Hotter Summers Drive Heavier Damage Across 30 US Forest Pests
A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution analyzed two decades of USDA forest‑insect survey data and found that maximum summer temperature is the most reliable climate signal driving damage from 30 major forest pests across the contiguous United States. The researchers showed that regions experiencing the fastest warming recorded the highest pest‑induced damage, with the rate of warming often outweighing absolute temperature as a predictor. Species such as the emerald ash borer benefited from milder winters, while damage patterns varied between bark‑beetles and defoliators and between eastern and western forests. The authors warn that continued warming will likely amplify these impacts over the next 20 years.
DNA Maps Doggerland Forests: 16,000-Year Secret Buried Under the North Sea
Researchers led by Prof. Robin Allaby at the University of Warwick used sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) from 252 samples across 41 marine cores to reconstruct Doggerland’s vegetation 16,000 years ago. The analysis revealed extensive oak, elm, hazel and even lime...
AFL Returns to UTAS Mid-Build as Work Starts on Timber-Concrete Grandstand
A $130 million AUD (≈ $86 million USD) redevelopment of UT AS Stadium has begun, featuring a timber‑concrete Centre West Stand and a revamped Eastern Stand. Capacity is temporarily reduced to about 9,000 seats for the 2026 AFL season, rising to roughly 17,000 by...
Weyerhaeuser Trains AI to Map Every Tree in Its 10M-Acre Estate
Weyerhaeuser, America’s largest private landowner, is deploying artificial intelligence to create a digital twin of its 10.4 million‑acre timber estate. The AI model, trained on satellite, drone and lidar data, will identify tree species, size and spacing, feeding into harvest scheduling,...
DOJ Hires Intelligence Analysts to Hunt $500m Timber Trafficking Networks
The U.S. Department of Justice launched its first dedicated timber‑trafficking intelligence unit, placing two analysts inside the Environment and Natural Resources Division. The move follows a $500 million loss to American forest‑product firms and targets a global illegal‑logging market valued at...
Scientists Warn Watt — Jarrah Forests Cannot Recover From Bauxite Mining
Scientists from the University of Western Australia warn that the Northern Jarrah Forest cannot be restored to its pre‑mining state after Alcoa’s bauxite extraction removed the geological substrate that supports the ecosystem. A 2024 study showed that 35 years of...
Architects, Insurers Open New Front on English Timber Cap
Britain’s Health and Safety Executive is consulting on a revision to Approved Document B that would cap load‑bearing mass timber elements at 11 metres, requiring an A2‑s3, d2 combustibility rating that most CLT and glulam cannot meet. The Fire Protection Association...
Canada Eyes China as Five-Pronged Tariff Wars Hammer Timber Exports
Canada announced a new national Forest Strategy that will shift its timber export focus from the United States toward markets like China, as U.S. antidumping, countervailing and Section 232 duties keep soft‑wood lumber tariffs near 35 percent through August 2026. The strategy, shaped...
Indonesia and South Korea Break Ground on Sumatra Fire Centre for El Niño
Indonesia and South Korea broke ground on a firefighting brigade dormitory in Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra, launching a broader Forest and Land Fire Management Centre funded by the Korea Forest Service. The programme bundles a dormitory, command and training...
Oregon Opens First Mass Timber Cancer Centre with 86 Glulam Beams
Skanska USA opened Oregon’s first mass‑timber medical facility, the St. Charles Cancer Centre in Redmond. The two‑storey building uses 86 glulam beams, 30 cross‑laminated timber panels and roughly 20 km of interior timber framing, replacing a smaller clinic with a space...
Far North Hunts for White Knight Before It’s Too Late for Juken Mills
Far North authorities are spearheading a PwC‑run tender to sell Juken New Zealand’s Northland Mill and adjacent Triboard plant in Kaitāia. The Japanese parent plans to exit next month, putting 200 local jobs at risk. Councils and Northland Inc are...
The Hive Sets New Bar as World’s Most Advanced Seismic Timber Building
Vancouver’s Hive tower is the world’s most advanced seismic mass‑timber building, featuring 105 engineered dampers and a honeycomb timber‑braced frame that replaces a traditional concrete core. Central tectonic joints let stabilising beams slide during earthquakes, allowing the structure to flex...
