Region Archives: US West

Business & Politics

Tacoma company pleads guilty for false declarations on timber imports

The US Department of Justice
June 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

TACOMA, Washington — Tip the Scale LLC, of Tacoma, pleaded guilty and was sentenced June 14 for making false declarations regarding the species and harvest location of timber used in wooden cabinets and vanities. Tip the Scale does business as L & D Kitchen and Bath. …Between January and May of 2020, Tip the Scale imported five shipping containers of wooden cabinets and vanities, all of which were falsely declared. The products, which were harvested and produced in China, were declared as a false species of wood harvested in Malaysia. By doing so, Tip the Scale evaded oversight of Chinese-harvested timber and more than $850,000 in import duties. The Lacey Act requires that importers of wood products file a declaration which describes the scientific genus and species as well as the harvest country of imports that contain timber. The company was sentenced to pay $360,000 in fines and serve three years of probation.

Read More

Cause of massive fire at Oakland lumberyard remains a mystery

By Nora Mishanec
The San Francisco Chronicle
June 18, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

SAN FRANCISCO — A massive blaze that erupted at a lumber warehouse near Interstate 880 in Oakland late last month started in an area of the building that housed a range of heavy machinery and charging equipment, officials said Tuesday. The fire broke out May 26 around 8 p.m. at Economy Lumber Co. on the 700 block of High Street, spewing pillars of smoke and slowing traffic on the nearby highway. …While fire investigators could not pinpoint the exact item that started the fire, they determined that the flames originated near several power outlets, battery chargers, large saws and lithium battery-powered forklifts, Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt said. Investigators could not determine the cause due to “significant destruction” on the ground floor area of the two-story warehouse and the “lack of certainty about which material or equipment involved was the original ignition point,” he said.

Read More

‘Interested parties’ could save Montana’s Seeley Lake mill, but time is running out

By Martin Kinston
KYSS 94.9
June 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

SEELEY LAKE, Montana — Nearly four months after Pyramid Mountain Lumber announced its plans to end operations and close its gates, Missoula Economic Partnership remains hopeful that a buyer will emerge before the mill is dismantled. Grant Kier, head of the Missoula Economic Partnership, told county officials on Thursday that several potential buyers remain interested in the mill. He said those conversations remain ongoing, though time may be running out. “There are no new logs coming into Pyramid,” said Kier. “They’ve set July 15 as the date they’d begin selling equipment at auction. It’s really until then that they’d accept a compelling offer. There are still a few parties interested.” …Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick toured a forest restoration project earlier this week and, based on feedback, he believes a new operating model could breathe new life into the aging Seeley Lake mill.

Read More

A California railway transportation rule that’s on the wrong track

By Jessica Towley
The Hanford Sentinel
June 12, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Industry experts say California’s attempt to mandate zero-emissions freight trains could create supply-chain chaos and derail the U.S. economy. The California Air Resources Board wants the Environmental Protection Agency to grant permission to move ahead with a rule requiring all train engines in operation as of 2035 to be zero-emission technology, such as electric or hydrogen fuel cells. The rule would phase out locomotives older than 23 years, which is a far shorter lifespan than current industry standards. An unusual coalition of union and rail industry interests is coming together to stop this effort in its tracks. Their argument? That the technology to manufacture zero-emissions locomotives barely exists. …Given the interstate nature of freight rail, the rule would have national implications. …Six major trade associations representing paper manufacturers, food and beverage companies, consumer brands, and coal companies, highlighted the negative economic effect the rule would have on members and consumers.

Read More

Wood, Paper & Green Building

This Prefab Apartment Building in Los Angeles Tests a New Vision for Housing

By Grace Bernard
Dwell
June 14, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

LOS ANGELES — Over time, Aaron van Schaik’s career in residential real estate development left him baffled. He saw how inefficiencies made the construction process more expensive, and that results were often bland and uninspired. …In 2020, van Schaik founded SuperLA, a design and development startup seeking to redefine how we build homes. They create repeatable designs for multifamily buildings constructed with a panelized system made of cross-laminated timber (CLT). The system seeks to prioritize occupant and planetary health, says van Schaik, as well as design and construction efficiencies. …CLT checks off multiple boxes at both our product and process level. Reconnecting our occupants with nature is a primary focus for us. Over recent years there have been many studies completed that demonstrate the benefits associated with exposed timber within the spaces that we occupy and the positive impacts it has on how we feel.

Read More

Timber talks: Exploring the environmental, economic, and aesthetic impacts of mass timber construction in the Midwest — Table of Experts

By Turner Construction
Kansas City Business Journal
June 14, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

…Mass timber, virtually unheard of a decade ago, now has been used in the construction or design of more than 2,100 multifamily, commercial or institutional mass timber projects nationwide, according to nonprofit WoodWorks. As of March, Missouri had 10 mass timber structures under construction or built, with 18 in design. Kansas had three and four, respectively. The product, known for its sustainability and beauty, offers a robust building material that can be used to construct much higher buildings than typical lumber. Yet its novelty can prove a hurdle. …At a discussion sponsored by Turner and moderated by LaFountain, panelists discussed the potential of mass timber in the Midwest, including its benefits and challenges. Ultimately, they said, mass timber is a compelling option.

Read More

Colorado School of Mines professor’s research helping lead the way for mass timber building revolution in U.S.

By Andrew Haubner
CBS News
June 11, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Colorado School of Mines professor Shiling Pei’s research is helping lead the way for a revolution in construction using strong, lightweight, renewable timber. “We submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to ask, ‘can we build a resilient, tall wood building in seismic regions made of mass timber?'” Pei explained. Pei was part of a group that made history in San Diego. …Pei’s research tackled one key component: how a mass timber skyscraper would handle an earthquake. …This research, according to Pei, is invaluable for establishing that this building type, a carbon-storing renewable resource, can exist on the West Coast of the U.S. and become a preferred building type for skyscrapers. But what about Denver — an area without much seismic activity? According to Greg Kingsley, president of KL&A Engineers, the Mile High City has been at the forefront of mass timber building technology.

Read More

Forestry

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Announces 9 Large Watershed Planning Grants Totaling $53 Million for California National Forests

By National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
GlobeNewswire
June 24, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SAN FRANCISCO, California — The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced $53 million in grants to protect and restore forests and watersheds in California using voluntary, targeted headwater resilience planning and monitoring. The grants leverage $31.4 million in matching contributions, for a total conservation impact of $84.4 million. The awards were made possible by a first-of-its-kind agreement between the USDA Forest Service and NFWF.  “Our partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation helps us mutually support communities throughout California. Combining our resources, we can use the best available science and monitoring to protect our vital watersheds,” said Jennifer Eberlien, regional forester for the Pacific Southwest Region. “These investments help ensure future generations have healthy, productive forests and help the region combat the effects of climate change.” …Visit the California Forests and Watersheds program webpage for a list of the 2024 grants.

Read More

‘Sirius Woods’ a Sanctuary for Old Growth, Wildlife

By Larry Mauter
The New Era Oregon
June 21, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Katie and Steve Kohl

In the night sky, Sirius is the brightest star. For 2024, Sirius Woods, Steve and Katie Kohl’s 42 acres near McDowell Creek Falls, will shine brightly. The Kohls have been named Linn County Small Woodlands Association (LCSWA) tree farmers of the year. They will host a gathering of fellow woodland owners on a September Saturday yet be determined. The couple has actively nurtured the property for 33 years, working with Oregon Department of Forestry staffers to create wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and maintain old-growth timber. …The Kohls are both OSU Extension Service master woodlands managers. They have advised other forest owners on their projects for the past two decades. …The Kohls exemplify woodland owners who choose a variety of goals relating to their property, said Mike Barsotti, LCSWA president. The Kohls and other honorees will be spotlighted in the fall at a ceremony at the Oregon Gardens in Silverton.

Read More

Judge set to rule on massive Montana logging project

By Mark Moran
Kiowa County Press
June 21, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A federal judge in  Montana is holding a hearing next Tuesday on a motion for an injunction against the Pintler Face logging and burning project on Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. A coalition of conservationists and activists has sued to stop work altogether. The Pintler project, northwest of Wise River, Montana, calls for 11 miles of new logging roads to access to 3,400 acres of clear-cuts, prescribed burns and logging of more than 560 acres of aspen. It would also log another 5,800 acres in a commercial segment of the project. Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the project will disrupt a continuous ecosystem that lynx and grizzly bears need to thrive. Critics of the lawsuit and supporters of the Pintler project said it would make strides to preventing wildfires and also backtrack on years of economic development the state has made in the region.

