Canada has requested a meeting of the WTO’s dispute settlement body on March 27 to judge its dispute with the United States over Canadian lumber exports. Companies in the news include: Domtar (concerns about a former creosote plant in Edmonton); and Sino Forest (found guilty of fraud in Ontario Superior Court).

In Forestry news: Minister McKenna announces $1.3 billion to protect natural places and wildlife in Canada; BC is protecting more coastal habitat for the marbled murrelet and northern goshawk; the fir bark beetle is wrecking havoc in central BC; and Scotland disputes stories that its Sitka Spruce are at risk from “sudden oak death“.

In Wood product news: Washington State overcomes a major construction hurdle with mass timber by directing its Building Code Council to allow for it; and Austrian furniture giant Egger Wood Products is planing it first North American facility in North Carolina. 

Finally, shoes made from wood pulp are taking off in Georgia and Greenpeace takes on PepsiCo and Johnson & Johnson for refusing to reveal their palm oil sources.

–Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor