Region Archives: US West

Froggy Foibles

The journey of a Timbers victory log, from sapling to celebration

By Bill Oram
Oregon Live
July 3, 2024
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US West

Most of these trees have important but anonymous futures: Within the day, they will be felled by heavy machinery and later loaded onto trucks that will carry them to a nearby mill where they will become boards and beams. The bones of infrastructure. …But this particular tree, carefully identified, has a different destiny. Siegfried will cut this one by hand and saw off a 12-foot cylinder that will avoid the mill. Risseeuw will place it on a trailer and take it into the city for its very specific form of arboreal acclaim. And the next time the Portland Timbers score a goal, it will be this log that Timber Joey — a certified forest product in his own right, a man who grew up in the tiny Oregon timber town of Wren — will cut into with a 36-inch STIHL chainsaw, sending thousands of fans into delirium.

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Business & Politics

Clearwater Paper fined $350K for unreported chlorine releases at Lewiston mill

By Eric Barker
The Lewiston Tribune
July 9, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

IDAHO — The Environmental Protection Agency fined Clearwater Paper more than $350,000 for failing to disclose releases of toxic chlorine from its pulp and paper mill at Lewiston to regulators, emergency responders or the public. According to a news release from the agency, hundreds of pounds of the toxic gas classified as an extremely hazardous substance were released from the mill in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Some of the releases prompted evacuations at the mill and employees sought medical treatment after exposure to the gas. “Communities and first responders near facilities using deadly chemicals have a need and a legal right to know when releases occur,” said EPA Region 10 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director Ed Kowalski. “These are not simple paperwork issues; the safety of workers, first responders, and residents rests on a company’s compliance with these requirements.”

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Montana gets federal grant to retrain laid off lumber workers

By Blair Miller
The Daily Montanan
July 8, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor is providing $2 million to the State of Montana to provide workforce retraining and other services to lumber workers losing their jobs because of the closures of two lumber companies in western Montana. The U.S. Department of Labor provided the Montana Department of Labor and Industry with the first disbursement of $800,000 on Monday, the governor’s office said, to help workers affected by the pending closures of Pyramid Mountain Lumber, the largest employer in Seeley Lake, and Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula. …The money helps dislocated workers and others by utilizing local organizations to provide job training, career services, and transitional help so workers can find new jobs. Counties that are eligible to access money from the grant include Missoula, Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Powell and Sanders. The Blackfeet and Flathead reservations can also utilize the funds.

US Dept of Labor: US Awards $800k For Workers Displaced by Lumber Mill Closures

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Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake runs last log through sawmill Tuesday afternoon

By Kai Williams
Montana Right Now
July 2, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

SEELEY LAKE, Montana – Crews pushed the last log of Pyramid Lumber through the sawmill Tuesday afternoon as the company winds down operations. Rising industry costs and a lack of employee housing contributed to the closing of the mill, Wendy Dalrymple, controller at Pyramid Mountain Lumber said in a press release. According to general manager Todd Johnson, the last unit of finished lumber through the planer department will be in early August, with the last load of lumber shipped out of Seeley Lake in late September. The company has been family-owned and operated since 1949, and for a little while longer, is the oldest surviving lumber mill of its kind in Montana. [END]

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Stimson Lumber Invests $50 Million into New, High-Speed Sawline

Stimson Lumber Company
June 26, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

GASTON, Oregon – Andrew Miller, the CEO of Stimson Lumber, announced that the company will invest $50 million into a new, highspeed sawmill line at its Forest Grove, Oregon facility. The investment at the 95-year-old sawmill marks a significant upgrade and commitment to future operations at the facility and increased potential for private timber owners seeking new market opportunities for smaller-dimension timber, Miller says. Starting later this year, Stimson will begin preparing the Forest Grove mill for a 350-foot-long HewSaw line made by Veisto-Oy based in Finland. Miller said he expects the new sawline will be operational in early 2026 and that the existing line will continue operating without a lapse in production. …Miller anticipates production will triple when the new mill is fully operational. The current mill employs 90 people, but Miller anticipates the new technology will ultimately require fewer employees once operational.