OneFortyOne Appoints FWPA’s Andrew Leighton as Its New CEO
Andrew Leighton has been appointed chief executive of OneFortyOne, succeeding interim CEO Michael Barbara in July after a four‑year tenure at Forest and Wood Products Australia. Leighton will lead the vertically integrated Trans‑Tasman wood‑fibre group, which manages about 80,000 hectares...
Australia Can Reach Net Zero in Three Years With Better Timber Use
A new Wood Beca report, "Building a Low‑Carbon Future for Australia," shows that expanding timber use could drive the nation to net‑zero emissions by 2029 and into carbon‑negative territory by 2050. The analysis models three pathways, with the most aggressive scenario...
Timberlink’s Full Range of Products Are ‘Australian Grown, Australian Made’
Timberlink Australia & New Zealand has become an official licencee of the Australian Made Campaign, allowing the green‑and‑gold kangaroo logo on its plantation pine, Everdeck decking and NeXTimber cross‑laminated timber and glulam products. CEO Paul O’Keefe says the badge gives customers...
‘A Blatant Lie’ — NSW Supply Chain Paid $70M for ‘Free’ Timber Last Year
The New South Wales native timber industry paid roughly AU$70 million (about US$46 million) for logs in the 2023‑24 financial year, refuting claims that mills receive timber for free. The payment came under Wood Supply Agreements, which were introduced after former Premier...
Inside Algeria’s First Continuous Particleboard Plant
Algerian panel maker Ghamoud commissioned the nation’s first continuous particleboard line at El Eulma, rolling its inaugural board on 18 January. The plant centers on a 13‑metre Dieffenbacher CPS+ press capable of 100,000 m³ annually and includes flaking, drying, gluing and sanding stages....
Mercer Mass Timber’s BuildSpec Is Free for Specifers — New Tool for CLT Design
Mercer Mass Timber has launched BuildSpec, a free browser‑based feasibility tool that lets architects, engineers, and developers model cross‑laminated timber (CLT) and cold‑formed steel (CFS) schemes at the schematic design stage. The platform generates live cost, embodied‑carbon, and quantity take‑offs...
Drax Signs New Pellet Contract Cutting Shipping Emissions Each Year
Drax Group has inked a new transatlantic freight agreement with Ultrabulk that runs to March 2031 and obligates the carbon intensity of each wood‑pellet shipment to decline annually. The contract, tied to the debut of the 40,000‑dwt M.V. Ultra Yorkshire, saw...
South Korea Patents Method to Turn Wood Fibre Into Plastic Bottles
South Korea’s National Institute of Forest Science (NIFoS) has patented a ketone‑based solvent that extracts more than 90% of 5‑hydroxymethylfurfural (5‑HMF) from wood fibers. The continuous‑flow method replaces traditional batch extraction, cutting both cost and waste while preserving the compound...
Chinese Scientists Map 600-Year-Old Ming Temple Into 4,700 Pieces
Chinese researchers have created the first whole‑building digital framework for ancient Chinese timber architecture, mapping the 600‑year‑old Dabeidian hall at Chongshan Temple into 4,704 individual components. The new Chinese Timber Architecture Application Domain Extension (CTAADE) integrates with the global CityGML...
Our Efforts to Halt Global Forest Loss Aren’t Working: New Research
A new study shows the world lost roughly 300 million hectares of forest between 2013 and 2023, averaging 21‑32 million hectares per year. Protected areas expanded from 868 million to 990 million hectares, yet deforestation continued unabated. The research found no statistical link between...
Melbourne Architects Invent Cross-Laminated Plywood for Laneway Home
Melbourne‑based LLDS Architects has pioneered a structural timber system called Cross‑Laminated Plywood (CLP) to construct the Northcote House, a 22‑metre‑long laneway home. Developed with TGA Engineers and fabricated in‑house by Power to Make, the CLP roof comprises 19 birch rafter...
Niagara to Double Output — NZ Logs Stay Home for Value-Added Products
Southland‑based Niagara Sawmilling Company has commissioned Quebec‑based Comact to build a NZ$115 million (≈US$69 million) sawmill at its Kennington site, the largest capital outlay in its 91‑year history. The new facility, slated for commissioning in 2027, will more than double Niagara’s output,...
