37-Year Study Shows Forest Restoration Doesn’t Harm Spotted Owls
A 37‑year Oregon State University and U.S. Forest Service study identified fire refugia where northern spotted owl habitat persists through repeated wildfires, proving forest restoration can coexist with owl protection. By mapping low‑severity burn areas—especially near drainage bottoms—the research shows where thinning and prescribed‑fire treatments can be applied without compromising nesting sites. The findings reveal that upper‑slope and ridgetop old‑growth lose habitat fastest, while sheltered low‑lying sites remain resilient. This evidence removes the perceived trade‑off between wildfire mitigation and species conservation in the Pacific Northwest.
New EUDR Package Shuts US Tribal Forests Out of Low-Risk Pathway
The European Commission’s new EUDR simplification package bars U.S. tribal forests from the regulation’s low‑risk pathway, meaning 7.8 million hectares of Indigenous land will be subject to the same high‑risk compliance regime as deforestation hotspots when the rule takes effect on...
Australia Testing Ground for Japan’s Hydrogen Technology
Toyota is using Australia as a proving ground for its new hydrogen‑electric hybrid HiAce van, targeting extended driving range and near‑zero CO2 emissions. The firm is also fitting its 48‑volt SV‑Active system to the HiLux and the 2026 LandCruiser Prado,...
Vanuatu Clears Top Timber as the Solomon Islands Eyes Pacific Push
Top Timber Company, one of the Solomon Islands’ largest sawn‑timber exporters, successfully completed an eight‑month biosecurity audit in April 2026, earning positive feedback from Biosecurity Solomon Islands. The audit, backed by Australian technical assistance through the Solomon Islands Biosecurity Development Program,...
AFCA Enters Voluntary Liquidation After FWPA Debt Forces Wind-Up
The Australian Forest Contractors Association (AFCA) announced voluntary liquidation after a material debt to Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) could not be resolved. The liability surfaced at an October 29 2025 board meeting, and no repayment plan existed despite months of...
Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory Refit to Trial World-First Timber Standard
Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory has been selected as one of two early‑2026 pilot sites for the PEFC Project Sourcing timber standard. The £45 million (~$57 million) restoration will use French‑oak sourced from PEFC‑certified forests and will test a framework that requires 70%...
Trump Cuts Tariffs on Kentucky Bourbon Barrels Bound for Scotland
President Donald Trump announced the removal of tariffs and restrictions on Kentucky‑origin bourbon barrels destined for Scotland, effectively restoring duty‑free status for the wood‑product pipeline that underpins Scotch whisky aging. The policy shift follows King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s...
Japan’s Cedar and Cypress Trade Goes Online as Plantation Cuts Bite
Japan’s forest council and the Japan Forestry Mechanisation Society have launched an online marketplace that connects small cedar and cypress plantation owners with buyers nationwide. The platform aims to disrupt traditional bilateral timber sales, allowing owners to set asking prices...
Sudan’s War Strips the Acacia Trees that Supply Coca-Cola and PepsiCo
Sudan’s three‑year civil war has devastated its acacia forest belts, forcing families in Khartoum and Gezira to rely on firewood as LPG cylinders now cost about $22.50. The hashab acacia trees, which supplied 70‑80% of global gum arabic for food‑grade...
Diana Hallam Resigns as CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association
Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) announced that CEO Diana Hallam has resigned after a two‑year tenure, effective immediately. The board appointed Deputy CEO Richard Hyett as acting chief executive while it launches a comprehensive search for a permanent replacement. Hallam’s leadership...
Stora Enso Spins Off Swedish Forest Estate as Bergslagets Skogar
Stora Enso has named its Swedish forest assets Bergslagets Skogar and announced a dual listing on Nasdaq Stockholm and Nasdaq Helsinki. The new entity will manage more than 1.2 million hectares, positioning it as Europe’s largest pure‑play forest company. The spin‑off...
Burning Paper Mill Waste Could Be Europe’s Fix for Timber Treatment
University of Copenhagen researchers have secured a DKK 15.5 million (~$2.2 million) Innovation Fund Denmark grant to commercialise “hyperlignification,” a process that uses dissolved lignin from paper‑mill waste to treat pressure‑treated timber. The method can saturate wood with high‑concentration lignin, reducing fungal decay...