Related in Oregon Live: Stimson plans upgrade to increase production from younger trees

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Oakland developer seeks to build tallest mass timber tower in US

The Real Deal – Real Estate News
June 30, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Andy Ball

OAKLAND, California — OWow wants to add to the size of its proposed woodpile in Downtown Oakland, with plans for the tallest mass-timber building in the nation. The locally based developer has once again revised plans for a 28-story, 496-unit apartment highrise at 1523 Harrison Street. The new plans come after oWow had revised its plans in March of last year to a 25-story, 361-unit tower. Andy Ball, president, said more height adds to better financial feasibility. …To gain a required building density bonus, oWow had to resubmit plans and go back through the approval phase. …The proposed highrise would sprout next to a 19-story, 236-unit mass-timber apartment highrise oWow constructed last year at 1510 Webster Street. …OWow, a specialist in prefabricated mass timber projects, has planned or completed six projects in Oakland and San Francisco. 

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Oregon State University builds a first-of-its-kind mass timber research lab

By Novid Parsi
Building Design + Construction
June 26, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

In Corvallis, Oregon, the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex at Oregon State University aims to achieve a distinction among the world’s experimental research labs: It will be the first all mass timber lab meeting rigorous vibration criteria. Designed by ZGF Architects, the $213 million complex, which broke ground in April, will be both a teaching center and a home for team-based transdisciplinary research on global challenges involving climate science, clean energy, and water resources. The center also will support research and learning in artificial intelligence, robotics, and materials science. …For the first-of-its-kind mass timber structure, ZGF collaborated with OSU’s College of Forestry to leverage its expertise in wood and regional forestry practices. To meet the vibration criteria of 2000 MIPS in mass timber, the project team created a structural bay in the lab interiors comprising mass timber columns, beams, and a composite deck.

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Forestry

Proposal to shut down public working forests threatens critical Washington state services and jobs

By Nick Smith, American Forest Resource Council
The Centralia Chronicle
July 9, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Washington faces significant social and economic risks if anti-forestry groups succeed in persuading the Board of Natural Resources and candidates for commissioner of public lands to close an additional 77,000 acres of public working forests, including those in Lewis County. These working forests, known as Department of Natural Resources (DNR) state trust lands, are not just sources of timber; they provide clean water, wildlife habitat, climate change mitigation and recreational opportunities. The proposed closure severely impact public schools, local public safety agencies, public health services, universities and other essential community services. Under the state constitution and state law, DNR state trust lands must be managed to generate timber harvest revenues for defined beneficiaries, including public schools, local public safety agencies and various community services. This proposal to shut down working forests not only threatens these critical services, but also jobs throughout Washington, leading to negative impacts for the state’s infrastructure and economy.

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How a Supreme Court decision could reignite the Pacific Northwest’s biggest environmental battles

By Andrew Miller
Oregonlive in the Chronicle
July 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Since the Pacific Northwest’s “timber wars” of the 1990s, the federal Northwest Forest Plan has managed conservation and logging interests in regional forests. The plan was formulated by a team of scientists from several fields, tailoring their rules to mandates from Congress. The Forest Service announced that it was looking to update those rules. But Oregon environmental advocates say those rules, among many others issued by federal regulatory agencies, could now come under threat. The Supreme Court overturned what’s known as the Chevron decision, a longstanding precedent that lower federal courts should defer to agencies — staffed by experts — on “reasonable” rule changes to enforce legislation. …Associated Oregon Loggers said the Chevron reversal will require Congress to legislate more precisely, reducing ambiguity in individual regulatory agencies’ mandates. “While small business forest professionals often support federal agencies’ expertise in public forest management projects, this change may help reduce politically driven agency overreach,” the association said.

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Pacific Northwest wildfire risk to reach ‘near record’ levels amid heat wave

By Conrad Swanson
The Seattle Times
July 9, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SEATTLE — As temperatures soar across Washington this week, so too will the risk of wildfire, state officials say. The hot weather (expected to hit triple digits in some places), ongoing drought and heavy gusts of wind form the three pillars of what is expected to be “near record” wildfire danger, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center’s Monday morning briefing. Risk will be at its highest on Wednesday for the area east of the Cascade Crest, stretching toward the Idaho border, the center’s analysis shows. The National Weather Service issued a fire watch through that evening for portions of Asotin, Columbia, Garfield and Walla Walla counties, citing the dry and unstable conditions. “It is essentially the perfect weather recipe not only to spark wildland fires but, after a potential ignition, to expand them,” said Ryan Rodruck, communications manager with the state Department of Natural Resources. And the vast majority of wildfires are sparked by people.

