Blog Archives

Finance & Economics

Forest Service: Timber Sales in Fiscal Years 2014-2023

By Cardell Johnson
US Government Accountability Office
December 19, 2024
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

The Forest Service sells timber that can be used to build homes and make paper products, among other things… Goals for timber sales are set yearly but the Forest Service has missed those goals by about 10% in recent years. According to the agency, factors such as staffing and buyer interest affected timber sales… The Forest Service’s average timber target was about 6,281,000 hundred cubic feet (CCF) per year, and its average amount of timber sold was about 5,590,000 CCF per year, from fiscal years 2014 through 2023. The Forest Service did not meet its targets for the amount of timber sold for any of the years from fiscal years 2014–2023. Full report available here.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

How to Build More Homes Quicker

By Ehsan Noroozinejad and T.Y. Yang
The Tyee
January 2, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

In 2024, the Canadian government released a new housing plan aimed at building more homes and addressing housing unaffordability. As part of that plan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that $600 million in funding will be provided to build homes cheaper and quicker using “innovative technologies.” The funding is earmarked for building more housing, including prefab and modular homes, by automating processes and using materials like mass timber construction, robotics and 3D printing… Building materials like mass timber, including cross-laminated timber, offer a renewable low-carbon substitute for conventional materials, reducing a building’s carbon footprint. These modern methods have been successful internationally, producing quality construction that is quickly completedHowever, systematic obstacles like governmental inertia and mismatched incentives must also be tackled to unlock their full potential in Canada.

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B.C. researchers aim to make the perfect T-shirt — from lumber

By Stefan Labbe
Business in Vancouver
January 9, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

A B.C. researcher looking to make the perfect T-shirt has turned to a material so ubiquitous it’s been both a major source of the province’s wealth and the bane of its international trade agreements: softwood lumber. Stephanie Phillips, a researcher at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Wilson School of Design, has been working with colleagues at the University of British Columbia to create a high-quality T-shirt that surpasses all others. Why a T-shirt? “It’s really easy to look at. It’s really easy for people to understand. It’s what I call an archetypical product,” Phillips said.  The research is the latest B.C.-based effort to try to make the fashion industry more sustainable… “Canada hasn’t really been a big contributor to the textile industry, and it would be lovely to make our mark”.

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Going Against The Grain With Mass Timber Structures

By Jeffrey Steele
Forbes
December 19, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Mass timber – a type of engineered wood product created by bonding multiple layers of wood together — is drawing increased interest from developers, the construction industry and environmentalists. A lower carbon footprint than traditional concrete and steel, fire safety and strength and durability are all adding to that excitement. A study by the Environmental and Engineering Study Institute found building with mass timber rather than concrete and steel could slash emissions associated with building materials by 13% to 26.5%. Mercer International has calculated that with a steady projected growth rate of 6% from 2022-31, the global mass timber construction market valued at $857 million in 2021 should reach $1.5 billion by 2031.

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Forestry

The Law Society Takes Conflicts of Interest Seriously: Knocking on Wood

By Noel Semple
Slaw Magazine
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

For several years, McMillan LLP has been a go-to law firm for the Paper Excellence corporation. This large Canadian forestry company has been represented by McMillan on transactions worth over $6 billion. The ethical problem arose when McMillan took on a new retainer, for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). That client’s main work is administering the “FSC” certification, which you may have seen stamped on some wood products… One of FSC’s rules is that, in order to remain certified, a company must not only avoid destructive forest practices, but must also not be “indirectly involved” with companies that do so… In November 2023, Greenpeace alleged that Paper Excellence was effectively a corporate sibling of Asia Pulp & Paper, insofar as both were controlled by Indonesian forestry company Sinar Mas. That allegation was contested by Paper Excellence, and so the FSC sought corporate law expertise to conduct a review. The firm that FSC hired was none other than McMillan LLP.

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Canadians Back Stronger Forest Protections as Wealthy Nations Face Scrutiny

By Jody MacPherson
The Energy Mix
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

A call for international alignment on nature protection Canada and other wealthy countries for “double standards” in managing their forests, just as a new poll reveals most Canadians support stronger safeguards for nature at home. But that support may not be enough to sway their voting decisions… New polling data suggests most Canadians agree that stronger safeguards are needed at home—but opinions diverge when it comes to how platform and policy influence voting choices… 84% of respondents across the political spectrum agreed the government should take stronger action to protect forests and wildlife. About two-thirds, or 68%, said they would be reluctant to vote for a party that made no commitments to safeguard nature.

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Minister of Forests Visits Terrace, Hopeful for Industry

By Jaylene Matthews
CFTK-TV BC North
January 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The newly appointed BC Forests Minister was visiting the Northwest this week and says the forests industry is looking hopeful in the region. BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar has been meeting with local workers, community leaders and first nations leaders in the leadup to the BC Natural Resources Forum, to talk about the future of forestry. “And I think, it was perfect to see the light, the sun shining because, I’m feeling optimistic, as is the community about the future of forestry for, for this community in particular, but also for the region as well.” Parmar’s very first decision he made as Minister of Forests was to approve a tenure license tied to the Skeena sawmills for the Kitsumkalum First Nation.

In related news: Bulkley Valley community invited for foresting planning open house

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$33.3M land purchase will help protect water supply

By Jeff Bell
Victoria Times Colonist
January 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A $33.3-million agreement to purchase the Kapoor Lumber Company lands next to the Sooke Lake Reservoir and the Sooke Lake Watershed will provide a buffer to help make the region’s main water supply more secure, says the Capital Regional District’s board chair. Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith said the CRD has identified acquiring the lands as a priority for years, but the 4,875-acre (1.973-hectare) parcel only recently became available. The purchase was recommended by the Regional Water Supply Commission, and will be funded through long-term debt to be repaid by water users over many years… Under its agreement with the CRD, the Kapoor Lumber Company, which began in the 1920s, will continue to use sustainable logging practices in the parcel until September, when the CRD assumes ownership.

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Lawsuit looks to protect Shuswap farmers’ water from logging

By Heather Black
Today in BC – Black Press
January 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A group of Shuswap farmers in Turtle Valley near Chase have filed lawsuits against BC Timber Sales (BCTS) in an effort to protect their drinking water. The Upper Chum Creek Water Users Association, as well as impacted farmers Christine and Scott Adderson and Hillary and John McNolty, have filed a judicial review petition and notices of civil claim in supreme court to try and stop the BCTS’ planned auction of four cut blocks in the Skimikin and Ptarmigan Hills… Bids close on Jan. 15, but impacted water users hope to halt the process through legal action after trying for over a year to have BCTS complete a hydrologic assessment of the proposed logging.

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Human recreation pushing the forest’s largest carnivores further than previously thought

By Michael Brown
The University of Alberta
January 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Human recreation on mountain trails is displacing grizzly bears and wolves from their natural habitats, even when the trails are hundreds of metres away, according to a new study from the University of Alberta. The research underscores the need for more effective planning to ensure that recreationists and wildlife can coexist, particularly in the busy Bow River Valley, which has long served as a natural corridor connecting the prairies to the Continental Divide… Though trails that never receive any use from humans have little to no effect on wildlife, only half of grizzlies studied would venture within 300 metres of trails with the highest human use. This effect was more pronounced in wary wolves, whose radius of comfort extended to 600 metres from the busiest trails. “We initially thought bears might use hiking trails as efficient routes when humans weren’t around, but they actually avoid these areas altogether,” says the author.

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Lil’wat Forestry launches old-growth forest research project

By Luke Faulks
The Pique News Magazine
December 24, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lil’wat Forestry Ventures (LFV) is leading a data-collection project to assess old-growth areas within the First Nation’s traditional territory. The Old Growth Stewardship Data Collection Project will give the Nation a snapshot of the forest to help promote wildfire management, wildlife habitats and the growth of traditional plants. The key to the project is old-growth forest management. Decades of fire suppression policies preventing forest fires have led to unnaturally dense forests that don’t leave enough space for native plants and wildlife to thrive. “I’m sure if you live in the Sea to Sky, you see how thick some of the forests are,” said Klay Tindall, general manager at LFV. “That’s not normal.”