Paper Giant Is Blending Softwood Fibres With Oat Hulls to Make Pulp
Södra Cell has launched Södra blue S, a new pulp grade that blends softwood fibres with oat hulls at its Värö mill in southern Sweden. The oat hulls, supplied by local food producer Berte Qvarn, are introduced directly into the...
Federal Court Strikes Down Climate Duty, Undercuts EDO’s EPBC Bid
The Federal Court of Australia dismissed a claim that the Commonwealth owes a legal duty to set greenhouse‑gas reduction targets based on the best available science, ruling that such high‑level policy decisions belong to the executive and Parliament, not the...
Ukraine’s Timber Glut Hits 15,000m³ a Day as EU Demand Collapses
Ukraine’s state‑owned forest manager is flooding the market with at least 15,000 cubic metres of timber each day, pushing warehouse stocks above 1.17 million cubic metres. The surplus outpaces domestic consumption of roughly 40,000 m³ per day and follows a four‑month harvest...
Ukraine Charges Volyn Trader Over Polish Timber Smuggling Ring
A Volyn‑region trader in Ukraine will be tried for exporting roughly 43 cubic metres of sawn timber to Poland through the Yahodyn checkpoint. Detectives seized the lumber, a tractor unit, a semi‑trailer and electronic devices, with the wood valued at...
Iran Conflict Hits Lumber — and Canfor Warns $72M Loss Is Just the Start
Canfor reported a Q1 2026 operating loss of CAD $72.5 million (≈ US $53 million) as the Iran‑driven closure of the Strait of Hormuz spiked diesel and crude prices, adding up to US $5,000 per container in freight costs. The loss was split between a CAD $43.7 million...
India Is a Breakout Market for American Hardwood and Softwood
U.S. lumber shipments to India surged in early 2026, with March volumes climbing 41% year‑over‑year to 13,800 cubic metres and Q1 totals reaching 28,100 cubic metres, a 24% increase over 2025. While southern yellow pine still dominates volume, high‑value hardwoods...
Southern Yellow Pine Exports Rebound 47 Per Cent in March
U.S. exports of Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) lumber surged 47% year‑on‑year in March 2026, reaching 93,500 cubic metres. The average export price rose to $289 per cubic metre, a 5% increase from February and 2% above the March 2025 level....
Cardboard Cathedral Architect Shigeru Ban Wins AIA Gold Medal
Shigeru Ban, the Pritzker‑prize‑winning Japanese architect, will receive the 2026 AIA Gold Medal in San Diego, becoming the first non‑American honoree since 2019 and the first Japanese recipient since 2011. The award recognizes his four‑decade career that blends structural innovation,...
Sugar Gliders, Not Logging, Drive the Swift Parrot to Extinction
A new peer‑reviewed study challenges the prevailing view that logging drives the swift parrot’s decline, identifying introduced sugar gliders as the primary cause of nest failures. The research, published in Australian Forestry, argues that habitat‑focused conservation offers little benefit while...
Milan’s Olympic Village to Reopen to Students in Just Four Months
Milan’s former Olympic Village is being transformed into Italy’s largest publicly supported student housing complex, with 1,700 beds slated to open in August 2026 after a four‑month conversion. The six mass‑timber blocks, built for the 2026 Winter Games, were delivered...
Toronto Robot Mills Mass Timber to Within 0.06-Millimetre Precision
The University of Toronto’s Civil and Mineral Engineering department has installed a 3.5‑metre KUKA Quantec KR210 robotic arm, delivering industrial‑scale mass‑timber milling with 0.06 mm repeatability. The system, the largest robotic arm ever placed at a Canadian university, can sculpt solid...
US Commerce Locks in 231.60% Duties on Chinese Mouldings Till 2031
The U.S. Department of Commerce has extended its antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese wood mouldings and millwork, imposing weighted‑average dumping margins of up to 231.60% and subsidy rates of up to 252.29% through May 5 2031. The expedited 120‑day sunset...
Australia’s Longest Cantilever Timber Roof Designed for Browne Park
Browne Park in Rockhampton reopened on 2 May as Aurizon Stadium, featuring a 90‑metre glulam roof that claims Australia’s longest cantilevered timber span. The redevelopment was funded by a $63 million Queensland Government commitment, including a $3.5 million final tranche, and expands seating...
