WASHINGTON — Employees at the Longview paper mill NORPAC narrowly voted against unionizing last month in the staff’s first effort to organize. The National Labor Board reports of the 226 votes counted on March 1, 110 chose to unionize and 116 voted against unionization. NORPAC reports 85% of employees eligible to vote for unionization participated in the count. A NORPAC representative said this was the first time employees voted on whether to unionize at the Longview mill. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 21, filed the petition for NORPAC to vote on whether to unionize last fall. NORPAC’s unionization vote count was tallied Feb. 22; then a revised count was finished March 1 after challenges were made to some ballots, the National Labor Board reports.
LAS VEGAS — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is impacting the U.S. in many ways, and now the supply chain for building materials is taking a hit. Experts say the price of lumber continues to go up significantly, and with sanctions placed on one of the largest providers of wood in the world, they expect the cost to get worse. With those factors at play, it would be an understatement to say things are tough for local developers and builders right now, and they fear what will happen next. …Market insiders say Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is one a reason for this price surge. Since the attack began, prices have jumped approximately 14%. Sanctions have been placed on Russia, one of the largest lumber exporters in the world.
When most of us think about sustainability, we think about fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases. …carbon emissions from the buildings we work in are a major contributor to climate change. But thanks to new approaches to construction being developed here in Sacramento, commercial buildings are becoming more sustainable than ever before. One of the hidden sources of greenhouse gases is known as embodied carbon… By far the biggest contributors to carbon pollution in the construction process are the materials that builders use. According to Architecture 2030, just three of them – concrete, steel, and aluminum – are responsible for 23% of total global emissions. …Instead of concrete, savvy builders can use lumber or bamboo, which are sustainable materials that significantly reduce embodied carbon. …By focusing on embodied carbon and making a commitment to eliminating unnecessary greenhouse gases, Sacramento construction companies can help build a path to an eco-friendly future.
The Western redcedar is an iconic Pacific Northwest tree, but it may need human help to stay healthy. On March 19, volunteers will plant young redcedars at Tacoma’s Swan Creek Park in a grassroots, classroom-focused effort to learn how these distinctive, beautiful giants can stand up to a changing climate. The event supports the Open Redcedar Adaptation Network, a new project that Joseph Hulbert, postdoctoral fellow in Washington State University’s Department of Plant Pathology, is developing. …Redcedar plantings will help public school educators bring climate adaptation research into their lessons. It will also help scientists study whether trees adapted to climate in Oregon are better suited for a drier, warmer environment. Educators and students can measure trees, compare growth between Oregon and Washington seed zones, and then share the data with classes throughout the region.
Big trees play an outsized role in old-growth forests—from offering fire resistance to producing strong genetic offspring… New research gives managers yet another reason to honor the behemoths—big trees protect melting snowpacks in water-stressed environments. The research from … the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University and … Oregon State University, details the ecological puzzle for how big trees interact with forest snow. …The wide branches of big trees that prevent snow from reaching the ground directly under a tree also provide a cooling stretch of shade that blocks direct sunlight from melting snow across a fairly wide radius surrounding a tree. And the savings are significant; they can outweigh both the detriment of canopy cover and longwave energy. …But spaced-out trees need to be both healthy and big for the equation to work. …thick tree canopies cast the most shade. And tall trees cast shade further…
Tribal members from across Northern California joined with environmentalists Monday in support of efforts by the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians to halt logging in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest in central Mendocino County. About 180 people, many wearing yellow “Pomo Land Back” T-shirts, watched traditional dancers from several local tribes perform ancestral songs. The celebration underscored the need to preserve the region’s Native American culture and ancient customs, some of which are tied to the sprawling forest. …The tribe is working with the California Natural Resources Agency under initiatives by Gov. Gavin Newsom to improve Native American access to ancestral lands that are owned or under control of the state. The tribe ultimately would like to enter into a comanagement agreement with the state for the forest, which covers roughly twice the square mileage of the city of San Francisco.
Researchers have found that forested basins of the western United States saw significant increases in streamflows for about six years following large wildfires. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences suggests that “increasing forest fire activity is unhinging streamflow from its historically predictable response to climate variability. Researchers attribute enhanced streamflows following wildfire to the loss of trees, which draw moisture out of the soil; the loss of canopy cover, which intercepts precipitation before it reaches the ground; and the way wildfire can “bake” soils, making them water-repellant. Climate modeling indicates the next three decades will bring a higher frequency of fire seasons like 2020’s, which set a modern record for forested area burned across the western U.S. “…entire regions will likely experience more streamflow than expected, potentially enhancing human access to water but posing hazard management challenges,” they wrote. 
FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — The U.S. Forest Service has completed an environmental review that paves the way for large-scale thinning projects and prescribed burns along a prominent line of ponderosa pines and mixed conifer that divide Arizona’s desert from the high country. The agency released hundreds of pages of documents for the Rim Country Project that’s part of a larger effort to reduce the risk of wildfire on 3,750 square miles of national forest. Known as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, it’s the largest of its kind. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at-risk communities should see the pace of such projects increase over the coming years, partly because of money from the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill and a commitment from the Biden administration to aggressively thin forests that bump up against urban areas.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are co-sponsoring the River Democracy Act which would add nearly 4,700 miles of Oregon Streams to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. If passed, the bill would also require comprehensive land use management and planning on listed streams, and set aside $30 million per year for restoration projects. Joining us are Nella Mae Parks, a reporter at the Daily Yonder, and Alex Baumhardt, a reporter at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, to talk about the River Democracy bill and opposition to it, led by logging industry lobbyists.
DECKERS, Colo. — Dripping flaming fuel as they go, a line of workers slowly descends a steep, snow-covered hillside above central Colorado’s South Platte River, torching piles of woody debris that erupt into flames shooting two stories high. It’s winter in the Rocky Mountains, and fresh snow cover allowed the crew of 11 to safely confine the controlled burn. Such operations are a central piece of the Biden administration’s $50 billion plan to reduce the density of western forests that have been exploding into firestorms as climate change bakes the region. But the same warming trends that worsen wildfires will also challenge the administration’s attempts to guard against them. Increasingly erratic weather means snow is not always there when needed to safely burn off tall debris piles… Across the Rockies, piles of slash and trees span some 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares), waiting to be burned once the right amount of snow is on the ground. 
DECKERS, Colorado — Dripping flaming fuel as they go, a line of workers slowly descends a steep, snow-covered hillside above central Colorado’s South Platte River. …It’s winter in the Rocky Mountains, and fresh snow cover allowed the crew of 11 to safely confine the controlled burn. Such operations are a central piece of the Biden administration’s $50 billion plan to reduce the density of western forests that have been exploding into firestorms as climate change bakes the region. But the same warming trends that worsen wildfires will also challenge the administration’s attempts to guard against them. Increasingly erratic weather means snow is not always there when needed to safely burn off tall debris piles like those on Colorado’s Pike-San Isabel National Forest. And that seriously complicates the job of exhausted firefighters, now forced into service year-round.
Devastating and deadly wildfires are not just happening during the summer months anymore, but year-round. The U. S. Forest Service says wildfire risk has reached crisis level. …And now firefighters are making a major adjustment from the top down. …”Fires are burning with stronger volatility than I ever remember. So we are adjusting,” said Shawn Borgen, superintendent of the Flathead Hotshots. That adjustment includes a new wildfire crisis strategy put out by the U.S. Forest Service. It addresses everything from outdated forest management policies of total fire suppression, to climate change and expanded development into forested areas, known as the wildland-urban interface. The plan of attack includes ramping up prescribed burns and vegetation thinning efforts to four times what is currently being done. …How did we get here? …A 1911 federal policy put a halt to using ground fires for thining and adopted a full suppression strategy in the 1930s.
The company tasked with thinning hundreds of thousands of acres of northern Arizona’s forests has been issued a $200 million bond to ramp up work. It comes as large-scale restoration in the region has moved at a slow pace for nearly a decade. Goldman Sachs issued the bond to NewLife Forest Restoration. It’s included in what’s known as the U.S. green bond market, and mandates specific targets for thinned acreage every year. NewLife holds the nation’s largest U.S. Forest Service stewardship contract at 300,000 acres for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative. But the company has struggled to keep up with the pace and scale of the thinning work averaging only about 1,700 acres annually for the last nine years. 