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The Canoe in the Forest

By Joshua Hunt
Hakai Magazine – Coastal Science and Societies
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

For decades, much of Sealaska’s revenue has been tied to the extraction of resources from its significant landholdings, including the patch of old-growth forest where the canoe was found. The scout who discovered the site was far from the waterline, high up in the kind of steep terrain considered ideal for helicopter logging, when he noticed an unusual number of stumps for a site where cutting had not yet begun. Then he noticed that many of the fallen logs next to those stumps were missing sections of their trunks up to 10 meters long. Only after finding a single canoe that had been carved but not hauled away did he realize where the missing sections had gone.

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Halalt First Nation sues North Cowichan, forestry firm over logging practices

By Larry Pynn
The Tyee
December 12, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Halalt First Nation in the Cowichan Valley has launched a class-action lawsuit against private forest giant Mosaic Forest Management and three levels of government for damages related to flooding on the band’s reserve on the lower Chemainus River. The B.C. Supreme Court action names several “forestry defendants,” and the Municipality of North Cowichan for logging that contributed to downstream flooding. …The suit alleges the forestry defendants “conducted their forestry operations in a careless and reckless manner” by overharvesting and failing to manage and clear harmful logging debris. It also says logging caused increased surface runoff, sedimentation and riverbank erosion in the Chemainus River watershed. …The suit also names the federal and provincial governments, Island Corridor Foundation and Managed Forest Council, which is an independent provincial agency. All three levels of government also declined to comment on the legal action. …Halalt Chief James Thomas declined to comment at this time.

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Mackenzie Region wins Forest Capital of Canada title two years in a row

By Ethan Montague
My Grande Prairie Now
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Mackenzie Region of Alberta has been named the Forest Capital of Canada for the second year in a row. The FCC designation has been a tradition across the country every year since 1979 and is awarded by the Canadian Institute of Forestry. The award aims to celebrate communities or regions for their connection to the forest, and Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen says his riding, Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, continues to embrace the natural beauty in its own backyard. “Congratulations to the Mackenzie Region for being recognized as the Forest Capital of Canada for the second consecutive year,” he says. “This title reflects the region’s connection to our natural environment and its commitment to forestry education and responsible stewardship.”

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Dead and dying trees important to B.C. ecosystems, says biologist

By Jessica Durling
Nanaimo News Bulletin
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dead or dying trees, also called snags, are sometimes viewed as an eyesore, but a B.C. scientist is warning that if they don’t present a safety hazard, it’s important to leave them be… Among B.C. bats, 14 of 15 species roost in trees, 11 roost in dead trees and eight of them roost exclusively in dead trees… Other species, like chickadees and nuthatches, require trees that were dead for even longer, so their beak can penetrate the ‘spongy’ wood… A solution was the wildlife danger tree assessor’s course, developed as a partnership between the B.C. government and the University of Northern B.C., which teaches professionals to identify the differences between a safe snag and a dangerous one. These factors include the tree’s root system and the direction the tree may fall.

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As climate change threatens Christmas trees, the farming industry tries to evolve

By Emily Mae Czachor and Tracy J. Wholf
CBS News
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

People around the world are adorning homes and businesses with festive holiday decor, which typically means an abundance of Christmas trees are on display. In the U.S., they pop up everywhere from the average living room to the Rockefeller Center plaza in Manhattan and the White House in Washington, D.C. But climate change threatens to complicate the tradition. Christmas trees, like any other crop, are affected by the general rise in temperature associated with global warming and the extreme weather events that result from it… Estimates from North Carolina State suggest upwards of 40,000 acres of land are dedicated to Christmas tree production statewide, with 5 or 6 million trees harvested annually for a collective retail value of $250 million or more.

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Time for Gov. Kotek to look at saving Oregon’s old-growth forests

By Noah Greenwald
Oregon Capital Chronicle
January 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

In 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order calling for the protection of the last mature and old-growth forests on federal lands, but the Trump administration poses an existential threat to what’s left of these ancient trees… Last year the Oregon Board of Forestry, which oversees state forest management, approved proceeding with a habitat conservation plan that will make roughly 45% of our state forests off limits to most logging. Unfortunately, roughly 9,500 acres of mature and old-growth forest, nearly one-quarter of what remains, have been left out of these conservation areas and will be clear-cut. This is where Kotek’s leadership is badly needed. She can provide a ray of hope in light of Trump’s vow to let timber and other extractive industries plunder our federal public lands.

