Region Archives: US East

PIEDMONT TRIAD, N.C. — North Carolina has seen a rising number of wildfires recently, including two here in the Triad just last week. The North Carolina Forest Service is the agency responsible for getting those fires out, but lately it’s been difficult to do so. That’s due to the large number of vacancies across the department. “When we’re the lead agency for wildfire response, this isn’t a forest you want 100 positions consistently unfilled,” Philip Jackson, Public Information Officer for the N.C. Forest Service, said. It’s an issue the agency has been having for some time. “It’s [vacancies] pretty evenly distributed throughout all three regions across the state,” Jackson said. “You’re looking at about 30-35 unfilled positions in all three regions.”

CONECUH COUNTY, Alabama —At the confluence of the Yellow River and Pond Creek in Alabama’s Conecuh National Forest, there’s a place of peace. …As the Biden administration came to a close earlier this month, officials with the U.S. Forest Service initiated the process of “scoping” the possibility of new oil and gas leases in Conecuh National Forest. On Jan. 6, USFS announced it would soon begin a 30-day comment period to solicit public opinion on the proposal, which includes the continued availability of tens of thousands of acres of federal land for oil and gas leasing and the possibility of leasing an additional, nearly 3,000 acres where the federal government owns mineral rights but not surface rights. Conecuh National Forest stretches along the Alabama-Florida border, spanning more than 85,000 acres across two counties in the Yellowhammer State.

The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota and our partners have an ambitious, collective goal to reforest a million acres in Minnesota. We can’t do that without a steady supply of tree seedlings. To get seedlings, we need seed. Lots and lots of seed… Seed scouts are doing the important work of collecting seeds. The work is year-round. A lot of planning goes into collection: the scouts must find a viable site where there are several trees of the desired species to ensure genetic diversity, they must get permission from the landowner or agency in charge of the site and they must find the right time to collect, when the seeds are ripe and beginning to fall, but before they become infested with bugs or eaten by wildlife.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana produces 70% more forests than it is cutting down. The Forestry Association is trying to encourage industry to utilize those resources, including renewable fuel makers. The state has been working on reforestation closely since the 1940s when the issue of losing critical timber came to a head. With paper mills closing up shop over the years, Louisiana Forestry Association Executive Director Buck Vandersteen said the state is nearing a forest level that will be hard to manage against disease and wildfires. Vandersteen talked about four mills that are in the works of opening in some of the northern parishes in the state. Those companies harvest the larger trees for hardwood. Smaller brush and trees offer an opening for the biofuel industry to thrive. …With the Trump administration … undoing the push towards renewable energy, there is a question of how this will impact the industry in Louisiana.

Controlled burns are a key to Georgia’s strategy of preventing the kind of wildfires that are devastating the Los Angeles area… The fires in LA, fueled by historic drought and powerful Santa Ana winds, have raised questions about the vulnerabilities of other communities, particularly as human development spreads into wildlands. More frequent and more costly natural disasters, such as wildfires, have also contributed to surging home insurance costs nationwide. …Georgia lately has been averaging about 1,200 wildfires a year — a historical low, said Johnny Sabo, director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, which issues permits for controlled burns under proper conditions. He credited the state’s overall response and management for preventing most of those fires from getting out of hand. In Georgia, more than 90% of the state’s woodlands are in private hands, including commercial timberland that generates billions in economic impact each year, according to the forestry commission.

As climate change spawns hotter and drier conditions, scientists are warning that intense and repeated wildfires could affect the quantity and quality of water available. Research shows that wildfires are getting bigger and more destructive as climate change intensifies drought conditions and creates large areas of dry fuels that are more likely to ignite and carry fire. High-intensity wildfires can increase the susceptibility of watersheds to runoff and erosion and can have detrimental impacts on water supplies, including increased treatment costs, need for alternative supplies and diminished reservoir capacity. These impacts can last anywhere from months to years after a wildfire has been contained. …But high-intensity wildfires can remove vegetation and reduce the ability of soils to take up water, according to Ge Sun, a hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service and professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources.

Imagine you’re a landowner with dozens or hundreds of mature hardwood trees — not a stretch, since the majority of forestland in the U.S. is privately owned. If you want to know the trees’ value, you’ll need to hire a professional forester. What if, before you start working with the forester, you could gain preliminary information about the trees’ value and other features with your phone? That’s the hope behind iForester, an app developed by Purdue University’s Song Zhang, a professor of mechanical engineering, and Cheryl Qian, a professor of industrial design, in collaboration with Songlin Fei, director of the Institute for Digital Forestry. The idea for the app was born over dinner at a colleague’s house about three years ago. The two began to discuss the digital divide in forestry — the way some members of society, especially rural residents, don’t have equal access to new technology.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced millions of dollars in grants, including for one project focusing on pine marten habitat in northern Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. The Great Lakes Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) gave $690,000. GLIFWC, the Universities of Wisconsin, and the U.S. Forest Services are contributing approximately $170,000. Charlie Rasmussen, GLIFWC Director of Communications said in Wisconsin, martens and are both State and tribally threatened species. Martens are nocturnal weasels that weigh between 2 and 3lbs. “Theres’s research being done right now as to why Wisconsin martens are not fairing as well as Michigan and Minnesota Martens,” said Rasmussen. “Theres’s research being done right now as to why Wisconsin martens are not fairing as well as Michigan and Minnesota Martens,” said Rasmussen. …This project is a combined effort between communities and tribes working together to recover the threatened species,” said Rasmussen.