Native Forest Soils Holds More Carbon Than Trees. But Lockouts Burn Both
Researchers Phil and Freya Mulvey argue that soil, not just trees, is the dominant carbon sink in Australian native forests. Their analysis highlights that degraded, dense forests lacking grass understories dry out soils, amplify heat, and fuel catastrophic wildfires. Indigenous...
Sawlog Residues Locked Out of US Biomass 216 to 210 on House Floor
The House rejected Congressman Cliff Bentz's amendment to expand the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to include sawlog residues and other wood processing leftovers, voting 216‑210 on April 30. The amendment aimed to create a domestic market for low‑value wood by...
NATO-Aligned Intelligence Finds Russian Timber Worst-Hit by Sanctions
NATO‑aligned Latvian intelligence agency SAB reports that Russian timber and cellulose exports have slumped 50% between 2021 and 2025, making the sector the hardest‑hit by Western sanctions. The analysis estimates sanctions have already cost Moscow more than $130 billion, with an...
Mercosur FTA Enters Force Eight Months Before the EUDR Roll Out
The EU‑Mercosur free‑trade agreement entered provisional force after more than two decades of talks, allowing Brazilian soy, beef, coffee, cocoa and forest products to flow into Europe. This activation occurs eight months before the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) takes effect...
US Commerce Targets Three Mills in 2025 Review of Softwood Duties
The U.S. Department of Commerce has opened its 2025 antidumping review of three Canadian softwood producers—Manitoba Ltd, Woodstock Forest Products (CWP‑Montreal) and Norsask Forest Products—covering all U.S. shipments for the calendar year. Parallel reviews were also launched for uncoated paper...
Conifex Takes Mackenzie Mill Offline Again — 25M Board Feet Stripped
Canadian lumber producer Conifex announced a seven‑week shutdown of its Mackenzie sawmill in northern British Columbia starting May 19, removing roughly 25 million board feet of Western SPF from the market. The curtailment stems from limited log inventory and fibre availability...
China Makes 70% of Global Plywood. Now It’s Muscling in on South Africa
Chinese-backed MSFU Wood, a Zoeyol subsidiary, is launching an eight‑site expansion in KwaZulu‑Natal that will output about 150,000 plywood boards per month and create roughly 1,000 jobs. The strategy moves China from exporting finished plywood to processing South African eucalyptus...
US Forest Service Closes 57 of 77 Research Labs Before Fire Season
The U.S. Forest Service announced it will shut 57 of its 77 research facilities, spanning 31 states, and merge the remaining science functions into a single office in Fort Collins, Colorado. The reorganization also moves the agency’s headquarters from Washington...
From Truck Pull to National Stage — ATA Shortlists Wendy Fennell
Wendy Fennell, owner and managing director of Fennell Forestry, has been named a finalist for the Australian Trucking Association’s 2026 Outstanding Contributor Award, which will be presented at the Trucking Australia gala on Hamilton Island on June 5. The ATA...
Underestimate at Your Peril — Hormuz Chokes Tropical Hardwood Supply
The February 28 closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered a severe diesel shortage in Malaysia and Indonesia, pushing industrial diesel prices up 140% and crippling the region’s tropical hardwood supply chain. Logging concessions, log carriers and sawmills are...
Hawai’i’s Mass Timber ‘Hale’ Is Designed to Manage the Tide
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa architecture students unveiled ‘The Hale,’ a curved‑gable mass‑timber civic pavilion designed to withstand sea‑level rise and storm surges on Honolulu’s Kakaʻako shoreline. The structure combines cross‑laminated timber, glulam, marine‑grade coatings, rainscreen façades and protected steel...
From Residue to Revenue — Forestry Hub Takes Biochar Pitch to Tocal
The North East NSW Forestry Hub is showcasing biochar, pyrolysis and circular‑economy solutions at Tocal Field Days on May 2‑3. The event brings together landholders, industry partners and government agencies to demonstrate how forest residues can be turned into marketable products....
Concrete Loses 32% More Heat Than Mass Timber in Chile’s Cold Zones
A peer‑reviewed study from Chile’s CENAMAD shows concrete buildings lose 26‑32% more heat than equivalent mass‑timber structures when thermal bridges are included. The research modeled three cold‑climate zones, finding thermal bridges represent up to 35% of concrete envelope loss versus...