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Forest Officials Reopen Public Engagement Process on Long-awaited Flathead River Management Plan

By Tristan Scott
The Flathead Beacon
January 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Resource managers tasked with managing the Flathead River’s three forks under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act announced they’re rebooting a public-engagement process despite falling short of a goal to have completed the draft plan and environmental assessment months ago. The Flathead National Forest published its “proposed action” document for public review on the agency’s project website... The document lays out several recommendations to mitigate direct human impacts to natural resources, including prohibiting motor-vehicle camping or parking on gravel bars; requiring solid human waste containment within 200 feet of the river’s edge; and requiring a metal fire pan or fire blanket for campfires above and below the high-water mark within the Wild and Scenic River corridor on the North and Middle forks… The last management plan was adopted in 1980.

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Tree farmers with deep West Seattle roots win national award

By Anne Higuera
West Seattle Blog
December 29, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Robert Wise, 1960

If you go to a tree nursery, they will often tell you that the best time to plant a tree is today. For one West Seattle family, the best time started 70 years ago, when their grandfather began purchasing regenerating timberland with an eye to the future. Just this month, Robert Wise’s vision and his family’s work stewarding that land led to his grandchildren and their spouses being named National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year by the American Forest Foundation… While the Wises were raising their two sons and daughter in the city, Robert wasn’t initially able to realize the dream of owning his own timberland. But in 1954, he had the opportunity.

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Shrubs Can Help or Hinder a Forest’s Recovery After Wildfire

By Emily C. Dooley
UC Davis
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Research from the University of Californiais shedding light on when and where to plant tree seedlings to help restore forests after high-severity wildfires, and it has a lot to do with shrubs.  In hotter, drier areas where natural regeneration is weaker, well-timed tree planting can boost recovery by up to 200%, but the outcome also depends on competition with shrubs, a paper in the journal Forest Ecology and Management concludes… In areas where a lot of shrubs are present, it’s best to plant seedlings within a year of a wildfire to avoid competition from these woody plants. In areas with fewer shrubs, planting three years after a fire is more effective because some of these woody plants would have grown back, but not so many to consume available nutrients and water.

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The Bubs’ Ethan Tapper on His New Book About Forestry

By Chris Farnsworth
Seven Days Vermont
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Ethan Tapper

It might surprise some to know that when he’s not creating a ruckus onstage, Tapper, 36, spends most of his days barely uttering a sound, hiking and snowshoeing through the forests of Vermont. By day, Tapper is a forester, managing private and public woods across the state. And he’s a good one. In 2021, the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance named him Forester of the Year… “When I started as a forester, I was so worried other people would find out I was in a punk band,” Tapper said… One song on the Bubs’ latest record, Make a Mess, ties directly to Tapper’s day job. The title track is inspired by his love for forest ecology and how he exalts in, well, making a mess in the woods.

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Brazil paper and pulp industry invests in blockchain to comply with EUDR

By Karla Mendes
Mongabay
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) won’t affect the operations of Brazil’s paper and pulp industry, which has already traced its supply chains “from farm to factory” for more than two decades and doesn’t source from illegal deforested areas, the country’s industry association says. However, the fulfillment of some specific EUDR requirements compel companies to invest in blockchain and other technologies, which could increase the cost per ton of pulp by up to $230, according to the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá)… The EUDR, initially planned to come into effect this month and recently postponed for another year, will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas… In Brazil, experts say the EUDR will help halt illegal deforestation in the Amazon.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Forests may be more resilient to climate change than previously thought

By Ammara Khan
University of Toronto News
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Forests may be more resilient to climate change than previously thought. A team of international researchers have found that increased inputs from plant roots can keep carbon levels in soil stable even as temperatures and nitrogen deposits in the atmosphere rise. The collaborative research project, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, looked at the effects of increased temperatures due to climate change and increased nitrogen in the atmosphere released by burning fossil fuels – two environmental threats that had been studied separately… the research team found when rising temperatures were coupled with higher nitrogen levels, the plants added more carbon to soil by increasing their growth, activity and root turnover (the rate that their roots grow, die and decompose), maintaining soil carbon levels.

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Canadian carbon removal company scores US$40M grant from fund backed by Bill Gates

by Amanda Stephenson
Victoria Times Colonist
December 18, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Canadian Press

A Canadian company that has received a US$40-million grant from Bill Gates’ climate solutions venture firm says its Alberta test site will be removing carbon directly from the atmosphere as early as this spring. Montreal-based startup Deep Sky announced Wednesday it was awarded funding from the Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to help finance what it calls its Deep Sky Alpha project. Construction work at the project site, located north of Calgary in the town of Innisfail, is already under way… It is the first Canadian company to receive an investment from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which funds commercial projects for emerging climate technologies in an effort to accelerate their adoption and reduce their costs.

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Canada investing $2.5 million towards proposed biofuel refinery in town

By Ken Keller
Fort Frances Times
January 8, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Marcus Powlowski

The federal government is investing more than $2 million in a project that could see a revolutionary new industry take root in Fort Frances. In a media event held yesterday, Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski made an announcement of $2.5 million that will be going to Wanagekong-Biiwega’iganan Clean Energy Corporation (WBCEC). The investment from the federal government will help fund the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) phase of a project that is working to establish an industrial plant that will turn local wood waste into low-carbon fuels. WBCEC is an entity made up of the ten local First Nation communities in the southern end of Treaty #3 working in partnership with Vancouver-based Highbury Energy Inc., who made the announcement of their partnership and plans to establish a biofuel refinery in Fort Frances in December 2024.

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U.S. company offers its Northwestern Ontario timberlands for carbon removal project

By Gary Rinne
NWOnewswatch.com
January 7, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

An American company that controls some large patches of forest northwest of Thunder Bay is considering the potential sale of its timberlands for use as a carbon offset initiative… Wagner Forest Management – based in New Hampshire – owns 195,000 hectares of forest in eight former Abitibi-Consolidated freehold blocks located roughly between the Dog Lake area, Graham and Sioux Lookout. It purchased the blocks from Abitibi in 2005 in a bidding process in which the Ontario government also participated. Last July the company extended an invitation to investors interested in the potential development of its holdings as “one of the largest nature-based carbon removal projects in the Voluntary Carbon Market.”.. Wagner’s forest management practices are currently certified through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

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Prime apple-growing areas in US face increasing climate risks

By Sara Zaske
WSU Insider
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Some of the most productive apple regions in America are facing big challenges from a changing climate, according to a Washington State University study. Researchers analyzed over 40 years of climate conditions that impact the growth cycle of apple trees from bud break and flowering through fruit development, maturation and color development. While many growing areas are facing increased climate risks, the top three largest apple-producing counties in the U.S. were among the most impacted: Yakima in Washington, Kent in Michigan and Wayne in New York. In particular, Yakima County, the largest of the three with more than 48,800 acres of apple orchards, has seen harmful trends in five of the six metrics the researchers analyzed.

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The Search for a Somewhat Sustainable Aviation Fuel

By Katie Brigham
Heatmap
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

There’s no quick fix for decarbonizing medium- and long-distance flights. Batteries are typically too heavy, and hydrogen fuel takes up too much space to offer a practical solution, leaving sustainable aviation fuels made from plants and other biomass, recycled carbon, or captured carbon as the primary options… That creates an opportunity for developers of second-generation sustainable aviation fuel technologies, which involve making jet fuel out of captured carbon or alternate biomass sources, such as forest waste. These methods are not yet mature enough to make a significant dent in 2030 targets… But this tech will need to be a big part of the equation in order to meet the aviation sector’s overall goal of net zero emissions by 2050, as well as the EU’s sustainable fuels mandate.

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High winds, lack of rain and climate change stoking California fires

By Matt McGrath
BBC News
January 8, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

The impact of a changing climate is evident in the bigger picture for the state. California has experienced a decades-long drought that ended just two years ago. The resulting wet conditions since then have seen the rapid growth of shrubs and trees, the perfect fuel for fires. However last summer was very hot and was followed by dry autumn and winter season – downtown Los Angeles has only received 0.16 inches of rain since October, more than 4 inches below average. Researchers believe that a warming world is increasing the conditions that are conducive to wildland fire, including low relative humidity. These “fire weather” days are increasing in many parts of the world, with climate change making these conditions more severe and the fire season lasting longer in many parts of the world, scientists have shown.

In related news: Here’s how California has increased forest management and wildfire response in the face of a hotter, drier climate

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Frozen forest discovery hints at future alpine ecosystem changes

Bu Diana Setterberg
Phys.Org
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

Montana State University scientists say the frozen remnants of an ancient forest discovered 600 feet above the modern tree line on the Beartooth Plateau may portend possible changes for the alpine ecosystem if the climate continues to warm. A paper about the discovery is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It describes what scientists have learned by studying the remains of a mature whitebark pine forest that formed at 10,000 feet elevation about 6,000 years ago, when warm-season temperatures in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were similar to those of the mid-to-late 20th century… The results of the study suggest current climate conditions could lead to trees moving upslope into areas of the plateau that are now tundra.

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Washington can safeguard forests and advance renewable energy

By Shelley Short, State Senator
The Seattle Times
December 29, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

The Seattle Times editorial board’s concerns about the proposed wood pellet manufacturing plants in Hoquiam and Longview are understandable. Still, the editorial relies on assumptions that risk stalling renewable energy solutions. We must undoubtedly safeguard Washington’s forests, but that includes considering the role that responsibly managed forests and wood products, like wood pellets, can play in transitioning away from fossil fuels. When implemented responsibly, the wood pellet industry can provide an effective solution for using dead and diseased trees and logging residue to produce renewable heat and power for residential, commercial and industrial needs… The board is concerned about the use of old-growth forests to produce wood pellets. However, existing Washington law already excludes old growth as a biomass resource.

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Amid outcry, solar farm owner says it no longer wants Michigan forest to expand

By Kelly House
Bridge Michigan
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

A proposal to lease 420 acres of state land near Gaylord for a solar energy development is on shaky ground after attracting criticism from lawmakers, including calls for “mass firings” of state employees involved in the plan… In Michigan, legislation passed last year requiring utilities to achieve 100% clean energy by 2040. To meet that mandate, Michigan may need to devote another 209,000 acres to wind and solar energy… In turn, state officials have been evaluating state land for renewable development… But developing state forests for clean energy comes with climate tradeoffs. Trees are a known carbon sink, and logging them to install solar panels can sometimes cancel out the climate gains… Lawmakers also object to solar farms on state land because they are viewed as more destructive to habitat and public access. “This is going to permanently, for many, many years, destroy that property’s ability to be enjoyed by sportsmen, by wildlife”.

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What’s the dollar value of a forest that you can’t cut down?

Bt David Brooks
Concord Monitor
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

What is a living forest worth in money? That’s a simple-sounding question which has flummoxed New Hampshire for a long time… New Hampshire Division of Forests & Lands just released a registry of five carbon credit programs in the state. That includes 7,200 acres in and around the Ossipee Mountains mostly owned by Lakes Region Conservation Trust that in 2018… The trust can harvest trees as long as they don’t cut the property back to less than the 2018 baseline. If they cut too much, they have to repay some of the credits. As you might expect, there’s a lot of work involved to ensure the project actually adds to carbon capture – properties already protected by easements aren’t eligible – and to monitor lands to make sure trees aren’t being cut without anybody knowing.

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How ‘Thirsty’ Trees May Make Forests More Vulnerable to Climate Change

Morning Ag Clips
December 16, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

A new study suggests that increased maple populations may leave forests in western North Carolina more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions like flooding and drought.The southern Appalachian Mountains feature large, intact forests with frequent precipitation. This kind of area would not typically be a place to look for the effects of climate change, but the emergence of more “thirsty” trees like maples shifts that dynamic. Maples are an example of “diffuse-porous” trees, which require more water to grow than “ring-porous” trees like oaks… Previous models did not account for the different water needs of various tree species. This led to a potential underestimation of the threat posed by climate change in areas with increasing diffuse-porous tree populations.

