Region Archives: US East

A spruce budworm outbreak has plagued Maine’s northern borders for nearly two decades, with the tree-killing moths making sporadic incursions from Quebec but never reaching numbers that suggest a repeat of the outbreak that ravaged the state a half-century ago. This summer, though, state entomologist Michael Parisio surveyed the northwestern woods of Aroostook County by plane. A 3,000-acre hot spot of partially denuded spruce-fir forest suggested the once-a-generation outbreak everyone had feared might have begun. …”We’ve had a few scares here and there, but 3,000 acres, that’s significant damage,” Parisio said. “All evidence suggests it will persist and expand. We knew it would get here eventually, but knowing doesn’t make what’s going to happen any easier.” University of Maine modeling shows that more than 178,000 acres are on the verge of defoliation. …The last outbreak lasted from 1967 to 1993, covering 136 million acres across eastern Canada and Maine.

The red-cockaded woodpecker’s population had dwindled to around 1,470 clusters when federal officials decided to classify the bird as endangered back in 1970. But decades of efforts to preserve the species’ habitats have substantially increased the bird’s numbers. The repopulation effort was so successful, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that late last month the federal government changed the status of the bird from endangered to threatened. Some environmental groups, however, are worried that the federal government’s decision might be premature. …The rare birds have lost habitat to increasing hurricanes and tropical storms sparked by climate change, human encroachment and too few older trees. …Tim Lowrimore, president and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association, sees the status change as worthy of praise. It’s an example of what can happen when forest landowners are dedicated to wildlife conservation and land management, he said.

As Tennessee’s communities increasingly bleed into wildlife areas, the state’s Division of Forestry is pushing for a pilot program to shore up wildfire defenses. The “Wildland Urban Interface” — the line where nature and human development collide — has increased by about 2 million acres in Tennessee, State Forester Heather Slayton said. The National Association of State Foresters estimated 43,771 communities in the South are at risk for wildfire as of 2021. “We’ve had a lot of folks come into Tennessee, and they want to obviously live in our natural resources, so managing for wildfire is becoming more complex,” she said. Slayton is asking for an additional $245,000 in the Department of Agriculture and Forestry budget to build a 3-person wildfire resilience team that would train volunteer and paid fire departments in the Chattanooga, Knoxville and Crossville area.

GEORGIA — In clearing in a pine forest 75 miles east of Macon, in Treutlen County, a pile of stumps and root balls grows as Wade Webb’s logging crew adapts machines made for cutting down trees to the job of slowly plucking them out of the jumble left by the 90-mph winds of Hurricane Helene. …Estimated commercial timber losses come to about $1.8 billion across the four states hit hardest by Helene — Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. But Georgia losses by themselves account for about three quarters of that, some $1.3 billion. That’s according to a joint report by the Georgia Forestry Commission and the Warnell School of Forestry at the University of Georgia. …Gillis said the longer a fallen tree stays on the ground, the more the wood degrades, or blues, and once a tree blues it’s really only good for pulpwood, for paper and cardboard, from then on.

The last decade’s economic, social, and environmental changes have affected the production, consumption, prices, and trade of forest products. This report provides an overview of changes in the U.S. South. …The region today faces uncertainties related to the impacts of new products and wood pellets on traditional products, the effects of climate change on forest growth and disturbances, an evolving trade posture, and economic and population growth. This Outlook sought to clarify the overall effects of some of these phenomena without asserting levels of confidence about their likelihoods. …The study highlighted several knowledge gaps. First, climate is affecting growth, but the growth effects of rising temperatures and higher CO2 levels may be offset by changes in precipitation and shrinking CO2 absorptive capacity of trees, attenuating anticipated increasing timber inventory volumes. …Alterations in disturbances from this changing climate also affect timber mortality, which may counteract increased forest gross growth.

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Thousands of trees damaged by Tropical Storm Helene will be repurposed under a North Carolina project developed through Interagency Recovery Coordination (IRC), a team of federal, state and local government, non-profits and faith-based organizations. More than 320,000 pounds of wood has already been removed. …Stages of the project include clearing debris and fallen trees from the North Carolina Arboretum south of Asheville.“This marks the transition from response to long-term recovery,” said Thomas J. McCool, federal coordinating officer for North Carolina’s disaster operation. …The project is already sending logs to a staging area to be sorted based on potential use. The wood will then be distributed to residents and communities for firewood, furniture material, mulch and more.

DANFORTH, Maine — Protecting the health of Maine’s forests and the waterways that keep them thriving is something both of our organizations can get behind. For The Nature Conservancy, it’s because healthy forests are vital for people and the planet. For Baskahegan, it’s because thriving forests mean jobs and growing local economies. For both of us, addressing the outdated dams and undersized culverts on forest roads that block passage of native fish like Atlantic salmon and brook trout is a top priority. …Last year, the conservation program contributed around $1 million to the construction of a fishway at a dam owned by Baskahegan in Danforth. …The project restored access to 96 miles and nearly 9,000 acres of invaluable alewife spawning habitat in the northern reaches of the Penobscot River watershed — returning fish to waters they haven’t been able to access for 200 years.