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Review of prescribed fires finds gaps in key areas as US Forest Service looks to improve safety

By Susan Montoya Bryan
Associated Press
July 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Teresa Leger Fernández

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two years after the U.S. Forest Service sparked what would become the largest and most destructive wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history, independent investigators say there are gaps that need to be addressed if the agency is to be successful at using prescribed fire as a tool to reduce risk amid climate change. The investigation by the Government Accountability Office was requested by U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández after communities in her district were ravaged in 2022 by the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. The congresswoman wanted to know what factors the Forest Service had identified as contributing to the escape of prescribed fires over the last decade and whether the agency was following through with reforms promised after a pause and review of its prescribed burn program. The report made public Monday notes there were 43 escapes documented between 2012 and 2021 out of 50,000 prescribed fire projects.

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North Idaho forests get $4.8M investment in wildfire mitigation

The Bonner County Daily Bee
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

COEUR D’ALENE — A new wildfire mitigation project will seek to improve overall forest health here, Idaho Panhandle National Forests announced. Called the Highway 95 Hazardous Fuels Project, it will bring $2,194,800 to state and private lands and $2,778,500 to federal lands in North Idaho. One of 10 projects selected nationwide through the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership, the project will address 829,453 acres of high-risk forestlands in Kootenai, Bonner, and Boundary counties over the next three years, aiming to mitigate hazardous fuels with active treatment of more than 7,700 acres. “This project approaches wildfire threat from the landscape perspective, regardless of who owns or manages the land,” says Jeff Lau, North Idaho shared stewardship coordinator for the Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands. “By partnering across agencies and with private landowners, we are working towards a level of regional wildfire resilience that no single entity could achieve on its own.”    

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Indian Youth Service Corp making a difference in Oregon

By Randy’L Teton (Shoshone-Bannock)
US Department of Agriculture
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

At sunrise in the beautiful lands of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in Ashland, Oregon, a group of tribal youth gather to begin a busy day of outdoor projects in their ancestral homelands. The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is working collaboratively with partners such as Lomakatsi Restoration Project, a non-profit organization with a long history of partnering with the Forest Service across Oregon and northern California to provide ecological forestry workforce training programs and help lead community watershed restoration projects. Working through Lomakatsi’s Tribal Youth Ecological Forestry Training Program, the inter-tribal crew is comprised of enrolled members of the neighboring Klamath Tribes, Pit River Tribe, and Fort Bidwell Paiute Tribe. During the year-long program, tribal youth ages 18 to 30 years old are paid to train and earn professional certifications that support careers in conservation, ecological restoration, cultural resource management and wildland fire. 

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Controversy erupts over Oregon State University’s plan to cut older trees at its McDonald research forest. But are they old growth?

By Hans Boyle
Corvallis Gazette-Times in Yachats News
June 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CORVALLIS — Some Corvallis residents are sounding alarm bells over a planned timber harvest in the heart of the McDonald-Dunn Forest. That operation, known as the Woodpecker Harvest, which encompasses over 60 acres of trees around Cronemiller Lake near a popular hiking trail, was slated to begin Monday. But so far no trees have been felled, according to Oregon State University officials at the College of Forestry, including the college’s dean, Tom DeLuca. That’s because the college has tapped an ecologist and silviculturist from within the College of Forestry to conduct a review of the planned harvest site, DeLuca said, to ensure the operation aligns with the forest’s current management plan. The move is intended to respond to concerns expressed by some community members, DeLuca added, though he emphasized the operation was above-board. …According to DeLuca, tree stands within the planned Woodpecker Harvest are not considered old-growth.

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Federal judge halts logging project near White Sulphur Springs

By Darrell Ehrlick
The Daily Montanan
June 28, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A federal court judge in Montana has halted a logging project near White Sulphur Springs in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest after he said the U.S. Forest Service failed to take into account a decline in nesting goshawks, which violated federal law. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council successfully argued before federal magistrate Kathleen L. DeSoto that both the U.S. Forest Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service hadn’t properly considered the species, which are considered an essential indicator of old-growth forests. …DeSoto found that the Forest Service’s lack of monitoring the goshawk population violated the National Forest Management Act as well as the National Environmental Protection Act. …DeSoto found officials had data showing the population was declining and that the project would likely harm the species. It had failed to include that information in its assessment.

