Region Archives: US East

Leaders from the Texas forest industry urged Angelina County commissioners Tuesday to table a proposed road use agreement they say unfairly targets timber haulers and could lead to legal challenges. Dave Durren, speaking on behalf of the Texas Logging Council and the Texas Forestry Association, said the proposed policy would require permits and potential financial responsibility for road maintenance, placing an undue burden on loggers. “Other agricultural sectors… are not subject to this level of scrutiny or regulation, despite using the same rural road systems. This selective enforcement places an undue burden on the forestry sector and creates an uneven playing field,” the speaker said. The speaker also cited the passage of Texas Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment approved by Texas voters in 2023 protecting the right to farm, ranch and produce timber. He argued that regulating the transportation of timber directly interferes with the constitutionally protected activity.

OKLAHOMA CITY — There is more fallout from what has largely divided Governor Kevin Stitt and the entire firefighting community. Governor Stitt confirms two more top-level employees within Oklahoma Forestry Services. The two unnamed employees follow the firing of lauded Forestry Director Mark Goeller. …Since Goeller’s firing, Stitt has continued making shocking changes — and suggestions — within and about forestry. He has suggested eliminating OFS altogether and called for an investigation, claiming 50% of resources went untapped during the March wildfires. …“Forestry is an integral part of what we do,” said Rep. Stan May, who worked for the Tulsa Fire Department for 30 years. …May said it would also likely disrupt inter-state agreements that aid in a multitude of disasters. He said if we don’t help others, it will hinder our efforts to get help. “We have to make sure those agreements are in place,” he said.

• News 9 by Jonathan Polasek: Gov. Stitt forms Wildfire Strategy Team after leadership shakeup in Forestry Department

The College of Natural Resources and Environment invites you to join its celebration of 100 Years of Forestry at Virginia Tech. The celebration will last throughout the calendar year and is ramping up this month with both a virtual 100 Years of Forestry event lasting through the end of April and a centennial tree planting happening on Wednesday, April 30. By registering for the virtual 100 Years of Forestry Celebration, participants make a gift to the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation Annual Fund and can then select between a CNRE ’47 brand cap with the 100 Years of Forestry emblem embroidered on the side or a commemorative T-shirt. From there, participants are encouraged to take a picture wearing the apparel and post on your social media with the hashtag #VTForestry100. 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Governor Kevin Stitt expanded on his criticisms of the Oklahoma Forestry Services’ response to the March 14 wildfires on April 7. His public criticism of the response started after 2 News learned that the Director of Forestry Mark Goeller was fired. We asked him about this in his press conference on March 26, to which he responded, “He’s the head of the forestry department, and we had a horrible, horrible wildfire in the state of Oklahoma and I didn’t think he really did a good job.” …In his next weekly press conference on April 2, Stitt suggested eliminating the Forestry Department entirely. …Then, on April 7, Stitt put out another statement to “set the record straight”. He said the Oklahoma Forestry Service only used half of the resources available to fight the wildfires, but provided no evidence to back up that claim. We reached out for comment and are waiting to hear back.

• KGOU News – Stitt claims half of Oklahoma Forestry Services’ resources held back during fires, reportedly suspends employees
• News 9 – Lincoln Co. fire chiefs want Gov. Stitt to reconsider decision to fire forestry service director

Kevin Stitt

OKLAHOMA CITY – Legislative leaders on Thursday panned Gov. Kevin Stitt’s proposal to eliminate the state Forestry Service after the Republican criticized its response to wildfires last month. The legislative remarks came a day after Stitt told reporters he wanted to axe the agency amid frustrations about its response to wind-fueled wildfires that ripped through parts of the state, damaging or destroying over 400 homes. …He later fired Mark Goeller, the head of the Oklahoma Forestry Service. …The agency is responsible for preserving the state’s forests and is the primary state body responsible for wildland fire detection, prevention and suppression. …Stitt suggested getting rid of the Oklahoma Forestry Service or giving a portion of the funds directly to local fire departments. …“It sounds like a really bad idea to me,” said Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, a longtime volunteer fire firefighter.

Continuing a four-year collaboration dedicated to enhancing environmental sustainability, Green Forests Work, Suntory Global Spirits, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) are joining forces to reforest a former mine site in Hazard, Kentucky. This annual tree planting event underscores each organization’s strong commitment to restoring Kentucky’s natural habitats and fostering healthy environments for sustainable communities around the world… “Our premium spirits are made with agricultural ingredients, such as grains and agave, and we rely on healthy forests and White Oak trees for the barrels that age our spirits,” said Kim Marotta, Chief Environmental Sustainability Officer. “Given the significant role White Oak plays in our bourbon barrels, we’re committed to their regeneration and have set an ambitious goal of planting half a million trees by 2030.

For centuries, logging was a seasonal, learn-on-the-job trade passed down from father to son. But as climate change and innovations in the industry have changed logging into a year-round business, there aren’t always enough workers to fill jobs. “Our workforce was dying,” said Delbert Gannon, owner of Creekside Logging. “You couldn’t even pick from the bottom of the barrel. It was affecting our production and our ability to haul logs. We felt we had to do something.” Retirements have hit Creekside Logging hard. In 2018 Gannon’s company had jobs to do, and the machines to do them, but nobody to do the work. He reached out to Shasta College, which offers certificates and degrees in forestry and heavy equipment operation, to see if there might be a student who could help.

