Region Archives: United States

Business & Politics

U.S. Court of Appeals rules many of Trump’s tariffs are illegal

By Joe Walsh
CBS News
August 30, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

A federal appeals court said Friday that many of the sweeping tariffs imposed by President Trump on dozens of countries earlier this year are not legally permissible. The ruling will not immediately block the tariffs, but it marks a significant blow to Mr. Trump’s trade strategy. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision that found many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods exceeded his power under federal economic emergency laws. However, the appellate judges vacated the lower court’s injunction blocking the tariffs altogether, directing the court to reevaluate whether universal relief is appropriate. The ruling applies to a series of April executive orders that imposed 10% baseline tariffs on virtually every country and higher “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of trading partners. It also applies to a separate set of tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.

In related coverage:

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U.S. railroads go off the rails in race to compete with Canadian rivals

Seeking Alpha
August 26, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

To better compete with Canada’s transcontinental railroads, efficiencies within the trucking industry, and to capitalize on a more relaxed regulatory environment, the railroad industry is entering into a consolidation phase with the major operators all reportedly in play. On the heels of the 2023 merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern which connected Canada, the US and Mexico with the first single-line railway, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are pursuing a merger that would create the first coast-to-coast railway system in the US. The tie-up between Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific raised the possibility of further consolidation in the industry with investors eyeing a merger between CSX and BNSF, or with CPKC. While mergers might satisfy shareholders and activist investors, industry insiders see the trend creating more inefficiencies. …Freight Rail Customer Alliance is opposed to further consolidation given that past mergers have resulted in higher transportation costs and unreliable service for customers.

In related coverage:

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Trump Weighs Declaring National Housing Emergency to Tackle High Housing Costs, Bessent Says

By Skylar Woodhouse
Bloomberg Politics
September 1, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration may declare a national housing emergency this fall as the White House looks to highlight key issues for midterm campaign voters. …Bessent said housing affordability would be a critical leg of Republicans’ 2026 midterm election platform. Bessent declined to list any specific actions the president may take, but he suggested that administration officials are directly studying ways to standardize local building and zoning codes and decrease closing costs. President Trump has repeatedly used emergency declarations to avoid having to send legislation to Congress for approval. Some of those, particularly the emergency law he cited to institute his tariff regime, have faced pushback in federal court. …Trump also spoke out on the issue during the campaign and said he wants to open up federal land for housing development and pledged to help with affordability by eliminating regulations.

In related coverage:

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Softwood Lumber Prices Tumble Following Doubling of Duties; How Did Canada and NAHB Get Their Rhetoric So Wrong?

By Zoltan van Heyningen
The US Lumber Coalition
August 28, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Zoltan van Heyningen

Reality continues to catch up with the extended campaign of scare tactics and misinformation promoted by Canada and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The US Lumber Coalition has always allowed the facts to speak for themselves. …The US Department of Commerce recently concluded its latest review of Canada’s unfair trade practices and doubled the duties imposed on Canadian imports as a direct and proportionate response to the severity of unfair practices. …Notwithstanding these critical enforcement measures, softwood lumber prices have tumbled because a weak housing market reduces the demand for lumber, and Canada continues to push its massive excess lumber capacity and production into the US market well beyond what the market actually needs. Canada’s recent pledge to pump more than $1 billion into its lumber industry in an effort to undermine the Department of Commerce’s enforcement measures will only worsen these conditions.

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Secretary Rollins Opens Next Step in the Roadless Rule Rescission

US Department of Agriculture
August 27, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the USDA has taken the next step in the rulemaking process for rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule by opening a public comment period. …The USDA Forest Service is publishing a notice seeking public comment on its intention to develop an environmental impact statement for the proposed rescission of the rule. The notice details the reasons for rescinding the rule, the potential effects on people and resources, and how national forests and grasslands are managed. The USDA will publish the notice August 29, 2025. …While the rescission would apply to roadless areas in Alaska, state-specific rules for Colorado and Idaho would not be affected by the proposal. In total, the 2025 rescission would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the nearly 60 million acres of inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System. …The public is invited to comment no later than Sept. 19, 2025. 

A collection of responses to the Roadless Rule announcement:

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Trump administration advances plan to reverse federal rule that limits logging in national forests

By James Brooks
The Alaska Beacon
August 27, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

©USDAFlickr

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it is moving ahead with plans to rescind a rule that has restricted logging on federal lands for more than two decades. U.S. Secretary Brooke Rollins said the agency intends to open public comments Friday on its proposal to end the so-called “Roadless Rule,” an act that will affect as much as 45 million acres of federal land as well as millions of Americans who live near it. Opening a public comment period is the first step in repealing the rule. According to Rollins’ statement, members of the public will have until Sept. 19 to offer their opinions on the repeal, a timeframe that opponents of the plan denounced as inadequate. Roads are a key prerequisite for large-scale logging and mining projects, and the rule — enacted in 2001 at the end of the Clinton administration — has limited the number of development projects on Forest Service land.

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Kimberly-Clark to shift four production lines from Fox Crossing, Wisconsin to Malaysia, Vietnam

By Zhen Wang
The Appleton Post-Crescent
August 25, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

FOX CROSSING, Wisconsin — Kimberly-Clark is slated to cut 25% of its production capacity at its Cold Spring facility in Fox Crossing, reducing 16 lines to 12 effective January 2026, according to local union leaders. The global consumer product giant will shift the four production lines, involving Kotex and Poise brands, to Malaysia and Vietnam, said Sally Feistel, director of the United Steelworkers union’s regional office in Menasha. On Aug. 8, K-C informed the Cold Spring plant of the production reduction decision. …On Aug. 22, K-C’s communication team said the proposed changes do not include job loss. Closing four production lines will be equivalent to cutting about 100 jobs, but no layoffs are happening immediately amid a worker shortage. Feistel said the plant is behind on filling vacancies, and that jobs for current employees are secure.

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Stella-Jones Corporation Pleads Guilty to Multiple Counts of Unlawful Water Pollution in Yamhill County, Oregon

Oregon Department of Justice
August 25, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield today announced that Stella-Jones Corporation, a wood products manufacturer operating in Sheridan, Oregon, has pleaded guilty to 10 misdemeanor counts of Unlawful Water Pollution in the Second Degree for violations of its state-issued water quality permit. The company admitted to repeatedly and with criminal negligence exceeding legal limits for pentachlorophenol, a toxic chemical used in treating wood products, in discharges from its facility between December 2022 and March 2023. This resolves a larger set of charges filed by the Oregon Department of Justice, which documented a pattern of permit violations across multiple months. …Stella-Jones will pay a $250,000 fine, $50,000 of which will be suspended if it avoids permit violations involving pentachlorophenol during the three years of probation. Stella-Jones will also be required to implement corrective actions to bring its facility operations into compliance.

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Jeff Keller Named Western Wood Products Association President

Western Wood Products Association
August 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Jeff Keller

WWPA has named industry veteran Jeff Keller as Association President. Keller brings in a leadership philosophy and a strong background in legislative and regulatory work within the industry. Keller succeeds Ray Barbee, who passed away in March 2025. Keller has worked in the association field for over 20 years, representing various industries with a focus on lumber and construction. …Keller took on various contract positions as an Executive Director to help organizations transition, grow, and institute best practices for greater efficiency. In 2022, he relocated to the Pacific Northwest to return to his passion for the lumber industry with the Western Wood Preservers Institute. Jeff received his B.A. from the University of Southern California and his M.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. …WWPA Chairman Randy Schillinger said, “Jeff brings a good balance of respecting the legacy of WWPA with a clear vision for moving the organization forward.”

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Why is a paper giant leaving Savannah? Answers trigger questions, theories

By Adam Van Brimmer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
August 28, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

SAVANNAH ― A nearly 90-year legacy as a papermaking hub will soon be diminished as International Paper shutters its Savannah-area operations. The world’s largest paper products manufacturer announced last week it would close two paper mills and two accompanying facilities in September, eliminating 1,100 jobs. …IP disclosed plans to reduce containerboard capacity by 1 million tons. Industry analysts say the move reflects International Paper’s ongoing pivot to make more packaging from recycled paper, which has a higher profit margin than pulp. …Yet Savannah officials parsed through IP’s earnings report for other clues — especially President Trump’s tariff strategy and elimination of the de minimis exemption on small orders. …Even if tariffs did play a contributing role, Savannah workers continue to ask, “Why us?”. …The Savannah-area mills operate in one of the most timber-rich parts of America and near the busiest paper product trade ports in the US. The Georgia Ports Authority handles about a fifth of US forestry exports. [to access the full story an Atlanta JC subscription is required]

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South Carolina timber industry faces uncertainty amid mill closures

By Caitlin Richards
ABC 15 News
August 27, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

The timber industry, a cornerstone of South Carolina’s economy, is grappling the closure of several key mills. The recent shutdowns of mills in Darlington and Estill have sent ripples through the local supply chain, affecting forest management and the livelihoods of many in the industry. …The timber industry in South Carolina is struggling with significant challenges after major mill closures, including the International Paper Mill in Georgetown, the WestRock Plant in Charleston, the International Paper in Savannah and the Containerboard Mill in Riceboro. Michael Campbell, president and CEO of the South Carolina Timber Producers Association, highlighted the broader economic impact. “It’s a widespread county thing because the loggers tend to haul up to 100 miles away from the mill, so within 100 miles of that mill everything’s impacted,” he said. Despite some new mill announcements, Campbell said they are insufficient to compensate for the lost wood volume.

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Grant awarded to help Two Rivers Lumber build plant in East Alabama

WAKA Action 8 News
August 26, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

ALEXANDER CITY, Alabama — A $180,000 grant has been awarded to a Two Rivers Lumber to build a plant near the Tallapoosa County-Coosa County line. Gov. Kay Ivey has announced the grant, from the Appalachian Regional Commission, which is a federal-state partnership program. The $115 million sawmill will be built on a 110-acre site at the Lake Martin Regional Industrial Park. It is expected to create 130 jobs. The grant will help Alexander City provide infrastructure needed for the sawmill. “This sawmill will have a tremendous economic impact for Coosa County, Tallapoosa County and much of east central Alabama,” Gov. Ivey said. “While the mill will employ 130 people, the ripple effect will benefit timberland owners, foresters and harvesters.” …Two Rivers Lumber was established in 2017 in Demopolis by the owners of McElroy Truck Lines and Sumter Timber, both based in west Alabama.

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Canfor sawmill closes in Darlington, South Carolina

By Alexis Cooper
WPDE.com
August 25, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

DARLINGTON COUNTY, South Carolina — Monday marked the last day of operation at the Canfor sawmill in Darlington. The mill announced its closure back in June, and Monday marked the last day of work for more than 120 Darlington employees. Over a decade ago, Canfor announced its $8 million investment in the Darlington facility for upgrades and increased production, expanding its workforce. Back in June, Canfor announced it no longer made sense to continue operations in Darlington because of weak market conditions and sustained financial losses. …Since the announcement of Canfor closure, Darlington county leaders have tried helping employees find their next opportunity. …Canfor also announced the Estill mill in Hampton county is also scheduled to close this month.

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Finance & Economics

Lumber Futures Prices Fall to Near 4-Month Low

Trading Economics
September 1, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Lumber futures fell to $550 per thousand board feet in September, the lowest in nearly four months, amid softer demand for new home building and ample supply. US building permits fell 2.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.362 million, the lowest since June 2020. Although the market anticipates a potential rate cut in September, rates are expected to remain restrictive, and high inflation expectations are expected to support long-maturity yields, which dictate mortgage costs. Seasonal slowdown in construction is set to magnify the drop in housing construction. On the supply side, Canadian mills continue to push large volumes of surplus lumber into the US market, far exceeding actual demand and creating an oversupply situation. Additionally, ongoing tariff issues between the US and Canada add further uncertainty, as potential changes in trade policy could significantly affect US lumber prices.›

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Lumber futures on the brink of bear market territory as tariff-driven rally fizzles out

By Sinchita Mitra
Seeking Alpha
August 28, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Lumber futures have come under strain after the initial tariff-driven upswing has fizzled out and the cracks in the housing market are beginning to show… retreating from an early August high of ~$695 per thousand board feet to about $560, a decline of nearly 19.5%, making it just shy of the 20% mark that would push it into a technical bear market. Lumber futures saw a surge driven by tariffs and optimism over lower interest rates, which pushed prices to their highest levels in more than three years. However, the enthusiasm soon faded away, as recent housing data disappointed, and builders scaled back due to higher input costs, weaker demand and looming affordability challenges. Housing affordability remains stretched even with potential rate cuts, requiring better wage growth or increased supply for meaningful improvement, according to Rafe Jadrosich, Senior US Homebuilders and Building Products analyst.