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Judge orders FWS to redo assessment of Montana forest’s roads

By Michael Doyle, Politico
E&E News
July 1, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MONTANA — A federal judge has directed the Fish and Wildlife Service to do a better assessment of how roads affect grizzly bears in Montana’s Flathead National Forest. In a significant — but incomplete — victory for environmentalists, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen on Friday concluded that the Forest Service’s approval of a management plan had relied upon a “flawed” FWS biological opinion prepared as part of its Endangered Species Act responsibilities. Christensen specifically faulted the federal agency consideration of forest roads’ impacts on the bears’ behavior “FWS acknowledges that road avoidance behavior has negative consequences for grizzly bear populations because displacement from important habitats results in lowered survival rates during the non-denning season,” Christensen wrote, adding that the agency nonetheless “fails to explain” some of the implication in how it calculates the extent of forest roads. [to access the full story a Politico subscription is required]

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Weyerhaeuser Sells 600 Acres of Timberlands in King County for $25.6 Million

By Kate Snyder
The Registry – Pacific Northwest Real Estate
June 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — A swath of timberlands in King County has traded hands, according to public property records. The land was sold by an entity affiliated with the Weyerhaeuser Company for $25.6 million. Industry reports show that the deal appears to have included more than 600 acres of land. The buyer was an entity affiliated with Oregon-based Green Canyon Timberlands LLC, which is affiliated with Chinook Forest Partners… a capital investment management group focused on forestland. The company manages working forestland in the Pacific Northwest. …In 2021, Weyerhaeuser sold 145,000 acres of timberland for $266 million to Hampton Lumber, according to previous reporting from The Registry. The land in that deal consisted of “high-quality” forestlands spread out across Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, Chelan and Kittitas counties.

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‘Zero tolerance’ for fires at Rainbow Family Gathering in Plumas Nat. Forest

By Kelli Saam
Action News Now
June 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

QUINCY, California – Nearly three dozen federal law enforcement officers have been assigned to monitor the Rainbow Family Gathering. This unauthorized gathering could bring thousands to Plumas National Forest in the days leading up to the 4th of July. …This large unauthorized gathering is happening about 5 miles north of Antelope Lake in Plumas County, just west of Janesville. The Plumas National Forest held a virtual meeting Tuesday night sharing photos of this gathering and past gatherings. The Rainbow Family Gathering is a counter-culture group that began in the 1970s and sets up camp in a different national forest each year.  There are currently more than 516 people participating. Between now and July 4th that number could grow to 10,000. Forest Service officials said there are 177 vehicles on site and they expect the impacted area and roads to cover 900 acres. Residents are concerned about the impact on the environment and the fire danger in the forest. 

Additional coverage in SFist, by Jay Barmann: Rainbow Family Gathering Ordered Out of National Forest For First Time, Threatened With Fines

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From ‘forest by forest’ approach, Forest Service proposal would provide ‘consistent guidance’ for old-growth conservation

By Murphy Woodhouse
Boise State Public Radio News
June 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

…Advocates say there’s currently no national policy to protect mature and old-growth forests on public lands, but a new proposed nationwide forest plan amendment from the U.S. Forest Service would change that. A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) was issued on the proposal last week. A recent federal inventory determined that the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service together manage some 32 million acres of old-growth forest, with another 80 million acres of mature forests. …Some say the current approach to old-growth protection is piecemeal, or “forest by forest.” So a number of environmental groups called the Forest Service’s proposal “a step in the right direction.” …The timber industry has also raised issues with the proposal, with the American Forest Resource Council calling it a “politically driven process.” The group said the proposal does little to address the principal threats to old-growth, like wildfires, insect infestations and disease.

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Coeur d’Alene Nursery plays major role in whitebark pine conservation

By Michael Wright
The Billings Gazette
June 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

It starts with the cones. They’re usually gathered in the wild, from whitebark pine trees several thousand feet above sea level somewhere in the West. The cones get shipped to the U.S. Forest Service’s Coeur d’Alene Nursery, where they’ll sit on drying racks for a few months. …That’s how some 300,000 whitebark pine seedlings came to be in two greenhouses at the Coeur d’Alene Nursery. …The vast collection of whitebark seedlings is just a fraction of the output of this nursery. …That makes this sprawling government farm on the western edge of Coeur d’Alene a key player in conserving the trees. Of all the Forest Service’s nurseries, it produces the most whitebark seedlings. It’s also been involved in scientific efforts aimed at identifying the best trees to propagate and developing the next generation of whitebark pine seeds. In other words, the road to recovery runs through Coeur d’Alene. [to access the full story, a Billings Gazette subscription is required]