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Climate change: what the latest science is telling us

By Gloria Dickie
Reuters
January 6, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International
Globally, forests appear to be struggling. Here is some of the latest climate research:
  • Global warming is drying waterways and sapping moisture from forests, creating conditions for bigger and hotter wildfires from the U.S. West and Canada to southern Europe and Russia’s Far East.
  • Between 10% and 47% of Brazil’s Amazon will face combined stresses of heat and drought from climate change, which could push the Amazon past a tipping point, with the jungle no longer able to produce enough moisture to quench its own trees.
  • Forests overall failed to absorb as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as in the past, due largely to wildfires in Canada. That means a record amount of CO2 entered the atmosphere.
  • While the vast Arctic tundra has been a carbon sink for thousands of years, rising wildfire emissions mean the tundra is now releasing more carbon than it stores.

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Just four fines issued for wood-burning complaints in a year in England

By Helena Horton
The Guardian
December 19, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Only four fines out of 5,600 complaints have been issued for illegal burning of wood in smoke-control areas from September 2023 to August 2024 in England, data has revealed… A recent survey found 22% of the UK public use an open fire and/or wood-burning stove in their home. It also found that 37% of Londoners surveyed said they use an open fire and/or a wood-burning stove in their home, despite the capital being a smoke-control area. In smoke-control areas, which have higher levels of pollution, people can only burn wood and other unauthorised fuels in government-approved stoves and other appliances. This is because the approved appliances have air control mechanisms that improve combustion efficiency and reduce the amount of harmful particles released.

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From ‘tipping points’ to ‘sleeper species’: this year’s known unknowns of the climate crisis

By Ian Shine
World Economic Forum
December 17, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The phrase “carbon footprint” is understood across the world today, but this was not the case when it was first used around the start of the 21st century. The nature and climate crisis has resulted in a raft of vocabulary to explain new phenomena that we all need to learn. But more important than learning the words themselves is developing an understanding of the dynamics behind them, the impacts they could have and – crucially – the way to act now to limit the full scope of their potential future impacts. Here are five phrases that are rising in prominence, the stories behind them and ideas about how to tackle emerging threats.

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Health & Safety

Logging truck driver killed in incident near Logan Lake, forestry safety council says

BC Forest Safety Council
December 16, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

On December 16th, a log truck driver was fatally injured during an attempt to tow a log truck that had spun out on an icy road. This incident occurred in an area near Logan Lake, BC. WorkSafeBC and the Coroners Service are investigating this incident. We extend our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and our sympathies to all those affected by this incident. This is the second harvesting fatality of 2024… We extend our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and our sympathies to all those affected by this incident.

Additional coverage in Castanet by Kristen Holliday: Logging truck driver killed in incident near Logan Lake, forestry safety council says

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Forest Fires

Tree that hit power line caused one of North Dakota’s most devastating fires

By April Baumgarten
Inforum
January 6, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

In reports released Monday, Jan. 6, the State Fire Marshal’s Office detailed how an Oct. 6 fire that destroyed 30,549 acres, killed two people and traveled between Ray and Tioga started. It was one of two fires that burned nearly 90,000 acres and nearly engulfed the two small cities in northwest North Dakota… The tree hit the power line and broke it in half. The downed lines then ignited dry grass. Photos included in the Fire Marshal’s report showed the broken power lines and impact points on the tree, which reportedly was taller than the power lines… Officials are still determining what started a second fire that started the same day near U.S. Highway 85 about 30 miles north of Williston.

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Forest History & Archives

Jimmy Carter and the sad saga of a 9-ton Northern California peanut

By Hailey Branson-Potts
Los Angeles Times
January 9, 2025
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: United States

In the spring of 1977, President Jimmy Carter, the former peanut farmer who had just taken office, was offered a big gift — if you can call it that — from the misty Northern California coast. A 9-ton redwood peanut. The roughly hewn goober had been strapped to the back of a logging truck, hauled across the country and parked near the White House. It was offered to Carter amid a protest by loggers angry and anxious about his administration’s plans to expand Redwood National Park along California’s northern coast and eliminate their jobs… The creation — and Carter’s expansion — of Redwood National Park has long been a touchy subject along California’s rural, economically depressed North Coast, where the once-thriving logging industry cratered over the last half-century.

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