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US–Canada Lumber Dispute Intensifies with Massive Tariff Increase

By Audry Dixon
ResorceWise
August 26, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Industry leaders are urging the governments of Canada and the US to prioritize resolving the longstanding softwood lumber dispute after the US more than doubled lumber import duty rates. Construction costs are already rising for American builders, while housing affordability and worries about inflation remain. …The love-hate relationship the US has with Canadian softwood lumber took another turn last week, when the American Building Materials Alliance (ABMA) highlighted one more reason hiking duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber is a problem for the US construction sector. …ABMA Chair Rod Wiles, a VP at Hammond Lumber Company, said: “Tariffs at this level send a clear signal that the status quo isn’t sustainable, and they can be a tool to bring both sides back to the table. The sooner we can achieve a fair agreement, the better it will be for the entire North American lumber supply chain.”

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US consumer sentiment confirmed its early-month reading, moving down about 6% from July

By Joanne Hsu, Director
The University of Michigan
September 2, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer sentiment confirmed its early-month reading, moving down about 6% from July. Sentiment now stands about 11% above readings from April and May but remains at least 10% below 6 and 12 months ago. This month’s decrease was visible across groups by age, income, and stock wealth. Moreover, perceptions of many aspects of the economy slipped. …Expectations for business conditions and labor markets contracted in August as well. That said, expectations for personal finances held steady this month, albeit at relatively subdued levels relative to a year ago. …Year-ahead inflation expectations moved up from 4.5% last month to 4.8% this month. This rise was seen across multiple demographic groups. …This month ended two consecutive months of receding inflation for short-run expectations and three straight months for long-run expectations. Still, both readings remain well below the highs seen briefly in April and May 2025.

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US Wood-Framed Home Share Increased in 2024

By Jing Fu
NAHB Eye on Housing
August 27, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Wood framing continues to dominate the US single-family home construction market, according to NAHB analysis of 2024 Census Bureau data. In 2024, wood framing accounted for 94% of all completed single-family homes, reinforcing its position as the leading construction method. Concrete-framed homes represented 5% of completions, while steel-framed homes remained relatively rare, comprising less than half a percent of the market. On a count basis, approximately 959,000 wood-framed homes were completed in 2024. This was a 3% increase compared to the 2023 total. This growth also marked a rebound in market share, with wood-framed market share rising from 93% in 2023 to 94% in 2024. Steel-framed homes, while still uncommon, experienced notable growth. About 4,000 steel-framed homes were completed in 2024, representing a 33% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, concrete-framed homes saw a decline. Their market share decreased from 7% in 2023 to 5% in 2024. On a count basis, 55,000 concrete-framed homes were completed in 2024, a 15% decrease compared to the prior year.

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U.S. lumber futures erase tariff gains, hint at housing slowdown

By Ole Hansen
SAXO Bank A/S, Denmark
August 27, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

US lumber futures are back under pressure after a short-lived tariff-driven rally, and the reversal may be telling a broader story about the health of the housing market. Last month, futures spiked when the US announced a sharp increase in duties on Canadian softwood lumber. …What followed was a classic case of hoarding-induced overshoot: once the front-loading of demand ended, trading volumes thinned and prices quickly reversed. The first-month contract has now slumped 17.3% from its 1 August peak. …Uncertainty about how tariffs will be applied is keeping buyers cautious. At the same time, sticky to rising inflation continues to squeeze household budgets, while the timing of Federal Reserve rate cuts remains unclear. …That makes lumber’s slump more than a quirk of tariff policy—it may be the canary in the coal mine. If prices continue to lag despite a tariff regime designed to support them, it would underscore just how fragile underlying building activity really is.

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Trex Company reports Q2, 2025 sales increase of 3%

Trex Company
August 4, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, US East

WINCHESTER, Virginia — Trex Company announced financial results for the Q2 2025. Notwithstanding adverse weather conditions, net sales for the Q2 2025 increased by 3% year-over-year, totaling $388 million, compared to $376 million in the prior-year period. …Gross profit was $158 million compared to gross profit of $168 million in last year’s Q2. Net income was $76 million compared to $87 million reported in the Q2 2024. …CEO Bryan Fairbanks said, “This unique positioning is the result of decades of relationship-building with our channel partners and is an integral part of our strategy to market our broad portfolio of Trex-branded products wherever consumers are making their decking and railing choices. …Trex Company, Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking and residential railing products.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Lab to develop future of timber construction getting closer to reality in Northwest Portland

By Tristin Hoffman
The Oregonian
August 29, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