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Ninth Circuit blocks logging in Oregon’s Elliott State Forest, protecting marbled murrelet habitat

By Michael Gennaro
Courthouse News Service
June 26, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

OREGON — In a landmark decision, a Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that prevents Scott Timber, a private logging company, from clearcutting old growth trees within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The ruling protects the marbled murrelet, a seabird species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown ruled that the proposed logging of the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel would violate federal protections for the marbled murrelet because it would destroy the forests where they live and nest. Logging in the area would also injure the murrelets, because it would disrupt their breeding, McKeown added. “The district court correctly applied this standard to the facts before it,’’ McKeown wrote. …The panels’ decision marks the first time a private timber company has been held accountable in Oregon for potential violations of the Endangered Species Act.

Related in Oregon Public Broadcasting: Timber companies can’t log former Elliott State Forest parcel

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Timber sale Pintler project pits mapped lynx habitat and grizzly turf over economic development

By Keila Szpaller
The Daily Montanan
June 25, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MONTANA — If a federal judge stops the timber sales that are part of the Pintler Face Project, the largest employer in Powell County, Sun Mountain Lumber, might not be able to keep its mill running, said a lawyer representing the company. Another company, Iron Pine Co., would have to lay off 12 people, said Julie Weis, of the Haglund Kelley Firm in Portland, Oregon. …But if the court allows the project to continue, it means 1.1 million acres of lynx habitat will be erased from a single national forest map, and without any opportunity for the public to comment, argued Rebecca Smith, a lawyer representing conservation groups who sued the U.S. government earlier this year. ..Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen heard arguments in a case over a timber project and mapped lynx habitat in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. 

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Forest Service invests more than $2.88 million to restore forests, reduce wildfire risk in Washington and Oregon

By the Forest Service
US Department of Agriculture
June 25, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Oregon —The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced an investment of over $2.88 million to fund five Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) projects in the Pacific Northwest for fiscal year 2024. This funding is part of a larger $12 million national investment in GNA projects for the same period. These projects aim to enhance watersheds, restore forest health, and reduce wildfire risks in Washington and Oregon. The funding, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, allows the Forest Service to partner directly with state agencies to support watershed restoration, improve forest health, and reduce wildfire risks through state-implemented projects. …”These projects are important for forest health and resiliency,” said Jacque Buchanan, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Regional Forester. “It’s also good forest management to leverage the capacity, resources, and expertise across federal, state, Tribal, and local agencies. Using the Good Neighbor Authority strengthens our collective efforts and also greatly benefits the local community.”

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Record number of acres burned on national forest land in California

By Travis Schlepp
KTLA 5 News
June 25, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The U.S. Forest Service has set fire to more land than ever before in national forests across California. Preventative burning, or prescribed fires, have burned 63,878 acres of forest land, eclipsing the previous record set in 2018 when 63,711 acres were “treated” through the entire year …“We’re fully committed to increasing the scope and pace of our hazardous fuels treatment work in California, and it shows,” said Jaime Gamboa, Pacific Southwest Region fire director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Restoring natural fire to these ecosystems not only helps mitigate threats to communities but also increases forest health overall.” …“Reintroducing fire also minimizes the spread of pest insects and disease, recycles nutrients back to the soil, and improves natural conditions for native flora and fauna”. …For an interactive map that shows where these fires are taking place across the U.S., click here.

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One Oregon region identified as potential ‘hotbed’ for 2024 wildfire season

By Michaela Bourgeois
KOIN News, Portland
June 24, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Oregon – With wildfire season underway, Oregon lawmakers held a briefing with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center for an outlook on the 2024 season — identifying one region in the state as a “hotbed” for potential fire risk. Attended by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici — Fire Weather Meteorologist Jon Bonk said the wildfire outlook is a mixed bag. According to Bonk, aside from Southern Oregon, temperatures on the whole have been cooler in the last three months. Additionally, officials said drought areas have diminished. However, they are seeing drought expansion across north-central and northwest Washington as of June 18. …Even though drought levels have improved in some areas, Bonk said Oregon’s rain levels are below average going into wildfire season. As part of a nationwide wildfire forecast, Southeast Oregon is expected to be a “hotbed” for wildfire potential in August and September.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

