Americans often picture Canada as a vast northern forest — an endless expanse of pristine wilderness. But the truth is far more complex and increasingly relevant to U.S.–Canada policy debates. Eighty‑nine percent of Canada is Crown land, owned by federal or provincial governments. Yet only about 10–12% of that land receives detailed ecological monitoring. This matters because U.S. trade policy, Canadian conservation policy, and federal herbicide permitting are now combining to reshape North America’s forests in ways few Americans recognize. Over the past 20 years, Canada’s sawmill and pulp‑and‑paper sectors have entered a steep decline. Statistics Canada and industry reports show that mill closures have accelerated, especially in western Canada, where over 30% of softwood lumber capacity has disappeared. Employment has dropped sharply. Entire forestry towns have hollowed out. And while multiple factors contribute — mountain pine beetle damage, wildfire losses, transportation bottlenecks — the most overlooked driver is the federal government’s long‑standing approval of spraying Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide across millions of hectares of Crown forests. For decades, glyphosate has been used to kill broadleaf species — birch, aspen, poplar — so that commercially valuable conifers can dominate. But this practice has consequences. Roundup creates monoculture conifer stands, which are more resin‑rich and significantly more flammable than mixed‑species forests. Instead of diverse, moisture‑retaining ecosystems, Canada is producing vast tracts of single‑age, single‑species pine and spruce — exactly the kind of forests that burn explosively under extreme fire weather. The result is a continental paradox: Policies meant to “manage” forests have instead created more combustible landscapes, contributing to the anomalous rise in total annual area burned. The deterioration of Canada’s forests is also being accelerated by domestic policy. Rising carbon taxes on diesel and gasoline — critical fuels for logging, hauling, and mill operations — have increased costs across the supply chain. New layers of regulation slow approvals and reduce harvest flexibility. And when pulp mills close, sawmills lose buyers for residual chips and sawdust, further undermining their economics. But the most consequential impact of this industrial contraction is ecological. Canada’s parklands — where monitoring exists — show a clear trend of rapidly aging boreal forests, with large stands now reaching 70 to 120 years old. In Alberta’s eastern foothills, provincial parks contain dense, overmature, fuel‑loaded forests primed for high‑intensity wildfire. Decades of fire suppression, beetle kill, drought, and heavy recreational pressure have created extreme fire risk. As Parks Canada itself warns, “the reduction or exclusion of fire as a natural process … leads to increased risk of wildfires.” The consequences are here. Alberta’s Jasper National Park recently nearly burned to the ground when extreme fire weather collided with decades of fuel accumulation, beetle‑killed forests, a highly vulnerable townsite, and infrastructure failures. Nonetheless, long‑term fire data tell a more nuanced story. According to Canada’s National Burned Area Composite and Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre wildfire statistics, forest‑fire frequency has declined since the 1980s. Canada is experiencing fewer fires overall. What has changed is the total area burned, which had remained relatively moderate for decades but then spiked dramatically in 2023 and again in 2025, producing two of the worst years for fires in modern Canadian history. These spikes reflect the dangerous combination of aging forests, heavy fuel loads, glyphosate‑driven monoculture, and extreme fire weather — not an increase in ignition frequency. Meanwhile, federal biodiversity reports show that parks are not experiencing net improvement. Most ecosystems are stable, but among those changing, declines outnumber gains. And crucially, non‑park Crown lands are not monitored at all, meaning there is no empirical basis to claim that conservation designations improve biodiversity. Yet Ottawa is moving ahead with its flagship 30×30 agenda — a plan to place 30% of Canada’s land and water under conservation status by 2030. In practice, this means restricting forestry across vast areas as forests age, become fuel‑loaded, and become increasingly prone to extreme fire behavior. By limiting private‑sector utilization, 30×30 will increase fuel loading, exacerbate forest aging, and reduce thinning and harvesting activities that mitigate catastrophic wildfire risk. For Americans concerned about lumber prices or wildfire smoke drifting south, the lesson is simple. Canada’s forests are increasingly unmanaged, aging, and burning, not because Canadians don’t care, but because the economic and policy frameworks governing those forests are pushing the country toward less active management. North America needs forestry — not just parks — to remain resilient. *** Joseph Fournier, Ph.D., has worked in the energy industry and environmental sciences and is a member of the CO2 Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He writes from his family’s ranch east of Calgary.