A marine terminal that once shipped Oregon’s wood and steel will soon research and manufacture mass timber in an effort to ease Oregon’s housing costs and address the state’s housing shortage. The Port of Portland’s Terminal 2, a 39-acre concrete lot sitting largely empty in the city’s Northwest Industrial District, is being readied for at least $15 million worth of soil treatments next year to ensure the riverfront site is on stable ground before it transforms into a mass-timber research and manufacturing campus. While the campus’ first phase of construction should finish in 2028, the Port of Portland told U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, at a site visit Monday, millions in funding gaps muddy the campus’ second phase. …The facility is set to house Switzerland mass-timber company Zaugg Timber Solutions, the University of Oregon’s acoustic research laboratory and small industry-related companies to expand mass-timber development, research and uses.

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Mississippi State University architecture professor to lead cross-college endowed program

By Meg Henderson
Mississippi State University
August 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Jacob Gines

STARKVILLE, Mississippi —Mississippi State Associate Professor Jacob Gines is the inaugural Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association Endowed Professor in Innovative Wood Construction and Design. The Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association established the endowed position jointly in MSU’s College of Architecture, Art and Design and College of Forest Resources in 2024. Gines has taught architecture courses and advanced design studios at MSU since 2012. During his tenure, he has collaborated with MSU’s Department of Sustainable Bioproducts and the Mississippi Forestry Association on sustainable design using emerging and innovative forest products. Last year, he earned his Ph.D. in sustainable bioproducts, specializing in mass timber. …“Although we have a strong timber industry, we currently don’t have CLT manufacturing in our state. Increasing proximity and availability to mass timber materials would create exciting opportunities for our state’s architects, contractors and developers,” Gines said. “Another hurdle we must address is the unfamiliarity within the architecture and construction industries.

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How Arkansas’s timber university building could revolutionise architecture

By Oliver Wainwright
The Guardian
August 26, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — Unlikely as it may seem, this rumbling stretch of road on the edge of this small city is now home to one of the most significant buildings for the future of architecture in North America. …The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation looks like a group of great big barns caught in a highway pile-up. …“We imagined the building as a storybook of wood,” says Yvonne Farrell, of Dublin architects Grafton. …The angular wooden hangar provides a huge new workshop, studio space and auditorium for the University of Arkansas’s Fay Jones school of architecture, under the deanship of Peter MacKeith. …This is the fourth mass timber building that the university has completed since MacKeith arrived here in 2014. It follows an impressive library annex, student dormitory complex and research institute, but is by far the most ambitious project, pushing the limits of what the industry can do.

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Forestry

We can do something about stressed-out forests

By Robert Bonnie, University of California, Berkeley
The New York Times
August 31, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Under the 2001 Roadless Rule enacted by President Bill Clinton, millions of acres of roadless areas on national forests across the country are conserved, protecting vital habitats and watersheds. A “blank spot on a map,” in the words of the naturalist Aldo Leopold, is increasingly valuable in our urbanizing society. …The current administration is right to look for ways to address the growing wildfire threat in these areas. But instead of doing away with the Roadless Rule, the White House should look to a simple way to make our forests more resilient to wildfire without compromising the other benefits. …One way to allow forest thinning and prescribed burns to reduce the wildfire threat is to amend the roadless rule… to permit temporary roads in roadless areas that are near neighborhoods along the wildland-urban interface to allow for forest thinning or other ecological restoration. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]

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Palm Oil sector expresses concerns over EU-US trade deal’s impact on landmark EU Deforestation Regulation laws

Confectionery Production
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

Industry concerns have been raised over a freshly-struck agreement between the EU and the US over future trading arrangements, which observers have asserted could lead to America being offered exceptions from complying with EUDR environmental laws, reports Neill Barston. As the Palm Oil Monitor non-governmental organisation noted, if America is to be permitted exemptions from data monitoring underpinning the entire basis of the much-anticipated deforestation laws following intense lobbying from its paper industry, then other trading partners including Malaysia and Indonesia – which have core interests in the supply of palm oils for the confectionery and snacks sector, should be allowed similar treatment. …Moreover, as the palm oil industry organisation stated, unveiling the broader US-EU Trade Framework Agreement presents an immediate major hurdle for the EU Commission. In seemingly offering preferential treatment for America, this could, in its view, lead to challenges from the World Trade Organisation over equal trading between nationalities.

