Region Archives: United States

Business & Politics

Investing in communities: Domtar puts vision into action

By Jennifer Johnson
Tissue Online
July 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Through the Domtar Connects program, employees lead impactful local initiatives—ranging from education and environmental projects to support for Indigenous communities—reflecting a long-term, values-driven commitment to social responsibility. …With nearly 14,000 employees across more than 60 locations, Domtar’s footprint is large, but its approach is local. The Domtar Connects community investment program responds directly to the unique needs of each operating community, ensuring that support is tailored, meaningful and led by employee input. Recent highlights include: 

  • Scholarships for trade students near our Windsor and Ashdown mills that help encourage the next generation of skilled labor. 
  • Urban tree planting projects in Montreal that give employees an opportunity to work alongside local youth and educators
  • Emergency response equipment donations in rural towns that help improve safety resources for first responders
  • Support for Indigenous cultural programs that contribute to the preservation of language, history and community connections

Read More

Carney to brief premiers on US trade discussions as Trump deadline bears down

By Catherine Lévesque
The National Post
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Mark Carney

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney will be offering his update on trade talks with the White House when he sits down with the premiers Tuesday, while discussing their concerns as an Aug. 1 deadline for more tariffs rapidly approaches. Carney is joining the provincial and territorial premiers during their summer gathering in Muskoka, Ontario. …On Monday, Quebec Premier François Legault said he will tell Carney he wants protection in negotiations for supply management for the dairy, egg and poultry sectors. BC Premier David Eby has said he hoped Carney would kick off trade discussions by trying resolve the softwood lumber issue, which has been a trade irritant between Canada and the U.S. for decades. Carney recently said he thought it unlikely that there wouldn’t be at least some tariffs in any deal struck before Aug. 1, though most of Canada’s trade with the U.S. is protected by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.

Related coverage in:

Read More

Trump could crush Canada’s softwood exports. Here’s how a new crisis could play out

By Tracy Moran
The National Post
July 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The Canada-US softwood lumber trade relationship has dealt with ups and downs for decades. …Canadian firms will soon receive word from the US Commerce Department… with the rate expected to jump from around 14% to 34%. …“Canfor’s rate will be ~45%,” said Andrew Miller, chair of the US Lumber Coalition. …Then there’s the threat of tariffs from President Donald Trump’s ongoing national security investigation of Canadian lumber imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. …The US Lumber Coalition is playing for keeps. …Miller isn’t shy about the goals: “A countrywide quota with no exemptions and no carveouts, and a single-digit market share” for Canadian lumber. …The coalition is pushing for a tariff rate from the Section 232 investigation that starts at 15 to 20% and goes higher from there. That, Miller explained, will incentivize U.S. sawmill owners struggling with thin margins to hire more people and invest in upgrades, bolstering U.S. production.

Read More

Trade top of mind as Canada’s premiers are set to hold three-day meeting in Ontario

By Allison Jones
The Canadian Press in CTV News
July 20, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada’s premiers’ summer gathering in Muskoka will also feature a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, as trade talks with the US are expected to intensify. Most of what the premiers are likely to discuss stems from President Trump’s tariffs: trade negotiations, the direct impact on industries such as steel and aluminum, the increased pushes to remove interprovincial trade barriers and speed up major infrastructure and natural resource projects. …“Canada is not open to us,” he said. “They need to open their market. Unless they’re willing to open their market, they’re going to pay a tariff. Lutnick also said Trump intends to renegotiate the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement next year, when the pact is slated to undergo a joint review. Carney has said Canada is trying to get an agreement on softwood lumber exports included in the current round of negotiations with the United States.

Read More

Why the US and Canada Are at Loggerheads Over Lumber

By Ilena Peng
Bloomberg Economics
July 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The US and Canada… have feuded over “softwood” lumber since the 1980s. …Canada has long resisted changing its trade practices on lumber. But as the Trump administration has become more bellicose about its trade relationship with Canada, the country’s stance may be softening. On July 16, BC Premier Eby said Canadian officials are now open to a quota. …Any added fees from the US would likely further hamper an already struggling Canadian industry and benefit the US South. But the US would likely struggle to offset the lumber it gets from Canada in the short-term, driving up housing prices. …Though the US has some spare capacity to turn more timber into construction materials, a fully domestic supply chain would likely still require the construction of new sawmills and additional trained workers to operate the facilities. …Another factor for US suppliers and buyers is that US and Canadian lumber are not a perfect swap. [to access the full story a Bloomberg subscription may be required]

