create influencer-style content – including videos, blogs, podcasts, and TikToks – that provide an inside look at the work being done in Canada’s forests and communities from coast-to-coast. “The program provides a first-hand look at our sector’s commitment to sustainable forest management and innovation – while offering a glimpse at how forestry supports hundreds of Indigenous and rural communities through an inclusive workforce that values sustainability, diversity, and opportunity across the country,” said FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor.
A man with roots in Prince Albert has been named one of 11 recipients of a special scholarship by the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), and he is the only one from Saskatchewan. …Andy Goodson is currently in his second summer as a Green Dream intern and has been working at Tolko Industries Ltd. “Working in forestry has been a life-changing experience for me. There is a lot to learn in the field. Every day presents its own unique set of challenges,” he said in a statement. “There’s no better way to put things into perspective than through writing, and I look forward to doing just that in the Green Dream internship program.” Goodson graduated last spring from the Integrated Resource Management program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic and is working on an eight-month term with Tolko Industries Ltd., Meadow Lake Woodlands. …FPAC’s Green Dream Interns receive a scholarship to support their ongoing education. 
Quatsino First Nation (Quatsino or the Nation) and Western Forest Products Inc. (Western) have entered into an agreement that provides for a joint vision and approach to share opportunities related to forest resources in unceded Quatsino traditional territory. This agreement allows for a “bridging period” of increased stability for forestry workers and North Island communities as Quatsino, Western and the Province continue to pursue longer term reconciliation arrangements that respect and recognize Quatsino’s rights within its territory, and provide for North Island economic stability. The Quatsino / Western “Bridging Agreement” builds on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Quatsino, Western and the Provincial government in 2020. This milestone agreement recognizes and respects Quatsino’s rights within its territory and creates a foundation to achieve Quatsino and Western’s shared goals around sustainability and predictability for forest resources. …The Bridging Agreement will be in place for three years and addresses several near-term priorities of both parties. 
Using an innovative approach, the Hupacasath First Nation in Port Alberni is benefiting from nearly $112,000 in funding from the B.C. government as part of the Indigenous Forest Bioeconomy Program. Since time immemorial, people of the Hupacasasth First Nation have inhabited their territory on central Vancouver Island. Now, from the pristine forests of the Alberni Valley, they are creating Kleekhoot Gold bigleaf maple syrup from 100% bigleaf maple sap. This species creates syrup with an indescribable, unique flavour different from the eastern Canadian sugar maple. Doug Routley, Parliamentary Secretary for Forests, along with Josie Osborne, MLA for Mid Island-Pacific Rim, visited the Kleekhoot facility. “By locally producing maple syrup from the abundance of bigleaf maple trees unique to the west coast of British Columbia, the Hupacasath First Nation is showing us how we can all benefit from our forests in new and sustainable ways,” Routley said.
BERKELEY, California — The iconic grove of giant and ancient sequoia trees in California’s Yosemite National Park is no longer under direct threat from the wildfire still burning through a southern section of the park and the nearby Sierra National Forest. The Washburn Fire is more than 50% contained and officials said Sunday that residents of the mountain community of Wawona could begin returning to their homes. But it took more than the hard work of wildland firefighters. …Instead, foresters and ecologists say a half-century of intentional burning or ”prescribed fire” practices in and around the area dramatically reduced forest ”fuel” there, allowing the blaze to pass through the grove with the trees unscathed. “The fire entered the grove and luckily we had 50 years of prescribed fire history” there, says Garrett Dickman, a forest ecologist with Yosemite National Park. 
BURLINGTON, Vwemonr – Vermonters looking to protect their land under the current use law will find updated parameters to do that. County foresters still want people to manage their land, but for some, it’s now about letting old growth flourish. The goal of current use is to promote healthy forests in Vermont. …When the law was created, it was a great way to maximize Vermont’s forests because the vast majority are privately owned. Being enrolled in the program meant a tax break as long as Vermonters were employing active management practices and stewardship of the land. That could mean opening it up to forestry or other management. The update passed by the Vermont Legislature creates a sub-category called 
CANBERRA, Australia — A five-year government report found Australia’s environment continues to deteriorate due to climate change, resource extraction and other causes, prompting leaders to promise new laws and enforcement of them. The State of the Environment report also adds political pressure on the government to set a more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target when Parliament resumes next week for the first time since May 21 elections. The previous conservative government received the report in December but decided against making it public before the elections. The center-left Labor Party won on pledges including greater action on climate change. …That number will increase substantially after wildfires in 2019 and 2020 destroyed vast tracts of southeast Australian forests, the report said. Kelly O’Shanassy, of the Australian Conservation Foundation, an environmental organization, said land clearing was the major cause of habitat loss.
Australia has suffered catastrophic losses of wildlife and habitat, according to the official five-year scorecard on the state of the environment, as leading scientists plead with the Albanese government to urgently ramp up protections to halt the escalating rate of extinction. …Tragically, the 39 mammal species that have disappeared since colonisation in 1788 represent 38 per cent of the world’s lost mammals. Since 2016, 17 mammal species were added to the endangered list. The extinction risk this month for greater gliders has been upgraded by the federal government, which now rates the species once common in eastern forests as a risk of disappearing. Once common in eastern forests, the animal has been pushed to the brink by habitat loss from logging, land clearing for agriculture, intensifying bushfires and rising temperatures. Prepared by a panel of 32 experts, the report says “increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and resource extraction” have taken their toll”.
VANCOUVER, BC
Meteorologists have warned of a “heat apocalypse” in western France as more than 8,500 further people fled their homes to escape a large wildfire sparked by a searing southern European heatwave that has already caused hundreds of deaths. Nearly 25,000 people have been forced to abandon homes, holiday rentals and campsites for emergency shelters in the Gironde département west of Bordeaux, while blazes in Spain, 