We have an interesting mix of headlines today. Inspectors in Shanghai have intercepted pine wood nematodes in shipments arriving from Britain. Swiss inspectors determined that over 40% of wood products companies incorrectly identified the type and origin of wood in their products – despite legal requirements! And loggers in Georgia got the surprise of a lifetime when they found a mummified dog 28 feet up inside a hollow chestnut oak tree!

Fire on the Mountain: Rethinking Forest Management in the Sierra Nevada: a new report published by the Little Hoover Commission has people talking.  The California Forestry Commission supports the findings, urging all landowners to work together because “drought, disease and wildfire, have no boundaries”. Editors at the Modesto Bee are more forthright, claiming, “the Sierra Nevada forests are being mismanaged in ways that hurt every Californian.”

CLT: The Eastern Washington University is building the state’s first CLT office building; and featured by The Fifth Estate, Australia is building a 52 metre engineered wood tower, the tallest in the country. It will also “hold the [world] title for the largest gross floor area for an engineered timber building”.

— Sandy McKellar, Tree Frog Editor