Region Archives: US West

Business & Politics

Idaho wildfire causes millions of dollars in damage to two family-run logging businesses

By Ned Newton
Bonners Ferry Herald
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US West

NAPLES, Idaho — A fast-moving fire broke out Sunday, scorching 20 acres and causing millions of dollars in damage to two family-run logging businesses, according to one of the families affected. The Clover Fire was 75% contained by 2 p.m. Monday, roughly 24 hours after it began, according to Lizz Bloxsom, an incident command trainee with the Idaho Department of Lands. Full containment is expected by 8 p.m. this evening, ahead of a storm forecast to bring strong winds overnight. …Most of the damage occurred on the neighboring properties of the Sandelin family and the Tweet family. The Sandelins run the small logging business, UTR Land Management, and the Tweets run a family-owned business, SGA Cabin & Timber.  A member of the Sandelin family, who requested to remain unnamed, said damage to the lumberyard — including a razed sawmill and barn, over 300 truckloads of lumber, and industrial machinery — will cost their family millions of dollars.

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A busy local lumber mill gives LA’s fallen trees new life

By Erin Rode
SF Gate
July 3, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US West

©Angel City

Across the Los Angeles River from downtown Los Angeles is an unexpected sight, in the nation’s second-biggest city: a working lumber mill. The dusty, noisy mill is processing logs from the city itself. Angel City Lumber’s “whole purpose is to connect Angelenos to their community trees,” said founder Jeff Perry, by turning fallen local trees into wood products like tabletops, benches and flooring. The city of Los Angeles is home to over 10 million trees … an average of 2,000 trees are removed each year when they die and other reasons. …Angel City Lumber now works with municipal crews during tree removal, arriving in time to scoop up the trunks and bring them back to its mill to be processed into lumber. …Part of Perry’s vision involves rethinking the perception of street trees, chosen for ornamental or shade benefits, as the “perfectly good lumber” that most of those trees could become after their death.

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Oregon Legislature approves $1 Million for World Forestry Center’s Campus Transformation

The World Forestry Center
July 1, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US West

World Forestry Center is proud to announce that the Oregon Legislature recently approved $1 million for World Forestry Center’s planned campus transformation, one of 13 projects recommended through the Cultural Resources Economic Fund (CREF). The funding supports World Forestry Center’s campus transformation project in Portland’s central Washington Park, including the development of a new Mass Timber Experience Center. This innovative facility will complement the existing Discovery Museum and serve as a dynamic public space featuring an exhibition hall, auditorium, canopy, cafe, and renovated outdoor plaza. The Experience Center is designed to engage all visitors on the critical issues shaping the future of forests and the communities that depend on them.

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Western Forest Products Announces Fire Damages Columbia Vista Division Sawmill

Western Forest Products Inc.
June 30, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Western Forest Products announced today that the sawmill at its Columbia Vista Division, located in Vancouver, Washington, sustained extensive damage in a fire, rendering the mill inoperable. “On behalf of Western, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the firefighters and first responders who attended the fire at our site,” said Steven Hofer, Western’s President and CEO. “While we are shocked by the damage to the mill, we feel incredibly fortunate that no employees or emergency personnel were injured. We are focused on supporting our team members and completing an incident investigation and assessment.” The Columbia Vista Division produced approximately 53 million board feet of lumber in 2024, with production focused on Douglas Fir specialty products for Japan and U.S. markets.

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Finance & Economics

House passes Trump’s domestic policy bill. Here are 5 ways it will impact Oregon

By Amelia Templeton, Dirk VanderHart, Michelle Wiley and Courtney Sherwood
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 3, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: US West

Congressional Republicans have passed their domestic policy bill that makes sweeping changes to entitlement programs like Medicaid and SNAP, significantly increases funding for immigration enforcement efforts and cuts funding for a number of environmental programs.  …In Oregon, the impacts of the legislation will be significant. An analysis …found the state would be disproportionately hit by the cuts to Medicaid. The Senate’s version of the bill would also cut funds to the state’s timber counties, and could reshape Oregonian college tuition and student loans. …Oregon will see more logging, less timber money going to local communities and less support for private forest owners. …However much more is logged, Oregon counties will not get a cut. That’s a change from current practice. Many counties in rural areas rely on a cut of revenues from timber sales on federal public lands to pay for schools, law enforcement and public infrastructure.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

