Region Archives: US East

A new report by a conservation nonprofit is warning that Wisconsin’s declining forest products industry could damage forest health. The report, “Wisconsin Forests at Risk: Engaging Wisconsinites in Another Century of Forest Conservation,” highlights the numerous threats the state’s woodlands are facing, from declining loggers and mills to changing weather patterns and invasive species. According to Ron Eckstein, chair of public lands and forestry for Wisconsin’s Green Fire and a contributor to the report, the industry that includes loggers and paper mills helps maintain a healthy forest because they prune trees to enable the overall canopy to thrive. …The forest products industry has been struggling in recent years. Wisconsin remains the top paper-producing state in the country, but jobs in the industry have declined by 73 percent since 2001 to nearly 7,000 employees in 2024, according to the Wisconsin Council on Forestry. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Chuck Leavell

Chuck Leavell made his name playing the piano, first in the 1970s for the Allman Brothers Band and for the last four decades, with the Rolling Stones. Along the way, the legendary keyboardist has developed a meaningful new connection to this wooden instrument by devoting his life to tree farming and sustainable forestry. …He has published numerous books on forestry, been featured in a documentary and currently hosts the PBS television show America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell. …Leavell is passionate about the aesthetic of the woods… but he’s equally ardent about the practical side of sustainable tree farming. “We want to set aside lands that aren’t used for production, but I live in a wooden house,” he says, acknowledging that wood is needed for “our homes and schools, paper for our books and magazines, and cardboard for our Amazon boxes.” 

Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center workers are searching for two missing and badly burned bobcats spotted on the side of Crocker Road in Kings Mountain after a major wildfire at Crowders Mountain State Park. The staff spent two hours searching for them with headlamps later in the evening, but they were unable to be located, the conservation center said. The crew is asking the public to be aware of the bobcats and continue looking for them, but warns against approaching the injured animals. …The 730-acre wildfire, which has been burning since Sunday, spread through Crowders Mountain State Park early Monday morning and has been called the “Coyote Fire,” according to the North Carolina Forest Service. As of Monday afternoon the fire is 95% contained. …The N.C. Forest Service said no homes or structures are threatened at this time. The cause of the fire is undetermined and under is under investigation.

©J.D. Willson

VESUVIUS, Va. — A wildfire burning in the Big Levels region of the Blue Ridge Mountains is causing concern for one tiny creature found only in Virginia; the Big Levels salamander. So far, that fire has scorched nearly two thousand acres in the area where the Augusta, Nelson, and Rockbridge County lines meet. That is also the only place in the world where the Big Levels salamander can be found, and even then, they only live on a few select mountain tops. “They occupy these high elevation areas; they’re very isolated on these mountain tops,” said Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources State Herpetologist J.D. Kleopher. “That makes them very vulnerable to things like climate change and habitat change.” Big Levels salamanders are important to the ecosystem because they help to control the insect population, and they serve as a food source for bears, coyotes, turkeys, and other birds.

With a $23 billion wood and paper products industry in South Carolina, it might not be surprising that there’s a Greenville-based organization dedicated to preserving the state’s working forests and the communities that depend on them. What might be surprising is that organization’s mission is national in scope, and its creation was prompted by the U.S. and Canadian governments as part of a settlement in a decades-old timber trade dispute. The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities has been working for almost two decades all over the country to ensure the nation’s working forests are sustainably managed. This work not only produces environmental benefits but helps support the timber industry and, through that support, the people and communities that rely on working forests for their livelihoods, according to Pete Madden, the endowment’s president and CEO.

During 35 years with the U.S. Forest Service, I had the privilege of working on behalf of our nation’s federally managed forests from coast to coast. But there is a special place in my heart for New England’s North Woods, where I started my career in 1968. I sent many trees to the mill. I also changed. As a close observer of the Forest Service for a half century, I am deeply troubled by the agency’s persistent, mistaken focus on timber production when there are larger issues at stake for our communities, the climate, and biodiversity. Against science and common sense, logging projects in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, target invaluable mature and old-growth forests and roadless areas. It’s time for a fundamental reconsideration of the value of our nation’s public forestlands.

Rhinelander, WI – Forests in Wisconsin today, covering over 17.5 million acres of land and supporting a $37 billion forest products sector, face serious environmental and economic threats. Calling for renewed statewide action to address these threats to forests and the forest-based economy, Wisconsin’s Green Fire (WGF) has published a new report: Wisconsin Forests at Risk: Engaging Wisconsinites in Another Century of Forest Conservation. WGF Executive Director Meleesa Johnson says, “If we want to continue enjoying the benefits provided by our forests, from sawlogs and pulp to clean air and clean water, Wisconsin needs to take new steps as leaders in forest conservation. We want everyone at the table to plan for the future of our forests.” One opportunity to join the conversation will be at the WGF webinar on Wisconsin Forests at Risk on January 15, 2025…

The number of longleaf pines is increasing across the Southeast, with some of the biggest improvements in Georgia, according to a new study from the U.S. Forest Service. Some 57 million acres of longleaf pine forest once stretched across the southeast from Virginia to Texas. But much of it was clear-cut for timber by the early 20th century. Because longleaf pines rely on regular fires to thrive, many were lost to fire suppression, too, until only about 3 million acres remained. The new study found that the amount of longleaf pine forest has increased thanks to concerted restoration efforts. “We’ve reversed this trajectory of decline that’s been going on for several centuries,” said study author Kevin Potter, a research ecologist at the USFS Southern Research Station. …Overall, the study found that while the total amount of longleaf pine is increasing, other forest types have less longleaf pine in them than previously.

Ash Latimer

Cumberland County, Virginia — Ash Latimer and his dad run Conservation Forests, a forest management and logging business that is taking a slightly unconventional approach to what he sees as an extractive industry. He’s cutting selectively, which is not an uncommon practice. It’s what he’s leaving behind that’s unusual. “We’re really looking to leave behind the highest-quality trees, leave the most money — so even if we’re taking out a fair amount of volume, we’re still leaving actually a lot of value,” Latimer said. Latimer and the landowners he works with are choosing to sacrifice some immediate profits for other benefits down the line. They’re still harvesting good wood, and enough of it to justify the costs of the work. It’s used for veneer, bourbon barrels, pallets, railroad ties and more. …Latimer’s driven by a widespread failure of eastern hardwood forest regeneration. …young white oak volumes in Virginia declined by 21% between 2003 and 2022. 

New Hampshire and Vermont are home to two great environmental success stories: the White Mountain and Green Mountain National Forests. …Today, the U.S. Forest Service stewards the eastern national forests as places where a mix of activities occur, ranging from protection of wilderness to supporting recreation opportunities to sustainably managing wood products and a diversity of wildlife habitats. …The multiple-use principle seeks to serve as many of us as possible, which sometimes doesn’t suit uncompromising special interests. The principle of multiple use is being challenged currently by a Vermont-based lawsuit over two timber harvests in the White Mountain National Forest. It highlights the divide among those who support all the benefits forests provide us and those who automatically view any logging as destructive rather than restorative. …While we appreciate those who care about how forests are managed, we believe the individuals behind this lawsuit are willfully misinformed.