Region Archives: US West

The U.S. Forest Service is facing scrutiny after a scientific study questioned its methods of wildfire management. The study, published by the international science journal Fire, proposes that the deforestation methods used by the federal agency to minimize wildfires are ineffective for certain forest types. “Our rebuttal shows that evidence omitted in the review left a falsification of the scientific record, with significant land management implications,” the study stated. Los Padres ForestWatch, a conservation organization headquartered in Santa Barbara, used the study as the backbone of a recent newsletter criticizing the U.S. Forest Service. “The study is a culmination of a couple of decades of research that several different scientists have been working on in the western United States,” said Bryant Baker, the group’s director of conservation. “The main issue is the debate about what was happening historically in these forest types prior to the onset of industrial fire suppression.”

COLORADO — The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Aspen Fire teams gathered at the Woody Creek Aspen Fire Protection District station for a briefing before the Collins Creek Prescribed Fire, the valley — and the White River National Forest’s — first this year. On Monday, the team will head to Avalanche Creek near Carbondale for another burn. …Prescribed burns benefit wildlife by stimulating new vegetation growth and serve as a mitigation tactic against extreme wildfires by burning fuels in the burn area. With innumerable life cycles as practice, the ecosystem is adapted to fire. “We’re trying to get back to a place that’s more fire-adapted and resilient to the effects of fire,” said Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Kevin Warner. …Fire has changed a lot in the past few decades from the cultural perception to its behavior. Fire Management Officer Jim Genung said, “They’re more extreme in movement.”

Boise, Idaho – Governor Brad Little proclaimed the month of May as Wildfire Awareness Month, and as the State of Idaho actively gears up for fire season, the Governor’s administration is teaming up with loggers to better fight wildfires in Idaho forests. Fighting wildfire safely requires training. The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is creating new opportunities to train loggers, foresters, and landowners of large tracts of industrial forestland to safely help fight wildfires, keep lands healthy, and save scarce firefighting resources. In 2019 Governor Little talked about Idaho’s leadership in embracing fresh, collaborative approaches to land and fire management. He pointed to the hundreds of ranchers and farmers who have become members of rangeland fire protection associations across southern Idaho. “I want to carry over this successful wildland firefighting model to Idaho’s forestlands by expanding the initial attack capabilities of our loggers,” Governor Little said.

Deforestation is a complex environmental problem that has eluded a series of public policies and private-sector interventions. The need to develop effective solutions to this problem is urgent because unabated deforestation exacerbates climate change, biodiversity loss, human rights violations, displacement of Indigenous communities, and breakouts of zoonotic diseases. This paper focuses on corporate-led efforts to stop deforestation and identifies four reasons behind their failure: global trade and supply-chain obscurity, power dynamics in supply chains, neglected consumption in emerging economies, and diluted goal setting. We call upon corporate sustainability scholars, specifically in entrepreneurship, marketing, strategy, and supply-chain management domains, to dedicate efforts to develop novel corporate sustainability initiatives that can address the complex, rampant, and stubborn challenge of deforestation. We propose three broad areas of research to advance scholarship on the role of corporate sustainability in stopping deforestation: zero-deforestation supply chains, zero-deforestation consumption, and nature-positive business models.

Warmer and drier climate conditions in western U.S. forests are making it harder for trees to regrow after wildfires, according to a recent study. Kimberley Davis is lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research considered the aftereffects of 334 wildfires that occurred between 1984 and 2018, and how well eight species of conifer trees regenerated after those burns. Severe burns often wiped out the seed sources needed to regenerate conifer forests, and even when seeds were available, young trees struggled to survive in landscapes that were becoming hotter and drier. The study, however, did offer a ray of hope… there is a “window of opportunity,” over the next 2 decades, in which forest managers could use interventions such as controlled burns and tree thinning to reduce the likelihood of high-severity fires, allowing for forest regeneration rather than ecological transformation.

TAHOE CITY, Calif. — The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Cal Fire, on Monday announced that $142.6 million has been awarded, including a chunk for a Placer County project, for statewide investments in projects intended to enhance carbon storage while restoring the health and resilience of existing and recently burned forests. Cal Fire’s Forest Health Program is awarding 27 grants to local and regional partners implementing projects on state, local, tribal, federal, and private lands spanning over 75,000 acres and 24 counties. Fuels reduction and prescribed fire treatments funded under these grants are aimed at reducing excess vegetation and returning forest and oak woodlands to more fire, drought, and pest-resilient conditions.