…While Oregon has made real progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, emissions reductions alone are not enough. …Luckily, our oldest, simplest, and most-cost effective climate solutions – forests – have yet to be fully utilized to combat climate change. Forests on America’s public lands have been logged extensively over the past century and the natural, historic levels of carbon on the landscape have been severely depleted. While trees can live for centuries, most wood products only last a few decades, and much of this carbon ends up in the atmosphere. Experts estimate that as much as 95% of primary forests …have been lost in the United States. …The good news is we’ve already started recovering carbon stores in forests through better management under the Northwest Forest Plan, which helped slow logging and allowed our Pacific Northwest public forests to switch from a carbon emissions source to a carbon sink, but these practices alone are no longer enough.
The Colorado State Forest Service published its annual forest health report this week, highlighting the current conditions of state forests and how the agency is improving their health despite persistent drought and historic wildfires. The report shows how years of dry conditions have stressed forests across the state, creating ideal conditions for insect outbreaks and large wildfires that threaten Colorado’s communities, water supplies and the many benefits forests provide. The report emphasizes the need to reduce wildfire fuels through forest management and prepare more communities for inevitable wildfires. “This is a unique moment for Colorado’s forests,” said Matt McCombs, state forester and director of the CSFS. …“In this report, we look at the trends driving these forest health challenges and what the Colorado State Forest Service is doing to protect our forests and help communities adapt to a new normal for wildfire.”
This week, Oregon lawmakers approved a bill that establishes the Elliott State Research Forest on more than 82,000 acres in the coast range near Coos Bay. The Elliott is a unique tract of coastal forest originally meant to generate logging revenue for Oregon’s K-12 schools. Conservation groups and others long worked to halt that practice and keep the forest intact. Josh Laughlin, Executive Director of Cascadia Wildlands in Eugene said Senate Bill 1546 preserves the forest for education and research. … Oregon State University will lead research on climate, species, and forestry. There will be some logging in designated areas. The forest will remain in public ownership with public access. The bill was approved by the house Thursday after being passed in the senate Tuesday. At a press briefing following the legislature’s adjournment Friday, Gov. Kate Brown hailed the bill as one of the top accomplishments of the 2022 session.
SALEM — State lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly in favor of new logging standards negotiated by timber and environmental groups under the Private Forest Accord compromise. Senate Bill 1501, which enshrines the deal into law, was approved by the state House on Thursday in a 43-15 vote. The Senate on Wednesday voted 22 to 5 for the legislation. Representatives of timber and environmental groups struck the deal last year after a year of talks mediated by the office of Gov. Kate Brown… “Thank you to legislators from both parties for coming together to pass this historic legislative package,” Brown said. “The Private Forest Accord is a perfect example of the Oregon Way — Oregonians coming together to find common ground, to the mutual benefit of us all. …Under the agreement, small forestland owners are subject to less rigorous logging restrictions in recognition of their tendency to grow trees on a longer rotation cycle.
Research on the ground following two large wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range showed the vast majority of carbon stored in trees before the blazes was still there after the fires. …the findings are an important step toward understanding the connection between wildfires and climate-change-inducing carbon emissions, according to a scientific collaboration that included Mark Harmon of Oregon State University. …While satellite- and LiDAR-based research has suggested as much as 85% of living trees’ biomass combusts in California’s big fires, the study led by Harmon, professor emeritus in the OSU College of Forestry, indicates the amount of combusted biomass is less than 2%. …If fire-killed trees are allowed to remain in place, the natural decomposition process might take decades to hundreds of years to release the trees’ carbon. …”The effects of salvaging and putting some of that wood into durable wood products need to be fully investigated,” Harmon said.
Wildfires are becoming more prominent and prevalent in the Western United States every passing year. One contributing factor to these fires is bark beetles… According to Brigham Young University chemical engineering professor Andrew Fry, there are some forests where over 70 percent of the trees are dead and standing. These dead trees are the perfect fuel for severe wildfires. To help solve this problem BYU researchers are developing new ways to convert these dead, decaying trees into a fuel that can be used in coal power plants. The use of this type of fuel reduces net carbon emissions. Fry said, “if we can reduce the wildland fire potential and offset some carbon emissions, it has more advantages.” …Fry and his team worked to create a biomass fuel that would be safe for power plants to use with confidence. …The researchers plan to make biomass fuel a viable long-term option for coal-fired power plants.
A second wildfire ignited Thursday in the Cleveland National Forest, where crews were already working to control the