Read More

BC’s forests minister open to lumber quotas if it solves U.S. trade dispute

By Mark Page
Today in BC – Black Press
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Ravi Parmar

BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said that if lumber quotas are what is needed to end the decades-old softwood lumber dispute with the United States, then so be it. “It just may be able to address this issue once and for all,” Parmar said. Premier David Eby floated the possibility… and Prime Minister Mark Carney said it could be in the cards. …Parmar acknowledged BC lumber companies might have “differing views” on quotas, but he said it is just one tool. Kurt Niquidet, president of BC Lumber Trade Council did not rule out quotas. “Resolving this long-standing dispute is essential to protecting jobs, supporting communities, and ensuring a stable, competitive future for our forest sector,” Niquidet said. …Regardless of whether Canada puts quotas on the table as part of negotiations, Parmar said Trump could balk. “The president seems to really like tariffs,” Parmar said. “And so he may say, bugger off.”

Read More

‘We want to see softwood on the table in these trade talks’: Premier Holt

By Adam Huras
The Telegraph-Journal
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

Susan Holt

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says she’s part of a push to see a nearly decade-long softwood lumber standoff end as part of a larger new trade deal with the US. But the premier stopped short of saying whether her government supports the idea of a quota limit,” if that’s what it takes to finally reach a deal. …“The tariffs that are currently in place on softwood lumber are damaging to New Brunswick and the forecast that those tariffs are going to increase significantly has put a real chilling effect on a critical industry for our province.” …New Brunswick’s largest forestry company J.D. Irving, Limited currently pays a duty of 11.68%, while the province’s other softwood producers, including Arbec, H.J. Crabbe & Sons Ltd., Marwood, and Twin Rivers have been assessed a combined rate of 14.54%. The preliminary plans for higher duty rates are set to take effect by September.

Read More

Trump’s Canada tariffs will enable China’s rise

By Daniel Dorman, Center for North American Prosperity and Security
The Washington Examiner
July 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Daniel Dorman

The direct effects of President Trump’s tariffs on Canada are well known: the North American economy will suffer on both sides of the border, deeply integrated and productive industries such as energy and autos will be upended, and America will thwart its ambitions to bring about a manufacturing renaissance by cutting off the primary inputs from Canada (steel, lumber, and critical minerals) that would enable such onshoring. …Not only are these tariffs pushing Canada deeper into a relationship with China, but at the same time, they are also forcing the US economy into continued dependence on China for key resources. …Canadians should demand that Carney see through China’s charm offensive and continue to call out China as a pressing threat to Canadian sovereignty. Americans should call on Trump to recognize the danger of alienating allies in a world shaped by China’s global ambitions.

Related in CBC News: US commerce secretary dismisses question that free trade with Canada is dead

Read More

USDA Forest Service Invests $80 Million to Expand Timber Markets, Protect Forests, Fuel Economic Growth

By US Department of Agriculture
Government of the United States
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced the U.S. Forest Service is awarding $80 million in Wood Innovation Grants to spur wood products manufacturing, expand active forest management, and accelerate energy innovation across America’s timber-producing communities. “The United States is blessed with a bounty of natural resources that we must properly manage to sustain our future economy and boost rural communities. Proper forest use and management lowers our reliance on foreign products and is inherently aligned with President Trump’s America First agenda,” said Secretary Rollins. “We’re investing in innovation that ensures a steady, sustainable supply of American wood that not only supports jobs and fuels economies, it protects the people and communities we serve, as well as the forest resources they depend on to survive and thrive.” This investment delivers on President Trump’s commitment to unleashing America’s abundant natural resources by tearing down unnecessary barriers…

Read More

US Trade Representative to investigate Brazil’s trade, ethanol and forestry market practices

By Joe Adamy
Michigan Farm News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

Is Brazil playing fair when it comes to trade? An investigation launched July 15 by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) aims to find the answer. The Section 301 investigation will seek to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of Brazil related to a host of trade issues — including ethanol market access and forestry practices — are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” “Brazil has walked away from its willingness to provide virtually duty-free treatment for U.S. ethanol and instead now applies a substantially higher tariff on U.S. ethanol exports,” the USTR office wrote in announcing the investigation. The announcement also said Brazil appears to be failing to effectively enforce laws and regulations designed to stop illegal deforestation — which undermines the competitiveness of U.S. producers of timber and ag products.