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How the Rapid Spread of Misinformation Pushed Oregon Lawmakers to Kill the State’s Wildfire Risk Map

By Rob Davis
Oregon Capital Insider
September 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A year after Oregon endures its most destructive fire season on record in 2020, state lawmakers order a map estimating the wildfire risk for every property in the state. It’s the kind of rating now available on real estate sites like Zillow. The state wants to use the results to decide where it will apply forthcoming codes for fire-resistant construction and protections around homes. Around the same time, insurance companies start dropping Oregon homeowners’ policies and raising premiums to limit future losses, much as they have done in other disaster-prone states. Insurers have their own sophisticated risk maps to guide them, but some brokers instead tell homeowners the blame lies with the map. The belief gets treated as fact both on social media and in mainstream news — even though insurers and regulators say it’s not true. …By the time the state pulls back the map, the myths about it have gained so much momentum there’s no stopping them. 

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Native leaders to hold two-week campaign against Roadless Rule repeal

By Lorilyn Lirio
The Journal of Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater
September 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Indigenous leaders from Se’Si’Le and Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers are launching a two-week campaign across the Pacific Northwest in response to the Trump administration’s plan to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a policy that has protected vast lands of national forest for more than two decades. The campaign, called “Xaalh and the Way of the Masks,” will kick off with a rally in Olympia on Sept. 8, followed by eight other events across a 1,700-mile journey through tribal lands, houses of worship, colleges and public gathering places. …tribal leaders emphasized that protective measures, such as the Roadless Rule have safeguarded approximately 2 million acres of wild forests in both Oregon and Washington, drinking water for more than 60 million Americans, and habitat for more than 1,6000 threatened and endangered plants and animals.  …the campaign is intended to unite native nations, faith leaders and environmental organizations in defense of forests…

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More Oregon cities are buying their forest watersheds

By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Press
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

For a small but growing number of Oregon forestland buyers, timber output is no more than a potential byproduct. Their purchases are driven less by a desire for logs than for clean, drinkable water. …city governments have long drawn their drinking water from surrounding forests, but experts say more are now actually buying the tracts encompassing those crucial streams and rivers. …The prospect of hotter, drier weather diminishing summer stream flows — even as populations keep growing — is spurring cities to assert more control over their water supplies, experts say. …Apart from water quality considerations, cities are buying forested watersheds to encourage old growth characteristics, with the intent of actually boosting water supplies over the long term, experts say. …Though municipal ownership of forest watersheds is intended to pre-empt disputes between cities and timber operators, the arrangement can still lead to tension over management decisions.

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Many older forests spared by Washington state order. Others to be logged

By John Ryan
National Public Radio
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

An executive order by Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove has put 77,000 acres of older forests off-limits to logging. …Some local activists call these old-but-not-quite-old-growth stands “legacy forests,” and have resorted to protests, including tree sits and road blockades, to stop them from being sawed down. Upthegrove’s order would also allow logging to go forward on 29,000 acres of those almost-old-growth forests. Some environmental groups praised the move, while others say it greenlights too much logging of the best remaining older forests. …Forest activists still hope to save some of areas slated to be logged over the next five years. …State officials say that timber harvest levels — and the revenue that goes to schools and counties — would be largely unaffected by the executive order. …The Department of Natural Resources has 346,000 acres of structurally complex forests on the 2.4 million acres of forestland it manages.

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U.S. House delegation visits Alaska this week, with focus on mining, timber and drilling

By James Brooks
The Alaska Beacon
August 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Ten members of the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources are making an unusual visit to Alaska this week during a break from business on Capitol Hill. The 45-person committee deals with a variety of issues pertaining to public lands in the United States, and the visit is giving eight Republicans and two Democrats a chance to put their literal hands on the topics they cover. …Among the group was the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, as well as the home-state Republican Rep. Nick Begich. Also attending were Reps. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming; Tom Tiffany, R-Wisconsin; Pete Stauber, R-Minnesota; Rob Wittman, R-Virginia; Val Hoyle, D-Oregon; Paul Gosar, R-Arizona; and Sarah Elfreth, D-Maryland. …Several of the Republican lawmakers said they believe there is room to increase logging in the Tongass in order to meet the demand for lumber to build housing, particularly locally.