60% of Australian Timber Ends Up in Landfill. But a TANA ‘Shark’ Is Changing That
Bendigo‑based Hopley Group has commissioned a second TANA Shark shredder, expanding timber and construction‑waste recovery across regional Victoria. The new machine, delivered in early 2026, features a touchscreen interface, remote‑control mobility and a tungsten‑lined barrel that cuts maintenance. Capable of...
Brussels Misses Its EUDR Deadline, with Final Package Now Due 4 May
The European Commission missed its April 30 deadline to publish the simplification review of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), pushing the final package to May 4. The Commission confirmed it will not reopen the primary legal text, opting instead for...
Sutton Serves Up a Mass Timber First — RISE’s Tennis Pavilion Cleared
London’s RISE Design Studio has received planning consent to replace the dilapidated Sutton Churches Tennis Club clubhouse with a single‑storey hybrid mass‑timber pavilion. The building will use off‑site CLT walls and glulam roof modules, target AECB CarbonLite New Build certification,...
Ontario Strikes Back With 10-Year Forest Roadmap to Reduce US Dependence
Ontario unveiled a 10‑year Roadmap to Protecting its Forest Sector, a defend‑adapt‑grow plan designed to safeguard roughly $15.5 billion USD in annual revenue and 154,000 jobs from soaring U.S. duties that have pushed export penetration to 45.16%. The strategy targets three...
Why the EUDR Is Fast Becoming Restoration Finance’s Greatest Asset
The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) now requires exporters of seven key commodities to submit high‑resolution geolocation data, creating a global spatial dataset that has never existed at this scale. Margules Groome Consulting argues that this compliance‑driven data layer removes...
Uganda’s DNA Lab Cracks Down on Illegal Logging as Forest Cover Halves
Uganda has inaugurated the Uganda Wildlife Forensics and Timber Laboratory in Entebbe, expanding a 2019 UNODC‑TRACE pilot into a national hub for timber‑crime investigations. Backed by European Union and Danish funding, the lab now applies DNA barcoding to seized wood,...
Why Australia Has to Boost Fuel Supply – and Electrify Transport
Australia is confronting a looming fuel‑security gap as domestic crude production dwindles and six of its eight refineries have shut. The Coalition proposes to double on‑shore liquid fuel reserves to roughly 1 billion litres, a 60‑day supply, while Labor is expected...
Japanese Firms to Frame 6% of US Homes After Sumitomo Forestry’s $4.5B Deal
Sumitomo Forestry has secured approval for its $4.5 billion all‑cash acquisition of California builder Tri Pointe Homes, the largest U.S. homebuilder purchase by a Japanese forest‑based firm. The deal expands Sumitomo’s footprint into California and Nevada, raising Japanese ownership of U.S. single‑family...
Middle East Diesel Spike Wipes Out 30 Per Cent of Log Volumes at NZ Ports
A diesel price surge driven by the Middle East conflict has slashed New Zealand’s log exports by more than 30% as contractors halt harvesting. Fuel now costs around NZ$4 per litre (≈US$2.40), wiping out margins for family‑owned logging firms that have...
ASH’s New CASE Cassette Cracks Australia’s Class 1 Glass Ceiling
Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) has introduced CASE, a prefabricated hardwood cassette that bundles structural panel, insulation and Tasmanian Oak lining into a single unit for Class 1 residential walls, floors and ceilings. The system repurposes Australian hardwood fibre that would otherwise...
NZ–India FTA Signed in Delhi — 95 Per Cent of Wood Tariffs Wiped From Day One
New Zealand and India signed a 1,364‑page free‑trade agreement in Delhi, wiping out more than 95% of tariffs on New Zealand wood and forestry products from day one. The deal covers HS codes 44, 47 and 48, eliminating the 5.5‑11% duties...
Biomass Can Add Even More Value to Australia’s Forest Carbon Stock
A record 200+ members of Forestry Australia joined a bioenergy and biochar webinar that highlighted Europe’s proven pathways—pyrolysis, certified carbon removal credits, and biomass‑fired district heating—as models for Australia. Dr. Fabiano Ximenes emphasized that forest residues can generate measurable carbon...