Read More

AF&PA Appreciates US Efforts to Address Non-Tariff Trade Barriers

The American Forest & Paper Association
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock today reacted to recent US-EU trade negotiations: “We appreciate President Trump and his administration’s efforts to further enhance fair and reciprocal trade with key partners like the European Union. Addressing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers is crucial to ensuring a positive trade relationship for the pulp, paper, packaging and tissue products manufacturing industry. “The EU’s deforestation free regulation (EUDR), which has been identified as a non-tariff trade barrier by the U.S. Trade Representative, risks over $3.5 billion in annual forest products exports to the EU. “We encourage President Trump and his administration to continue working towards a fair and reciprocal trade relationship with the EU that fixes this regulation while improving other aspects of trade for U.S. paper manufacturers.”

Read More

Maine’s Hammond Lumber buying competitor, adding a dozen locations

By Adam Bartow
WWMT-TV
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Hammond Lumber Company, founded in Belgrade and the second largest family-owned business in Maine, is expanding. The company announced Tuesday morning it is buying Ware-Butler Building Supply, allowing Hammond to expand its retail footprint from 22 to 34 locations across Maine and New Hampshire. The deal is expected to close on July 31. Terms of the sale were not announced Tuesday. The transaction includes 15 Ware-Butler retail locations in Maine: Corinth, Dixfield, Dover-Foxcroft, Gorham, Greenville, Kingfield, Livermore Falls, Madison (Route 201), Madison (Main Street), Mexico, Orrington, Palmyra, Stillwater (Old Town), Waterville, and West Enfield. Hammond will consolidate the Dixfield, Greenville, and Orrington locations into existing nearby Hammond branches. All Ware-Butler employees will be offered continued employment, including relocation to nearby branches when possible.

Read More

Lionel Landry, former SFPA President, died July 15. He was 85

Southern Forest Products Association
July 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Lionel Landry

Lionel Landry, a former president of the Southern Forest Products Association and the longest-serving director of the Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Exposition (EXPO) who worked at SFPA from 1966-2005, passed away Tuesday, July 15. He was 85. Lionel began his career with the Southern Pine Association (which became SFPA in 1970) in 1966 as office manager. He was promoted to corporate secretary and EXPO director three years later. …Lionel served as director of 18 EXPOs from 1967-2001, which included 10 in Atlanta and five in New Orleans. During that time, he assisted Keith Judkins on the 14th EXPO, then John Zin with the 15th and 16th EXPOs. Lionel succeeded Karl Lindberg as SFPA president in 2003 and retired December 31, 2005, at which time Digges Morgan took over. …Lionel also served as chairman of the International Association of Exhibitions & Events (IAEE) in 1973.

Read More

Rado Gazo Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Forest Products Society

By Wendy Mayer
Purdue University
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US East

Rado Gazo

Dr. Rado Gazo, professor of wood processing and industrial engineering who has been a part of the Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources faculty since 1997, has been named as the 2025 recipient of the Wood Engineering Achievement Award – Lifetime Achievement by the Forest Products Society. “I joined the Forest Products Society as a graduate student in 1990 and have actively participated in various roles ever since,” Gazo said. “While I did not seek this award, now that I have received it, I am very humbled by the recognition of my colleagues and peers.” The Forest Products Society is a premier international not-for-profit technical association founded in 1947. The award recognizes accomplishments and innovations in the discipline of wood engineering including structures, structural elements, building codes, consensus standards, design procedures and education.

Read More

Finance & Economics

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the US Declined in June

The Conference Board
July 21, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US declined by 0.3% in June 2025 to 98.8 (2016=100), after no change in May. As a result, the LEI fell by 2.8% over the first half of 2025, a substantially faster rate of decline than the –1.3% contraction over the second half of 2024 “The US LEI fell further in June,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica at The Conference Board. “For a second month in a row, the stock price rally was the main support of the LEI. But this was not enough to offset still very low consumer expectations, weak new orders in manufacturing, and a third consecutive month of rising initial claims for unemployment insurance. In addition, the LEI’s six-month growth rate weakened, while the diffusion index over the past six months remained below 50, triggering the recession signal for a third consecutive month. 

