Region Archives: United States

Business & Politics

Sundher Timber Products expands with Great Western Lumber acquisition

Business in Vancouver
December 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Sundher Timber Products is a British Columbia specialty wood products manufacturer and marketing company located in Surrey, B.C. They buy B.C. Coastal logs and manufacture them into lumber for sales in North America, Europe, Japan, China and India… They have recently acquired Great Western Lumber in Everson, Washington. This acquisition will enable Sundher Timber Products to expand its U.S. market share for Coastal Douglas Fir, West Coast Hemlock and Western Red Cedar, ranging from the highest clear grades to structural and utility grades. They will be offering custom processing services, including kiln drying and planning, to other companies.

Read More

Trump’s tariffs are circus-ring politics and lousy economics

Resource Works
December 16, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

A 25 percent tariff on our oil would increase U.S. gasoline prices by 50 cents a gallon — or more. No wonder federal and provincial governments are howling over Donald Trump’s promise to levy a 25 percent tariff on “all” imports from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office. No wonder Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is seeking anti-tariff support from Canada and U.S. governors… Nearly $3.6 billion worth of Canadian goods and services cross the border each day. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states, and about a third of Canada’s trade with the U.S. is energy. …Whether Trump can or will implement his tariffs on Inauguration Day, January 20 (or later), is being questioned in the U.S. …Trump presumably hopes the oil tariff will encourage more U.S. oil and natural-gas development. But he has yet to explain (if he even knows) how dependent the U.S. is on imports of crude oil used to make gasoline and diesel.

Read More

The Softwood Lumber Board Q3 Report: Expanding and Diversifying Demand for Softwood Lumber

Softwood Lumber Board
December 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

By expanding and diversifying demand for softwood lumber, the SLB and its funded programs create steady industry growth through a variety of economic cycles. Key Q3 highlights include:

  • 360 MM BF of incremental demand generated in Q3 and nearly 1.3 BBF year-to-date.
  • Sponsor of Build Fest, a unique initiative that allowed postsecondary students to not only conceptualize but also physically construct designs using wood, giving them hands-on experience.
  • The AWC released three regional EPDs for U.S. softwood lumber, which marks the first time the U.S. lumber industry has developed and published regional EPDs; previous industry EPDs have been North American in scope. 
  • A new Think Wood webinar, Mass Timber 2030: Preparing Your Practice, was hosted for architects from the 26 largest AEC firms in the U.S. Think Wood will use an on-demand version of the webinar for future lead nurture and continuing education

Read More

Brazil’s Suzano Explores Offer for Clearwater Paper

By Christian Lucchesi, Gillian Tan & Rachel Gamarski
BNN Bloomberg
December 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

SPOKANE, Washington — Brazil’s Suzano is exploring an offer for Clearwater Paper, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company is working with an adviser as it seeks to reach an agreement, said the people. A deal hasn’t been finalized and it’s possible one won’t be reached. Representatives for Suzano and Clearwater declined to comment. Spokane, Washington-based Clearwater, which manufactures pulp and paperboard products, had a market capitalization of $409 million as of Thursday’s close and its shares have fallen 31.6% this year. Clearwater’s shares jumped as much as 19% after the close of regular trading Thursday. Suzano, which is the largest supplier of hardwood market pulp in North America, has been pushing further into the US, most recently buying two paperboard mills in Arkansas and North Carolina in a deal valued at $110 million. [END]

Read More

US government charges operator of JH Baxter wood treatment plant in Eugene

By Brian Bull
Oregon Public Broadcasting
December 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

The federal government has issued criminal charges against the J.H. Baxter company and its president over its operation of its Eugene wood treatment plant. For nearly 80 years, J.H. Baxter operated the facility on Roosevelt Boulevard before being shuttered in January 2022. Over the years, locals frequently complained of powerful odors — especially at night — and the plant was probed and fined for environmental violations by state and federal regulators. In a document filed in U.S. District Court in late November, the federal government leveled four charges against J.H. Baxter: illegal treatment of hazardous waste, violation of the Clean Air Act, and two counts of false statements to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) by company president Georgia Baxter-Krause. “I think she deserves jail time,” said Lisa Arkin, the executive director of Beyond Toxics. She said Baxter-Krause was a “bad actor” during the entire time she led the company.