Marie Alvarado-Gil

TRUCKEE, Calif. — California Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil’s bill that would expand a wildfire fuels reduction program has died in committee but the senator is committed to continuing to push for program expansion. Alvarado-Gil, whose area includes Truckee-Tahoe, authored Senate Bill 488 that would expand the Bioenergy Renewable Auction Mechanism program to community choice aggregation organizations, which are local nonprofits that allow communities to purchase electricity on behalf of residents and businesses in place of investor-owned utilities such as Pacific Gas & Electric. BioRAM has assisted California in its effort to increase the pace and rate of the removal of fuels and debris from the state’s burned areas and vulnerable forests, as well as, moving the maximum amount of that material as possible to a beneficial reuse facility.

A federal judge has ordered an injunction stalling the Knotty Pine timber project on 56,000 acres of Kootenai National Forest land until federal agencies address whether the construction of logging roads, as well as their illegal use, will harm isolated grizzly bear populations in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem. The April 24 order by U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen was issued in response to a lawsuit filed last year by conservation groups. The complaint accuses the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of failing to analyze the damage that logging and road use would have on grizzly bears living in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem Recovery Zone, a designation that is much smaller than the Northern Continental Divide or the Greater Yellowstone ecosystems. In his order, Christensen said the agencies failed to adequately account for the harm to grizzly bears from illegal roads when they authorized the Knotty Pine Project.

With more than 7 million acres of California’s forestland destroyed by wildfires from 2019 to 2021, CAL FIRE has been looking for ways to restore the state’s forests and may have found the answer with the state’s largest lumber company. On Dec. 6, CAL FIRE announced that they granted Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) $3 million for their “state-of-the-art” seedling nursery that will be growing native conifer trees. The grant funding is provided through a specific budget item in CAL FIRE’s 2021/2022 fiscal year to go towards supporting reforestation projects in California. CAL FIRE announced on Dec. 14, that they… are looking to grant $120 million of the total Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health budget for reforestation projects like SPI. …“Conifer seed is often a limiting factor in reforesting burned landscapes, Andrea Howell said. “SPI maintains a significant conifer seed bank and operates many conifer seed orchards.”

Darius Adams

Joseph Buongiorno

Richard Haynes

The 2023 Marcus Wallenberg Prize is awarded to Drs Darius M. Adams, Joseph Buongiorno and Richard Haynes for their development of the original and groundbreaking forest economic models TAMM and PAPYRUS and its extension to the global forest products model (GFPM). The need to analyze the impact of policies and other factors that influence forestry and the forest industries on a global, national, and regional level is increasing. Climate change put pressures on forest as carbon sinks, and population and income growth imply rising pressures on the demand of forest raw materials all over the world.  …The Marcus Wallenberg Prize 2023 will be presented by HM the King of Sweden at a ceremony in Stockholm in November.

A federal judge placed the Knotty Pine timber sale in the Kootenai National Forest on hold until the U.S. Forest Service can explain how its road building won’t hurt grizzly bears in the area. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled a group of environmental organizations would likely win their challenge in his Monday decision enjoining the project near Libby. Knotty Pine included 2,593 acres of logging, precommercial thinning on 2,099 acres, fuels reduction burning on 4,757 acres and prescribed burning on 7,465 acres. Some of the burning work was anticipated to start in May. It would involve 35 miles of road maintenance, and 5 miles of new or temporary roads. The environmental groups raised several issues, but the judge concentrated on two: whether federal planners properly accounted for the impact logging roads would have on grizzly habitat and whether the 1,300-acre project failed to disclose how that area would be accessed without harming the bears.

A federal appeals court ruling has upheld the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon and northwest California, after Oregon-based timber company Murphy sued the federal government over a 2017 expansion of the monument. Murphy argued it interfered with laws requiring the government to set aside land for timber production. The 9th Circuit Court said the Oregon and California Lands Act (O&C Act), doesn’t say all these forest lands should be used for timber production. They added the law also includes directives to protect watersheds and provide recreational opportunities. “In rejecting Murphy’s lawsuit, the Ninth Circuit today definitively concluded that conserving O&C Lands for their ecological values is consistent with the law,” said Susan Jane Brown, senior attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “Confirming BLM’s discretion to manage the O&C Lands for conservation values is essential to ensuring these lands will continue to provide ecosystem services for future generations.”

Fire-resilient forests have a ripple effect — from trees to landscapes to communities — as their benefits spread beyond their borders to all of us. The 275,000-acre North Yuba Landscape within California’s Tahoe National Forest is one of the largest contiguous unburned areas remaining in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was selected for the Wildfire Crisis Strategy in 2022 as a high-risk landscape. The North Yuba is also home to several communities, including Downieville… Like many other small towns within forested lands in the West, Downieville is exposed to significant wildfire risks due to rising temperatures, enduring drought and an overabundance of living and dead trees on the land. …At first it is hard to see the need to remove anything. The sea of green seems like a positive thing… But consider drought years when these trees and shrubs are water stressed and drying. Then the vegetation becomes potential fuel for a fire.