Read More

Slower Growth Projected For Remodelling Into Next Year

JCHS – Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
July 17, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – Annual expenditures for improvements and maintenance to owner-occupied homes are expected to soften in 2026, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The LIRA projects that year-over-year spending for home renovation and repair will increase by just 1.2 percent by the second quarter of 2026. “Weakness in the current housing market is expected to have a dampening effect on home improvement spending,” says Rachel Bogardus Drew, Director of the Remodeling Futures Program. “Slowing construction starts and remodeling permitting activity, which are key factors in predicting future remodeling expenditures, are also putting downward pressure on home improvement growth.” “It will be important to keep an eye on whether the housing market shows any sign of rebound in the second half of the year, to assess if this slowdown is the beginning of a more significant downturn,” says Chris Herbert.

Read More

US Consumer Sentiment in July is Little Changed From June

The University of Michigan
July 20, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer sentiment was little changed from June, inching up about one index point to 61.8. While sentiment reached its highest value in five months, it remains a substantial 16% below December 2024 and is well below its historical average. Short-run business conditions improved about 8%, whereas expected personal finances fell back about 4%. Consumers are unlikely to regain their confidence in the economy unless they feel assured that inflation is unlikely to worsen, for example if trade policy stabilizes for the foreseeable future. …Year-ahead inflation expectations fell for a second straight month, plunging from 5.0% last month to 4.4% this month. Long-run inflation expectations receded for the third consecutive month, falling back from 4.0% in June to 3.6% in July. Both readings are the lowest since February 2025 but remain above December 2024, indicating that consumers still perceive substantial risk that inflation will increase in the future.

Read More

US Single-Family Starts Weaken in June but Multifamily Starts Increase More Than Expected

By Robert Dietz, Chief Economist
NAHB Eye on Housing
July 18, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Single-family housing starts declined in June to the lowest rate since July 2024 as elevated interest rates, rising inventories and ongoing supply-side issues continue to act as headwinds for the housing sector. Due to a solid increase in multifamily production, overall housing starts increased 4.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.32 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The June reading of 1.32 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts decreased 4.6% to an 883,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate and are down 10% compared to June 2024. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, increased 30% to an annualized 438,000 pace.

Read More

Georgia Forestry Association Leverages Data in Latest Land Use Report

GlobeNewswire Press Release
July 22, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, US East

The Georgia Forestry Association’s latest report, Shifting Ground, draws on land transaction insights to examine how forest ownership and land use are evolving across the state. Featured in the Summer 2025 issue of Georgia Forestry magazine, the report carries the “Powered by Acres” designation, a mark that signals credible, data-backed research built on the Acres platform. The analysis examines key trends influencing Georgia’s forestland market, including generational turnover, external investment, and the emergence of diversified income streams, including hunting leases, carbon credits, and solar development. Acres’ data shows forestland sales in Georgia have remained strong at $3.5 to $4 billion annually since 2020, with average price per acre holding firm despite broader economic fluctuations. “Access to transparent, reliable data is essential to understanding how Georgia’s forest landscape is changing,” said Tim Lowrimore, President and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association.

Read More

Wood, Paper & Green Building

University of Oregon-led team named National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines semifinalist

By Thuy Tran, University Communications
University of Oregon
July 16, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

A University of Oregon-led initiative to revolutionize the mass timber sector in the Pacific Northwest has been selected as a semifinalist in the highly competitive National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines program. “This significant step forward for the University of Oregon, and its project to build an even stronger mass timber industry in our state,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “Mass timber is revolutionizing the construction business with better and safer buildings. The U of O deserves major credit for earning this honor and I am confident it has both the capacity and talent to fully develop the employment and economic benefits of mass timber.” …The NSF Engine: Oregon Mass Timber Innovation Engine, led by principal investigator Judith Sheine, professor of architecture in the UO College of Design and director of design of the TallWood Design Institute, is among just 29 semifinalist teams nationally. 

Read More

Forestry

US faces alarming shortage of firefighters during peak wildfire season, data reveals

By Gabrielle Canon
The Guardian
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

More than a quarter of firefighting positions at the United States Forest Service (USFS) remain vacant, according to internal data reviewed by the Guardian, creating staffing shortages as extreme conditions fuel dozens of blazes across the US. The data paints a dangerously different picture than the one offered by Tom Schultz, the chief of the USFS, who has repeatedly assured lawmakers and the public that the agency is fully prepared for the onslaught in fire activity expected through this year. It’s already been busy. So far this year there have been more than 41,000 wildfires – an amount nearly 31% higher than the ten-year average. “In terms of firefighting capacity we are there,” Schultz said during a Senate committee hearing on 10 July, claiming the USFS had hit 99% of hiring goals. He repeated the claim multiple times.

Read More

The Longleaf Alliance seeks areas to harvest pine cone crops

By Jennifer Allen
Coastal Review – North Carolina Coastal Federation
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

©NC Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service estimates that the cone crop for longleaf pines in the Southeast will be “poor for 2025,” according to the “Longleaf Pine Cone Prospects for 2025”. Because of the anticipated seed shortage … the Longleaf Alliance is scouting for locations to harvest in the fall. Based on observations collected earlier this year … researchers estimate the average for seed-producing cones is 12.4 per tree this fall. The study …defines a good crop as 50 to 99 green cones per tree, a fair crop as 25 to 49, poor as 10 to 24, and a failed crop as less than 10 seed-bearing cones per tree. Once plentiful, the longleaf pine could be found on an estimated 90 million acres in the coastal plains between southeast Virginia to eastern Texas. … [but] demand grew exponentially when the turpentine industry took off, nearly stripping the ecosystem of the native pine. Today, its estimated that there’s around 5 million acres remaining. 

Read More

Will Increased Timber Harvesting on Federal Lands Reduce Growing Wildfire Hazards?

By Matthew Wibbenmeyer and David N. Wear
Resources for the Future – Report
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

On March 1, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to develop plans to increase timber production on federal lands. The order was motivated by two stated priorities: expanding the timber supply and addressing rising wildfire risks. The US Forest Service has responded with a goal of increasing timber offered for sale by 25 percent over the next four to five years. This report puts the Trump administration’s actions into context by reviewing the history of harvest from federal lands and evaluating current forest inventories and treatment needs. It asks: What would be the effect on wildfire risk if federal land management agencies increased harvests by 25 percent? Opportunities for harvests that successfully mitigate risk may be limited by the absence of active timber markets, the availability of a qualified workforce, and the economics of fuel removals.

Read More

A plan to shoot 450,000 owls — to save a different owl — could be in jeopardy

By Lila Seidman
The LA Times
July 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

An unusual alliance of Republican lawmakers and animal rights advocates, together with others, is creating storm clouds for a plan to protect one threatened owl by killing a more common one. Last August, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a plan to shoot roughly 450,000 barred owls in California, Oregon and Washington over three decades. The barred owls have been out-competing imperiled northern spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest, as well as California spotted owls, pushing them out of their territory. Supporters of the approach — including conservation groups and prominent scientists — believe the cull is necessary to avert disastrous consequences for the spotted owls. Last month, The Times has found, federal officials canceled three owl-related grants to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife totaling roughly $1.1 million, including one study that would remove barred owls from over 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

Read More

Climate Change Is Making Fire Weather Worse for World’s Forests

By Rebecca Dzombak
The New York Times
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

In 2023 and 2024, the hottest years on record, more than 78 million acres of forests burned around the globe. The fires sent veils of smoke and several billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, subjecting millions of people to poor air quality. Extreme forest-fire years are becoming more common because of climate change, new research suggests. Boreal forests lost more than two times the canopy area in 2023-24 compared with the period between 2002 and 2022, the study found. Tropical forests saw three times as much loss, and North American forests lost nearly four times as much canopy, mostly because of Canada’s wildfires. Significant losses were in remote forests, far from human activities. That isolation suggests fires are increasing primarily because of climate change, said Calum Cunningham, a fire geographer at the University of Tasmania who was not involved with the study. “Chronic changes in climate are making these forests more conducive to burning,” Dr. Cunningham said. [a paid subscription is required to read this article]

Read More

Threads of the Tongass: Building a sustainable future

By Jasz Garrett
The Juneau Empire
July 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The days of clear-cutting the Tongass National Forest are over, with little chance of reviving the past. The Alaska Forest Association, tribal members, and environmentalists say a new future must be charted. Since the Clinton administration implemented the Roadless Rule in 2001, construction of new roads in wild areas of most national forests has been blocked. With no more roads being built and few companies willing to barge out the wood, it is difficult to imagine the return of mass logging. Timber operators expected to harvest 46 million board feet per year, a mix of young and old-growth, based on the 2016 Tongass Land and Resource Management plan. Viking Lumber Company in Klawock and Alcan Timber in Ketchikan acknowledge the time needed to transition to young-growth harvesting. “Threads of the Tongass” is a series of stories that explore how lives in Southeast Alaska are interwoven with the Tongass National Forest during a time of political, cultural and environmental change.

Read More

Groups sue US Fish and Wildlife Service over protections for red tree vole on Oregon Coast

By Rose Shimberg
The Salem Statesman Journal
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on July 17 for denying Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections to the north Oregon Coast population of red tree voles. The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Bird Alliance of Oregon, Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands, claims the USFWS’ February 2024 decision that the population was not warranted for ESA protections deprives it of critical protections necessary to ensure its survival. “Red tree voles have graced Oregon’s coastal old-growth forests for thousands of years, but we could lose them forever if they don’t get Endangered Species Act protections soon,” said Ryan Shannon, a senior attorney in the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species program. …Due to decades of logging, this population has been eliminated from most of its historic range. It also faces an existential threat from wildfire that is worsening under climate change, according to the lawsuit. 

Read More

New burn technology to be tested in Skyline Forest west of Bend

By Michael Kohn
The Bend Bulletin
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

The Oregon Department of Forestry is teaming up with the owner of 33,000 acres of private timberland west of Bend to test a new technology that reduces the amount of smoke produced during pile burning activities, and reduces wildfire risk. A pilot project is set to be held in October on Shanda Asset Management’s Skyline Forest, a vast swath of timberland that has long been the target of conservation efforts. The project entails using an air curtain burner — a container-sized unit that burns wood slash from thinning projects. Instead of releasing particulate matter into the atmosphere, these units capture smoke and produce biochar. It also reduces the risk of a wildfire caused by embers escaping from burning piles. Another advantage is limiting the spread of tree disease and insects — air curtain burners have proven to be better than pile burning when containment is needed.

Read More

Agreement Reached to Preserve Mature Ponderosa Pines in Southwest Colorado

The Center for Biological Diversity
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

DOLORES, Colo.— Forest health advocates have finalized an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service that will preserve tens of thousands of the largest, oldest ponderosa pine trees in Colorado’s San Juan National Forest. “Large, mature trees are critical for climate resilience, habitat and forest health” said John Rader, public lands program director for the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “We are pleased to reach a common-sense agreement that helps safeguard our forests from climate change and biodiversity loss.” In June 2023 San Juan Citizens Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Forest Service in federal court over its approval of a nearly 23,000-acre timber project in the Dolores District of the San Juan National Forest. The project area is a watershed for the Dolores River and provides important habitat for elk, mule deer and raptor, including imperiled goshawks. It was extensively logged throughout the 1900s, and few mature ponderosa pines remain.

Read More

Wildfire that consumed North Rim ignites tragic debate

By Peterr Aleshire
Payson Roundup
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

©NationalParkService

ARIZONA — The dawning debate about the wildfire that jumped containment lines and destroyed the iconic, Grand Canyon Lodge underscores the trap that has frozen forest management efforts for half a century. The slow-moving Dragon Bravo fire sudden flared into a monster illustrates the extreme difficulty of restoring forest health after a century of clear cutting. …The National Park Service initially released reassuring bulletins suggesting fire crews would develop fire lines to contain the fire. …Then everything changed, as winds gusting to 40 miles an hour ushered in stormfronts. By July 12, the Dragon Fire had jumped containment lines. …The pattern Is all too familiar to fire ecology experts like ASU professor Stephen Pyne. He argues that… all-out fire suppression had increased tree densities across millions of acres of Northern Arizona from about 50 per acre to more like 1,000 per acre. …Moreover, construction of homes and towns in the most fire-prone landscapes has exploded.