Read More

Weyerhaeuser Sued Over $1.5 Billion Pension Plan Risk Transfer

By Nevin Adams
US National Association of Plan Advisors
December 16, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Another employer has been sued for its pension risk transfer (PRT) choice — alleging not only that a breach of fiduciary duty put pensions at risk, but that there were conflicts of interest in the choice of the provider for that service. …Weyerhaeuser and other entities affiliated with its pension benefit plan are being sued in a class action in federal court for transferring $1.5 billion in plan assets to an annuity company. Transferring the money to Athene Annuity and Life allegedly breached the fiduciary duty the defendants owed to the 28,500 plan members, whose retirement accounts are no longer protected by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington says.

Read More

Finance & Economics

Forest Service: Timber Sales in Fiscal Years 2014-2023

By Cardell Johnson
US Government Accountability Office
December 19, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The Forest Service sells timber that can be used to build homes and make paper products, among other things… Goals for timber sales are set yearly but the Forest Service has missed those goals by about 10% in recent years. According to the agency, factors such as staffing and buyer interest affected timber sales… The Forest Service’s average timber target was about 6,281,000 hundred cubic feet (CCF) per year, and its average amount of timber sold was about 5,590,000 CCF per year, from fiscal years 2014 through 2023. The Forest Service did not meet its targets for the amount of timber sold for any of the years from fiscal years 2014–2023. Full report available here.

Read More

Builder Confidence Steady but Signs of Future Optimism in 2025

By Robert Dietz
The NAHB Eye on Housing
December 17, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Builder sentiment held steady to end the year as high home prices and mortgage rates offset renewed hope about a better regulatory business climate in 2025. Along those lines, builders expressed increased optimism for higher sales expectations in the next months. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 46 in December, the same reading as last month, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). While builders are expressing concerns that high interest rates, elevated construction costs and a lack of buildable lots continue to act as headwinds, they are also anticipating future regulatory relief in the aftermath of the election. This is reflected in the fact that future sales expectations have increased to a nearly three-year high. …The HMI index gauging current sales conditions held steady at 48. The component measuring sales expectations in the next six months rose three points to 66, the highest level since April 2022.

Read More

Fed expected to combine interest rate cut with hawkish 2025 outlook

By Howard Schneider
Reuters
December 18, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is expected to lower borrowing costs on Wednesday in what some observers are calling a “hawkish cut” set to be delivered alongside policymakers’ updated interest rate outlooks and economic forecasts covering the first months of the incoming Trump administration. The anticipated quarter-percentage-point move would lower the U.S. central bank’s benchmark policy rate to the 4.25%-4.50% range, a full percentage point below where it stood in September when it began easing the tight monetary policy used to counter a surge in inflation that began in 2021. …Between data showing inflation stalled above the 2% target and Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, investors now see the Fed perhaps cutting the benchmark rate by only half a percentage point next year – and they will be studying the projections and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks in a post-meeting press conference.

Read More

US single-family housing starts rebound 6.4% in November, multi-family starts plunge 24.1%

By Lucia Mutikani
Reuters in Yahoo! Finance
December 18, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON — U.S. single-family homebuilding rebounded in November as the drag from hurricanes faded, but the threat of tariffs on imported goods and potential labor shortages from mass deportations could hamper new construction next year. Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, jumped 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.011 million units last month, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said. Data for October was revised to show homebuilding declining to a rate of 950,000 units from the previously reported pace of 970,000 units. …A National Association of Home Builders survey on Tuesday showed a measure of sales expectations in the next six months surging in December to the highest level since April 2022. …But economists were less enthusiastic, warning of even higher lumber prices and severe worker shortages if Trump followed through with tariffs and expulsions of undocumented immigrants, which would undermine the housing market.

Read More

Monthly new residential construction, November 2024

The US Census Bureau
December 18, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Building Permits – Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,505,000. This is 6.1% above the revised October rate of 1,419,000. Single-family authorizations in November were at a rate of 972,000; this is 0.1% above the revised October figure of 971,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 481,000 in November. ..Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,289,000. This is 1.8% below the revised October estimate of 1,312,000. Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 1,011,000; this is 6.4% above the revised October figure of 950,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 264,000. …Privately-owned housing completions in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,601,000. This is 1.9% below the revised October estimate of 1,632,000. 

Read More

ResourceWise’s 2024 Forest Product Industry Predictions

By Pete Stewart and Matt Elhardt
ResourceWise Forest Products Blog
December 16, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International
  1. The inventory destocking that occurred in virtually every industry in 2023 is coming to an end. Destocking occurred as supply chains normalized in a post-COVID world.
  2. Most new forestry investments in 2024 will be concentrated in the US South. Forestry investments in the US South have seen notable activity in 2024, signaling the region’s continued significance in timberland markets.
  3. Housing starts will be relatively strong in 2024, hanging between 1.3–1.5 mm starts.
  4. Increase in investment in bio-economy production at pulp mills. As the industry continues to recognize the potential of bio-economy production, it offers an exciting avenue for pulp producers to directly address environmental concerns. The changes are especially important as new low-carbon fuel mandates, most notably sustainable aviation fuel, begin implementing in 2025.
  5. Global operating rates in the pulp and paper industry will continue to improve, bringing stability to the sector.

Read More

Wood, Paper & Green Building

Top of the class: Educational facilities using wood

By Simon Hyoun, VP of Marketing and Communications, Softwood Lumber Board
US Green Building Council
December 20, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

©B Benschneider

One of the major influences on how elementary, middle and high school students learn is one that is often thought of as a backdrop as opposed to a star player: the school building itself. Because of this, one of the U.S. Department of Education’s stated goals with its ED Infrastructure and Sustainability program is to “increase the national awareness of the impacts school infrastructure and sustainability can have on student health, learning outcomes, teacher retention, and district finances.” Creating healthy, sustainable 21st century schools starts with using the right materials, and as school districts set ambitious sustainability goals, building with wood presents new opportunities. Both light-frame and mass timber construction offer decreased carbon footprints because wood stores carbon over the life of the building. In addition to carbon reduction, designing and building modern schools with wood prioritizes occupant well-being and streamlines costs to create warm, welcoming spaces centered on learning.

Read More

Going Against The Grain With Mass Timber Structures

By Jeffrey Steele
Forbes
December 19, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Mass timber – a type of engineered wood product created by bonding multiple layers of wood together — is drawing increased interest from developers, the construction industry and environmentalists. A lower carbon footprint than traditional concrete and steel, fire safety and strength and durability are all adding to that excitement. A study by the Environmental and Engineering Study Institute found building with mass timber rather than concrete and steel could slash emissions associated with building materials by 13% to 26.5%. Mercer International has calculated that with a steady projected growth rate of 6% from 2022-31, the global mass timber construction market valued at $857 million in 2021 should reach $1.5 billion by 2031.

Read More

Mass Timber Requirements Added to Free Heights & Areas Calculator

American Wood Council & WoodWorks
December 16, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council (AWC), International Code Council and WoodWorks have joined together to release an updated version of the free app to calculate maximum allowable heights and areas for buildings of various occupancy classifications and types of construction. The Heights & Areas Calculator is based on the provisions in the 2021 and earlier editions of the International Building Code (IBC), which includes the Type-IV mass timber construction types. The app now also includes the heights and areas specific to the 2019 California Building Code, including mass timber types of construction. Users can input the proposed building height and area for any occupancy, and the app shows allowable types of construction that are permitted. The “basic” version of the calculator limits building input to a single occupancy and equal floor areas for the entire building. An “advanced” option permits multiple occupancies and different floor areas.

Read More

From chainsaw sculptures to corporate conference tables, a Half Moon Bay lumber yard gives new life to reclaimed wood

By Ashwini Gangal
Palo Alto Online
December 19, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — A 14-foot-tall U.S. marshal stands in a cloud of sawdust in a massive yard off Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay. In his past life, this officer was a solid, 20-foot-long block of redwood. “It’s an artistic rendering of an existing statue,” said Firewood Farms owner James Olsen about this unique creation. Custom carvings such as this one are among the core products on offer at Olsen’s lumber yard. …They expanded the product line from firewood and chainsaw sculptures to urban salvage recovery, which is their main area of focus. “We stop logs from going into the landfill,” he said. “Every product that we make is 100% recycled; it’s got a low carbon footprint, less than 0.1% of national industry average.” Finished products include flooring, trims, siding, furniture, and customized items. Species of wood they work with include redwood, cedar, oak, pine, fir, sequoia, walnut, cyprus, elm and acacia.

Read More

Aviation Construction Firm Finds Footing With High-End, Green Projects

By Grant Boyd
Flying Magazine
December 16, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Silver Maple Aviation is a new entrant to the aviation infrastructure sector but has already left an indelible mark on the industry. “Silver Maple Construction’s roots are in very high-end, tricky residential and subcommercial projects, and is new to the aviation space,” said Sean Flynn, company president. …Silver Maple Aviation is known for its ingenuity and fortitude. A project that embodies the company’s tenacity is a 210-foot-long-by-170-foot-wide hangar that was built for a private flight department in New Hampshire. “The Concord hangar project is what I believe to be the largest wooden structure, period, on the east coast,” he said. “We were asked not necessarily to build a green hangar but to build a massive hangar very quickly. …we went down the mass timber hangar route, which at the time was about how quick we could get the materials, although I had already been studying up on mass timber in general.”

Read More

Forestry

Procter & Gamble Commits to Enhanced Disclosures Regarding Sourcing from Boreal Forests in Canada

By Andrew Shalit
Green Century Fund
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

BOSTON — Procter & Gamble has agreed to provide additional information regarding its practices related to sourcing wood pulp from the boreal forests of Canada. The updates will reiterate the company’s aim to eliminate sourcing from intact forest landscapes and to protect primary forests. …The agreement came after discussions earlier this year with investment firms Green Century Capital Management, AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Asset Management, and Robeco. In exchange, these investors agreed to withdraw a shareholder proposal asking the company to enhance its disclosures in relation to its existing efforts to mitigate risks to biodiversity and forest resilience. “These disclosures will help investors better understand how P&G is managing the risks associated with sourcing from such an ecologically important area,” said Leslie Samuelrich, President of Green Century Funds. …In addition, P&G will renew its investment in the development of alternative fibers.

Read More

Exclusive-Procter & Gamble to disclose more details about wood-pulp audits, investors say

By Jessica DiNapoli
Reuters in StreetInsider.com
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

NEW YORK – Procter & Gamble has promised a group of shareholders it will disclose more details about how it audits wood-pulp suppliers after shareholders pushed the maker of Charmin toilet paper for years to source forest products more sustainably. P&G has previously said it performs audits but provided little information about them. Logging’s impact on the environment has raised scrutiny of P&G and other major pulp users. The next step is for P&G and the investors to discuss specifics of what the company will now disclose, said Andrew Shalit at Green Century. …The company said it guards details of its global supply chain for competitive reasons. Green Century wants clarity on P&G’s supply chain to set an example for other companies that rely on Canadian pulp, such as Home Depot. …The company relies on third-party certifiers, such as the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council, to ensure its wood pulp is sourced sustainably.

Read More

As climate change threatens Christmas trees, the farming industry tries to evolve

By Emily Mae Czachor and Tracy J. Wholf
CBS News
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

People around the world are adorning homes and businesses with festive holiday decor, which typically means an abundance of Christmas trees are on display. In the U.S., they pop up everywhere from the average living room to the Rockefeller Center plaza in Manhattan and the White House in Washington, D.C. But climate change threatens to complicate the tradition. Christmas trees, like any other crop, are affected by the general rise in temperature associated with global warming and the extreme weather events that result from it… Estimates from North Carolina State suggest upwards of 40,000 acres of land are dedicated to Christmas tree production statewide, with 5 or 6 million trees harvested annually for a collective retail value of $250 million or more.

Read More

Pete Madden’s End of Year Message from the US Endowment

By Pete Madden, President and CEO
US Endowment for Forestry and Communities
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Pete Madden

…2024 marked a major milestone with the launch of the Endowment’s Impact Investing Program. The first round of this initiative resulted in $3.5 million invested in three companies that are contributing to sustainable forestry and forest products. Building on this success, we are excited to announce that round two of the program will seek to deploy up to $6.5 million in 2025. These investments will target companies, funds and projects that create systemic, transformative and sustainable benefits for the health and vitality of our nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. This continued focus on mission-related investments reflects our commitment to both safeguarding our capital and driving meaningful, long-term change in the forestry sector. …As we look toward 2025 and beyond, we remain focused on our long-term mission to create a more sustainable future for forests and communities alike. 

Read More

Expert shares factors increasing forest fire ignitions

By Mike Allen
Virginia Tech News
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Adam Coates

As firefighters strive to contain the blaze threatening to consume homes in Malibu, California, other wildfires burn in Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Forest fires are natural phenomena, yet studies show they are becoming more widespread, consuming larger areas of forest each year. “Natural ignitions occur as a result of lightning strikes in the growing season,” said Virginia Tech fire ecology and management expert Adam Coates. “Fire has been part of the ecosystem for millennia. In fact, we now know that indigenous peoples utilized fire for a variety of purposes, even burning in the dormant season. In the 2020s, many factors have contributed to create an environment in which forested lands are inundated with dense vegetation that under ideal circumstances would have been managed and removed, thus supplying a lot of material that can catch on fire,” Coates said.

Read More

Biden-Harris Administration Announces a Policy Framework to Combat Demand-Driven Illegal Deforestation

US Department of Agriculture
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris Administration released a policy framework to guide potential demand-side measures to reduce the importation of deforestation-linked commodities and derived products into the United States, with an initial focus on agricultural commodities. This policy framework, which was developed through an interagency process initiated by section 3 in Executive Order 14072 on stopping international deforestation, reaffirms the Administration’s support for the collective goal of halting and reversing global deforestation by 2030 and outlines six framework elements aimed at maximizing policy effectiveness in achieving this goal. The Administration has also produced a report summarizing tools and practices that agencies use or can adopt to avoid deforestation in multiple development sectors. Together, this report and the policy framework provide a coherent foundation for demand-side deforestation policy and international capacity building to advance sustainable land use and reduce deforestation globally.

Read More

Dunleavy wants quick action by Trump to revoke Biden’s Alaska environmental policies

By Yereth Rosen
Alaska Beacon
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Mike Dunleavy

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is asking President-elect Donald Trump to immediately reverse the Biden administration’s Alaska environmental and tribal lands policies, claiming those policies hurt the state’s economy. “Your election will hail in a new era of optimism and opportunity, and Alaska stands ready to and is eager to work with you to repair this damage wrought by the previous administration, and to set both Alaska and America on a course to prosperity,” Dunleavy said in a cover letter… Dunleavy’s policy document said that Trump, as soon as he returns to the White House, should issue an Alaska-focused executive order that removes restrictions on oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve. …Dunleavy wants the new Trump administration to abandon the current Interior policy in favor of putting some lands into trust for the benefit of Native tribes.  

Read More

Land Board approves 33000-acre conservation easement in northwest Montana

By Amanda Eggert
The Daily Inter Lake
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A proposal to put nearly 33,000 acres of working forestland in northwest Montana into a conservation easement has cleared its last major hurdle. In a 3-1 vote on Monday, the Montana Land Board adopted language amending an agreement between timber company Green Diamond and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks that closes the book on a conservation project that took four years and nearly $40 million to finalize. The Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement is located between Kalispell and Libby and encompasses parts of the Salish and Cabinet mountains. The roughly 33,000 acres of land will be protected from development to support wildlife habitat and “key landscape connectivity,” according to Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP). …The easement is perpetual, meaning the terms of the agreement will remain in effect indefinitely, even if Green Diamond later sells the land.