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Hundreds of Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs leap back into the wild

By Alex Feltes
Birch Aquarium
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

More than 350 Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs have been reintroduced into the wild in Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains, marking one of the largest releases to date and a significant step in efforts to save this endangered species. The release also represents a milestone for Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego — the aquarium’s first-ever species reintroduction and a historic moment in its growing conservation work. Birch Aquarium, in collaboration with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, UCLA, Big Bear Alpine Zoo and others, released the frogs into a wildlife preserve managed by The Wildlands Conservancy. This effort is part of a long-running recovery program …“Thanks to these efforts, Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs are hopping around Bluff Lake for the first time since they were last recorded here in 1951,” said Tim Krantz, Conservation Director for The Wildlands Conservancy.

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Washington state to conserve thousands of acres of ‘legacy forests’

By Isabella Breda
The Seattle Times
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

David Upthegrove

TIGER MOUNTAIN, Issaquah — Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove is making good on a campaign promise to conserve thousands of acres of older forests in Washington dubbed legacy forests. The state Department of Natural Resources announced it would conserve 77,000 acres of these structurally complex forests. The state defines these structurally complex forests as those with gaps in the canopy, diverse species growing below and a relatively low presence of large fallen logs or snags. …They are very close to fully mature forests with increased biodiversity. …These forests will no longer be in the state’s traditional logging rotation. Instead, the state said it would go to the Legislature for permission to enter carbon markets and look to new ways of managing the lands. …The state said it could also provide supply for mass timber. …Environmental advocates have been calling for the protection of these second-growth forests since 2021.

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Saving both fire-frequent forests and the spotted owl

By Jerry Franklin and Norman Johnson
The Bend Bulletin
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) was developed in 1994 for the 24 million acres of federal land within the range of the northern spotted owl… A network of large reserves for the spotted owl across its range (late successional reserves (LSRs)) were created in the NWFP along with a system of riparian buffers to protect streamside areas. …The Forest Service is currently updating the NWFP and chartered a committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to help advise on amending the plan. …We strongly endorse this proposal for widespread restoration treatments in dry forests inside and outside of the LSRs. Reducing stand densities in these forests while retaining all trees over 150 years of age is essential to owl survival, as is reintroduction of fire as a regular management tool. …Integrating forest restoration in dry forests with spotted owl conservation is one of the biggest challenges in updating the NWFP.

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Washington to conserve 77,000 acres of older forests on state lands

By Emily Fitzgerald
The Washington Standard
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

David Upthegrove

Eight months after Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove entered office and paused logging sales in older forests on state land, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has identified 77,000 acres to set aside for conservation. …these older forests aren’t quite old enough to qualify for old-growth protections but are biologically diverse and naturally resistant to wildfire. Under Upthegrove’s plan, 29,000 acres of the forests will remain available for harvest. Most of the roughly two-dozen timber sales paused will proceed. …Timber industry groups and some conservation activists were both dissatisfied with the commissioner’s order. …But industry was opposed, making a case that larger, older timber is needed for certain wood products, like power poles, and that pulling lands back from logging would hurt jobs and mills. …the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, one of the leading groups calling for protection of structurally complex forests, described Upthegrove’s plan as a disappointment.  

Press Release by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources: Forest Forward – A New Direction For Our Forests

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Wildfire impacts on soil microbes can cause long-lasting effects to ecosystem

By Cindy Landrum
Clemson University News
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Antonino Malacrino

Over the past decades, fire seasons are getting longer and extreme wildfires have become more frequent, more intense and larger. …Fire leaves a dramatic and noticeable impact on the landscape — scorched trees, missing canopies and a forest floor devoid of plants and shrubs. But it has underground impact as well. “Within the context of fire ecology, we know a lot about plants and a lot about animals. We know a bit less about microbes,” said Antonino Malacrino, an assistant professor in the Clemson University Department of Biological Sciences. “Some studies show that if you have a severe wildfire, the soil microbiome is impacted. You can see the signature of that fire in the soil microbiome even after decades.” But very little information is known about what happens after a fire to the microbial community in terms of diversity, composition and the ecological processes that drive the assembly of the microbial community.

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Ruling allows logging plans for White Mountain National Forest to go forward

The Concord Monitor
August 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

©USDAFlickr

A federal judge ruled that commercial logging in two North Country sites in the White Mountain National Forest can go forward, raising questions about a similar lawsuit against logging plans in the Sandwich Range. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante rejected many of the arguments against the U.S. Forest Service in a summary judgment handed down Aug. 20. The lawsuit was filed by Standing Trees, a Vermont-based group that advocates for forests on public lands, on behalf of New Hampshire individuals and businesses who would be affected by the logging operation. “It’s really a ruling on the process: Did the National Forest Service follow the appropriate process … with public hearings and other procedures?” said Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, one of several environmental groups that supported the logging plans. …The lawsuit was filed by Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic on behalf of Standing Trees. 