Hormuz Crisis Chokes Tropical Timber — Asian Panel Prices Jump 15%
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has choked the flow of tropical timber from West Africa and South America, prompting Indian wood panel makers to raise prices by 5‑15 % and Malaysian factories to report that nine in ten firms...
Sanctions Bleed Segezha Dry — Timber Giant’s Losses Quadruple to $1.1B
Russia’s Segezha Group, the country’s largest forest producer, posted a net loss of 88 billion rubles (≈ $1.1 billion) in 2025, four times its 2024 deficit. Revenue slipped 12% to about 89 billion rubles (≈ $1 billion) as weaker sales volumes, a stronger ruble and rising...
Beijing Builder in Final Two for Hobart’s $1.13B Timber Stadium
A Constructure Joint Venture—led by Italy’s Webuild and including China Construction Oceania, a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corp.—and Belgium‑Australian BESIX Watpac have emerged as the two finalists to build Hobart’s Macquarie Point stadium. The arena, budgeted at A$1.13 billion...
NZ, India Set to Sign FTA Despite Labour Calling Rush ‘Reckless’
New Zealand and India will sign a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement in New Delhi next Monday, instantly removing tariffs on 95% of New Zealand timber, lumber, pulp and paperboard shipments. The deal makes 57% of NZ exports duty‑free at launch,...
India’s Forests Are Worth ₹2.5 Trillion — But Plantations Have Been Hiding It
A new peer‑reviewed meta‑regression finds Indian forests deliver roughly US$30 billion in ecosystem services each year, supporting 275 million people and employing about 100 million in forestry‑related jobs. The study argues that valuing only single services has skewed policy toward industrial plantations, which...
Middle East Fuel Shock Squeezes NZ’s Log Trade — ANZ Report
ANZ’s latest Agri Focus report warns that the Middle East conflict has driven diesel prices in New Zealand up about 80% to NZ$2.34 per litre (≈$1.40 USD), pushing shipping rates to China up 36% in just four weeks. The surge in fuel...
Using Wood Twice Is EU’s Best Path to Net Zero — Nature Study
A new peer‑reviewed Nature study finds that using wood twice—first as a durable product such as particleboard and later as fuel in a BECCS plant—delivers far greater long‑term carbon removal than burning wood directly or leaving forests unmanaged. The research,...
Kimberly-Clark to Split Into Four Parts as $30B Kenvue Deal Nears
Kimberly‑Clark will reorganize into four regional units after its pending $48.7 billion acquisition of Kenvue, expected to close in the second half of 2026. North America will generate roughly $18 billion, while EMEA, Asia Pacific Focus and Enterprise Markets each target $4.3‑$5 billion. The...
Argentine Port Expands as Latin America Tightens Grip on India’s Log Trade
Argentina’s Concepción del Uruguay river port is boosting timber storage to handle a surge in logs destined for India. Latin American producers now account for 37% of India’s log imports, driven by record‑high domestic poplar and eucalypt prices. Brazil has...
Mazda Hits the Road to Carbon-Neutral Motoring
Mazda is advancing algae‑derived biofuels that can run existing internal‑combustion engines with net‑zero or even carbon‑negative emissions. The company has demonstrated small‑batch production, using roughly 1,000 litres of water to yield one litre of fuel over two weeks, proving technical feasibility....
Germany’s Sawmillers Want New Fix for Beetle-Damaged Spruce
Germany’s sawmill industry is pressing the government to create a nationwide storage network for spruce timber damaged by bark beetles. New NUKAFI technical guidelines confirm that properly stored deadwood remains usable for up to two years after tree death, after...
China Supplies 44pc of Imports as Australia’s Timber Bill Hits $3B
Australia’s wood‑product imports topped roughly $2 billion USD in 2025, with mainland China supplying $870 million USD – about 44 percent of the total. Plywood, LVL and glulam alone accounted for $523 million USD, representing 26 percent of spend, while builders’ joinery and sawnwood added...
One Million Homes, Not Enough Tradies — Australia Forced to Embrace Prefab
Australia is targeting one million new homes but faces a severe tradespeople shortage, with more than 27,000 workers exiting the sector last year against a government‑estimated deficit of 115,000. Although 85% of house frames already use modern methods, reliance on...