State of Alaska issues regulations for carbon offsets program

By Sean Maguire
The Anchorage Daily News
July 1, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

JUNEAU, Alaska — The Dunleavy administration has finalized regulations to start selling carbon offset credits on state land. The Legislature approved Senate Bill 48 in May last year to allow the state to establish a carbon offset program. New state regulations are set to go into effect July 19. …Trevor Fulton, the state’s carbon offset program manager, said it would likely take another 18 months to two years for the state to start selling carbon credits. …Carbon offsets in Alaska could see the state receive compensation for protecting forests. …But there could be a balancing act. The trees with the greatest potential to capture carbon emissions are typically the most attractive to the timber industry. …State forester Greg Palmieri said “Every acre of the forest that’s available for timber sales is going to be available for carbon offset programs”, adding that “the intention is to create the highest value for the state.”

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Health & Safety

Where There’s Smoke… How Wildfires Across North America Are Making Children Sick

By Debra Hendrickson, Pediatrician
The Literary Hub
July 3, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — “What is happening?” a father asked me in the summer of 2018, as he sat on the hospital bed of his three-year-old son. He was looking out the window at the gray smoke covering Reno for a third week. The smoke had flowed over the mountains from the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires in Northern California, filling our pediatric ward with coughing children. …At one level, the answer to that question was obvious. … Smoke is dense with sooty debris, but the ash and cinders we see are not as harmful as what we can’t: enormous quantities of microscopic “particulate matter.” …Bits of what once was, particles can be carried for thousands of miles in the wind. Because of their minute size, they can also be pulled deep into the lungs; the smaller the particle, the more invasive and hazardous for human health.

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Forest Fires

Crews continue mitigation efforts as Deer Springs Fire grows

KMYU
July 9, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

KANE COUNTY, Utah — The Deer Springs Fire has grown to 11,888 acres and 10% containment. The fire was first discovered around 1 p.m. Sunday on BLM land in Kane County, south of Bryce Canyon, near Skutumpah and Timber Creek roads in the Deer Springs area. Officials with Utah Fire Info said the fire appeared to be human caused, but that it is still under investigation. 154 fire personnel are working to mitigate the flames. On Tuesday, fire crews worked to secure the fire line on both flanks of the fire. Crews are continuing fire line construction to the south and containing any smaller fires that migrated off the rim. …Winds out of the north-northwest are reportedly favorable to suppression tactics, although Red Flag Warnings remain in effect through Wednesday evening.

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Oregon wildfire update: Larch Creek Fire brings evacuations near Dufur

By Elliott Deins & Zach Urness
The Register-Guard
July 10, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

Multiple wildfires are burning around Oregon, and evacuation warnings are in place. Here’s the latest on the fires burning statewide. A fast-moving wildfire has brought evacuations near Dufur after burning 3,500 acres of grass and timber in Central Oregon. The Larch Creek Fire is 5 miles southwest of Dufur, closest to Friend, burning west of Highway 97. The fire has brought level 3 “go now” evacuations in the Tygh Valley area west of White River Falls State Park. …“The fire is currently burning with moderate-to-high spread,” ODF said late Tuesday night. No structures have burned yet, officials said. …The Salt Creek Fire in Southern Oregon has grown to 3,300 acres. On Monday night, fire crews used cooler evening temperatures to build and improve the line, increasing the fires containment to 2%, according to a news release.

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Fire in Los Padres National Forest grows to more than 12,000 acres

By Lance Orozco
KCLU
July 6, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — A wildfire burning in the Los Padres national Forest in Santa Barbara County jumped to more than 12,000 acres burned less than 24 hours after it started. The Lake Fire is burning near Zaca Lake, north of the Santa Ynez Valley. The fire was first discovered at around 3:45 Friday afternoon. It prompted the evacuation of the Zaca Lake Resort. Because of the rugged terrain in the area, much of the firefight is taking place from the air, with air tankers and helicopters. There are some scattered ranch homes in the area, but no structures have been reported lost. There are no communities in the immediate area of the fire.

