Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Senate committee report calls for better co-ordination of wildfire response

By Nick Murray
Canadian Press in Global News
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Canada needs to create an office to co-ordinate responses to wildfire emergencies and fund a new national fleet of modern firefighting aircraft, says a new Senate report released Wednesday. Those recommendations were among 15 in a report from the Senate committee on agriculture and forestry. At a news conference in Ottawa, senators on the committee said one of the key requests they heard while assembling the report was for a single national point of contact to co-ordinate wildfire response. “We heard that Canada is the only country in the G7 that does not have a seat at the federal table, more or less, to manage and talk about and co-ordinate fire response,” Sen. Mary Robinson, the committee chair, told The Canadian Press. “I think the efforts to date are appreciated but the crisis is growing and escalating, and we need government to do more for sure.” 

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Canadian wolves and one of the most contested debates in ecology

Space Daily
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

The first eight wolves arrived through the Roosevelt Arch on the morning of 12 January 1995, in a horse trailer escorted by two park service patrol cars. The wolves had been live-trapped in three different packs in Jasper National Park and the surrounding wilderness of Alberta, Canada, weighed, fitted with radio collars, and flown south. Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation lawyers had obtained a stay from a federal appeals court before the plane landed, and the wolves spent the next several hours confined in their transport crates while the legal status of the project was resolved. The stay was lifted just after midnight. …What happened in the thirty years after 1995 has become one of the most-cited and most-contested case studies in contemporary ecology.

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Canada on fire: The catastrophic and escalating effects of wildfires on lives and communities

Senate of Canada
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Ottawa – The federal government must significantly increase investments in wildfire prevention, adaptation and response, and improve its collaboration with other levels of government as well as with Indigenous communities, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry said in a report released June 10. These measures are urgently needed to confront this escalating crisis and to better protect Canadians throughout the country from the economic, health and environmental consequences of catastrophic wildfires. With record-breaking wildfire seasons in recent years, fire behaviour has accelerated beyond the limits of existing systems, disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, scorching millions of hectares of land and degrading air quality. Following an in-depth study, the committee is making 15 recommendations to the federal government. Notably, the committee found that ineffective collaboration across all levels of government is impeding wildfire management. 

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Why Canada’s wildland firefighters aren’t officially considered firefighters

By Jess Winter
The Globe and Mail
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

For two decades, Harold Larson helped battle wildfires across BC, Alberta, the US, often working shoulder-to-shoulder with structural firefighters. But at every one of those fires where he and his crew risked their safety alongside their municipal colleagues, there was one perplexing difference: According to the federal government, Mr. Larson was not classified as a firefighter at all. …It’s a holdover from wildland firefighting’s early decades, when the job wasn’t to protect homes, towns and lives – it was to protect timber values as part of the country’s forestry industry. …Canada’s wildland firefighters are seeking to join their municipal counterparts, a cause most recently championed by Vancouver Island MP Gord Johns. …As fire seasons continue to worsen, Mr. Larson said this only underscores the need for Ottawa to recognize that both structural and wildland firefighters are equally important when it comes to keeping people and communities safe. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]

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Canada’s aerial wildfire-fighting plan is a start — but it is not yet a strategy

By John Gradek, faculty lecturer at McGill University
The Conversation Canada
June 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

The Canadian government recently announced that it will lease a fleet of 10 firefighting aircraft and other support assets to be deployed for the 2026 wildfire season. The plan will see these 10 leased aircraft being managed by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre deployed strategically across the country and made available to provinces as they face intense wildfires. …This announcement follows the government’s fall 2025 budget announcement of a $316.7-million investment in Canada’s aerial wildfire-fighting capacity — an announcement that acknowledged a growing national challenge. …Canada’s wildfire aviation system remains fundamentally decentralized. What Canada lacks is a clearly defined national aerial response framework. That framework should establish how federally-funded aircraft are deployed, how they are prioritized when multiple provinces face simultaneous fires, and how they integrate with the emerging detection technologies — including satellite monitoring and long-endurance drones — that can identify fires earlier than ever before.

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Project Learning Tree Canada announces renewed green jobs funding to support youth

Project Learning Tree Canada
June 5, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT Canada) announced renewed funding for its Green Jobs program, providing support to employers hiring youth aged 15-30 in Canada’s forest and conservation sector.  Through continued support from the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy and key partners, PLT Canada will deliver both short-term job placements and long-term internships, helping young people gain hands-on experience while building pathways into meaningful green careers. Short-Term Green Jobs, supported with funding from Parks Canada, are positions within the forest, parks, and conservation sector and can run for 4-16 weeks. Long-Term Internships, delivered with funding from Natural Resources Canada’s Science and Technology Internship Program, are positions in the natural resource sector and STEM fields and can run 16-48 weeks. This renewed funding is thanks to the Government of Canada’s recent announcement.