In a huge win for parental rights and free speech, a federal judge in Michigan slapped down school district bureaucrats, granting a preliminary injunction to a fed-up father who was hit with a “no-trespass” order after speaking out against Pride flags inside his son’s middle school. U.S. District Judge Robert J. White ruled last week that the Grosse Pointe Public School System likely engaged in unconstitutional First Amendment retaliation against Gary Shane Pruitt. The court ordered the district to immediately stop enforcing the ban, take down a mugshot-style photo of Pruitt displayed in the school office, and cease any further retaliatory acts. The legal showdown kicked off back in September 2024, when Pruitt attended a back-to-school event at Parcells Middle School and noticed a sea of rainbow and transgender pride flags covering the walls. When he took his concerns to district leadership, administrators shrugged him off. School board member Valarie St. John even fired back with a sarcastic snub, telling Pruitt that if he didn’t like his kid seeing rainbow colors, he should send the child “with tinted sunglasses so they [sic] aren’t subjected to the full spectrum.” Refusing to take the dismissive attitude lying down, Pruitt visited the school after hours with the permission of school staff and recorded video of the displays. He posted the four-minute clip to a local parents’ Facebook group, adding voiceover commentary slamming the flags as “political,” “divisive,” and a push by “groomer teachers” to force a “distorted worldview” on kids. School officials immediately hit the panic button. Principal Jason Wesley initially emailed parents admitting the video was non-threatening political speech, but the district quickly doubled down amid pressure from community members and staff. One week later, school lawyers served Pruitt with a nuclear “no-trespass” order. The harsh directive banned Pruitt from setting foot on any district property or attending his child’s extracurricular activities under threat of criminal prosecution, limiting him strictly to picking up or dropping off his son from inside his car. To add insult to injury, administrators plastered Pruitt’s photo right in the school’s main office, branding him as a forbidden trespasser. “To the extent Defendants assert that certain staff felt threatened and/or intimidated by Pruitt’s conduct, the Court concludes it unlikely that the video rises to the level of a true threat,” Judge White wrote. “The video never mentions violence or harm whatsoever, it was posted publicly online rather than targeted at any specific individual or group, it concerned a divisive political issue, and there is no evidence Pruitt had a history making prior threatening statements. Further, despite Defendants’ stated concerns with the tone of Pruitt’s commentary, he largely spoke in a calm and measured voice, even if the views expressed were hurtful or distasteful, and explicitly stated that the video was meant to be informational. And his call to action merely encouraged other agreeable parents to speak out.” After complying with the order without incident through the 2024–25 school year in hopes the district would show reason, Pruitt asked Superintendent Andrea Tuttle to lift the ban ahead of the 2025–26 school year. She flatly refused. Left with no choice, Pruitt retained counsel and filed a federal lawsuit in March 2026, alleging First Amendment retaliation, defamation, and state constitutional violations. White completely dismantled the district’s defense. The court rejected the school’s excuse that the ban was issued over “safety concerns” or “disruption” caused by Pruitt’s walk through the halls, pointing out that officials let him enter, never asked him to leave, and took zero action until after his social media post went live. “At bottom, Pruitt’s video criticizing public-school officials constitutes speech protected by the First Amendment,” Judge White wrote, noting that public education is a “core matter of public concern and debate” and that school administrators cannot use safety policies to punish parents over offensive rhetoric or crowd hostility. The ruling ensures Pruitt can finally attend his son’s events without needing permission slips like a second-class citizen.

President Donald Trump left Washington, D.C., along with his Cabinet on Friday for a meeting at Camp David, the secluded presidential retreat nestled in the wooded mountains of central Maryland. Friday’s Cabinet meeting marks the first at Camp David during his second term. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing last week that the meeting would be “a lot of fun and something different for the cabinet to experience together.” The high-stakes November midterm elections will loom over the meeting as Republicans confront mounting political headwinds, including elevated gas prices, the lingering war with Iran, and Trump’s sagging approval ratings. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average shows Democrats holding roughly a five-point lead on the generic congressional ballot. Trump’s Cabinet meetings have lasted as long as three hours, with each official briefing the president on their department. Breaking with tradition, Trump allows reporters to remain for the entire meeting and often takes a barrage of questions that frequently generate headlines. For decades, Camp David has been the president’s refuge from Washington — and one of the country’s most secure meeting places. Presidents have used the retreat for quiet getaways, national security deliberations, and sensitive diplomatic talks. Its most famous moment came in 1978, when the Camp David Accords paved the way for peace between Israel and Egypt, according to the U.S. State Department. 