Read More

A Sequoia Forest Grows in Detroit

By Michaela Haas
Reasons to be Cheerful
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Behind David Milarch’s desk in a large warehouse in rural Michigan grows the future of climate change solutions. Thousands of sequoias, coastal redwoods, oaks and a hundred other tree species form the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive (AATA), a living library of the world’s mightiest trees. These are not just any saplings — they all are descendants of so-called champion trees. …At 75, David Milarch is trying to save the world’s last old-growth forests from extinction — by using their DNA to help reverse climate change. …Cloning these giants is challenging. It involves scaling the trees to the high points where the newest growth sprouts, snipping off the most vital tips, and then coaxing them to root in a mix of soil and specialized hormones. While arborists believed it was impossible to clone redwoods older than 80 years because of their diminished vitality, Milarch proved them wrong.

Read More

USDA, Bighorn National Forest reexamining roadless areas

By Alex Hargrave
The Buffalo Bulletin
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

WYOMING — The future of roadless areas in the Bighorn National Forest and other national forest system lands is uncertain after the Trump administration announced that it would rescind the 2001 roadless rule. …Of the Bighorn National Forest’s 1.1 million acres, 600,000 acres are managed as inventoried roadless areas. In these areas, road construction and reconstruction and timber harvesting are prohibited. Rollins’ action will require environmental analysis, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, tribal consultation and coordination with affected states, according to the U.S. Forest Service. So, at this point, how the proposal will impact forest management is uncertain. …Bighorn National Forest Supervisor Andrew Johnson said he planned to seek a technical correction to the forest’s roadless boundaries from Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. Johnson said that roughly 50% of the forest’s suitable timber base is located in areas designated as roadless.

Read More

Kansas could get stiffed by the White House for this year’s firefighting and forestry programs

By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
KCUR
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

©Kansas Forest Service

The money lets Kansas train more than 1,500 firefighters per year across the state and helps get trucks, generators and hand-tools for rural fire departments. Most of the Kansas Forest Service’s budget for this fiscal year might simply not show up. That’s the fear — with just 2.5 months left in the federal fiscal year — as the Trump administration continues to withhold federal money that states and tribal governments use for forestry and for preventing and combating wildfires. “One of the main things we do with this funding is provide training, response resources, response assistance” for wildfires, State Forester Jason Hartman said. …Rural departments are the vital, frontline responders when it comes to the kind of fires that the Kansas Forest Service focuses on preventing and combating — wildfires that sweep across the state’s prairies and woodlands. …Kansas sees about 4,000 wildfires each year.

Read More

This Golden Fungus Is Spreading Wildly in North America’s Forests

By Jacey Fortin
The New York Times
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

For a few years, foragers and fungi enthusiasts around the Midwest have been seeing something yellow. The butter-colored flushes of the golden oyster mushroom are difficult to miss. They bloom on dead or decaying trees, and they have become profuse in states around the Great Lakes. The fungi, which are native to Asia, are good to eat and easy to grow. But a new study shows that they may also be sapping the resources of native mushrooms. And their footprint is spreading fast. “I don’t think anyone would hesitate to call it invasive,” said Aishwarya Veerabahu, a mycologist and doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an author of the study, published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology. She and her colleagues call the golden oyster “a literal and figurative bright yellow warning” in the study, adding that “as of now, there are no management strategies available to control its spread.” [a paid subscription is required to read the full article]

Read More

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Trump bill takes a ‘big, beautiful’ bite out of US climate progress

By Rachel Frazin
KTSM News
July 21, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

The megabill President Trump signed into law this month is expected to make a major dent in the U.S.’s climate progress, adding significantly more planet-warming emissions to the atmosphere. Models of the legislation that have emerged since its passage earlier this month show U.S. emissions will rise as a result of its implementation. One from climate think tank C2ES found U.S. emissions will be 8 percent more than they would have been otherwise as a result of the package. “An 8% increase in our emissions is … still a massive amount of emissions,” said Brad Townsend, the group’s vice president for policy and outreach. Taking into account all of the efforts to reduce U.S. emissions over the last 20 years, Townsend said, the bill represents “rolling back a third of that progress with a stroke of a pen.” “From an emissions perspective, this bill is a disaster,” he said.