University of Oregon-led team named National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines semifinalist

By Thuy Tran, University Communications
University of Oregon
July 16, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

A University of Oregon-led initiative to revolutionize the mass timber sector in the Pacific Northwest has been selected as a semifinalist in the highly competitive National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines program. “This significant step forward for the University of Oregon, and its project to build an even stronger mass timber industry in our state,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “Mass timber is revolutionizing the construction business with better and safer buildings. The U of O deserves major credit for earning this honor and I am confident it has both the capacity and talent to fully develop the employment and economic benefits of mass timber.” …The NSF Engine: Oregon Mass Timber Innovation Engine, led by principal investigator Judith Sheine, professor of architecture in the UO College of Design and director of design of the TallWood Design Institute, is among just 29 semifinalist teams nationally. 

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Using mass timber could elevate wood in hospital construction

University of Oregon
July 8, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: US West

University of Oregon researchers hope to make wood — often overlooked in health care facilities — more commonplace in those settings. Exposed wood, they’ve found, can resist microbial growth after a brief wetting. During the study, wood samples tested lower for levels of bacterial abundance than an empty plastic enclosure used as a control. “People generally think of wood as unhygienic in a medical setting,” said assistant professor Mark Fretz, co-director of the UO’s Institute for Health in the Built Environment and principal investigator for the study. “But wood actually transfers microbes at a lower rate than other less porous materials such as stainless steel.” Numerous studies support those properties of wood. A UO-led research team including scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego and Portland State University wanted to explore what happens when wood gets wet and then dries. 

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Study shows engineered wood is more microbe-resistant than plastic

By University of Oregon
TechXplore
July 7, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Picture a hospital and you might imagine concrete, stainless steel or plastic. But University of Oregon researchers hope to make wood—often overlooked in health care facilities—more commonplace in those settings. Exposed wood, they’ve found, can resist microbial growth after it briefly gets wet. During their study, wood samples tested lower for levels of bacterial abundance than an empty plastic enclosure used as a control. “People generally think of wood as unhygienic in a medical setting,” said assistant professor Mark Fretz, co-director of the UO’s Institute for Health in the Built Environment and principal investigator for the study. “But wood actually transfers microbes at a lower rate than other less porous materials such as stainless steel.” In a recent study published in Frontiers in Microbiomes, they shared their discoveries about the effects of moisture on surface microbes and volatile organic compound emissions from mass timber.

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Forestry

New tool sheds light on California wildfires

By Roseann Cattani
The Record Searchlight
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A new tool sheds light on the impact of wildfires across California. The California Vegetation Burn Severity Online Viewer, launched by CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP), is an interactive public mapping tool that people can use to see where wildfires have impacted vegetation. The online tool displays burn severity data for all wildfires over 1,000 acres in California from 2015 to 2023. CAL Fire says the tool enables post-recovery planning and makes the information easily accessible to landowners, planners, scientists, and the general public. “This tool helps Californians see and understand how fire affects our landscapes,” said Chris Keithley, Assistant Deputy Director for FRAP. “It gives communities data to support efforts to plan prescribed burns, guide restoration work, and reduce future wildfire risk.”

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Kotek declares state of emergency in Oregon due to imminent threat of wildfire

By Zack Urness
The Statesman Journal
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

@USDA

Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency in Oregon on July 16 that will last through the end of the year due to the imminent threat of wildfire. Multiple large wildfires have already exploded this year, largely east of the Cascade Range, including the growing Cram Fire, which roared to more than 60,000 acres by July 16 and is spreading smoke across central Oregon. The Rowena Fire burned 63 homes in The Dalles in June. “Oregon is already experiencing a devastating wildfire season that will have lasting consequences. The summer is only getting hotter, drier, and more dangerous – we have to be prepared for worsening conditions,” Kotek said in a news release. Oregon’s wildfire danger is forecast to remain above normal through summer — remaining high in every part of the state in July, August and September — the first time in recent history that’s happened.