At least 34 people died Thursday as nearly 50,000 illegal migrants invaded the Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco. Many of the deaths were drownings as migrants attempted to swim into Ceuta. Others were killed when they were trampled as the swarm of people broke down gates and overwhelmed Spanish border officials. Most of the migrants appear to be young men. Leftist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who recently paved the way for a million illegal migrants to obtain legal status, claimed he would end the chaos.  “The Government of Spain is fully committed to providing an immediate response to the situation in Ceuta,” he said. “We are mobilizing all necessary resources, working with Moroccan and international authorities, and preparing the necessary measures to restore normalcy as soon as possible.” Later on Friday, he added that the migrant flood “deserves our full reproach, our condemnation at the strongest possible level of rejection, condemnation, and consideration as deplorable.” The military has been mobilized to respond to the massive influx of illegal migrants who were emboldened by a decision from Spain’s Supreme Court that migrants crossing by sea cannot be immediately deported. As they pushed past border officials, migrants reportedly chanted “Bye Bye Morocco, hello Spain.” Almost 50,000 migrants entered Ceuta and they flooded the streets. One video shared online shows a man pooping in the streets.  “Businesses closed. Shops shut because if you open a business, it gets overrun. … We’re scared. The streets are packed. There are no measures in place. It’s every man for himself. They’re not giving us any help,” one local restaurant owner said.  Another local described the event as an “apocalypse.”  Migrant Ajoub el-Arrot told The New York Times he entered Ceuta looking for a job.  “I don’t know why they let us through. Maybe they had some political reason,” he said. “They opened the border and let everyone go by.” Another person told Reuters that he simply pushed past the police.  “It was very tough,” Jadid Zacaria said. “The police tried to stop us. But our will and determination allowed us to come here.” Santiago Abascal of the Right-wing Vox party said the influx was welcomed by Sánchez.  “They’re not fleeing from war or poverty. It’s an invasion,” he said. “They are military-aged men invited by Pedro Sanchez’s corrupt government to storm our borders so they can roam Spain’s streets shouting ‘Viva Pedro Sanchez.’”  In response to the videos coming from Ceuta, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy is “prepared to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain.” The Schengen Area is a zone that allows people to travel between 29 European countries without border checks. “The images coming from Ceuta are striking and demonstrate, once again, that uncontrolled illegal immigration poses a concrete threat to the security of Europe’s borders.” she said. “On illegal immigration, we will not yield an inch: defending the borders, stopping human traffickers, and ensuring effective repatriations will continue to be the line of this Government.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the situation in Ceuta “unacceptable.”  “We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules,” she said. “Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow.”

President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to the country after tens of thousands of African migrants stormed across the Moroccan border into the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Thursday.  “It’s terrible. Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in,” Trump said during a phone interview with Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich on Friday morning. “If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life.” Trump’s comments came after almost 50,000 migrants rushed across the border into Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the tip of Morocco, bringing widespread chaos and unrest. At least 34 people died as thousands of migrants, mostly young men, attempted to swim or force their way into Ceuta.  The migrants, emboldened by the lax immigration policies of leftist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, brought chaos to the streets of Ceuta, causing fear among locals who were overwhelmed by the flood.  The images were reminiscent of video captured during the Biden administration of a large mob of young men breaking down razor wire and fencing to storm past Texas National Guard troops stationed in El Paso. Over seven million illegal immigrants from all over the world crossed the United States border during President Joe Biden’s presidency.  Many other Republicans echoed Trump’s comments in response to the scenes of chaos from Spain.  “The Democrats did this to America every single day for 4 years under Biden and will do it again instantaneously, but orders of magnitude greater, if they are given any form of national power. Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller said.  The Democrats did this to America every single day for 4 years under Biden and will do it again instantaneously, but orders of magnitude greater, if they are given any form of national power. Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice. https://t.co/HKRKAOOkmi — Stephen Miller (@StephenM) July 30, 2026 “This is what the defund ICE Democrats (even in Arkansas, Dems are openly campaigning on defunding ICE) see as a model,” said Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). “They see open borders as a tool to import the third-world and fundamentally change America.” “What’s happening in Spain should be a warning to every American who may have forgotten about what our borders looked like the last time Democrats were in power: All it takes is one election for your nation to become unrecognizable,” said Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX).