Region Archives: US West

Froggy Foibles

Legendary TV prop emerges from closet for Portland forestry exhibit

By Samantha Swindler
The Oregonian
May 3, 2025
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: US West

Stacked doughnuts and “damn fine coffee” welcomed a small but eager group of visitors Thursday morning to the World Forestry Center. These die-hard fans had traveled — at least one from out of state — to see the log. But not just any log. This lump of ponderosa pine, hand selected by David Lynch, is the most famous prop from his cult classic TV series, “Twin Peaks.” It was lovingly carried by actress Catherine Coulson, who portrayed the wise and mysterious Margaret “The Log Lady” Lanterman on the show. The pop-up exhibit, “What the Log Saw: Honoring the legacy of Catherine ‘The Log Lady’ Coulson,” celebrates both the on-screen character and the woman who portrayed her, while making connections between “The Log Lady” and sustainable forestry practices. …Coulson’s daughter, Zoey Yinger of Portland, approached the World Forest Center in January about displaying the log after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

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Business & Politics

Sierra Pacific Industries to Pay for Damages Caused by Forest Fire in El Dorado County

US Dept of Justice
May 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) has agreed to pay $204,284.42 to resolve the United States’ claim for damages resulting from a 2021 wildfire that burned about 29 acres, including National Forest System lands on the Eldorado National Forest, Acting US Attorney Michele Beckwith announced. The wildfire, known as the “Cold Fire,” ignited on Jan. 19, 2021, on SPI land in El Dorado County. US Forest Service fire investigators determined that the fire originated from one of SPI’s timber slash piles that escaped containment during a wind event. “Our office will continue to hold individuals and corporations responsible for damages caused by wildfires,” said Acting US Attorney Beckwith. …The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

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Oregon lawmakers are now considering a ‘cap-and-trade’ program to fund roads, wildfire prevention

By Dirk VanderHart
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

As Oregon lawmakers frantically search for money to fund roads and wildfire prevention, they have landed on a surprising idea: Dredging up a fight over cap-and-trade that once dominated legislative attention. Recently, there’s been increasing momentum to adopt a cap-and-trade system, where polluters purchase credits for their greenhouse gas emissions, and trade them with other emitters to ensure they are meeting a declining state emissions cap. That push has been led, according sources, by Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee. But it appears to have gained traction as other proposals to raise money for road and bridge maintenance and firefighting face an uncertain fate. Washington and California have cap-and-trade programs, and early talks in Oregon have involved adopting a law similar to Washington’s… Funds generated from gas and diesel suppliers could pay for road projects … wildfires, climate nonprofits, and transit or pedestrian uses.

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Budget uncertainty looms as Douglas County eyes increased lumber production as solution

KPIC News
May 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US West

Officials said that increasing lumber production in Douglas County could help address uncertainty over its financial future in relation to the 2025-26 proposed budget. The county’s expenditures are much higher than its revenue, and it may take a renewed local timber industry and resultant timber receipts, to fill the gap, according to Commissioner Tim Freeman, who recommends raising lumber production by 63% to meet the county’s needs. Timber receipts are the money the government earns from selling rights to private companies to harvest timber on public lands. …With lumber production slowing throughout the years, Douglas County, along with other counties across the nation, relied on the Secure Rural Schools Program to receive a portion of funding. …Right now, the county’s proposed budget revenue is at $163 million, compared to expenditures at $203 million. Many discussions have been held in every county department to find ways to minimize expenses going into next year’s budget, Freeman said.

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Lawmakers create low-interest loan program for reopening shuttered sawmills

By Katie Fairbanks, Montana Free Press
NBC Montana
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US West

About a year after the most recent announcement of a Montana sawmill closure, state lawmakers passed a bill creating a low-interest loan program for companies reopening a mill in an effort to boost Montana’s economy and forest health. Missoula County’s two largest wood products facilities — Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake and Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula — announced in March 2024 plans to close, affecting about 250 employees. The Missoula Economic Partnership has worked to find a company to take over the former Pyramid Mountain Lumber sawmill for more than a year, said Grant Kier, the partnership’s president and CEO. The economic development organization supported House Bill 876 as a “piece of the puzzle, not the whole solution,” said Kier. …HB 876, also known as the Sawmill Revitalization Act, sets aside $6 million for loans administered by the state Board of Investments.

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Weyerhaeuser Stays True to Original Mission While Finding New Ways to Grow

By Joe Gose
National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
May 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Weyerhaeuser has come a long way since it was founded in 1900. From three employees and a small office in Tacoma, Washington, it has grown to become one of the largest sustainable forest products companies in the world. As it celebrates its 125th anniversary, Weyerhaeuser is building on that legacy and looking ahead to the next stage of its evolving story. Weyerhaeuser President and CEO Devin Stockfish says the company’s approach to respecting forests and everything they provide — from clean water and wildlife habitat to products essential to everyday life — has always set it apart. “Historically, logging companies would harvest and move on, but the Weyerhaeuser family thought of a different way to do it. That includes taking care of people, supporting communities, and sustainably managing forests.” When Frederick Weyerhaeuser Sr. bought 900,000 acres of forestland in Washington from the Northern Pacific Railway … he set the foundation for a new, long-term view of forestry. 

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Plywood mill will close near Hood River, lay off 81

By Mike Rogoway
Oregon Live
May 2, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

BINGEN, Washington — A plywood mill in the southern Washington city of Bingen will close next month and lay off all 81 workers, the plant’s operator said Thursday. The SDS facility has been operating — with occasional stoppages — since 1949. It uses older equipment, according to Wilkins, Kaiser & Olsen, which was part of a consortium of firms that acquired the mill in 2021. “Regrettably, the long-term challenges and the magnitude of the required investment render continued operation unsustainable,” the mill’s operators said. An adjacent stud mill, planer mill and marine facility will continue operating. Bingen is a small city just across the Columbia River from Hood River. WKO and an affiliated business, Mt. Hood Forest Products, are adding 60 full-time positions to increase their output by 35%. The firms said they will consider hiring some of the laid-off workers.

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Greif to close Los Angeles mill, end West Coast coated paperboard production

Yahoo Finance
May 1, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

LOS ANGELES, California — Greif announced Thursday that it intends to close a paperboard mill in Los Angeles this summer. Approximately 72 employees will be affected by the closure, which is slated for June. “Closing this facility was not an easy decision, especially knowing the effect it has on our team members, their families, and the surrounding community,” said President and CEO Ole Rosgaard. The mill produces coated recycled paperboard and uncoated recycled paperboard, and its closure will result in removing an estimated 50,000 tons of CRB and 22,000 tons of URB capacity from the company’s system. This move also will cease Greif’s coated paperboard production on the West Coast. The Los Angeles mill closure is due to increased costs and limited integration opportunities, the company said.

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Finance & Economics

Boise Cascade reports Q1, 2025 net income of $40.3 million

Boise Cascade Company
May 5, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, US West

BOISE, Idaho – Boise Cascade reported net income of $40.3 million on sales of $1.5 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared with net income of $104.1 million on sales of $1.6 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. …Wood Products’ sales, including sales to Building Materials Distribution (BMD), decreased $53.1 million, or 11%, to $415.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, from $468.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The decrease in sales was driven by lower sales prices and sales volumes for LVL and I-joists. In addition, lower plywood sales prices and sales volumes also contributed to the decrease in sales. …Nate Jorgensen, CEO said “As we move through the second quarter and better understand the underlying demand for 2025, we will be prepared and flexible as the economic situation changes.”

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

How Trees Destroyed by the L.A. Fires Are Being Recycled Into New Lumber

By Anjulie Rao
Yahoo! News
May 22, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

After this year’s fires burned through the Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods, destroying over 16,000 structures, the city is reckoning with 4.5 million tons of debris, according to LAist—”the largest municipal wildfire cleanup operation in recent history.” As a result, the Army Corps of Engineers is sending trucks to 18 different regional facilities including landfills and recycling plants to manage the process of clearing out build remnants and remediating hazardous materials. Trees that appear damaged or unviable are cut down and sent to a local golf course to be mulched—a fact that doesn’t sit right with local sawmill owner Jeff Perry. In the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton Fires, Perry teamed up with local landscape architects to create Altadena Reciprocity, an initiative that helps homeowners recycle an often-overlooked resource—neighborhood trees—into a product that residents can use for flooring, stair treads, door casings, and much more. 

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Swinerton Completes California State University’s First Mass Timber Building at Chico State

By Swinerton
Cision PRWeb
May 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: US West

CHICO, California — Swinerton Builders (Swinerton), California’s premier general contractor, and its mass timber partner Timberlab, are proud to announce the completion of the new University Services Building at California State University, Chico—a first for the California University System and a key milestone in Swinerton’s expanding portfolio of sustainable higher education infrastructure in California. Delivered through a design-build partnership with Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture, the $14.5 million, 22,132-square-foot, two-story facility consolidates campus operations into a single, efficient, and forward-looking structure. Mass timber elements—orchestrated by Timberlab—serve as both a sustainable and aesthetic choice, enhancing the workspace with biophilic warmth while significantly reducing embodied carbon. …The project was completed on time and on budget despite material lead time challenges and seasonal weather conditions. The prefabrication of structural timber components played a critical role in accelerating the schedule and minimizing disruption to ongoing campus activities.

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Mercer Mass Timber Marks Completion Milestone on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Construction

Mercer Mass Timber
PR Newswire
May 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

NORTH DAKOTA — Mercer Mass Timber (MMT) announced the completion of the first phase of construction on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a future cultural destination located in the heart of the North Dakota Badlands, and the largest mass timber project in the state to date. Phase one construction began one year ago and is centered on the museum building and its dramatic roof structure of sweeping curves and complex geometry. The roof, designed to echo the rolling topography of the Badlands, required precisely engineered connections and joints, supported by steel wrapped in wood to maintain a seamless timber look. Phase two of construction is scheduled to begin on June 1, with Mercer Mass Timber contributing canopies designed to support photovoltaic panels—enhancing the site’s sustainability and expanding mass timber use in outdoor architectural features.

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Embracing Material Intelligence: How the Pacific Northwest is Promoting Timber Innovation

By Olivia Poston
Arch Daily
May 5, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Sea to Sky Gondola in SquamishMaterial intelligence refers to how materials perform, adapt, and interact with ecological and cultural systems. It considers howstone, steel, or timber respond to intertangled forces, how those materials are sourced and assembled, and how they persist after demolition. Designers are centering material intelligence in constructing our cities in a generation of environmental uncertainty and strained supply chains. Few materials embody this shift as vividly as cross-laminated timber (CLT). By layering and bonding planks into structural panels, CLT offers strength, fire resistance, and a significantly lower carbon footprint than concrete or steel. Across Europe and Canada, mass timber has emerged as a centerpiece of decarbonized construction. Yet in the United States, progress has moved more slowly. Developers hesitate. Codes trail behind innovation. Conventional materials still dominate the urban skyline.

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Forestry

Don’t be fooled by Tongass Roadless Rule propaganda

By Rich Moniak, retired civil engineer, U.S. Forest Service
Anchorage Daily News
May 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

By executive order, President Donald Trump reinstated the Tongass National Forest Roadless Rule exemption, reversing action taken by President Joe Biden in January 2023. For Alaska-based environmental organizations, that means redeploying propaganda about how much of the old-growth forest in the Tongass could be subjected to large-scale logging. And they often get help from journalists and opinion writers who don’t do their homework. …In a joint press release responding to the Biden administration’s plan to consider restoring the Roadless Rule …Rep. Don Young accurately described that “only 9 percent of the Tongass is available for any kind of development.” …Environmentalists have a choice. They acknowledge these facts and stop challenging the Roadless Rule exemption for the Tongass. Or they can continue undermining their credibility by peddling the kind of disinformation that’s making our political discourse so toxic.

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Grizzly regulations logjam timber economy

By Ned Newton
Bonners Ferry Herald
May 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

In a May 13 petition, members of Congress from Northern Rockies states once again admonished the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for what they say is a “flawed” and “ludicrous” proposal to continue listing the grizzly bear as an endangered species.  “This decision punishes Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho’s successful grizzly bear recovery efforts,” states the petition, signed by U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, James Risch, R-Idaho, and U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho. “The FWS’s ‘Grizzly Bear Recovery Program 2023 Annual Report’ shows that our states have met and far exceeded the most recent set of recovery goals that FWS set for grizzly bears. All of this collaborative work is undermined by the FWS decision to yet again move the goalpost for delisting grizzly populations.” From Greater Yellowstone to the Selkirk Mountains of North Idaho, grizzly bear habitat protections have stalled the timber industry — a pillar of the region’s economy.

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Over 1.1 million acres of Colorado forests have been treated for health, wildfire management since 2000

Glenwood Springs Post Independent
May 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Over one-third of Colorado is forested acreage — 24 million acres of the state’s 66.48 million acres — managed by a variety of local, state and federal entities.  The Colorado State Forest Service and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, both part of Colorado State University, launched a new online tool to better track completed forest management activities in the state. The Colorado Forest Tracker provides information on where and when forest projects occurred, how projects were funded and what agency oversaw the work. It includes projects between 2000 and 2023 that altered forest vegetation in some way, including cutting trees or bushes, prescribed fire and reforestation efforts. In the 23 years, the tool cataloged over 25,000 forest management projects on 1.1 million acres of Colorado forest. The majority — 900,577 acres — were on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The federal agency oversees the largest segment of Colorado forest.

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Logging protest continues with climber in tree

By Emma Maple
Peninsula Daily News
May 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A tree-sit protest, which has blocked logging access to state Department of Natural Resources parcels, is now two weeks old. An injunction hearing regarding the parcels has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court. If a 90-day injunction is issued, the tree climber will remove themselves from the tree. If the decision is not in favor of the environmentalists, the climber likely will stay up there indefinitely. “It’s going to be crunch time,” activist Peter Stedman said. The tree sit began about 5:30 a.m. May 7, when an unidentified professional tree climber attached themselves to a dunk tank platform 50 to 100 feet up in a tree. That platform was then attached to debris piled in the middle of a logging road. If the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) attempts to remove the debris to gain access to those parcels, the tree climber’s platform will drop.

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Legal Intervention Defends Northern Spotted Owl Habitat

The Center for Biological Diversity
May 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Oregon— Conservation groups intervened in a lawsuit brought by the timber industry and counties seeking to strip northern spotted owls of protections for their critical habitat across millions of acres of forests in California, Oregon and Washington. The industry lawsuit attempts to reinstate a critical habitat rollback issued in the final weeks of the first Trump administration that removed nearly 3.5 million acres from the 9.6 million acres that were protected for spotted owls in 2012. “The forests these precious owls depend on also provide all of us with benefits like clean water, recreation, jobs and climate resiliency,” said Chelsea Stewart-Fusek, an endangered species attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Given Trump’s relentless assaults on our most cherished wildlife and public lands, it’s no surprise that corporate timber interests are resurrecting their attacks on northern spotted owls and the places they live in the name of short-term profit.”

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State forestry officials face backlash over Astoria timber sales, board member resigns in wake

By Alex Baumhardt
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

A year-long communication breakdown between concerned residents and state forestry leaders required investigation and halted one state timber sale. Last February, Denise Moore got a letter from the Oregon Department of Forestry that “immediately sent up red flags.” Cullen Bangs, a forest roads manager in the department’s Astoria district office, wrote that surveyors would be around her property in the weeks ahead to review boundaries between the Clatsop State Forest and nearby private property. …But the letter from Bangs became the first of several communications, and miscommunications, between the forestry department and its Astoria office about two planned timber sales to concerned neighbors over the course of a year. The communication breakdown would send those residents, along with community and environmental groups, into a frenzy, eventually leading one timber sale to be paused indefinitely and a Board of Forestry member to resign.

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Fix Our Forests Act would destroy forests without protecting communities

By Rocky Smith
Colorado News Online
May 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Forests are extremely valuable for watersheds, wildlife, carbon storage, recreation and so much more. The deceptively named Fix Our Forests Act, or FOFA, does nothing to conserve forests to retain these values. Instead, it would emphasize logging and otherwise manipulating forests at a scale we haven’t seen on public lands for many decades, if ever. The misguided bill has already passed the House, and its Senate version was recently introduced by Colorado’s own U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and other Western senators. FOFA encourages the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management…, to avoid a careful examination of impacts from logging and ways to reduce harms under the National Environmental Policy Act. Under FOFA, projects up to 10,000 acres — over 15 square miles — would be excluded from consideration of possible impacts. What’s more, the public would have only one chance to provide input for logging projects and could only object in court.

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Why there won’t be significant logging in the Tongass

By Rodger Painter
The Alaska Beacon
May 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Industrial-scale logging in the Tongass National Forest was due to monopolies created by the federal government and taxpayer subsidies… A study by the Southeast Conservation Council calculated the federal government spent $386 million for preparation and sale of Tongass timber while collecting only $32 million in stumpage fees from 1982 to 1988. While the heyday of the timber industry supported about 4,000 jobs, many were nonresidents or recent arrivals who left when the pulp mills closed. Most of my former colleagues at the Sitka mill went “back home” to Washington when the mill ceased operation. The pulp mills closed primarily because of tree farms in warmer climates such as South Africa, where forests grow much faster than the Tongass. Many fruit and vegetable farms in the southern U.S. converted to tree farms… So, are there enough standing old-growth trees to support a vibrant timber industry in the Tongass? It depends upon who you ask.

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An architect of Oregon’s wildfire map on why he now supports repealing it

By Courtney Sherwood
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

After Oregon’s devastating 2020 Labor Day fires, the Legislature passed a bill that was supposed to lead to more wildfire awareness and resilience. Among other things, Senate Bill 762 created a map of areas at high risk of fire. But that map led to a huge backlash from property owners — a backlash so strong that a few weeks ago, the state Senate voted unanimously to eliminate it. Jeff Golden is a Democratic state senator from the Rogue Valley. He voted to create the map in 2021, now he’s voted to get rid of it. …“We delegated to Oregon State University, which has credentials — among the best in the world in terms of maps like this — and gave them almost no direction, just said, ‘We need a map to fulfill this purpose. Let us have it within the next 18 months.’” At the time, very few lawmakers were worried about what would come next.

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‘Forests of Gasoline’

By Kathleene Parker
Santa Fe Reporter
May 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

With the passing of the 25th anniversary of the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire on May 10—during yet another bone-dry spring of the Modern Megadrought—we should consider a wildfire variation of the adage, “Those who don’t learn from (fire and forestry) history are doomed to relive it.” In the 1990s, Los Alamos and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) were warned, repeatedly, that they were vulnerable to wildfire. Today, Los Alamos and New Mexico in general, despite Cerro Grande and other fires, have not acknowledged or addressed the dangerous reality of today’s forests. As a correspondent for the Santa Fe New Mexican in the 1990s, I authored multiple stories featuring foresters and wildland firefighters who saw Los Alamos’ peril. I also witnessed, firsthand, the power and destruction of wildfires—Cerro Grande, Dome, Missionary Ridge, Los Conchas—in places I love. …Instead, it’s time to demand municipal, county, state, and federal leaders who acknowledge and aggressively address the wildfire threat.

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Timber harvest benefitting University of Washington sparks concern among residents of small, pro-logging town

By McKenna Sweet
The Daily (University of Washington Student News)
May 12, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

NASELLE, Wash. — One self-service library, high school, and grocery store serve the 519 people of Naselle, Washington. The piles of felled logs along the roadsides dwarf the passing cars, signaling to drivers that this town was built on logging. Many Naselle residents have family roots in the forestry sector, allowing them to be intimately familiar with its demands. They also do not often push back on timber harvests that pose no threat to endangered species or their habitats. But an upcoming harvest will fell trees surrounding one of two creeks that supply the town’s water: this is where most residents draw the line. …The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will auction off 105 acres of state-owned forest in Naselle on May 29 after they determined the area was suitable for harvest. The revenue from the highest bid will go to UW. …UW received approximately $20 million from the DNR from 2020 to 2024, $8.6 million of which was from timber sales. 

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Jefferson County Open Space working to gain control of spike in pine beetles at park

By Danielle Kreutter
Denver 7
May 12, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

EVERGREEN, Colo. — Crews with Jefferson County Open Space (JCOS) are working to reduce a spike in pine beetles in ponderosa pine trees at an Evergreen park. When the bark of infected trees is pulled back at Elk Meadow Park, the problem is clear. Pine beetles burrow into the trees and lay their larva under the bark. The larva live right on top of the living tissue of the tree, suck up the nutrients and end up killing the tree. They then pupate, turn into adults and fly off to the next tree. …”We are totally OK with a few trees being killed from the pine beetle that creates variable habitat for our wildlife species, and so at a small scale, mountain pine beetle is a good thing,” Steve Murdock, the interim manager of JCOS’ Natural Resource Stewardship. said. However, the numbers that Colorado communities, including Jefferson County, are seeing are well above what would be beneficial for a forest.