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Welcome to the Age of Fire: California wildfires explained

By Julie Cart
Jefferson Public Radio
July 8, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

After two mild wildfire seasons, California is bracing for whatever 2024 brings. Favorable weather marked 2023 and 2022, when the total acreage burned — less than 400,000 acres each year — was considerably lower than the state’s 5-year average of more than 2.3 million acres. But 2024 has already started in a worrisome way, particularly in areas where two heavy rainy seasons fueled thick grasses and brush. The Post Fire in the Gorman area of Los Angeles County burned almost 16,000 acres in its first three days and remained active for 11 days in June. The fire raged in steep, hard-to-reach areas, and Cal Fire noted that “fire weather conditions” — gusty winds and warm temperatures — were making it even more difficult to control. Now the Thompson Fire in Oroville is commanding attention, with mandatory evacuation orders issued to about 13,000 residents during an extreme heatwave.

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Wildfire scorches 19,000 acres in Santa Barbara

By Sarah Neish
The Drinks Business
July 8, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

More than 19,000 acres have been razed by a fire that sparked in California’s Santa Barbara last Friday afternoon, with several wineries forced to evacuate. The blaze began just before 4pm on Friday 5 July near Zaca Lake and quickly spread through dry grass, brush and timber, said officials in the Californian region of Santa Barbara. Since then, the fire has torn through more than 19,000 acres and the skies are still glowing red from the flames. Hundreds of firefighters and 10 helicopters were dispatched over the weekend to fight the fire, but as of late Sunday night only 8% of the fire was contained, with the inferno continuing to move south. “Our goal is to keep [the fire] away from … structures,” Kenichi Haskett, the public information officer assigned to the firefighting operation, told the LA Times. “It’s going to continue to grow.” …Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch is also said to be in the path of the blaze.

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California city cancels July Fourth fireworks as firefighters battle flames amid hot weather

By Noah Berger and John Antczak
Associated Press
July 3, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

OROVILLE, California — Officials in a Northern California community cancelled an annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration as an estimated 26,000 residents remained displaced by a growing wildfire, while hundreds of firefighters toiled under extreme heat to keep flames from reaching more homes. The Thompson Fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70 miles north of Sacramento, near the city of Oroville in Butte County. It sent up a huge plume of smoke that could be seen from space as it grew to more than 5.5 square miles. …By Wednesday evening, containment stood at 7%. …In Oroville, a state of emergency was declared Tuesday night and evacuation centers were set up. …authorities warned that July 4th fireworks are banned in many places, including most of Butte County. Authorities also cited the ongoing evacuations and damage caused by the Thompson Fire for the cancellation of Oroville’s fireworks show, which had been specially permitted.

Additional coverage by the Governor of California: How California is keeping communities safe from wildfire 

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Forest Service across NW prepares for ‘dramatic increase in wildfire conditions’ over very hot 4th of July weekend

KTVZ Oregon
July 3, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Oregon — Temperatures spiking into the 100s? Check. Rapidly drying grasslands and forests? Check. Possible humidity of less than 20 percent? Check. Ticking all these boxes means fire managers across the Pacific Northwest are anticipating a significant shift in wildfire conditions over the July 4th weekend. “We’re preparing for a dramatic increase in wildfire conditions through the weekend,” said Ian Rickert, Pacific Northwest Fire Planner for the Forest Service. “Predicted extreme temperatures and low humidity will result in critically dry forests and rangelands on both sides of the Cascades.” Together with other federal, tribal, state, and local governments, the Forest Service has 30 aviation resources as well as a dozen Hotshot and other ground crews positioned throughout Oregon and Washington to quickly respond to any new wildfire starts. …Fire managers anticipate Red Flag Warnings for extremely hot and dry conditions spanning Saturday and Sunday for Southern Oregon.

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Air tankers and helicopters attack Arizona wildfire that has forced evacuations near Phoenix

The Associated Press in ABC News
June 28, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Air tankers and helicopters helped douse flames from the sky as nearly 200 firefighters on the ground battled a wildfire northeast of Phoenix on Friday that threatened scores of homes and forced dozens of residents to evacuate. Authorities expanded the evacuation area in a subdivision on the northeast outskirts of Scottsdale, closed roads and shut down part of a nature preserve as gusty winds continued to fan the flames in extremely hot, dry conditions. But there were no immediate reports of any injuries or structure damage, Arizona fire officials said. Near Phoenix, where the high reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) on Friday, about 60 residents evacuated homes in the Boulder Heights subdivision overnight after the human-caused fire broke out Thursday. Fire officials said they were investigating exactly what sparked the blaze about 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of Carefree, just outside northern Scottsdale on the edge of the Tonto National Forest.