Last week, Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized the Oklahoma State Forester’s response to the fires that blazed across Oklahoma in March. This week, the governor is floating the concept of axing the entire Forestry Services division. Stitt has said he believes the Oklahoma Forestry Service held back resources during the fires. When asked to specify which resources during a press conference, Stitt said he didn’t know. “The fact that we can’t get answers about where their assets were around the state is further proof that this is a deep-seated bureaucracy that are trying to protect their actions,” Stitt said. “We still haven’t been able to figure out where they were during that thing.” Just weeks after the fires, the state’s Chief Forester Mark Goeller resigned following criticism from the governor.

The Southern Environmental Law Center has sued the National Forest Service alleging its Nantahala-Pisgah Forest logging plan violates federal law. The lawsuit – filed on behalf of MountainTrue, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Defenders of Wildlife – argues that the 2023 forest planning document is not in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, or the National Procedure Act. The lawsuit seeks to have the Forest Service withdraw and revise its Forest Plan, which ultimately guides short- and long-term land management policies on federal lands. The full environmental review process for the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan took nearly a decade. It sets guidance for forest management of 1 million acres of national forest in Western North Carolina for the next two decades.

A bill timber industry leaders hoped would increase the per-axle load limits on logging trucks, leading to fewer citations and more productivity for truck drivers, passed the Alabama Senate Tuesday without the increase provision. As initially written, Senate Bill 110 by Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, would have increased the tandem axle limit from 34,000 pounds to 44,000 pounds. It did not change the 80,000-pound maximum allowed weight of a logging truck. The weight change was removed from the bill in an amendment on the Senate floor. Opponents of the bill, including the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, had said the increased weight would significantly damage roads and bridges across the state and cost hundreds of millions of dollars per year in needed repairs. 

Amanda Lefton

Amanda Lefton, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s new leader, came to her first public appearance in the Adirondack Park with a message: All are welcome on state lands. Lefton led a transgender day of visibility flag-raising ceremony in honor of former forest ranger Robbi Mecus, who came out as transgender midway through her ranger career and helped bolster the region’s LGBTQ community. Mecus died in a climbing accident in Alaska last year. Lefton said Mecus’ career and the acceptance of her by her fellow rangers was an important reminder to the agency charged with managing New York’s public lands. “As a land manager, as a big agency, it’s critical we are allies to show these lands are for everyone and everyone is welcome here,” Lefton said. …Lefton said she planned to focus on recruiting more rangers to fill out the force’s ranks.

Kyle Spessert

A Mississippi State graduate student is helping inspectors across the world identify timber species and combat illegal logging with a new smartphone application. Inspired by Asi Ebeheakey, a sustainable bioproducts doctoral student from Accra, Ghana, and developed as part of Kyatt Spessert’s master’s research in sustainable bioproducts, the innovative app WhatWood? provides a digital alternative to traditional wood-identification manuals used in Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Ghana by placing a dependable, field-ready resource in the palms of users’ hands. By correctly identifying wood quickly and effectively, Ebeheakey said inspectors can make an impact on illegal logging and the export of illegally prohibited or mislabeled wood. WhatWood? is free to download for iOS and Android devices at their respective app stores.

Three South Carolina men and a juvenile were charged with a misdemeanor Tuesday after authorities said their failure to properly put out their cigarettes sparked the Table Rock Fire, which has burned more than 13,000 acres. …The Table Rock Fire was sparked by their handling of cigarettes while they were hiking in Table Rock State Park on March 21, the Forestry Commission said. …The fire was 30% contained Tuesday. No injuries have been reported. …The charge of negligently allowing fire to spread to lands or property of another is a misdemeanor punishable with a minimum of five days in jail and a maximum of 30 days in jail if convicted or a fine of $25 to $200. …In South Carolina, 12,652 acres have burned, and 635 acres have burned in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission said in a daily update.

At Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve in rural Albany County, the white spruce trees are struggling. Planted in the 1920s at what was then the southern part of the trees’ range, the plot now has no white spruce saplings, and “the adults are not doing well either,” said Andrei Lapenas, a professor at the University at Albany’s Transformational & Ecosystem-based Climate Adaptation. Lapenas, said higher temperatures from climate change have slowed older trees’ growth, while younger trees are being out-competed by the mature ones. Meanwhile, a different species, red spruce, has established itself in the preserve… He speculated that in the next 20 to 40 years, the preserve “will be overtaken by other tree species, and red spruce is a good candidate for this.”

Nearly 18,000 acres in the lower Blackfoot River watershed prized for its habitat and wood products could become publicly owned if the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) follows through with its planned acquisition. Missoula County last week signed a letter of support backing the BLM’s proposed acquisition of the former private industrial timberland in the Gold and Twin Creek drainages northeast of Missoula. Chet Crowser, chief lands and communities officer with the county, said that acquiring the parcels would permanently protect public ownership and provide benefits for decades to come… More than 60% of Missoula County is covered with public lands – lands the county claims sustain local economies through restoration and active management.

New York has a new interactive web tool to track the state’s progress in an ambitious goal by Gov. Kathy Hochul to have people plant 25 million trees within a nine-year period. The new online “Tree Tracker” enables state residents to self-identify as a private landowners, group members, paid professionals, municipality workers or state agency employees and input information about their tree planting. “New York is taking decisive action to protect our environment and strengthen communities’ ability to withstand severe weather,” Hochul noted in statement unveiling the online tool last month. “Our progress toward the 25 Million Tree goal is a testament to the power of community-driven action, and the new Tree Tracker will make it easier for New Yorkers to track our progress, share updates and contribute to a healthier environment for the future.”