In the forest: Canada’s FPInnovations improves forest inventory tools with drones; Saskatchewan receives funding to update forest inventory; and wildfire recovery gets a boost in California.
About wood: BC trade mission brings home new mass timber agreement with Finland; western hemlock takes centre stage in India’s hospitality sector; and the American Institute of Steel Construction publishes new hybrid mass timber design guide.
Accolades in the news: Saint-Laurent Mayor, Alan DeSousa wins the Green Building Champion Award (again!); Inside Education’s Steve McIsaac presented with the Alberta Emerald Foundation Award; Jennifer Baltzer named Canada Research Chair in Forests and Global Change; and Ethan Tapper takes Forester of the Year Award in Vermont.
Finally—made from wood—a World War II de Havilland Mosquito coming to the KF Aerospace Centre in Kelowna, BC.
Tree Frog Editor, Sandy McKellar
As climbing prices and increased interest rates continue to push home ownership out of reach for many families, the numbers are out on how much new home construction costs. …The average cost to build a 2,000 square-foot home in California at $405,440. It takes $421,080 to build a home in Alaska and $412,840 in Hawaii. After California comes New Jersey, where it takes $376,900. Costs do not include the price of land. …Forbes listed framing as the most expensive portion of the home, averaging $33,000 for quality lumber. Metal stud framing can be $20,000. …Homebuilders are finally starting to see some relief in terms of costs and construction timelines, said Ryan De Young, of De Young Properties, but labor continues to be an issue. …Even with the quick rise in interest rates, no spike in cancelations materialized… But it did mean having to “double check” on qualifications.
The 
The Government of Saskatchewan is renewing its commitment to a strong, resilient and growing forestry sector with the development of a forest resource inventory project by the Ministry of Environment. “This project will facilitate the expansion of our forestry industry and support appropriate stewardship of our forests by providing critical information to industry and other users,” Environment Minister Dana Skoropad said. “The information from the forest resource inventory will help us, along with industry, continue to sustainably manage Saskatchewan’s publicly owned forests to a high standard that is recognized nationally and around the world.” …The Ministry of Environment has completed the forest resource inventory for more than five million hectares and anticipates completing the entire commercial forest within five years.
Steel is one of the world’s most important engineering and construction materials. …Although steel production today requires just 40 percent of the energy it did in 1960, solutions are still needed to create a carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative production method for this vital commodity. To solve the critical challenge of producing “green steel”, Aymium, a leader in creating bioproducts to replace fossil fuels and reduce emissions, has found an unexpected partner in almond farmers. In common practice, almond farms burn their trees every seven years, but now these trees are being re-purposed and turned into sustainably produced carbon pellets. …Aymium’s renewable product is created through a non-combustion process that converts waste biomass to high purity biocarbon and biogas, recovers and recycles water from the biomass, and is powered by self-generated renewable energy.