Read More

Siskiyou Mountain Club to rebuild historic fire lookout in southern Oregon

By Ian McCluskey
Herald and News
June 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

This summer, the nonprofit Siskiyou Mountain Club will work with the U.S. Forest Service to reconstruct the Bolan Mountain Fire Lookout in southern Oregon, a historic cabin that burned to the ground in the 2020 Slater Fire. The iconic fire lookout once perched on Bolan Peak just north of the California-Oregon border. A small, 14-by-14-foot cabin with four walls of windows and a wrap-around deck, it offered a sweeping vantage of the Siskiyou Mountains. Bolan Peak served as a remote Forest Service outpost to spot and report forest fires starting in 1917. In 1953, the original lookout was replaced with an “L-4″ style structure, the iconic cabin that is commonly associated with lookouts in the Northwest of the 1930s and 40s. More recently it had been one of Oregon’s incredibly in-demand overnight recreational rentals. …In 2020, a windstorm fanned the flames of wildfires along the Cascade Range, which incinerated the Bolan lookout. 

Read More

Meetings in ‘high hazard’ communities prepare Oregonians for revised wildfire map

By Juliet Grable
Oregon Public Broadcasting
June 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

On Monday night, property owners attended an open house to learn about the new and improved Oregon wildfire hazard map, which will be available for public comment in July. It was one of six events planned for “high hazard” communities across the state. The initial map, released in June 2022, was quickly withdrawn after widespread public outcry. The revamped version includes several major changes. Two hazard categories have been eliminated; now, properties will be grouped in one of three hazard zones: low, moderate, or high. …A low hazard designation doesn’t mean that a fire can’t happen there; instead, the categories will help the state prioritize high-hazard neighborhoods and communities for mitigation.

Read More

Governor, legislators send letter opposing old-growth protection

By Laura Lundquist
Missoula Current
June 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MONTANA — A Legislative committee is backing the Gianforte administration in its opposition to a proposed U.S. Forest Service amendment that could make small changes to preserve old-growth forests. On Monday, the Legislative Environmental Quality Council approved sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture opposing an amendment that would affect all U.S. Forest Service forest plans to add a little more protection for patches of old-growth forest. Instead of protecting old-growth habitat, the EQC pushed for more active forest management. …The EQC wrote the letter in response to a two-year-old Biden administration effort to preserve old-growth forests in response to rapidly changing climate conditions. …In a report last spring, the agency estimated that there are nearly 25 million acres of old-growth forest on Forest Service land — or about 17% of the agency’s forested land — based on a complex set of definitions tailored to some 200 forest types.

Read More

$1M earmarked for North Idaho forests

Coeur d’Alene Press
June 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Northern Region said Tuesday it is investing $1 million to expand work with the Idaho Department of Lands to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health through the Good Neighbor Authority. The investments will fund projects on the Idaho Panhandle National Forest while also providing funding for IDL staffing. The funds will support about 3,000 acres of fuels reduction work administered by IDL such as fuel breaks and vegetation treatments to improve forest health, a press release said. The funds will also expand road repairs to improve watershed conditions and provide access for wildfire management and implementation of project activities.

Read More

Over $36 million awarded to University of BC researchers through Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

University of BC Faculty of Forestry
June 14, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, US West

The University of BC Faculty of Forestry announces that ten faculty members in Forestry received NSERC Discovery Grants in the most recent competitions. Congratulations to Tom Booker (FCS), Alex Moore (FCS), Isla Myers-Smith (FCS), Jeanine Rhemtulla (FCS), Lizzie Wolkovich (FCS), Nicholas Coops (FRM), Bianca Eskelson (FRM), Haibo Feng (WS), Jaya Joshi (WS), and Felix Wiesner (WS). The NSERC Discovery Grant Program is a competitive grant program supporting basic discovery research at Canadian universities in the natural sciences and engineering. …Over $480 million of this funding provides new awards to researchers through the 2024 Discovery Research Program. An additional $72.4 million was awarded in one-time, one-year extensions with funds to existing Discovery Research grants held by more than 1,800 researchers across Canada impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The NSERC Discovery Research Program awards were announced by Yasir Naqvi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health.

Read More

Local governments want say in crafting Washington’s new wildfire protection rules

By Laurel Demkovich
The Washington State Standard
June 13, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The last time the state Building Code Council crafted rules for protecting homes from the threat of wildfire, city officials criticized them as confusing, expensive and overreaching. Those rules are gone. As the state looks at drawing new wildfire risk maps and implementing new codes, local governments want more say in hopes of producing regulations that are understandable, affordable and help the communities most at risk. …Lawmakers on the state House Local Government committee heard from officials of state agencies and local governments, including Brad Medrud, planning manager at the City of Tumwater, about what must be done to implement new wildland urban interface, or WUI, building codes, and what a new law will mean for cities and counties. …Loren Torgerson of the Department of Natural Resources told lawmakers… the DNR is on track to finalize the map elements by Dec. 1.

Read More

Cutting trees, setting fires could help protect Flagstaff from new disaster

By Hayleigh Evans
AZ Central News
June 14, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

…Tree thinning efforts in the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed are part of a larger restoration plan to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and post-fire flooding. The plan includes six project areas equalling over 12,000 acres, over half of the 21,500-acre watershed. While cutting trees may seem counterintuitive to maintaining a healthy forest, removing smaller trees and low-lying vegetation will prevent high-intensity wildfires and post-fire flooding that can destroy an entire ecosystem. …For decades, the U.S. fire policy was suppression… In more recent years, forest agencies have worked to restore fire as a management technique. …Thinning forests will allow fire to return to the landscape, both naturally through lightning strikes and prescribed burns. That leaves fewer fuels to supercharge the flames to reach the treetops. …Although thinning and burning a forest may seem damaging to the ecosystem, land managers hope residents will reap the benefits of their work.  

Read More

Forest Service grapples with challenges of restoration logging

By Peter Aleshire
The Payson Roundup
June 14, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

ARIZONA — Frustrated Arizona loggers aired a few complaints about the way the Forest Service handles thinning contracts in Arizona, especially when it relies on out-of-state contractors unfamiliar with the ecology of Arizona’s ponderosa pine forests. …The Forest Service is experimenting with a new, high-tech method of marking trees for cutting in restoration timber sales. That includes using computer tablets synced to aerial LiDAR surveys so loggers can determine which trees to cut without the Forest Service marking each tree by hand. …A century of logging, cattle grazing and fire suppression has increased tree densities on millions of acres from less than 100 per acre to more than 1,000 per acre. Now a high-intensity fire can climb up into the lower branches of the tallest trees. …The 4FRI aims to dramatically reduce tree densities across millions of acres in Northern Arizona, making it the most ambitious forest restoration project in the country. 

Read More

How the Oregon Department of Forestry uses drones to fight fires

By Luke Doten
KDRV ABC Newswatch 12
June 13, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SOUTHERN OREGON – This summer the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is using drones to help with multiple aspects of fire suppression and detection. ODF’s state aviation coordinator, Sara Prout said that aerial resources are important every summer, and that drones help expand the department’s aerial capabilities. “The manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft work together, just at different levels.,” Prout said. For years, ODF has utilized planes and helicopters to help detect, observe and fight fires. Drones can operate similarly, with more mobility and access to fires. Drones can provide valuable information during every phase of a wildfire. This includes the time after a fire has been mostly contained and crews are finishing their work. “Firefighters can have really accurate data when they’re doing mop up,” Prout said. “We can get really amazing hotspot identification for the firefighters to use in those efforts to make that process more efficient.”

Read More

Meet ‘Rainbow Eyes,’ visiting Ojai, California, in fight to save ancient forests

Ojai Valley News
June 13, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A documentary, “Rematriation,” about saving old-growth forests, will be shown in Ojai on, June 23, followed by a time for questions and answers with Angela Davidson, aka Rainbow Eyes, whose fight to save 1,500-year-old trees in a Canadian forest is featured. View the promo for the documentary HERE. It is one of three events in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that will be held from June 22 to 25. A member of the Da’naxda’xw-Awaetlala First Nation, Rainbow Eyes will speak about her fight to protect the old-growth forest of Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island and Knight Inlet. All profits will benefit the Dzunuk’wa Society – Wild Women of the Woods in their efforts to save ancient forests. Rainbow Eyes’ stay in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties will include outdoor Indigenous learning circles, a reception and opportunities for private conversations with Rainbow Eyes and her logging blockade partner, Glenn Reid.

Read More

New way to spot beetle-killed spruce can help forest, wildfire managers

By Rod Boyce
University of Alaska Fairbanks
June 12, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A new machine-learning system developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks can automatically produce detailed maps from satellite data to show locations of likely beetle-killed spruce trees in Alaska, even in forests of low and moderate infestation where identification is otherwise difficult. The automated process can help forestry and wildfire managers in their decisions. That’s critical as the beetle infestation spreads. The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection calls the spruce beetle “the most damaging insect in Alaska’s forests.” The identification system by assistant professor Simon Zwieback at the UAF Geophysical Institute was detailed in the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing on May 18. Zwieback is also affiliated with the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics. 

Read More

As Alaska’s boreal forest warms, land managers face tough questions about how, or whether, to respond

By Casey Grove
Alaska Public Media
June 12, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Northern ecosystems are seeing some of the planet’s most sweeping changes from climate warming. For some animals and plants, that has posed a threat to their very existence and, for humans, a couple complicated questions: Can we — and should we — do anything to save them? In Alaska, one area where land managers and ecologists are wrestling with those questions is the boreal forest, home to spruce and birch trees, wetlands and many species of animals. But the boreal is warming more rapidly than anywhere on Earth and seeing more intense wildfires, invasive beetles decimating wide swaths and changing rainfall patterns that’ve caused some parts to shift to grasslands.

Read More

Frequent, low-severity fire supports habitat for threatened owls: Study yields insights for wildlife habitat management

By USDA Forest Service
Phys.Org
June 11, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

New research from a collaborative group of scientists from the USDA Forest Service, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that frequent, low-severity fire supported owl habitat, but high-severity fire was detrimental. The study is published in the journal Fire Ecology. This finding suggests a potential win-win: forest management activities that can help to return historic low-frequency fires to the landscape and reduce risk of more severe wildfires will likely benefit Mexican spotted owls too. The Mexican spotted owl is a threatened species that inhabits forests and canyonlands in the southwestern United States. These owls often live in forests that are at high risk of stand-replacing fire—and yet at the same time, there is concern that forest management projects that can reduce wildfire risk, like thinning or prescribed fire, could remove or alter important habitat characteristics that owls depend on for their survival.

Read More

Coastal martens get federal habitat protection in parts of Oregon and California

By Gemma DiCarlo
Oregon Public Broadcasting
June 12, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Coastal martens, also known as Humboldt martens, are small, catlike members of the weasel family that live in the coastal forests of Oregon and northern California. The animals were thought to be extinct due to logging and trapping but were rediscovered in northern California in the 1990s. Today, there are only about 400 coastal martens left in the wild, living in four isolated communities. The animals were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2020 and just last month received federal habitat protections after a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity. The conservation group also recently sued the U.S. Forest Service to enforce habitat protections for martens in the Oregon Dunes.

Read More

AI method reveals millions of dead trees hidden among the living before California’s historic 2020 wildfires

By University of Copenhagen
Phys.Org
June 11, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

University of Copenhagen scientists may have found a new explanation for the California wildfires of 2020. Applying AI to detailed aerial photos, they created a unique dataset detailing mortality down to single trees for all of California State. This revealed individual and clustered tree death spread out among the living on a large scale. The new AI-model will increase understanding of tree mortality and give us a chance to prevent droughts, beetles and flames from destroying the world’s forests. …California has been one of the places hit hardest by droughts and wildfires, and saw 4% of its landmass go up in smoke in 2020. Now, scientists at the University of Copenhagen present a new picture of the health of Californian forests, revealing a new account of dead trees in the region, and possibly a new underlying explanation for the extensive fires in a study published in Nature Communications.

Read More

Oregon’s private forests agreement funds fish-saving projects, makes headway on plan for protecting endangered species

By April Ehrlich
Oregon Public Broadcasting
June 10, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

About two dozen projects aimed at saving imperiled fish and amphibians are getting a share of $10 million, the first round of grants to come out of Oregon’s landmark agreement on managing private forest lands. For years, conservationists and timber industry groups debated how to protect fish, frogs and salamanders while also logging trees on 10 million acres of privately owned lands. They came to an agreement called the Private Forest Accord, signed by former Gov. Kate Brown in 2022. As part of the agreement, the state would pool money into a grant program for habitat conservation projects around the state. This year, about $10 million were awarded to 25 projects. …In addition, the Private Forest Accord ushered in logging regulations to protect sensitive fish and other aquatic species including increased stream buffers and leaving more trees behind when logging on steep slopes.

Read More

Wildfire season and the evolution of forest management in New Mexico

By Jonny Coker
KRWG Public Media
June 11, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

NEW MEXICO — As summers become drier and hotter for New Mexico, the state’s National Forests become more vulnerable. In recent weeks, crews have been battling Blue 2 Fire, which was caused by a lightning strike in the White Mountain Wilderness. …According to Douglass Cram, a forestry and fire ecology expert at New Mexico State University, putting out every fire as soon as it appears is not only unrealistic, but it’s also not advisable.  …We’d like to change the fuel structure, so we have stands that are more resilient to fire behavior. So the idea of putting a fire out immediately or letting it burn, sometimes you can dictate that, other times you can’t.” And while climate change continues to drive instances of fire weather, Cram explained that the solution to severe blazes is to mitigate damage with the right type of management, including thinning and prescribed burns.

https://youtu.be/ckYCS3Ps-MI?si=Ekf-PNhUd4UFI72X

Read More

State-wide bee conservation strategy blooms in Washington

By the Forest Service
US Department of Agriculture
June 7, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — Bumblebees play an essential role in maintaining the stability and diversity of ecosystems through pollination; unfortunately, eight species in Washington are considered rare and at risk. To protect these vital insects, partners formulated and adopted a new conservation strategy across the state to promote proactive conservation actions for rare or sensitive species. …the Washington Bumble Bee Conservation Strategy, adopted in February of 2023, was developed collectively through a partnership between the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and The Xerces Society. The strategy focuses on eight rare species of bumble bees and identifies priority areas and includes key recommendations for managing land cover, protecting nesting habitat and creating foraging areas. …In the Pacific Northwest, the Forest Service and BLM partnered to form the Interagency Special Status and Sensitive Species Program and are implementing the bumblebee conservation strategy.

Read More

Oregon’s private forests agreement funds fish-saving projects, makes headway on plan for protecting endangered species

By April Ehrlich
Oregon Public Broadcasting
June 10, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

About two dozen projects aimed at saving imperiled fish and amphibians are getting a share of $10 million, the first round of grants to come out of Oregon’s landmark agreement on managing private forest lands. For years, conservationists and timber industry groups debated how to protect fish, frogs and salamanders while also logging trees on 10 million acres of privately owned lands. They came to an agreement called the Private Forest Accord, signed by former Gov. Kate Brown in 2022. …This year, about $10 million were awarded to 25 projects in western and southern Oregon, and a couple in northeastern Oregon. …In addition to the grant program, the Private Forest Accord ushered in logging regulations aimed at protecting sensitive fish and other aquatic species. Among the changes, the accord increased stream buffers so timber companies don’t log too close to moving water, and it requires them to leave more trees behind when logging on steep slopes.

Read More

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Aymium Secures $210 Million for World’s First Continuous Biocarbon Facility in California

Environment + Energy Leader
June 24, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

Aymium, an innovator in renewable biocarbon solutions, has successfully secured $210 million in financing to build a new biocarbon production facility in Williams, California. Upon completion in 2025, the facility will be the world’s first large-scale, continuous operation dedicated to replacing coal with advanced biocarbon for power generation. The switch from coal to Aymium’s biocarbon is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 500,000 metric tons annually, which equates to removing more than 120,000 cars from the road each year. …In 2022, Aymium and Steel Dynamics formed SDI Biocarbon Solutions to develop a biocarbon production facility in Mississippi, which is set to become operational later this year. This initiative is poised to reduce Steel Dynamics’ Scope 1 emissions by up to 25% by replacing fossil fuels with renewable biocarbon in their steelmaking process. …Aymium’s biocarbon product is produced through an innovative non-combustion process, and is the only commercially demonstrated carbon-negative alternative to coal in power generation

Read More

California officials, environmentalists split over plans to harvest biomass from Sierra forests

By Natalie Hanson
Courthouse News Service
June 14, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

STOCKTON, California — Across California, proposals are trickling in for new biomass facilities that seek to convert wood pellets gathered from overcrowded forests into precious energy. While some tout the proposed plants as good for the economy and environment, others are concerned about impacts from the new facilities. …In Lassen and Tuolumne counties in the north of the state, Golden State Natural Resources, a coalition of rural counties, aims to build two new biomass plants. Under the proposal, the counties would work with U.K.-based Drax electrical company to ship wood to Stockton. But some conservationists oppose the project, fearing impacts the plants could have in communities where the material is harvested, converted into energy or transported. Carolyn Jhajj, spokesperson for the group Rural County Representatives of California, said the proposed facilities — currently under environmental review — could prevent catastrophic fires by removing undergrowth from overgrown and undermanaged forests.

Read More

3 Takeaways from the 2024 Sustainable Forestry Initiative Conference

By Kyla Cheynet, Director of Sustainability
Drax Group Inc.
June 13, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

I was joined by my colleagues at the annual Sustainable Forestry Initiative conference in Atlanta, Georgia from June 4-6. Biomass is a key element in the road to net zero: At Drax, we aim to be a global leader in sustainable biomass. Sustainably sourced biomass is a renewable, low carbon source of energy and a key element in the road to net zero… Biomass plays an important role in forest management: We are committed to sourcing sustainable biomass that achieves both decarbonization and positive forest outcomes… Partnering with other organizations creates tremendous synergies: An incredible testament to the power of conservation partnership was highlighted by the “Conservation of Species at Risk in SFI-certified Forests” panel chaired by Dr. Healy Hamilton SFI’s Chief Scientist. …I’m proud that Drax pellet plants in the US are all currently certified, or actively in the process of certifying, to both the SFI Fiber Sourcing and SFI Chain of Custody Standards(SFI-01578).

Read More

Health & Safety

Should the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as ‘major disasters’?

By Marley Smith
The Los Angeles Times
June 17, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US West

The nation’s top emergency response agency has long been a lifeline for cities and states struggling with disaster. …Yet for all its assistance, FEMA’s official definition of a “major disaster” does not include two threats that are increasingly posing harm to millions of Americans: extreme heat and wildfire smoke. In a rule-making petition filed Monday, the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 30 other environmental organizations, healthcare groups and trade unions argued that it’s time to change that. They are requesting that the Stafford Act — FEMA’s animating statute — be amended to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke in its regulations. Doing so, they say, would unlock crucial disaster relief funding that would allow local governments to invest in cooling centers and air filtration systems, work toward resilient energy solutions such as community solar and storage, and better prepare for emergencies. …Forecasters on the West Coast are already predicting a potentially active wildfire season. 

Read More

Forest Fires

Hundreds of structures destroyed as New Mexico wildfires continue to burn out of control

CBS News
June 19, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

ROSWELL, N.M. — Heavy rain and hail fell Wednesday around an evacuated village in New Mexico threatened by two wildfires that have killed at least two people and damaged an estimated 1,400 structures. The rain offered the hope of some assistance for firefighters, but added the threat of high winds and flash floods. Air tankers dropped water and retardant earlier on the pair of fires growing in a mountainous part of the state where earlier in the week thousands of residents of the village of Ruidoso were forced to flee the larger of the two blazes, the South Fork Fire, with little notice. Of the estimated 1,400 structures destroyed or damaged in the South Fork Fire, about 500 could be homes, New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham said Wednesday night. “It’s not confirmed, that about 500 homes are in that mix, again making this one of the most devastating fires in New Mexico’s history,” Grisham said.  

Read More

At least 1 dead in New Mexico wildfire that forced thousands to flee, governor’s office says

By Morgan Lee
Associated Press
June 18, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

SANTA FE, N.M. — Thousands of southern New Mexico residents fled a mountainous village as a wind-whipped wildfire tore through homes and other buildings, and killed at least one person. Officials warned the danger isn’t over. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency that covers Ruidoso and neighboring tribal lands and deployed National Guard troops to the area. A top-level fire management team is expected to take over Wednesday, and winds will continue to challenge crews, officials said. The governor’s office confirmed the fatality but said it had no other details. Christy Hood, said the evacuation order came so quickly that she and her husband, only had time to grab their two children and two dogs. “As we were leaving, there were flames in front of me and to the side of me,” she said. …a 15-minute drive to leave town into a harrowing two-hour ordeal.