A bill advancing in the Alaska Legislature would dramatically shorten the time needed to approve the logging of some state-owned lands, shrinking approval time from years to days in the most extreme cases. Proponents say the bill will alleviate fire danger and revitalize the state’s dwindling logging industry by expanding the amount of timber that can be sold from public land, but legislative and public critics have noted that the bill’s lack of specificity gives the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources almost unlimited discretion to decide what forests can be speedily sold and cut. …If passed by the Legislature and approved by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the bill would allow the state to more quickly sell forests that are threatened by fire, need to be cleared for development, or have been killed by insects, disease or prior fires.

A case brought by an Oregon-based advocacy group challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s use of aerial fire retardant is in federal court, with a judge now tasked on deciding how the agency can use retardant this summer while it seeks Environmental Protection Agency guidance. …The ethics group is requesting the court grant an injunction against the Forest Service, barring it from depositing fire retardant into U.S. streams and rivers until a permit comes through from the EPA. …the Forest Service is in the process of getting a permit from the EPA, but it could take between two and three years. Missoula U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen said he’s aware of the impending fire season and wants to act with a sense of urgency. …Julian Ellis Jr., an attorney representing wildfire stakeholders, argued that the Forest Service’s role in firefighting is paramount, and that retardant is a critical tool in the firefighter’s toolkit.

Upcoming favorable weather allows the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management to begin ignitions on a multi-day prescribed burn project nine miles southeast of Sonoita in Santa Cruz County. The Babacomari Ranch RX Burn starts Tuesday, April 25, through Thursday, April 27, and is weather dependent. Firing operations are planned daily starting in the late afternoon or evening hours. The later ignitions are due to a multitude of reasons, including predicted low relative humidities, more ideal and safer weather conditions, and better predictable winds. …Burn managers expect smoke to settle into the lower elevations throughout the night. This prescribed burn is a multi-year project that started in 2019 to reduce hazardous fuels around the ranch. The primary objective of the project is to provide wildfire protection through strategically placed fire to reduce overloaded fuel to protect adjacent communities, key infrastructure, and other values at risk as the 2023 wildfire season unfolds. 

BILLINGS, Mont. — A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires after environmentalists raised concerns about waterways that are being polluted. A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — said a court ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk. An advocacy group that’s suing the agency claims officials are flouting a federal clean water law by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers. The group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, requested an injunction blocking officials from using aerial retardant until they get a pollution permit. …California Forestry Association President Matt Dias said the prospect of not having fire retardant available to a federal agency that plays a key role on many blazes was “terrifying.”

PHOENIX — Arizona is investing $6 million in federal funding to increase its tree cover in disadvantaged communities and create more green spaces, the Department of Forestry and Fire Management announced. The agency’s Urban and Community Forestry program will use the funds from the U.S. Forest Service to offer grants for municipalities, tribal organizations, non-profits and schools to increase shade, manage trees and assist with heat resiliency. …Phoenix’s urban trees also store 305,000 tons of carbon and removes 35,400 tons of carbon from the air every year, according to the city. But trees only account for 9% of shade in Phoenix, and not every neighborhood sees the same coverage. As the tree canopy map shows, areas in southwest Phoenix have less than 10% tree canopy cover, while northeastern sections of the city have over 14%.

Lance Davisson

Robert Maynard

The Society of American Foresters is the nonprofit national society for forestry professionals. We are a resource for education and assistance in sustainable forest conservation and management, in the urban as well as rural areas of Idaho and nationwide. Our local SAF Snake River Chapter of foresters actively participate in environmentally sound stewardship of our community and regional forests for public benefits. The Treasure Valley Canopy Network is comprised of public and private sector professionals and volunteers who recognize the value that trees and forests provide for the Treasure Valley. Through collaboration, innovation and information sharing, they work to sustain and enhance our region’s urban forest. In our SAF “Foresters for All Idaho Forests” project, these two organizations have partnered together to further grow and improve our forest assets to help build healthy, vibrant, sustainable Treasure Valley communities and forests across Idaho. We appreciate this opportunity to share our work and tell our story.

The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the United States and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. …The largely intact stands of old growth also make Tongass the “national carbon champion representing 44% of the entire ecosystem carbon of the entire national forest system.” … On January 25, 2023, the Tongass made headlines when the U.S. Forest Service repealed the Trump-era Alaska Roadless Rule. Former President Trump’s Alaska Roadless Rule had exempted Alaska from existing roadless area restrictions, opening these areas up to road construction and timber harvesting. …The U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted the 2001 Roadless Rule “to protect and conserve roadless areas on National Forest System lands.” …By ensuring that the Tongass’ roadless areas remain closed to new road construction and timber harvests, the Biden administration has protected millions of acres of pristine backcountry that support a flourishing local recreation economy. 