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Trump’s big bill calls for much more logging

By Jamie Hale
The Chronicle
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

New federal laws could “lock up” timber land for decades at a time, raising concerns big companies could elbow out smaller competitors and that timber revenue for counties could be delayed for years. President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill, which he signed into law earlier this month, increases the length of federal logging contracts to a minimum of 20 years. The contracts, which determine how long a logging company has to harvest on the land under contract, have typically averaged three to four years, and the longest contracts extended up to 10 years. The concern raised by a coalition of timber companies and local governments is that companies could sign long-term contracts, then wait years to harvest trees. “If the timber volume is tied up in these 20 year contracts,” Doug Robertson, executive director of the Association of O&C counties, said, “that volume then is no longer available to generate revenue for the counties and the state.”

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Oregon forestry board drills Gov. Tina Kotek’s staff on choosing next state forester

By April Ehrlich
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Oregon’s forestry board has long had the power to hire and fire the state forester, who oversees logging and environmental protections on state lands, as well as firefighting across millions of acres of public and private land. But the board lost that hiring-and-firing power this session with Senate Bill 1051, which handed it over to the governor. This bill has left many forestry board members wondering how much authority they still have. “Right now, after the passage of this senate bill, I have very little reason to trust your office,” vice chair Brenda McComb told members of Gov. Tina Kotek’s staff at the board’s Wednesday meeting. There’s a lot riding on forest management in Oregon. Revenues raised from logging trees on state lands help fund rural schools and some county budgets. Timber sales are also a key revenue source for the Oregon Department of Forestry, which fights fires on about 12 million acres of private land.

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Research shows aspen forests slow wildfire spread

Colorado State University
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

©Jonathan Coop

A new study from Colorado State University, Western Colorado University and the U.S. Forest Service found evidence that stands of aspen trees could resist wildfires by slowing a fire’s advance or changing its course. The researchers found that even modest increases in aspen cover dramatically reduced the rate at which fires spread. Their findings suggest that aspen forests can act as natural firebreaks, which is valuable information for land managers and agencies. “Where managers can encourage aspen over conifers, they may represent a more desirable fuel treatment in some forest types than traditional thinning or shaded firebreaks because of the aesthetic value and wildlife habitat aspen provide,” said Camille Stevens-Rumann, study principal investigator and interim director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at CSU. Fires in areas with vegetation composed of at least 25% aspen spread at about a third the rate of fires in forests with less than 10% aspen trees.

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Experimental forest in Idaho can’t maintain all its science during Trump freeze

By Michael Wright
Idaho Statesman
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Each day, as afternoon turns into evening, the U.S. Forest Service research staffer based at the experimental forest there walks over to the weather station next to the office and looks at two thermometers — one showing the day’s maximum temperature, the other showing the minimum. They record the readings and add them to the station’s long-term dataset, which stretches back to 1913. …And the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the site, can’t fill the role permanently because of the federal government’s continued hiring freeze, which has been extended to October. …But there will be no full-time research staff there, forcing the discontinuation of a handful of long-term data collection efforts — such as the daily weather readings, regular streamflow monitoring and a weekly acid rain sample that’s part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program.

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Oregon Department of State Lands gets new leader in scientist and lawyer Kaitlin Lovell

Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Kaitlin Lovell

A lawyer, scientist and former manager at the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services will become the new director of the Department of State Lands. Kaitlin Lovell of Colton, Oregon, begins her four-year term as the agency’s leader in early August. She’ll be in charge of managing more than 130 staff in Bend and Salem, a budget of more than $116 million, and roughly 680,000 acres of state-owned land. …The agency is in charge of managing the state’s agricultural, industrial and residential lands for conservation, development and revenue generation for the benefit of Oregon’s public schools. The agency also administers mineral and energy rights on more than 768,500 acres statewide. …Lovell spent most of the last 18 years working for Portland’s environmental services and regulatory agency, and was most recently its Regulatory Strategy Manager, in charge of financial planning for its wastewater and stormwater management services.

See Government Press Release

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Colorado politicians introduce legislation to support forest and grassland restoration

By Abby Smith
KRDO News
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse, along with other politicians, introduced the Joint Chiefs Reauthorization Act. This legislation would reauthorize the program to better support forest and grassland restoration projects on both public and private lands. “Our Western forests, grasslands, and watersheds are as important to our economy as the Lincoln Tunnel is to New York, but they are under threat from a changing climate and consistent federal underinvestment,” said Bennet. …Bennet mentioned that strengthening the program will ensure that restoring landscapes, protecting water supplies, and reducing wildfire risks can continue for future generations. “Western and Northern Colorado are all too familiar with the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires,” said Neguse.

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Could Trump’s tariffs bring back the Pacific Northwest lumberjack?

By Joshua McNichols
KUOW News and Information
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Could President Donald Trump’s strategies help revive Washington’s diminished timber industry? For nearly a century, Washington’s timber industry produced everything from paper and two-by-fours to the massive wood beams that hold up the Tacoma Dome. Lumber mills were the backbone of logging towns throughout the Northwest. But the industry has been on a long decline since the 1990s. Now, Trump wants to reduce foreign competition and increase US logging to bring back those jobs. To find out whether it could work, KUOW visited a sawmill in Morton, a small town in the foothills of Mount Rainier. …Today, the state has about 100,000 timber-related jobs, including mills. That means Washington has lost about a quarter of its timber jobs in the last thirty years. The loss has been devastating to rural communities built around those sawmills, like Morton, Washington. …The Hampton Mill is still the economic heart of the community today. It’s survived the waves of closures over the years.

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Eastern Oregon’s ancient trees face alarming decline, study finds

By Bobby Corser
KATU News
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A new analysis reveals that many of Eastern Oregon’s ancient trees are dying at an alarming rate. The study, conducted by a team led by James Johnston, an assistant research professor at the University of Oregon, found that between 2012 and 2023, a quarter of trees over 300 years old in roadless areas of the Malheur National Forest had died. Johnston attributed the decline to a combination of drought, insect infestations, and competition with younger trees. “It’s sad to see so many old trees dying,” Johnston said. He emphasized the need for active management to protect these ancient trees, particularly in the dry forests of Eastern and Southern Oregon. The study, published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, highlights the importance of old-growth trees, which store carbon, provide critical habitat, and help maintain water quality. Johnston’s research, which began a decade ago, involved taking core samples from old-growth trees in unlogged sections of the forest.

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Oregon’s Forestry and Logging Industry: From Planting to Harvest

By Brian Rooney
The Newport News Times
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Forests cover more than 30 million of Oregon’s 62 million acres – almost half of the state’s landmass. According to the Oregon Employment Department’s covered employment statistics, forestry and logging’s 681 establishments employed 8,787 workers statewide and added $717 million in payroll to Oregon’s economy in 2024. The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) estimates logging harvests totaled 3.6 billion board feet in 2022. While much of this timber feeds Oregon’s wood products industry, creating jobs and income, many jobs are also created planting, growing, and harvesting this resource. …The high level of forestry activity in Oregon also creates demand for a support activities industry. …Employment Department projections show that the logging industry in Oregon is expected to lose about 200 jobs, or 5% between 2023 and 2033 partly due to continued mechanization. Other industries within timber production, such as timber tract operations and support activities for forestry do not have published Oregon Employment Department forecasts.

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Forest management is key to supporting the struggling Black Hills timber industry

By Ariana Schumacher
Doransfarmers.com
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SPEARFISH, South Dakota — The Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming are not only a beautiful tourist destination but also a major part of the agricultural industry. Many are working to maintain the important role of forest management as a way of supporting agriculture, economies and public health. Jeremy Dedic, forest partnership coordinator for Wyoming State Forestry said, “It’s not like we’re growing corn, but it’s growing plants, and we can manage that and get our results,” Dedic said. …“Most recently, we’ve had some of our larger operators having to scale back their operations,” said Marcus Warnke, state forester for South Dakota. …“Thinning our forest, giving our trees space so that they have enough water, sunlight and nutrients to be healthy and resilient to fire and bugs,” Pierson said. “Those activities produce logs that we bring to our sawmills and make boards out of for public sale.”

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Resources for Oregon firefighters have restrained early-season wildfires but may not last long

By Tarek Anthony
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Fire season started early in the Northwest. The Rowena fire sparked in early June near The Dalles and destroyed 56 homes in a matter of days. Since then, as dry thunderstorms and lightning continue to start hundreds of wildfires across the state, the Oregon Department of Forestry and Bureau of Land Management say they have been able to stop most fires before they spread. But as the season intensifies nationwide, they are concerned about competition with other Western states for resources like air tankers. …While an aggressive “initial attack” approach is nothing new, Assistant State Fire Management Officer for the Oregon and Washington BLM, Richard Parrish, said having increased resources such as pre-positioned firefighting teams across the state, aerial water tankers and a Blackhawk helicopter crew — the only one in the nation — has made all the difference.

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What Could the End of the Roadless Rule Mean for Montana’s National Forests?

By Tristan Scott
The Flathead Beacon
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last month that the administration was taking steps to rescind a decades-old policy to restrict road building and timber harvests on 58.5 million acres of national forest lands… U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., called it “another huge win for Montana and forest management.” …The impetus for the Roadless Rule tracks back to 1998, when former U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck saw the agency’s vast and poorly maintained road system as a major environmental and fiscal problem… “The Roadless Rule was issued to make government more efficient by not building roads in sensitive areas when we already have far more roads than we can afford to maintain,” Keith Hammer, executive director of the Swan View Coalition said. “Rescinding the rule will result in government waste and environmental harm, all at taxpayer expense.” 

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The future of pianos and the timber industry

By Jasz Garrett
The Juneau Empire
July 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Trump administration announced plans to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, changing the political landscape in the Tongass National Forest for the third time in five years. …The U.S. Forest Service owns approximately 78% of the available land, meaning timber operators are dependent on the federal agency for a majority of their supply. Kirk Dahlstrom, co-owner of Viking Lumber Company in Klawock, said the agency is nine years behind on timber supply for the entire Southeast Alaska industry. He said his business will not survive if land management remains under Forest Service control. …Viking is the last remaining sawmill in the world that can produce the high-quality Sitka spruce needed for soundboards for grand pianos… Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on March 6 against the U.S. Department of Agriculture on behalf of Alaska Forest Association. Viking Lumber Company and Alcan Timber of Ketchikan joined.

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Trump’s big bill calls for much more logging. One provision could cost Oregon counties

By Tristin Hoffman
The Oregonian
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

New federal laws could “lock up” timber land for decades at a time, raising concerns big companies could elbow out smaller competitors and that timber revenue for counties could be delayed for years. President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill, which he signed into law earlier this month, increases the length of federal logging contracts to a minimum of 20 years. The contracts, which determine how long a logging company has to harvest on the land under contract, have typically averaged three to four years, and the longest contracts extended up to 10 years. The concern raised by a coalition of timber companies and local governments is that companies could sign long-term contracts, then wait years to harvest trees. “If the timber volume is tied up in these 20 year contracts,” Doug Robertson, executive director of the Association of O&C counties, said, “that volume then is no longer available to generate revenue for the counties and the state.”

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Trump wants to cut research centers like the one in this Pacific Northwest forest

By Lynda Mapes
Seattle Times
July 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest

Budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration could lead to the closure of 26 long-term ecological research, or LTER, facilities across the United States, including the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon. President Donald Trump has pitched these cuts to the National Science Foundation for the next budget year, which starts in October. Congress will debate them this summer. Congress will debate these proposed budget cuts this summer, with a House committee considering impacts on the National Science Foundation on July 7. A lot is at stake. The National Science Foundation funds the LTER network, which includes 2,000 scientists at the 26 sites across the country, dedicated to long-term ecological research across a range of landscapes, from tropical rainforests to arctic tundra, seascapes and everything in between.

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The Bureau of Land Management to sell Shoshone County timberlands

Coeur d’Alene Press
July 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

MULLAN, Idaho — The Bureau of Land Management is offering the Gentle Annie Timber Sale, totaling approximately 493,000 board feet, for commercial thinning on 100 acres near Mullan, east of Kellogg in Shoshone County. The harvested timber will supply critical materials for construction and other industries, supporting jobs across Idaho’s Panhandle. This thinning project will remove dead and downed wood caused by insects and disease, leaving an average of 55 trees per acre. The result: a healthier, more fire-resilient forest. “We’re excited to continue our work in the Mullan Urban Interface and hope this timber sale will help reduce the town’s risk of catastrophic wildland fire,” said BLM District Manager Kurt Pindel. “We’ll also be limiting the spread of insects and disease within the timber stand, as well as harvesting some merchantable timber for the local economy.” 

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Bureau of Land Management to offer up to 54 million board feet of timber in western Oregon

By Samantha Ducker
US Bureau of Land Management
July 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

PORTLAND, Ore – The Bureau of Land Management will offer several timber sales in July, totaling about 54 million board feet to be harvested from nearly 1,900 public acres across Western Oregon. Timber produced by these sales will provide critical supplies for construction and other industries, and support jobs across local economies. “More than 20% of BLM-managed lands are forest and woodland ecosystems. The BLM ensures the health and resilience of these public forest lands as well as the availability of traditional forest products, such as timber,” said BLM OR/WA State Director Barry Bushue. “Timber sales help to improve, maintain, and restore forest health, water quality, and fish and wildlife habitat and to reduce wildfire risk.”bThe Roseburg District will offer two sales near Oakland in Douglas County, the Mean Mustard timber sale (2.2 million board feet, 132 public acres); and the Sternbreaker timber sale 6.9 million board feet, 247 public acres). 

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Fish, Wildlife and Parks Approves Next Phase of Project to Conserve Timber Forests in Northwest Montana

By Tristan Scott
The Flathead Beacon
July 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) completed its review of a proposal to permanently protect 53,000 acres of private timberland in Flathead and Lincoln counties, recommending the state purchase a conservation easement that would keep the working forest in timber production while guaranteeing year-round public access and preserving wildlife habitat. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal on Aug. 21 in Helena. …In total, the project would encompass 85,752 acres of private timberland owned by Green Diamond Resource Company. The first phase of the project… received final approval in December. The new easement would encompass forestlands in the Cabinet Mountains between Kalispell and Libby. …If approved, Green Diamond would maintain ownership of the land under an easement owned by FWP [allowing them to] sustainably harvest wood, preclude development, protect important wildlife habitat and associated key landscape connectivity, and provide permanent free public access to the easement lands.

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Rainy Rambles: The importance of dead wood to a forest

By Rebecca Lexa
Discover Our Coast
July 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Our many stunning hiking and walking trails in the Columbia-Pacific region offer locals and visitors alike wondrous views of forests of many different stages of succession, from recent clearcuts attempting to come back to life, to ancient old growth stands that somehow avoided the ax and the saw. The beauty of our area is one of its most valuable assets — so it may seem odd to some people that these forests include significant numbers of dead trees. Some call them ugly, while others refer to them as beautiful, but they do in fact have formal names. A standing dead tree is known as a snag, but once it falls to the ground it is a nurse log, so named because its rotting wood nurses young plants and fungi in their first years of life. One could also refer to a decaying stump covered in mosses, lichens, and other green growing things as a nurse stump.

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How can we protect cool water in Western Washington’s forest streams?

Department of Ecology
State of Washington
July 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Streams that wind through Western Washington’s forests are essential habitat for frogs, bugs, and lots of other tiny critters. These streams are also a critical source of clean, cool water downstream. This means these streams are an important part of large watershed ecosystems. For the past 26 years, the timber industry, Tribes, environmental organizations, and Washington State agencies have worked together to address pollution and meet water quality standards through the “Forests and Fish Agreement.” The agreement aims to address pollution that can come from forestry activities like logging and forest road construction and maintenance, while maintaining both a viable timber industry and water quality. This coordination primarily happens through the Forest Practices Board, an independent state agency chaired by the elected Commissioner of Public Lands. Rules adopted by the Board are implemented and enforced by Washington’s Department of Natural Resources.

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As Wyoming protests, public land sell-off ‘just getting started’

By Angus Thuermer
Rocket Miner
July 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

In the face of a backlash, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee has revamped his public land sell-off measure to target only Bureau of Land Management holdings while also declaring, “we’re just getting started.” A reconciliation budget proposal revised by Lee’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee targets BLM land within five miles of undefined “population centers.” It puts checkerboard BLM holdings back on a priority list for his “mandatory disposal” measure and takes lands under permit for grazing off the auction block. The revision would shift 15% of revenue to local governments and conservation. The bill would appropriate $5 million to carry out the mandatory sales, which are designed to be offered within 60 days of passage and regularly thereafter. …But opposition to Lee’s measure comes from “all walks of life,” said Land Tawney, former president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. That includes “Democrats, Independents, Republicans, hunters, anglers, bird watchers, kayakers, ranchers [and] loggers,” he said.

 

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Colorado’s beetle battle: Forest Service combats mountain pine beetle surge with fake pheromones

By Mary Shine
The Gazette
July 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Don Hardin’s hillside was largely cleared of trees killed by the mountain pine beetle. Some of the trees have died in just a few weeks with Ips beetles munching their tops and mountain pine beetles coming through their bark in large visible holes. …Across Colorado, mountain pine beetles also are on the rise in Douglas, Jefferson and Gilpin counties, among other areas, said Dan West, forest entomologist with the State Forest Service. The agency’s annual aerial survey shows the number of infected acres increasing from less than 2,000 acres in 2021 to nearly 6,000 acres last year. …To combat the beetle, the State Forest Service is putting small packets on trees to send the message to mountain pine beetles to seek a home elsewhere, West said. The message will be sent through a synthetic replication of beetle pheromones that sends a “no-vacancy signal” to adult pine beetles looking for a healthy tree to infest.

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Yellowstone’s 1988 Fires Eviscerated Forests. Will They Ever Recover?

By Mark DeGraff
The Mountain Journal
July 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

In the parched summer of 1988, wildfires ripped through more than one-third of Yellowstone National Park during the most severe fire year in park history. Approximately 1.2 million acres scorched by September. …While new forests sprouted in most of Yellowstone’s charred woodlands, recent research has identified that 16 percent of the forests consumed by the fires still have few trees. A recent study found that much of this land has transformed into green meadows full of grasses and wildflowers. Of the roughly 965 square miles of forest killed by the fires, 158 remain unforested, largely due to a lack of available seeds to start the next generation of trees. Seventy square miles of the previously forested land is now open meadow… The forests that [recovered quickly] were full of lodgepole pines with serotinous cones. …Alternatively, the areas that remain unforested were mainly above 8,200 feet in elevation and dominated by subalpine fir, Engelmenn spruce and non-serotinous lodgepole pines.

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Washington forest health survey finds 545,000 acres of stressed or dead trees

By Emily Fitzgerald
Washington State Standard
July 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

More than half a million acres of trees spread across Washington were sick, struggling, or dead last year, according to the results of an aerial survey of forests by the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Surveyors identified about 545,000 acres with some level of tree mortality, defoliation, or disease, the department said this week. That’s less than 1% of the total forestland surveyed. The amount of forest with problems is up nearly 30,000 acres from 2023 and more than the 10-year average of 519,000 acres, but well below the acres mapped with diseased or dead trees in 2022, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service partnered to conduct an aerial survey of 22 million forested acres in Washington state to observe recently killed and damaged trees. They carried out the survey between June and September last year.

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USDA Signs Historic Agreement to Reduce Wildfire Risk in Montana

US Department of Agriculture
June 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

HELENA, Montana — US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced US Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a historic Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding, establishing a new framework between the US Forest Service (USFS) and the State of Montana to advance forest restoration and reduce wildfire risk across the state. Montana’s Shared Stewardship Agreement expands collaborative efforts to accelerate active forest management, safeguard communities, and support sustainable timber production. …“By cutting burdensome, unnecessary red tape and empowering Montana to lead, we’re proving that through real partnership, conservation and economic growth can go hand-in-hand. …The Forest Service and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) will jointly identify and execute large-scale forest management projects, initially focusing on approximately 200,000 acres in northwest Montana.

Related coverage: Governor Gianforte Press Release

 

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Forest Fires

Gov. Kotek invokes Conflagration Act for fast-growing wildfire moving through steep, challenging terrain

By Kathryn Styer Martínez
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 15, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

The Cram Fire, which is burning east of Madras, continues to challenge fire crews. The rapidly growing fire moved southeast overnight Monday toward the community of Ashwood, causing crews to mobilize around the mining ghost town. It has now grown to more than 28,000 acres. …The fire is running into steep and remote territory, with “challenging access,” according to a Central Oregon Fire press release this morning. …Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Conflagration Act for the Cram Fire on Monday afternoon. …There are over 230 people working on the Cram Fire and more are expected to join, according to OSFM. …Cooler weather on Tuesday will help firefighters but temperatures in Bend and Madras are expected to return to the mid-90s later this week.