Read More

Washington State University scientist gifts world healthier Christmas trees

By Joe Roberts
Washington State University Insider
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Gary Chastagner

For more than 40 years, Washington State University Extension scientist Gary Chastagner has found solutions to Christmas tree diseases and other related problems, helping ensure the beloved holiday tradition remains possible. Known worldwide as “Dr. Christmas Tree,” Chastagner has also played an important role in keeping Christmas tree farms in the Pacific Northwest and beyond economically viable. “When I receive letters of support from family Christmas tree farmers expressing how our research has had a positive impact on their ability to produce high-quality trees, I share them with everyone in our lab,” said Chastagner, who is based at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. Chastagner didn’t intend to become one of the world’s foremost experts on tree and ornamental flower bulb pathologies. But a biology teacher’s enthusiasm proved infectious in his formative years, and Chastagner’s curiosity about plants and their pathologies took root.

Read More

Shrubs Can Help or Hinder a Forest’s Recovery After Wildfire

By Emily C. Dooley
UC Davis
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Research from the University of Californiais shedding light on when and where to plant tree seedlings to help restore forests after high-severity wildfires, and it has a lot to do with shrubs.  In hotter, drier areas where natural regeneration is weaker, well-timed tree planting can boost recovery by up to 200%, but the outcome also depends on competition with shrubs, a paper in the journal Forest Ecology and Management concludes… In areas where a lot of shrubs are present, it’s best to plant seedlings within a year of a wildfire to avoid competition from these woody plants. In areas with fewer shrubs, planting three years after a fire is more effective because some of these woody plants would have grown back, but not so many to consume available nutrients and water.

Read More

Freres Lumber loses lawsuit against Forest Service over 2020 wildfire

My Mateusz Perkowski
The Capital Press in the Bend Bulletin
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A federal judge has thrown out an Oregon timber company’s lawsuit faulting the U.S. Forest Service for allegedly allowing the spread of a devastating 2020 wildfire. The negligence complaint filed by Freres Timber of Lyons must be dismissed because it challenges discretionary firefighting decisions for which the government can’t be held liable, according to U.S. District Judge Michael McShane. Though the Forest Service was operating under an official directive to fully suppress the Beachie Creek Fire, the exact methods were still up to the agency, the judge said. …Under federal law, U.S. government officials can be held liable for negligence and similar claims if they fail to carry out required actions, but not for certain discretionary decisions based on policy considerations. In this case, Freres Lumber alleged the Forest Service was required to maximize its response to the Beachie Creek Fire based on a formal “full suppression” directive and official agency fire management policy.

Read More

$1 million awarded to Eugene Water and Electric Board for wildfire resiliency projects

By Billy Spotz and Takur Conlu
KCBY News 11
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A million dollars is heading to Eugene and the McKenzie River Valley to help with wildfire resiliency. Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden secured major investments to strengthen forest health and wildfire resiliency back in Spring of 2024. Among these areas strengthened by the investments are the protection of public lands and the environment, securing important programs for tribes, and supporting critical projects across Oregon communities. Funds from these investments have been awarded to the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) in the amount of $1 million towards wildfire resiliency projects. These projects will be in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), McKenzie Fire and Rescue (MFR) and Eugene Springfield Fire (ESF).

Read More

Oregon timber industry presentation on housing affordability and fire resiliency

By Alan Torres
The Register-Guard
December 15, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

EUGENE, Oregon — While city councils are on holiday break, Lane County Commissioners are scheduled to meet this week to hear feedback and vote on a supplemental budget, hear a presentation from timber industry representatives on its efforts to improve housing affordability and fire resiliency, continue a hearing on three proposed homes in forested land near Oakridge and vote on a contract to provide mental health services in the Lane County Juvenile Justice Center. …County commission meetings stream at this link.