Read More

Southern New Mexico wildfires lead to evacuation of village of 7,000

Associated Press in ABC News
June 17, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

RUIDOSO, N.M. — Residents of a village in southern New Mexico were ordered to flee their homes without taking time to grab any belongings due to fast-moving wildfires. “GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately,” officials with Ruidoso, a village home to 7,000 people, said on its website and in social media posts at about 7 p.m. Monday. Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to part of the village due to the fire, which was estimated at about 21.7 square miles (56 square kilometers) with zero percent containment, forestry and village officials said Tuesday morning. The state forestry division said multiple structures were threatened and a number have been lost. A portion of U.S. Highway 70 was closed south of the village.

Read More

High winds forecasted as firefighters battle Post Fire in Southern California

By Wes Woods and Kathleen Wilson
Ventura County Star
June 17, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

A brush fire off Interstate 5 near Gorman that grew to 15,610 acres Monday morning and burned hundreds of acres in Ventura County was 8% contained, officials said. The fire, dubbed the Post Fire, started in Los Angeles County and entered Ventura County near Hungry Valley late Saturday night, burning into wilderness in the southeastern portion of the Los Padres National Forest, the Ventura County Fire Department said. The fire initially erupted around 1:45 p.m. Saturday near the small community of Gorman in northwest LA County, near the border with Kern and Ventura counties. It quickly grew to thousands of acres, according to Los Angeles County fire and sheriff reports. The cause remained under investigation. California State Parks evacuated about 1,200 people from the Hungry Valley park Saturday, fire officials said. Pyramid Lake had been closed due to fire threat. Two commercial properties had been damaged and two remained under threat, fire officials said.

Read More

A fast-moving wildfire spreads north of Los Angeles, forcing evacuations

By Emma Bowman
National Public Radio
June 16, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

A wildfire northwest of Los Angeles has burned more than 14,600 acres and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people, California fire officials said. The fast-growing blaze, which began around 2 p.m. on Saturday in Gorman, in Los Angeles County west of the I-5, was moving southeast toward Pyramid Lake, CalFire said on Sunday. Fueled by strong winds and low humidity, the so-called Post Fire exploded overnight. It spread into Ventura County to the west, burning 2,000 acres there, largely in the Los Padres National Forest, LAist reported. The fire was 2% contained as of Sunday evening. Complicating firefighting efforts, strong winds that had picked up on Sunday were expected to last until at least Monday. Wind gusts had reached 55 mph in the region and were forecast to reach up to 70 mph at night, the National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon, before decreasing throughout Monday.

Read More

Wildfire near Beaver scorches 2,250 acres, expected to stay ‘very active’

By Melanie Porter
Fox 13 Salt Lake City
June 17, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

BEAVER, Utah — A wildfire near Beaver burning since Thursday has already scorched more than 2,000 acres and is expected to stay “very active” as weather conditions make for firefighting challenges. The “Little Twist” fire is located four miles southeast of Beaver in steep, rugged, remote terrain. Officials said the fire started as a prescribed burn in the area, but weather conditions allowed the flames to go beyond their intended limits for the year. On Thursday, the fire was reclassified as a wildfire in order to make use of additional resources and teams to help extinguish the flames. As of Sunday night, the fire was 2,250 acres with 0% containment. Due to strong, gusty winds expected through Monday, officials anticipate the fire will be “very active.”

Read More

Forest History & Archives

The Oregon Department of Forestry presents a multi-sensory documentary about the forest fires between 1933 and 1951

By Aaron Mesh
Willamette Week
June 11, 2024
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: United States, US West

TILLAMOOK FOREST CENTER, Oregon — Remember the Columbia River Gorge on fire, burning almost 50,000 acres of wilderness? That fire was just one-seventh the size of the Tillamook Burn, four blazes sparked by logging equipment between 1933 and 1951 that consumed much of the old-growth forest in the Coast Range. The fire rages again every 30 minutes in the Tillamook Burn Theater, where the Oregon Department of Forestry presents a multisensory documentary on the inferno. As the sound of fire crackles and the cinema’s walls turn red, the room fills with the smell of burning trees (but only faintly; the theater’s machines have run out of artificial smoke scent 18 years after opening). The movie is the centerpiece of the Tillamook Forest Center, a gorgeous facility on the Wilson River, halfway between Portland and the coast, focused on how the timber industry burned down the forest and planted a new one. 

Read More