This is a critical moment for Seattle’s urban forest, as our City Council members prepare to vote on an updated tree protection ordinance next week. We know that Seattle’s trees — especially our largest trees that provide lifesaving canopy coverage, alongside many other health and environmental benefits — are in steep decline. But while it’s commonly assumed we know the shape of the problem and have ideas on how to fix it, we should be questioning the assumptions that this new ordinance will bake into law. But how can the public possibly make good decisions without knowing the basic facts about the resources we have? How many large trees does Seattle actually have? This missing information is a surprising gap at the heart of the current policymaking effort, and it means the ordinance is not being informed by all the facts.

The tens of thousands of poplar trees near Missoula’s wastewater treatment plant are not long for this world. The trees, well over 30,000 of them, were planted in 2014 on 130 acres near the facility just to the south of Mullan Road. The city’s goal was to find a cost-efficient way to suck phosphorous and nitrogen out of treated wastewater instead of letting those nutrients flow into the river where a buildup of algae can kill fish, block light to deeper water and clog small channels. …”When they were planted there was a big mill out in Boardman, Oregon, and poplars were planted to feed that mill,” Logan McInnis, the city’s deputy director of utilities explained. “Subsequent to planting the market fell through and the mill closed. And that eliminated the market we had been planning.” …The city is testing to see if the trees could get mulched and replaced with alfalfa.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Montana Senator Steve Daines have introduced a bipartisan piece of legislation aimed at creating specialized wildland firefighting training for students in the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center. The “Civilian Conservation Center Enhancement Act of 2023” directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior to offer this kind of training. The bill would create a pipeline for young people to enter into careers fighting fires and caring for public lands. …The legislation would set a goal for both the USDA and DOI to hire 300 students a year and provide a direct hire authority specific to CCC graduates to expedite that process. The U.S. Forest Service operates 24 Civilian Conservation Centers nationwide, including three in Oregon and two in Montana. Officials say these centers are important in the fight to protect national forests and grasslands from wildfires.

MONTANA — A Douglas fir beetle outbreak has resulted in the loss of more than 1,000 trees on Mount Helena, and the city of Helena’s Open Lands Division is working this spring to address the outbreak that has affected trees throughout the city’s open spaces. On April 17 and 18, city staff attached 900 pheromone capsules to trees on the north face of Mount Helena to deter beetles from infesting new trees this summer. Helena Open Lands Manager Brad Langsather said… the outbreak has resulted in losses throughout the city’s open lands system, but where the Douglas fir beetles differ from the pine bark beetles, is that the former’s infestations tend to be site specific, with mortality concentrated in epicenters. He said heavy, wet snowstorms in 2017 severely weakened trees on the landscape, and the Douglas fir beetles took advantage. The open lands crew has been tracking the ongoing infestations since then.

Registration and housing reservations for the 37th Forest Products Machinery & Equipment EXPO, presented by the Southern Forest Products Association, are now open! The three-day biannual tradeshow, to be held August 23-25, 2023, at the Music City Center in Nashville, will provide attendees with solutions for nearly every stage of manufacturing. From raw material handling to crane operations; metal detection and scanning technologies; log optimization, drying, grading, sorting, packaging, and distribution, there’s an exhibiting company representative on site to explore these solutions with you face to face. Since 1950, EXPO has provided the place for both hardwood and softwood sawmillers to gather, celebrate new technology, network, and learn about the industry’s latest products. EXPO 2023 will feature more than 52,000+ square feet of exhibit space and 170+ exhibiting companies, with a mix of longtime exhibitors and first-time companies representing their products and services.

The U.S. Forest Service approved a plan last month that will provide a boost to the forest products industry in the Black Hills National Forest by allowing for surplus fire salvage logs from areas with excess materials. The program was announced as wildfires in the West have been growing in size and severity. Neiman Enterprises, a forest products company with facilities in Hulett and Spearfish, South Dakota, will receive these logs to supplement their operations. “The project is actually starting in the Klamath National Forest, which is the northern part of California, [and then] transporting the salvage timber after the catastrophic wildfires over there and transporting it to Wyoming,” said Sonja Merryman, spokeswoman for Neiman Enterprises. “The reason is because the sheer magnitude of these fires far surpassed the capacity for the milling infrastructure nearby, so they’re transporting this timber to sawmills that would have that capacity.”