WIGGINS, Mississippi – Hood Industries announced the permanent closure of its plywood manufacturing operation in Wiggins, Mississippi, a decision that will affect approximately 260 employees. Facility-wide meetings were held to explain that the decision followed a comprehensive assessment of the extensive damage caused by Tropical Storm Arthur. “After a thorough assessment, we determined that the damage caused by the recent storms, combined with the age of our 56-year-old facility, would require an investment that is not economically feasible. …The Wiggins plywood mill was originally built in 1970 and was acquired by Hood Industries in 1984, becoming the company’s second and largest plywood manufacturing operation. Over the next few days, Hood officials will meet individually with employees to discuss the transition and share information about employment opportunities at other Hood locations. …Operations are expected to conclude by the end of August.
NEW YORK — BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, timberland investment managers, announced the acquisition of approximately 90,000 acres of US timberland formerly managed by Jamestown, a global design-focused real estate investment and management firm. …The portfolio of high-quality timberland spans five U.S. states, including approximately 50,000 acres of pine timberland in Georgia and Alabama and approximately 40,000 acres of diversified hardwood timberland across Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. All properties are certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The acquisition increases BTG Pactual TIG’s core U.S. timberland strategy’s portfolio to more than 1.7 million acres. The firm manages 3.3 million acres globally. The transaction creates further opportunities for BTG Pactual TIG to scale positive conservation outcomes through its long-term collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Conservation Advisor to the firm’s core U.S. timberland strategy.
COUSHATTA, Louisiana – C&C Forest Products announced it is investing over $21 million to rebuild its Coushatta sawmill following a 2025 fire, repositioning the facility as a more efficient, cost-competitive specialty lumber and timber operation. The company is expected to create 77 direct new jobs… while retaining 27 current positions. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 256 indirect new jobs, for a total of 333 potential new job opportunities in the Northwest Region. …The project will reconfigure the existing facility at 306 Wilkinson St. with updated equipment and improved site layout to support more efficient production. Once complete, the rebuilt sawmill will focus on specialty lumber and timbers and will be capable of producing up to 90 million board feet annually. …C&C Forest Products operates sawmills in Louisiana and Arkansas.
GOODLAND TOWNSHIP, Michigan – Firefighters were on scene for roughly 10 hours working to put out a l
ATLANTA — At 
A bipartisan bill in the US House is calling for additional incentives to use of mass timber building materials in federal contracting. Introduced by House Ag Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Andrea Salinas (D-OR), the 
New York’s Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) has not reached the finish line. The state legislature adjourned without voting on
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced two federally funded grant programs totaling $1.23 million for urban and community forestry projects, with application deadlines in August 2026. The programs are available through DEEP’s 
GEORGIA — Amid drought conditions and larger fires, Georgia Forestry Commission Director Johnny Sabo told lawmakers the cost to put out the blazes in south Georgia cost more than half of his annual department budget. “We’re looking about $35 million between these two fires,” Sabo said about the cost of putting out the Pineland Road and Highway 82 fires in south Georgia. “To put that in perspective, my annual budget is $52 million.” Those figures don’t include the costs of helping communities recover from the damage and losses afterward. …Sabo said Georgia has experienced a more active fire season than in previous years, with the number of fires up 88%. It was made more dangerous by drier conditions. …The data from Sabo showed the yearly average acreage of fires was 5.6 acres in previous years. The size of the fires made it so smoke was even visible to residents in the metro Atlanta area.
In fall, hoards of winter ticks latch on to New Hampshire’s moose — sometimes upward of 50,000 per adult animal. Over the course of the winter, the ticks drink their fill of blood, weakening adult moose and sometimes killing calves. …a team of New Hampshire researchers has a new hypothesis: Could the way forests are logged make moose more or less likely to encounter parasites? …Winter ticks are the driving force behind years of decline in Northeastern moose populations. …In recent decades, parasitism of moose by winter ticks has boomed… major driver was a boom in the local moose population… The sheer abundance of hosts helped tick populations in the region reach the high levels they remain at today. …One option is raising hunting quotas to reduce the number of moose… Another line of attack is the use of pesticides. …But there’s another idea … that has not been extensively studied: managing their habitat.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – An email dropped into the US Department of Agriculture staffer’s inbox this spring. The Minnesota-based worker was about find out where she would be asked to relocate with her family. …The federal government employee had been hired to work remotely. However, her entire team was now being told to move to a new city. …The USDA, the massive federal department covering agriculture policy to anti-poverty food programs to the forest service, is consolidating offices across agencies, moving many workers out DC into select hubs. In Minnesota, USDA lost 21% of its 1,800 employees between fiscal year 2025 and 2026, coinciding with the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. It was the hardest hit of the federal agencies operating in the state. …The latest move also is different than conservation program cuts announced this spring or the USDA-run U.S. Forest Service announcing closure of research sites, including two in northern Minnesota.
Ithaca, NY — Forests and land play an important role in absorbing carbon dioxide emissions, but current models and forecasts don’t incorporate a new and surprising ecological discovery: Despite more available carbon, climate change and warmer temperatures are slowing forest growth. A new study considers for the first time the impact of the discovery on climate models, finding that one of the most-used land models for determining the impacts of climate change may overestimate forests’ future potential for carbon storage by as much as 30%. “Knowing how well the land will be able to keep taking up carbon in the future is really important,” said first author Brendan Clark. “But the land models are probably underestimating the effects of hotter, drier air on actual growth.” …Clark first learned about the new ecological findings from co-author and ecologist Shan Kothari, at the University of Alberta, and immediately wondered how they might impact climate models. 
As South Georgia continues recovering from a destructive spring wildfire season, Gov. Brian Kemp has signed an executive order intended to help landowners and the forestry industry reduce economic losses caused by fire-damaged timber. The order temporarily increases allowable truck weights in 17 wildfire-impacted counties, giving landowners and timber operators more flexibility to move salvageable timber before it loses market value. State officials said timber damaged by wildfire can only be harvested and sold within a limited timeframe, making transportation a critical part of recovery efforts. The temporary weight allowance is designed to help speed the removal and transport of timber from wildfire-affected properties. The order comes as two of Georgia’s most significant wildfire incidents this year have finally reached 100% containment…