A new study finds that climate change may have a range of contrasting effects on coastal forests, both slowing and enabling growth in areas where sea levels are rising and storms are more common. Researchers compared a decade of forest growth data from two types of environments across the mid-Atlantic, southeastern, and Gulf coasts of the United States: coastal areas less than five meters (20 feet) above sea level and inland areas between 30 and 50 meters (more than 100 feet) in elevation. They found that while forests have expanded in both environments in the last 10 years, some coastal areas have seen significantly lower tree growth and higher mortality than areas of higher elevation… Researchers were also surprised to find a positive correlation between forest growth and increased coastal storms… The work is published in the journal PLOS Climate.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is investing $6.2 million in the state of Kansas to support forestry and construction industry workforce development. The EDA forestry investments announced today are: Kansas State University in Manhattan will receive a $3.2 million grant to bolster natural resource and wildfire risk management workforce development through construction of a modernized training facility. This EDA investment will be matched with $815,794 in local funds. …“The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is growing jobs, building a sustainable workforce, and creating opportunities for workers across the country,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “These EDA investments in Manhattan and Beloit will provide expanded forestry and construction workforce training programs so local workers get the skills they need for in-demand jobs, and the local economy grows.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and partners today announced $2.2 million in grants to reforest legacy mine lands, improve forest habitat management for birds, implement riparian buffers on agricultural lands and restore aquatic connectivity in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The grants will generate $1.9 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $4.1 million. The grants were awarded through the Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program…. Central Appalachia boasts some of the most biologically diverse forests and aquatic systems in the United States. The projects announced today will plant more than 164,000 native trees, restore 16 miles of streamside forest, remove nine barriers to fish passage, and propagate and release more than 97,000 freshwater mussels into their historic habitat. This work will also benefit declining populations of forest birds, including the golden-winged warbler, wood thrush and cerulean warbler.

Helene, the state’s deadliest storm, caused roughly $200 million in estimated damage to the state’s forest industry, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said in a report presented to the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee. The report estimated $83 million in timber damage and $60 million in damage to forests in and near cities. But that damage could be much higher, said Russell Hubright, the commission’s forest management chief. The report also estimated a $51 million hit to businesses that rely on the state’s forests, including logging and paper mills, which contribute $23 billion to the state economy, according to the commission. …There are 12.8 million acres of forestland in South Carolina, with more than 11 million of those privately owned, according to the State Forestry Commission. …The report estimated that nearly 234,000 acres of land incurred timber damage of some kind with more than 70,000 suffering moderate, severe or catastrophic timber damage. 

New Hampshire — Can the White Mountain National Forest protect old-growth forest and provide a sustainable source of wood? We are a professional forester and environmental scientist who have spent most of our careers in forest conservation. We firmly believe the answer to the question is yes. Recent controversy over two proposed timber harvests in the White Mountains has landed in court, with a group from Vermont called Standing Trees arguing, among other things, that the proposed harvests will be harmful to forest ecology, recreation, and water quality. On the other side, the planned harvests are supported by a diverse coalition of interests, including the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests …we feel the White Mountain National Forest is doing a good job of protecting these ecological treasures as well as allowing for thousands of acres of mature forests to gradually, over many decades, develop old-growth forest characteristics.

PORTLAND, Maine — For thousands of years, the spruce-fir forests of our region have contended with the presence of the spruce budworm… and every 30-40 years, its population explodes. …Our neighbors in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick have been contending with a serious infestation since 2006. Each province implemented vastly different response protocols, giving us valuable insight into how to deal with the current influx in Maine. …Unfortunately, Quebec responded too late. After successive defoliations, its forests have experienced extensive mortality. The result? Widespread forest fires and degradation of wildlife habitat and air and water quality. The economic damage will be felt for decades. …As Quebec was losing its budworm battle, New Brunswick implemented an early intervention strategy. …This summer, landowners and state officials noted increased spruce-fir defoliation in areas of northern Maine. …An early intervention program won’t be cheap, costing $15 million in 2025 alone. But failure to act will cost much more. 

GAYLORD, MI – A 420-acre swath of state forestland will be cleared for a solar farm near Gaylord under a lease agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, confirmed a top state official. …This comes as the DNR faces dwindling revenues … and Michigan falls behind building enough renewable energy fast enough to risk not meeting a key state climate goal – 100% clean energy by 2040. …Deforesting land for renewable energy has become the focus of recent scientific study. Evidence from both Harvard University and Chinese researchers shows the loss of carbon-dioxide gobbling forests for solar installations results in a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions… Scott Whitcomb, DNR director of public lands office argued it’s a matter of infrastructure logistics. “I would rather make the development a little bigger here and avoid creating a new development elsewhere that has those same impacts,” he said.