Read More

The Bubs’ Ethan Tapper on His New Book About Forestry

By Chris Farnsworth
Seven Days Vermont
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Ethan Tapper

It might surprise some to know that when he’s not creating a ruckus onstage, Tapper, 36, spends most of his days barely uttering a sound, hiking and snowshoeing through the forests of Vermont. By day, Tapper is a forester, managing private and public woods across the state. And he’s a good one. In 2021, the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance named him Forester of the Year… “When I started as a forester, I was so worried other people would find out I was in a punk band,” Tapper said… One song on the Bubs’ latest record, Make a Mess, ties directly to Tapper’s day job. The title track is inspired by his love for forest ecology and how he exalts in, well, making a mess in the woods.

Read More

Forest Service Urged to Update N.C.’s Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan in Wake of Hurricane Helene

Center for Biological Diversity
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

ASHEVILLE, N.C.— Conservation groups sent a letter Tuesday urging the U.S. Forest Service to amend the Nantahala-Pisgah forest plan because of the tremendous damage from Hurricane Helene to North Carolina’s Nantahala and Pisgah national forests. Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina. In some areas, 30 inches of rain fell over three days, washing out roads and bridges and causing landslides and floods. Wind speeds in some places topped 90 miles per hour. …The Forest Service estimated the hurricane caused around 117,000 acres of vegetation loss across the two forests. …Federal law requires that forest plans be amended when forest conditions have “significantly changed.” In today’s letter, conservation groups explain that revising the Nantahala-Pisgah forest plan would allow the Forest Service to ensure rebuilding efforts are done in a way that strengthens the forests and the communities that rely on them. The groups also urged the agency to lower its logging objectives.

Read More

Coastal Land Trust transfers new tract to Coastal Federation

North Carolina Coastal Federation
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust announced Wednesday that an additional 593 acres along the Newport River have been purchased from Weyerhaeuser Co. and transferred to North Carolina Coastal Federation for long-term management and restoration. The Coastal Land Trust purchased the acreage in November, a tract that features estuarine marsh, managed loblolly pine forest, and bottomland hardwoods along more than 4 miles of the river and its tributaries. The property lies within the Newport River and Black Creek Natural Heritage Area, which the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program has deemed of “very high ecological significance.” …Funding for the acquisition came from North Carolina Land and Water Fund, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North American Wetlands Conservation Act Grant Program, Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Integration Program, and U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities Enviva Forest Conservation Fund.

Read More

Mississippi State University’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center acquires coastal learning laboratory, protects vital forestland

By Vanessa Beeson
Mississippi State University
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Forest and Wildlife Research Center, or FWRC, at Mississippi State has acquired 14,071 acres of coastal forestland to establish the Wolf River Coastal Forest Research and Education Center, protecting a vital coastal area in perpetuity. Made possible through a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Mississippi Forestry Commission, Weyerhaeuser, U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy, the FWRC will manage the bottomland hardwood and upland forests—part of the Coastal Headwaters Protection Initiative in Harrison and Hancock Counties along the Wolf River, which distributes into the Bay of St. Louis. …The property will provide an outdoor learning lab for teaching, research and outreach programs while ensuring this ecologically vulnerable land remains a permanent part of Mississippi’s coastal conservation estate.

Read More

From curiosity to conservation: How a young park ranger discovered two rare, old-growth forests

By Michel Sauret
Defence Visual Information Distribution Service
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Galen Scheufler

“This forest is gorgeous!” Galen Scheufler thought as he drove his patrol truck along a stony creek toward the Mill Run Campground. Scheufler had been a park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District for less than a year when he discovered not only one but two rare forests near Youghiogheny River Lake… Less than one percent of all forests east of the Mississippi River are considered old growth, containing trees older than 70 or 80 years old… While gathering documents, Scheufler plunged into historical records and photograph archives at the ranger station. Suddenly, he came across a paragraph claiming that many of the trees at another forest nearby had never been logged. This second forest — Klondike Ridge — was much closer to the ranger office by the dam in Pennsylvania, whereas the Mill Run forest was several miles south in Maryland.