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Health & Safety

Mechanization raises health concerns among loggers in Northeast U.S. despite safety gains

By Madeleine Zenire, Pamela Milkovich, Patrick Donnelly et al
Science Direct in Lesprom Network
August 27, 2025
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

Mechanization has reduced fatal injuries for loggers in the northeastern United States but introduced new health risks linked to prolonged equipment use, according to interviews with 29 loggers across New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Participants reported concerns over weight gain, back pain, and cardiovascular risks from extended sedentary work, as well as mental stress from financial burdens and limited access to affordable health insurance. The findings come from a study conducted by the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing and West Virginia University Extension. Loggers described how mechanization improved protection by removing workers from direct chainsaw use and tree-felling risks. However, long hours seated in machines have increased exposure to whole-body vibration and reduced physical activity, contributing to obesity and hypertension. …Access to health insurance remains a barrier. Most loggers interviewed said they did not carry coverage, citing high costs and limited benefits.

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Forest Fires

Flat Fire in Oregon, Update for September 1, 2025

Central Oregon Fire Info
September 1, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

©Govt of Oregon Flickr

SISTERS, Ore.  — The Flat Fire, approximately two miles northeast of Sisters, Oregon, is estimated at 23,346 acres and is 52% contained. Despite critical fire weather, established fire lines have remained secure and suppression repair objectives continue across the incident. The Red Flag Warning is no longer in effect due to a lower chance of strong gusty winds. Hot, dry conditions persist. Today, firefighters will focus on restoring areas impacted by fire response efforts, such as repairing dozer lines and reducing erosion risks. These initiatives strengthen containment and protect the landscape to support long-term recovery. With a unified mission across the fire line, crews continue to make steady progress, bringing the incident closer to full suppression. Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) resources have demobilized from the Flat Fire. Cooperative firefighting efforts from structural, wildland, and air resources protected homes through extreme fire activity and critical weather conditions. 

Related Content in the Register-Guard by Miranda Cyr: Oregon wildfires: Emigrant Fire continues to grow, conditions expected to worsen

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Border Patrol arrests 2 firefighters for being in the country illegally as they battled Washington’s biggest wildfire

By Celina Tebor
CNN
August 28, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

Border Patrol agents arrested two firefighters Wednesday – who they say were in the United States illegally – while they were working to contain Washington state’s biggest wildfire. …The Bear Gulch Fire on the peninsula has already torched almost 9,000 acres in the Olympic National Forest. …The human-caused wildfire on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula has been burning since July 6 and was just 13% contained as of Thursday. …Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said he is “deeply concerned” about the arrests. Washington Sen. Patty Murray said, “Trump has undercut our wildland firefighting abilities in more ways than one—from decimating the Forest Service and pushing out thousands of critical support staff, to now apparently detaining firefighters on the job.” Under the Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security said it would not conduct immigration enforcement “at locations where disaster and emergency response and relief is being provided” such as evacuation routes or areas where emergency supplies are being distributed.

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Firefighters and weather are stabilizing Oregon wildfire. Flames so far spare California wineries

By Tammy Webber
The Associate Press in ABC News
August 25, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

A wildfire that destroyed four homes in central Oregon was starting to stabilize on Monday, authorities said, while a blaze in Northern California wine country has so far spared some of the state’s most famous vineyards. Moisture helped the 1,200 firefighters battling Oregon’s Flat Fire, but more work needed to be done. Dry, hot weather had fueled a rapid expansion of the blaze across 34 square miles of rugged terrain in Deschutes and Jefferson counties since the fire began late Thursday. …Officials said firefighters had protective lines of some sort around the entire fire, including roads, but the fire remained at 5% containment. …Meanwhile, the Pickett Fire in Northern California has charred about 10 square miles of remote Napa County, known for its hundreds of wineries. It was 15% contained on Monday. …western United States have been sweltering in a heat wave … with temperatures hitting dangerous levels in Washington, Oregon, Southern California, Nevada and Arizona.

Additional coverage, by Greta Cross in USA Today: Evacuation ordered for California’s Pickett Fire, more than 6,800 acres

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