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Crews turn a corner with California’s largest wildfire as massive heat wave brings new danger

By Rachel Uranga
Los Angeles Times
July 1, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

California firefighters battling a blaze that has ripped through more than 13,000 acres of the Sierra National Forest just north of the Giant Sequoia National Monument and close to several hydroelectric facilities finally began to gain control Monday afternoon. Crews had the Basin fire 17% contained after days of being unable to get a handle on the fire. The wildfire was one of several burning throughout the state as officials braced for the longest heat wave so far this year, set to kick off Tuesday, two days before the Fourth of July. Forecasters predict broiling weather and increased wildfire risks. …The heat wave is expected to bring dangerous temperatures through the Fourth of July holiday and into early next week in many areas, particularly across Northern California, the Central Valley and southwestern deserts. Most of Fresno County is under an excessive heat warning with little overnight relief from the high temperatures.

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Firefighters, aircraft continue to keep Riley Fire away from communities, park entrance

Alaska Wildland Fire Information
July 1, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

ALASKA After a day of hard work by aircraft and firefighters, the Riley Fire in Denali National Park and Preserve was 5% contained by Monday night. Water scoopers and helicopters doused the fire with water most of the day while 22 smokejumpers and the Tanana Chiefs Fire Crew installed hose and cut a saw line, tying it into the railroad easement to contain a section. Work will continue on Tuesday. With the arrival of two California hotshot crews and the Chester Helitack crew, they’ll form a plan to corral the northern tip of the fire burning parallel to the railroad. They aim to keep it within the ridge on the east and the railroad on the west while increasing containment. The fire is burning in steep terrain about a mile north of the park entrance.

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Gusty winds help spread fast growing central Oregon wildfire and prompt evacuations

Associated Press in Bakersfield
June 25, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

LA PINE, Oregon — Gusty winds fueled a rapidly growing wildfire just outside the central Oregon community of La Pine and prompted evacuations Tuesday. The fire, which began about one mile south of La Pine, was estimated to be nearly half a square mile in size late Tuesday afternoon, according to the Oregon State Fire Marshal. Gov. Tina Kotek invoked an order allowing the fire marshal to mobilize resources to help fight the blaze. A billowing plume of black and gray smoke loomed over businesses. …It was not immediately clear how many homes were evacuated or if any structures had been destroyed. A message seeking comment was left for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. TV station KTVZ reported that several U.S. Forest Service campgrounds and trails had been evacuated and closed and that a temporary evacuation point was set up at the La Pine High School about 192 miles south of Portland.

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Despite mild fire season forecast, agencies tell Oregon leaders they need to invest in workforce

By Alex Baumhardt
Oregon Public Broadcasting
June 25, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

Oregon is likely to face fewer big wildfires this summer than in previous years, but a lack of rural housing, coupled with unstable and often low pay, continues to create firefighter workforce challenges across the state and region. …In particular, they said they need more investment in technology — including on satellite detection — along with consistent pay increases for wildland firefighters and stable housing options. Jeff Fedrizzi, the state fire management officer for the federal Bureau of Land Management, said many wildland firefighters live out of their cars while they’re on the job. …This year, the U.S. Forest Service has about 80% of the firefighters it needs in Oregon and Washington with 20% of jobs unfilled, according to Ed Hiatt, assistant director of operations for the regional office of the Service. He said it’s been like that for about the last six years even with a recent bonus in pay.

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Forest History & Archives

Creating a state-of-the-art showcase to tell America’s conservation story

National Museum of Forest Service History
July 10, 2024
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: United States, US West

The National Conservation Legacy Center will be a world class museum… Our exhibits will feature state of the art participatory and immersion experiences with educational activities and events to inspire our visitors to engage and understand the conservation of America’s natural resources. …Since 1905, the U.S. Forest Service has been making history as America’s first conservation agency. However, over the course of its 100+ year history, there has never been one central location where the people can learn and enjoy this history. …The National Conservation Legacy Center will provide a world class, one of a kind facility for all to learn and enjoy this rich and uniquely American conservation history. …Tall timbers tell stories in the Grand Lobby with wood timbers featured from across the nation. The lobby’s construction will use 16 different wood species for support posts. Visitors will learn how these different tree species played a role in the development of the United States.

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