Read More

Pheromones from tiny beetles could help save Minnesota’s tamarack trees

By Greg Stanley
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 14, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have identified the chemicals and compounds that eastern larch beetles produce to communicate with one other. The hope is that those compounds can be manipulated to disrupt that communication and slow an outbreak of the swarming insect that has killed tens of millions of tamarack trees in Minnesota. …Until the last few years, little was known about the eastern larch beetle, and it had never been enough of a problem to merit deep study. The native beetle is found everywhere tamaracks are found, and it had lived in relative harmony with the Minnesota pine trees for some 14,000 years, since the glaciers retreated from the last ice age. …Scientists have been racing to understand the once-benign beetle to see if there is anything that can be done to keep tamaracks in Minnesota as the climate continues to warm. Disrupting their communication may be one such path.

Read More

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Carbon Credit Companies Vie to Outlast a Two-Year Slump

By Henry Kronk
The Wall Street Journal
December 18, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Businesses serving the global voluntary carbon market are reducing head counts, revising services and following buyer demand as they fight for survival in a market that has yet to rebound from a steep contraction that took hold in 2023. …Criticism of carbon projects like Kariba REDD+ and others have tanked most credit prices. The average value for newly issued credits from REDD+ projects—which conserve standing forests—fell from a high of $16.27/metric ton in early 2022 to a low of $8.06/mt in June. …A survey in May found the voluntary carbon market (VCM) contracted from $1.9 billion in 2022 to $723 million in 2023. …Buyer interest has shifted. The first is a move away from projects that reduce emissions to those that actively remove them from the atmosphere, such as projects that regrow forests on degraded land. …Buyers have also turned their attention to carbon reduction efforts supported by national or international frameworks. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]

Read More

The Firm That Wants to Power AI With Southern Yellow Pine

By Ryan Dezember
The Wall Street Journal
December 18, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Power producer Drax is scouting locations in the American pine belt to build electricity generators fueled by burning wood chips. The plan calls for constructing wood-fired power plants in parts of the U.S. South where pulp and paper mills have closed and left timber growers without buyers for those trees unfit for making lumber or poles. The plants’ exhaust will be piped underground instead of out of smokestacks, which generates lucrative carbon credits for which Drax is already lining up buyers. Plus, there’s the electricity. Technology companies are so eager to run their power-hungry AI data centers without fossil fuels. …Biomass power has long been dangled before Southern timberland owners as a potential solution to the glut of pine that has depressed prices and complicated harvests. …To sidestep concerns of the U.S. power plants contributing to deforestation, Drax plans to buy wood only from properties managed for timber production, not old-growth stands, Fitzmaurice said. [to access the full storey a WSJ subscription is required]

Read More

How ‘Thirsty’ Trees May Make Forests More Vulnerable to Climate Change

Morning Ag Clips
December 16, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

A new study suggests that increased maple populations may leave forests in western North Carolina more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions like flooding and drought.The southern Appalachian Mountains feature large, intact forests with frequent precipitation. This kind of area would not typically be a place to look for the effects of climate change, but the emergence of more “thirsty” trees like maples shifts that dynamic. Maples are an example of “diffuse-porous” trees, which require more water to grow than “ring-porous” trees like oaks… Previous models did not account for the different water needs of various tree species. This led to a potential underestimation of the threat posed by climate change in areas with increasing diffuse-porous tree populations.

Read More

Health & Safety

West Fraser’s Commitment to Safety Saves a Life

National Safety Council | Southeastern Chapter
November 19, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

For employees at West Fraser, a local mill in Joanna, SC, safety isn’t just a corporate mandate; it’s a way of life. This dedication to safety was put to the test one workday when Marty Scott suddenly collapsed due to a cardiac event. Thanks to the swift, skilled response of three trained coworkers and an on-site Automated External Defibrillator (AED), what could have been a heartbreaking tragedy became a life-saving success story. “It was just a normal day,” Marty recalls. “I grabbed my hard hat and started work. The next thing I knew, I heard someone calling my name, and then… nothing. When I woke up, the paramedic was asking if I could stand up and get on the stretcher.” …Today, Marty’s story serves as a testament to the strength of West Fraser’s safety culture. The lives of his coworkers are also forever changed, having experienced the impact of their actions firsthand. “It’s one thing to go through training,” one of them said. “But when you’re in the moment, and you see it work, you realize just how powerful those skills are. I’ll never forget it.”

Read More