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Pacific Northwest leaders urge action as wildfire season nears without federal support

Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Trump administration funding cuts and a loss of federal workers who help support wildland firefighting continues to make planning for the upcoming wildfire season a challenge, according to forest and fire officials in Washington state and Oregon. The biggest issue they’re facing is a lack of communication from the federal government as the West faces “a pretty significant wildland fire season,” Washington State Forester George Geissler said Thursday during a press conference hosted by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. …A spokesperson with the Department of Interior, which oversees National Parks and other public lands, said “funding is not in jeopardy.” They’re supporting firefighting efforts by increasing pay for federal and tribal wildland firefighters across the U.S. The administration has refused to release the exact number of fired and rehired workers, but numbers are coming in from individual forests, she said.

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Oregon State University purchases land outside Portland for research, recreation

By April Ehrlich
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

By the end of this month, about 3,110 acres of private forestland outside Northwest Portland will become part of Oregon State University’s new research forest. OSU announced Friday that it’s finalizing its purchase of land northwest of Portland’s Forest Park for $27 million, all of it covered by federal and regional grants. This area, which OSU calls the Tualatin Mountain Forest, had been managed as a timber plantation by forest products giant Weyerhaeuser Company. As such, most of the trees are no older than 35 years. OSU leaders say this landscape will become more ecologically diverse under the university’s ownership. The plan is to research what effects different types of logging practices have on tree diseases, pests and fire resilience. …This land acquisition comes a year and a half after OSU suddenly backed away from yearslong plans to manage the Elliott State Forest near the Oregon Coast as a research forest.

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Court halts watershed logging

By Emma Maple
Peninsula Daily News
May 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County Superior Court judge has issued a temporary restraining order to halt all logging activity in two Elwha River watershed forest parcels for 14 days. As double assurance the forests are not logged, activists have placed debris in the middle of a road, blocking logging access to Units 3, 4 and 6 of a timber sale called Parched. …Together, these actions have temporarily halted logging-related activity for about 300 acres in the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) parcels named Parched and Tree Well. The parcels are currently being litigated on two fronts. …Judge Elizabeth Stanley’s order, issued Wednesday, stated that the LFDC demonstrated that “immediate and irreparable harm, including construction of roads, environmental damage and loss of forest resources within the boundaries of the Parched and Tree Well sales, will occur absent immediate injunctive relief.”

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New tool helping Coloradans understand forest management across the state

By Maggy Wolanske
Denver 7
May 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

DENVER — The Colorado State Forest Service and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, housed at Colorado State University, have recently launched an online database designed to help Coloradans understand forest management activities across the state. The Colorado Forest Tracker uses federal, state, and local data to create a user-friendly online database. The tool informs people of activities like where trees and bushes have been cut down, prescribed burns, along with where trees are being planted. “It’s been a really big effort to collect data from all these various sources and try and standardize it so we can understand it, more apples to apples. That’s how you really learn what’s happening and improve what’s happening and communicate a common message across Colorado, so we can work better together,” said Brett Wolk, associate director with the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at CSU.

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Bill intends to boost Oregon’s ‘dual credit’ farm and forestry classes

By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Press
May 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Oregon lawmakers appear likely to pass a bill that encourages college-credit agriculture and forestry classes in high schools, though some have doubts about its effectiveness. Senate Bill 784 would require the development of statewide standards for “dual credit” courses in these subjects, which is intended to make such classes more widely available, especially in rural areas. “Many students are eager to pursue careers in agriculture, forestry and natural resources but they need exposure and seamless pathways to higher education and industry jobs,” said Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, the bill’s chief co-sponsor. …More than 7,400 students are enrolled in natural resource programs at Oregon’s universities, showing there’s a demand for such education, so SB 784 would be a “smart investment” in the state’s future workforce, said Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, the bill’s chief co-sponsor.

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Washington state forests are too complex for ‘cut or don’t cut’ thinking

By Scott Freeman, Jefferson Timber Cooperative
The Seattle Times
May 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SEATTLE — Recent controversy over the management of Washington’s older state-owned forests has been dominated by an either/or framework: Either we clear-cut these tracts or prevent any harvest at all. Cut it all now or don’t cut any, ever? The human brain loves to dichotomize, but this type of either/or thinking doesn’t work in the woods. Ecologically, economically and culturally, our forests are too complex. Ecologically, climate change is altering our forests rapidly and radically. …Economically, rural areas in Washington state are a microcosm of a pattern that is global in scope. …Cultural values need to be considered as well. …We have to implement a broad array of management models and tools. Instead of re-fighting the 1980s War in the Woods and practicing lawsuit-driven forestry, we need to create flexible, forward-looking practices that will support the health of our forests and rural communities in a time of rapid change.

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Alaska State Forestry & Fire Department partner to reduce risk of wildfire

By Isabelle Crow
Fire and Safety Journal Americas
May 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DOF) is working with the Anchorage Fire Department (AFD) Wildfire Division to implement a shaded “fuel break” in the Anchorage Hillside area extending from Hilltop Ski Area Road to Prospect Drive. Known as the East-West Connector, this project was scheduled to begin May 5 and represents a renewed effort to reduce wildfire risk through coordinated mitigation work across the Municipality of Anchorage. Wildfire Division Chief, Anchorage Fire Department, Jon Glover shared this statement: “The collaboration between the State of Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection and the Anchorage Fire Department on the East-West Connector shaded fuel break represents exactly the kind of partnership our community needs. This project is more than a line on a map, it’s a commitment to proactive wildfire mitigation and public safety. Together, we’re building resilience and delivering long-term value to the residents we serve.”

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Trump Budget Proposal Portends Deep Cuts to Public Lands

By Robert Chaney
The Mountain Journal
May 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Taking aim at “climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life,” President Donald Trump’s proposed 2026 federal budget would reduce spending on public lands, shift some national park facilities and forest management to states, and consolidate federal wildland firefighting into a new service inside the Department of the Interior… If Congress approves the proposed budget, the cuts would go into effect on October 1, 2025, when the federal fiscal 2026 budget year begins… Trump’s budget recommends $4.7 billion in cuts department-wide, including $1.4 billion from Forest Service activities and research… “The President has pledged to manage national forests for their intended purpose of producing timber,” the letter states, but it reduces Forest Service salaries by $342 million, eliminates the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program’s $50 million allocation, and reduces “funding for recreation, vegetation and watershed management, and land management regulation.” It also recommends “transferring smaller, lesser visited parks to State and tribal governments.”

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Alaskans fight to save timber industry

By Pedro Gonzalez
Must Read Alaska
May 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was perhaps the last of the great pianist-composers whose line stretched back to Mozart and Beethoven. The kind of musician whose craft demanded instruments of commensurate quality, the world’s finest pianos: Steinway & Sons. Rachmaninoff called them “perfect in every way.” Part of that perfection was owed to the uniquely excellent acoustic qualities of the Sitka spruce used to build the soundboards. But not just any tree will do. To achieve its trademark warm, rich tone, Steinway requires spruce sourced from Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, which is today supplied exclusively by Viking Lumber. Located on Prince of Wales Island, it is one of the last sawmills standing in the state and the only one in the U.S. capable of meeting Steinway’s needs. Now, Viking is threatened with extinction by the caprice of the U.S. Forest and Wildlife Service.

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Oregon Board of Forestry discusses state forester recruitment

By Will Chappell
Cannon Beach Gazette
May 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Oregon’s Board of Forestry met on April 23, in Salem, and began discussions about the process of recruiting a new state forester as well as desired attributes for candidates. Board members agreed that the search should be conducted in a way that kept candidates’ names private until the final stages to encourage a wider pool of applicants… The search … comes following the resignation of Cal Mukumoto from the position in January. …Board Chair Jim Kelly started the discussion after Stevens’s presentation and said that he was concerned about a public process dissuading qualified people from applying, noting that in the last search for a state forester in 2021, only seven applications had been received. Kelly said that he wanted to have a process where information was closely guarded by the board to promote a nationwide pool of applicants. Board Members Joe Justice and Brenda McComb both agreed with Kelly.

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Whistleblower Sues Oregon Department of Forestry

By Nigel Jaquiss
Willamette Week
May 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

The embattled Oregon Department of Forestry faces a new whistleblower lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court. Shauneen Scott, a 40-year state employee who most recently served as ODF’s human resources director, alleges in the April 18 lawsuit that she filed reports with the state about a variety of concerns about ODF management after joining the agency in 2024. After some of those concerns contributed to high-level departures, Scott’s lawsuit says, the department’s acting director, Kate Skinner, fired Scott in February 2025. She is seeking $800,000 in damages. The Oregon Department of Justice, which will defend the state against Scott’s lawsuit, does not comment on pending litigation.

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Invasive emerald ash borer could wipe out Oregon’s ash trees. Here’s how you can help

By Cassandra Profita
Oregon Public Broadcasting
May 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

An invasive green beetle called the emerald ash borer arrived in the Midwest from Asia, and it’s killed over 100 million ash trees across the country since it was discovered in 2002. Now it’s killing ash trees in Oregon, which don’t have any defenses against this invader. “There’s nothing that can stop emerald ash borer from coming through. We can only slow it down,” said Wyatt Williams, an invasive species specialist for the Oregon Department of Forestry. So far, infestations have been found in Washington, Marion, Yamhill and Clackamas counties. …But experts say the beetle will eventually kill the vast majority of ash trees in Oregon, including native Oregon ash, which provides valuable shady streamside habitat for salmon and steelhead. …Gathering seeds from healthy ash trees is one thing people are doing in the face of this invasion — just in case any of those trees prove to have natural resistance to the emerald ash borer.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Applying CATF’s Ground-Truth Forest Carbon Protocol Assessment to California

Clean Air Task Force
May 16, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

Earlier this week, Clean Air Task Force (CATF), alongside a team of leading U.S. forest carbon scientists, published a deep dive into the rules that govern a wide range of forest carbon credit certifications relevant to North America. The assessment examines rules of the road for quantifying carbon credits and identifies what works well, where there are weaknesses, and opportunities for improvements to ensure that forest carbon credits achieve their promised climate benefits… CATF’s assessment scored some elements of California’s current forest protocol that lays out the requirements for carbon credit certification as robust, such as the 100-year monitoring period for stored carbon in forests, and others as weak, like the risk assessment procedure.  While high-quality credits are possible under the current protocol, the bar needs to be raised to guarantee that credits are delivering on their promise.

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California Plans to Proceed with Carbon Cap-and-Invest Program Despite Pressure from Trump

By Mark Segal
ESG Today
May 16, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

California Governor Gavin Newsom released a revised proposal for the 2025-2026 state budget, containing plans to extend the state’s “Cap-and-Invest” program, requiring major emitters to purchase allowances for carbon emissions above a declining cap, through 2045. The Cap-and-Invest program, which was set to expire in 2030, is anticipated to result in a continuation of the California Climate Credit, resulting in approximately $60 billion available for utility bill credits to California residents over the duration of the extension. The proposed extension of the carbon pricing program comes despite growing pressure by the Trump administration and Republican state politicians targeting state initiatives charging companies for their greenhouse gas emissions. …Trump specifically called out California’s cap-and-trade system, in addition to new laws in New York and Vermont aimed at fining energy companies for their contributions to climate change. …Newsom said “California’s fundamental values don’t change just because the federal winds have shifted.”

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Churchill County residents push back against proposed wood pellet plant

By Taylor Burke
KOLO 8 NewsNow
May 14, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: US West

FALLON, Nev. – A proposed wood pellet processing plant in Churchill County is facing significant opposition from nearby residents who say it’s a great project in the wrong place. The facility, which would operate 24/7, is being proposed on McLean Road in Fallon. The man behind the proposal, Alex Pedan, is seeking a special use permit to open the plant, but neighbors are raising red flags over concerns about noise, dust, and declining property values. Amber Sanchez lives near the site and says she was notified about the proposal on April 29. She’s concerned that not everyone in her neighborhood received the same letter. …During Wednesday night’s Churchill County Planning Commission meeting, residents filled the room to speak out against the plan. Some said they supported the idea of a wood pellet business — just not in a residential or agricultural area. …In response to community concerns, Pedan claimed the plant’s equipment would be housed indoors, within a sound-insulated structure.

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