Read More

Chestnut Carbon Announces Pioneering Non-Recourse Project Financing for U.S. Afforestation in the Voluntary Carbon Market

By Chestnut Carbon
PR Newswire
July 22, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

NEW YORK — Chestnut Carbon, a nature-based carbon removal developer, announced the successful closing of a landmark non-recourse project finance credit facility of up to $210,000,000—a first-of-its-kind bank financing for a U.S. voluntary carbon removal afforestation project. Led by J.P. Morgan and a syndicate of leading lenders including CoBank, Bank of Montreal, and East West Bank, this transaction marks a pivotal step towards achieving increasing commercial scale for both the company and the broader voluntary carbon market and U.S. afforestation space. This innovative credit facility uses the long-term carbon removal supply agreement executed earlier this year between Chestnut and Microsoft Corporation, which reflects one of the largest carbon removal agreements in the U.S. The success of the financing also demonstrates that this asset class can be structured as investable, bankable assets, like more established infrastructure classes.

Read More

Maine Enacts New Reporting Requirement for Landowners Enrolled in Forest Carbon Credit Initiatives

By Brook Letterman & Joseph Ruggiero
The Law Review
July 20, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

On May 23, 2025, Maine’s Governor Janet Mills signed into law “An Act to Require Landowners to Report Their Participation in a Forest Carbon Program or Project”. The new law requires landowners enrolled in forest carbon credit programs or projects to report, on an annual basis, basic data on their participation in such programs to the state of Maine. …The purpose of the reporting requirement is to provide the state with visibility into the emerging carbon credit market and the amount of land in Maine enrolled in such programs. …However, a potential challenge arises if these credits are sold in external markets to offset emissions elsewhere. Maine’s robust forest products industry also has an interest in understanding how carbon credit project enrollment may impact the overall amount of land available for harvest.

Read More

Forest Fires

Oregon wildfire burning over 95K acres could reach rare megafire status

By Erik Ortiz
NBC News
July 20, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

The country’s largest wildfire this year has burned over 95,740 acres, fire officials in central Oregon said Sunday, as ground crews made progress to partially contain a blaze that could still intensify to become a so-called megafire. Officials said that the massive blaze — which has drawn more than 900 fire personnel, destroyed a handful of homes and prompted evacuations in two counties — was 49% contained after crews struggled to keep back the flames last week. …Cooler temperatures and higher humidity over the weekend are expected to continue early this week, potentially aiding firefighting efforts, but the sheer size of the fire has been staggering: If it grows to at least 100,000 acres, it would be classified as a megafire, becoming the first one in the U.S. in 2025, said the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which coordinates the country’s wildland firefighting operations. Oregon saw six wildfires reach megafire status last year

Read More

An explosive Grand Canyon wildfire brings terror, loss and tough questions: ‘It came like a freight train’

By Annette McGivney
The Guardian
July 20, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

@inciweb

When lightning struck on 4 July along the North Rim of Grand Canyon national park, sparking a small wildfire in a patch of dry forest, few predicted the terror and loss that lay ahead. Fire managers decided that conditions seemed ideal to let the blaze burn at a low intensity – a practice known as “control and contain” that helps clear out excess fuels and decreases the chance catastrophic wildfire in the future. Rains from previous weeks had left the forest floor moist and weather forecasts indicated the summer monsoon season would arrive soon. …On 11 July, the fire burst through its containment lines and began to rapidly pick up speed – exploding tenfold in a day. “The fire sounded like a freight train coming towards us,” says a firefighter, who was part of the National Parks Service crew battling the blaze. By 12 July, it seemed the destruction was unstoppable.

Read More

New fire on Mount Hood: Sheriff warns remote hikers ‘Leave immediately … Your life could be in great danger’

By Aimee Green
Oregon Live
July 17, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

MOUNT HOOD, Oregon — The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon issued a Level 3 (go now) evacuation order for a new, five-acre wildfire on Mount Hood that was first reported late in the morning about three miles northwest of Timothy Lake. As of 4 p.m., the evacuation order does not affect the campgrounds and trails immediately around Timothy Lake, a popular recreational spot about 90 minutes from Portland. But helicopters are scooping large buckets of water from the lake to suppress the fire. Firefighters on the ground also have started an “aggressive initial attack,” the U.S. Forest Service said. The evacuation order affects a two-mile radius around the much smaller Dinger Lake and includes Anvil Lake and the Anvil Lake Trail 724. The order so far only affects remote campsites and hikers. …Dubbed the Anvil fire, it is burning near Forest Road 5820.

Read More