World’s Largest Free-Span Mass Timber Roof to Host FIFA Festival
The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver will debut the Freedom Mobile Arch on June 11, hosting the FIFA World Cup Fan Festival under what it claims is the world’s largest free‑span mass‑timber roof. The $183.7 million venue, featuring a 105‑metre...
Hormuz Blockade Hits Gulf Sites as Traders Scramble for White Wood
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Feb. 28 caused the price of Austrian spruce 2×4 framing beams in the Gulf to jump 52%, from about $6.30‑$6.90 to $9.60‑$10.20 per piece. Shipping costs surged, with surcharges of $3,600‑$5,000 per 40‑foot...
Balsa Wood Absorbs Solar Heat and Generates Power Long After Dark
Researchers have engineered a carbonisation‑free balsa wood composite that absorbs sunlight, stores heat, and generates electricity after darkness, achieving a photothermal conversion efficiency of 91.27% and a sustained 0.65 V output. The material uses delignified wood with 93% porosity, black phosphorene...
Tang Dynasty Timber Survives 1,400 Years in Tomb — Keeps Inner Core Intact
Archaeologists recovered a 1,400‑year‑old Potanin’s larch beam from the Tang‑Dynasty tomb of Murong Zhi in Gansu, China. While the outer shell has lost two‑thirds of its original density and absorbed over 500% moisture, the inner core remains structurally sound with...
Toronto’s Former Planner to Build Mass Timber Block Over Car Wash
Former Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat’s firm Collecdev Markee has filed a development application for an eight‑storey mass‑timber tower on the former Classic Coin Car Wash site at 1280‑1286 College Street. The prefabricated building, designed by Batay‑Csorba Architects and backed...
Neutral Offloads Mass Timber Tower as Costs Mount Across Portfolio
Neutral sold its first completed mass‑timber project, Bakers Place, for $37.2 million—roughly half the $73.8 million loan used to build it. Chicago‑based Altitude Capital Partners acquired the 206‑unit building on March 31, assuming a portfolio riddled with more than $15 million in liens. The...
How Derome Erects Six-Storey Apartment Blocks in Three Days
Swedish timber maker Derome now erects a six‑storey, flat‑element apartment building in just three days, a speedup from one floor per week when the system launched 15 years ago. The acceleration stems from continuous, incremental refinements across product design, factory...
FSC and PEFC Alone Cannot Halt Global Forest Loss — Lindenmayer
A peer‑reviewed study in Nature Communications Sustainability examined 11 years of satellite data across 91 nations and found that global forest canopy loss, ranging from 21 to 32 million hectares per year, showed no downward trend despite a decade of expanding...
U.S. to Cut Canadian Lumber Duties by 10% — Rate Stays at 35%
The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a preliminary revision that lowers the combined antidumping and countervailing duty on most Canadian softwood lumber to 24.83%, but a 10% Section 232 tariff remains, keeping the effective burden at roughly 34.8%. Antidumping duties...
We Have Proof Logging Makes Tasmania’s Forests Flammable
New research confirms that logged, regrowing wet eucalypt forests in Tasmania burn more intensely than mature stands. Using pre‑ and post‑fire data from the 2019 Riveaux Road fire, scientists showed higher canopy damage and hotter, drier microclimates in 40‑year‑old regrowth....
Amazon’s Mass Timber Delivery Centre ‘Locks in’ Carbon for 50+ Years
Amazon has completed its DII5 delivery station in Elkhart, Indiana, using more than half a million board feet of 3‑ply cross‑laminated timber (CLT) for walls, roof and canopy. The engineered‑wood envelope locks sequestered carbon for 50‑100 years, creating a long‑term...
Two-Thirds at Risk — Forest Service Chief Backs 121-Year Shake-Up
U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Schultz defended a sweeping reorganization that moves the agency’s headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City and replaces nine regional offices with 15 state‑based directorates. He highlighted that almost two‑thirds of the 193 million‑acre National Forest...
NSW Supply Chain Rubbishes “Free Kick” Claims on Wood Supply Agreements
The New South Wales hardwood supply chain has rejected activist Dailan Pugh’s claim that state‑run wood supply agreements are free and untendered, emphasizing that royalties and harvest rates are set by the government. Timber NSW highlighted that the $2.9 billion AUD...