Region Archives: United States

WASHINGTON — A swath of timberlands in King County has traded hands, according to public property records. The land was sold by an entity affiliated with the Weyerhaeuser Company for $25.6 million. Industry reports show that the deal appears to have included more than 600 acres of land. The buyer was an entity affiliated with Oregon-based Green Canyon Timberlands LLC, which is affiliated with Chinook Forest Partners… a capital investment management group focused on forestland. The company manages working forestland in the Pacific Northwest. …In 2021, Weyerhaeuser sold 145,000 acres of timberland for $266 million to Hampton Lumber, according to previous reporting from The Registry. The land in that deal consisted of “high-quality” forestlands spread out across Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, Chelan and Kittitas counties.

QUINCY, California – Nearly three dozen federal law enforcement officers have been assigned to monitor the Rainbow Family Gathering. This unauthorized gathering could bring thousands to Plumas National Forest in the days leading up to the 4th of July. …This large unauthorized gathering is happening about 5 miles north of Antelope Lake in Plumas County, just west of Janesville. The Plumas National Forest held a virtual meeting Tuesday night sharing photos of this gathering and past gatherings. The Rainbow Family Gathering is a counter-culture group that began in the 1970s and sets up camp in a different national forest each year.  There are currently more than 516 people participating. Between now and July 4th that number could grow to 10,000. Forest Service officials said there are 177 vehicles on site and they expect the impacted area and roads to cover 900 acres. Residents are concerned about the impact on the environment and the fire danger in the forest. 

Additional coverage in SFist, by Jay Barmann: Rainbow Family Gathering Ordered Out of National Forest For First Time, Threatened With Fines

…Advocates say there’s currently no national policy to protect mature and old-growth forests on public lands, but a new proposed nationwide forest plan amendment from the U.S. Forest Service would change that. A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) was issued on the proposal last week. A recent federal inventory determined that the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service together manage some 32 million acres of old-growth forest, with another 80 million acres of mature forests. …Some say the current approach to old-growth protection is piecemeal, or “forest by forest.” So a number of environmental groups called the Forest Service’s proposal “a step in the right direction.” …The timber industry has also raised issues with the proposal, with the American Forest Resource Council calling it a “politically driven process.” The group said the proposal does little to address the principal threats to old-growth, like wildfires, insect infestations and disease.

It starts with the cones. They’re usually gathered in the wild, from whitebark pine trees several thousand feet above sea level somewhere in the West. The cones get shipped to the U.S. Forest Service’s Coeur d’Alene Nursery, where they’ll sit on drying racks for a few months. …That’s how some 300,000 whitebark pine seedlings came to be in two greenhouses at the Coeur d’Alene Nursery. …The vast collection of whitebark seedlings is just a fraction of the output of this nursery. …That makes this sprawling government farm on the western edge of Coeur d’Alene a key player in conserving the trees. Of all the Forest Service’s nurseries, it produces the most whitebark seedlings. It’s also been involved in scientific efforts aimed at identifying the best trees to propagate and developing the next generation of whitebark pine seeds. In other words, the road to recovery runs through Coeur d’Alene. [to access the full story, a Billings Gazette subscription is required]

OREGON — In a landmark decision, a Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that prevents Scott Timber, a private logging company, from clearcutting old growth trees within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The ruling protects the marbled murrelet, a seabird species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown ruled that the proposed logging of the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel would violate federal protections for the marbled murrelet because it would destroy the forests where they live and nest. Logging in the area would also injure the murrelets, because it would disrupt their breeding, McKeown added. “The district court correctly applied this standard to the facts before it,’’ McKeown wrote. …The panels’ decision marks the first time a private timber company has been held accountable in Oregon for potential violations of the Endangered Species Act.

Related in Oregon Public Broadcasting: Timber companies can’t log former Elliott State Forest parcel

MONTANA — If a federal judge stops the timber sales that are part of the Pintler Face Project, the largest employer in Powell County, Sun Mountain Lumber, might not be able to keep its mill running, said a lawyer representing the company. Another company, Iron Pine Co., would have to lay off 12 people, said Julie Weis, of the Haglund Kelley Firm in Portland, Oregon. …But if the court allows the project to continue, it means 1.1 million acres of lynx habitat will be erased from a single national forest map, and without any opportunity for the public to comment, argued Rebecca Smith, a lawyer representing conservation groups who sued the U.S. government earlier this year. ..Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen heard arguments in a case over a timber project and mapped lynx habitat in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. 

The U.S. Forest Service has set fire to more land than ever before in national forests across California. Preventative burning, or prescribed fires, have burned 63,878 acres of forest land, eclipsing the previous record set in 2018 when 63,711 acres were “treated” through the entire year …“We’re fully committed to increasing the scope and pace of our hazardous fuels treatment work in California, and it shows,” said Jaime Gamboa, Pacific Southwest Region fire director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Restoring natural fire to these ecosystems not only helps mitigate threats to communities but also increases forest health overall.” …“Reintroducing fire also minimizes the spread of pest insects and disease, recycles nutrients back to the soil, and improves natural conditions for native flora and fauna”. …For an interactive map that shows where these fires are taking place across the U.S., click here.

PORTLAND, Oregon —The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced an investment of over $2.88 million to fund five Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) projects in the Pacific Northwest for fiscal year 2024. This funding is part of a larger $12 million national investment in GNA projects for the same period. These projects aim to enhance watersheds, restore forest health, and reduce wildfire risks in Washington and Oregon. The funding, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, allows the Forest Service to partner directly with state agencies to support watershed restoration, improve forest health, and reduce wildfire risks through state-implemented projects. …”These projects are important for forest health and resiliency,” said Jacque Buchanan, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Regional Forester. “It’s also good forest management to leverage the capacity, resources, and expertise across federal, state, Tribal, and local agencies. Using the Good Neighbor Authority strengthens our collective efforts and also greatly benefits the local community.”

PORTLAND, Oregon – With wildfire season underway, Oregon lawmakers held a briefing with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center for an outlook on the 2024 season — identifying one region in the state as a “hotbed” for potential fire risk. Attended by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici — Fire Weather Meteorologist Jon Bonk said the wildfire outlook is a mixed bag. According to Bonk, aside from Southern Oregon, temperatures on the whole have been cooler in the last three months. Additionally, officials said drought areas have diminished. However, they are seeing drought expansion across north-central and northwest Washington as of June 18. …Even though drought levels have improved in some areas, Bonk said Oregon’s rain levels are below average going into wildfire season. As part of a nationwide wildfire forecast, Southeast Oregon is expected to be a “hotbed” for wildfire potential in August and September.