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Laguna Fire grows to more than 15,000 acres after spot fire escapes management boundaries

By Patrick Lohmann
Source New Mexico
July 15, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

The Laguna Fire approximately 25 miles west of Abiquiú has grown to more than 15,000 acres, and prompted evacuation orders more than two weeks after Santa Fe National Forest officials announced their plans to let the fire safely grow instead of suppressing it immediately. On June 30, the Santa Fe National Forest announced that lightning caused the 176-acre fire and that they were going to “actively manage” the blaze, hoping to encourage low-intensity fire to spread across a roughly 13,000 mile area. Noting that the fire was burning in an area that had undergone a National Environmental Policy Act review, and had previously been subject to prescribed burns and thinning, Santa Fe National Forest Deputy Forest Supervisor Anthony Madrid said the fire presented “an opportunity to create a resilient ecosystem that reduces the future risk of catastrophic severe wildfire to communities.”

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Historic lodge destroyed in Grand Canyon blaze

By Bernd Debusmann
BBC News
July 14, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

©NPS Photo/M. Quinn

ARIZONA — A raging wildfire near the Grand Canyon in the US has destroyed dozens of buildings – including a historic lodge that was the only accommodation available within the surrounding national park’s North Rim. The fire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge is one of two that has swept across tens of thousands of acres in the area. The blazes have also forced the closure of the North Rim for the remainder of the 2025 tourist season. Authorities in the state of Arizona are still working to contain the fires, which have been dubbed the Dragon Bravo Fire and White Sage Fire. …No injuries are reported to have been caused by the blaze, which was fuelled by sustained winds that reached up to 40mph. But preliminary assessments from the National Park Service indicate that 50 to 80 buildings have been lost to the Dragon Bravo Fire, including administrative buildings and visitor facilities.

Related coverage in CBS News: Historic Grand Canyon Lodge destroyed by wildfire in Arizona, while smoke from Canadian fires hits Upper Midwest
 

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Madre Fire in California explodes to nearly 80,000 acres

By Meredith Deliso & Patricio Chile
ABC News
July 6, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

A massive California wildfire has prompted evacuation orders and a highway closure. The Madre Fire ignited Wednesday afternoon in San Luis Obispo County, according to Cal Fire. It has since grown to 79,936 acres and is 30% contained as of Sunday, fire officials said. The fire — the largest in California so far this year, according to Cal Fire data — is burning in a largely rural area in the Los Padres National Forest near Highway 166, officials said. Evacuation orders were issued near Highway 166 in San Luis Obispo County. The highway is closed from U.S. 101 near Santa Maria to Perkins Road in the New Cuyama area of Santa Barbara County, according to the California Department of Transportation. …Approximately 50 structures are threatened, according to Cal Fire. Officials warned that the fire has a high rate of spread.

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Forest History & Archives

These brave Oregon smokejumpers once parachuted into forest fires – now they’re saving history

By Janet Eastman
The Oregonian
July 10, 2025
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: US West

Southwest Oregon’s Siskiyou Smokejumper Base is where wildfire fighters once parachuted out of airplanes into blazing forests. The legendary smokejumpers launched experimental operations in the 1940s that continue to serve a role in modern firefighting. Historians consider the Cave Junction base the most authentic World War II-era smokejumper museum in the country. …Still in place are the dispatch radio, Motorola intercom and rotary phone that alerted firefighters to board two 1940s Beechcraft jumper planes, which are still on the runway. The U.S. Forest Service’s first smokejumper bases were built in 1943 in Idaho and Oregon to rapidly drop specially trained firefighters into remote areas. Some of the crew had never flown in a plane until they were taught how to jump out of one. After completing their initial attack and when ground crews arrived, smokejumpers would carry out their gear, which weighed more than 120 pounds, for miles to the pick-up location.

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