WILDLIGHT, Florida — Rayonier announced completed and pending timberland dispositions totaling ~200,000 acres for an aggregate purchase price of $495 million (~$2,475/acre) as part of its previously announced asset disposition and capital structure realignment plan. The dispositions consist of approximately 91,000 acres in Southeast Oklahoma and 109,000 acres on the Olympic Peninsula in Northwest Washington. The properties were sold through four separate transactions to high-caliber institutional investors. …The dispositions align with the Company’s previously stated goal of enhancing shareholder value by capitalizing on the disconnect between public and private timberland values and reducing leverage amid a higher interest rate environment. 

MINNESOTA — When The Nature Conservancy is part of a reforestation project, each member of their crew can plant 2000 to 3000 seedlings in a single day, according to Resilience Forester Laura Slavsky. Slavsky is based in Duluth and part of the team organizing reforestation projects following timber cutting in Superior National Forest. The reforestation projects are joint efforts that include TNC and the National Forest Service, along with input from other public entities like the bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and city and county governments, and from other environmental groups. One such project is located just off the Sawbill Trail, North of Tofte. WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Slavsky, Heruth, Grosshuesch, and Stover in the field. [Audio]

In 2009, while examining an old quarry, Charles Ver Straeten, the curator of sedimentary rocks at the New York State Museum, noticed something unusual. He was scouting the area with colleagues, planning a potential field trip. Although paleobotanists have explored the former highway department property since the 1960s, something different caught Ver Straeten’s attention. His trained eye spotted wandering gutters in the stone—features typically found in marine rocks. But this land, even during the Middle Devonian period, was never submerged under the sea. As Ver Straeten traced eleven of the lines, they all converged at a single point. It was then that he realized these lines were the roots of an ancient, massive tree, dating back to a time when forests were still a novel feature on Earth.

Just in time for Halloween, federal scientists this week announced new research into so-called “ghost forests,” spooky tracts of dead trees common along the Eastern Seaboard. According to NOAA, they are “the watery remains of a once verdant woodland.” The new research suggests the deathly landscapes are home to tiny organisms that play a fascinating role in climate change. Here’s how they form: As the globe warms and sea level rises, more and more saltwater encroaches on the land, according to an online fact sheet from NOAA’s Ocean Service. “Along the world’s coasts and estuaries, invading seawater advances and overtakes the fresh water that trees rely upon for sustenance. The salty water slowly poisons living trees, leaving a haunted ghost forest of dead and dying timber.”

Virginia officials on Tuesday announced that low-interest loans will be available to small agriculture and forestry businesses in certain localities impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Helene… “Virginia’s farmers and forestry professionals are the backbone of our economy, and their resilience has always been a testament to the strength of our Commonwealth,” Youngkin said. “Through the Agricultural Disaster Microloan Program, we’re ensuring that these vital industries have the resources they need to rebuild. This program is a crucial step in our ongoing efforts to restore and revitalize the communities hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.”

ALLEGHENY NATIONAL FOREST, Pa.—There aren’t many men like Alex Zimmerman left in the forests of northwest Pennsylvania. When the weather is cold or dry enough, the 28-year-old logger can be found roaming the woods, chain saw in hand, bringing down big hardwoods for a nearby sawmill. …The industry, a fixture of the regional economy, has been in decline for decades. A series of shocks since 2018 has accelerated the decline: a trade war with China, a collapse in exports due to Covid, China’s real-estate slump, and falling U.S. home building. Roughly two dozen sawmills in the region have gone out of business in the past year or so, auctioning off their machinery, said Tom Inman, president of trade association Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers. …The Eastern U.S.’s hardwood production has fallen to its lowest level in records going back to 1960, according to the Hardwood Market Report, an industry publication.

Months before the Texas Panhandle erupted with destructive wildfires, fire crews in Borger were igniting fire intentionally on a seven-mile, roughly 250-foot wide ribbon of land on the edge of town. The prescribed burn in November removed dense grass and brush next to homes on the southwest side of the town. When the Windy Deuce fire ravaged the region in February, the prescribed burn area acted as a fireproof wall that stopped the blaze in its tracks. …Before modern firefighting and fire suppression techniques, fires across forests and grasslands were a part of the Earth’s natural cycles. Prescribed burning is an ancient technique still practiced by some Native Americans. In the range ecosystem that dominates the United States from the Texas panhandle through the Great Plains, land managers and firefighters are recommending prescribed burns to protect communities and restore natural fire cycles. But in Texas, prescribed burning has yet to be widely accepted.

LINCOLN, Neb.–Following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Arbor Day Foundation pledges to plant 10 million trees in the six states affected by the disasters. “In seeing the devastation of Helene and Milton, we felt a strong pull to make a bold commitment to recovery. We received an outpouring of calls and emails from people eager to help the communities and forests impacted by these storms and we’re proud to be in a position to help make restoration happen,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive officer of the Arbor Day Foundation. …The Arbor Day Foundation aims to plant the 10 million trees over the next four years in communities and forestlands in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. …the Foundation will collaborate with public and private partners as well as local tree planting partners to determine an appropriate timeline for replanting to begin.