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B.C. forests minister talks saw mills, old-growth and caribou in Revelstoke

By Evert Lindquist
The Penticton Western News
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

On his first visit to Revelstoke, B.C.’s minister of forests spoke Tuesday about his hopes for local saw mills, old-growth and caribou protection. Ravi Parmar, also the province’s deputy government house leader, had just arrived to town on June 9 after a visit to the Pacific Woodtech mill in Golden. One of his first stops in Revelstoke was the Downie Street Development, where the Revelstoke Community Housing Society met Parmar to showcase the major 166-unit housing project and its use of B.C. lumber. Black Press Media, tipped that the minister was visiting, got 20 minutes interviewing him as it poured. Parmar spoke highly of Gorman Group, which has owned Revelstoke’s Downie Timber and Selkirk Cedar mills since 1990. These operations are the “lifeblood” of rural communities, he said. …Parmar invited British Columbians to walk in the shoes of forestry workers, and consider the balance of supporting the lumber industry while also prioritizing biodiversity and ecology.

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MP Gord Johns celebrates government funding 10 firefighting aircraft

By Austin Kelly
Comox Valley Record
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Gord Johns

As the federal government funds 10 new wildfire-fighting aircrafts, Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns is celebrating it as a win. Johns has been calling on the government to establish a national aerial firefighting plan for years. The government announced it is funding four aerial firefighting air tankers, one birddog plane, five heavy lift helicopters and two support assets as part of the aerial firefighting force. Provincial and territorial firefighting agencies can request access to the fleet when they need it. The 2025 budget announced $316.7 million over five years to establish the fleet, something Johns said could help his riding when the budget was announced. …Johns said while leasing aircrafts with companies including Conair Group Inc., Coldstream Helicopters, and VIH Helicopters is an important step, he wants the government to have its own firefighting fleet. “We will continue pushing the federal government to work with Canadian companies like Coulson Aviation…,” said Johns. 

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Cheakamus Community Forest maps ‘hockey stick’ fuel break south of Whistler

By Luke Faulks
Pique News Magazine
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) is planning what its forester described as a “hockey stick”-shaped landscape fuel break south of Whistler, using a mix of proposed harvesting blocks and fuel-treatment areas to slow potential wildfire pathways into the community. At a May 26 information session, forester Abe Litz said the CCF’s Strategic Threat Analysis Map identifies “Fire Highway” corridors where modelling suggests fire could move toward Whistler-area neighbourhoods and infrastructure. “The idea is to create massive fuel breaks surrounding Whistler,” Litz said. “These are the high-risk fire pathways, these are where the [models] show fire is likely to burn and travel into the community.” …“The idea is to harvest blocks that have harvest opportunity,” he said. “In between, where there’s younger stands that don’t have a harvest opportunity, we want to go in and do fuel management [prescriptions] to reduce the amount of fuel.”

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Lawsuit challenges Flathead’s emergency’ logging memorandum

By Laura Lundquist
Missoula Current
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…On Friday, the Swan View Coalition and the Friends of the Wild Swan sued the Flathead National Forest in Missoula federal district court for approving its West Reservoir Project using a Trump administration shortcut, while the Flathead Forest has yet to complete a court-ordered rewrite of its Forest Plan to better protect grizzly bears and bull trout. …The West Reservoir Project, initiated in 2023 and approved in March, extends 50 to 70 miles west from the entire western shore of Hungry Horse Reservoir, to include the Jewel Basin Hiking Area. …There, the Forest Service plans to conduct prescribed burns on more than 4,600 acres along streams mostly on the southern end of the area. …So the Forest Service acknowledged that the project is “likely to adversely affect” both species. …The new Plan allows the Forest Service to build more roads and do the bare minimum to close roads, which meant the amount of illegal use increased.

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COFI Forestry Scholarship – Apply Now!

BC Council of Forest Industries
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

If you’re a student in BC studying forestry, skilled trades, or natural resource management, don’t miss this opportunity. The COFI Forestry Scholarship supports passionate students like you who are committed to advancing a sustainable forest sector. At COFI, we’re committed to supporting the next generation of forestry professionals. As part of our mission, we’re helping students across British Columbia pursue post-secondary education or training in skilled trades related to the forest industry. In 2026, COFI will award $2,000 scholarships to students in British Columbia interested in forestry-related studies. These scholarships are available to students from all regions, including rural communities, coastal towns, and urban centres, and are intended to support their educational and career goals. This year’s application deadline is June 26th.

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BC invests in community projects, strengthening wildfire prevention, creating local jobs

By Ministry of Forests
Government of BC
June 8, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Through the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, the Province is committing $20 million per year over three years. …This investment funds projects that reduce wildfire risk, restore forest ecosystems and improve the long-term health and resilience of B.C.’s forests. “The best wildfire is the one that never starts. The best way to protect communities is to work together to prevent them,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. …This year, 60 forest enhancement projects are receiving funding. These projects not only reduce wildfire risk, they also support forest-sector jobs in rural and remote communities. The projects include creating landscape-level fuel breaks, removing residual fuels, carrying out prescribed burns, and making improvements to egress routes that are important in the event of an emergency or evacuation. …“These projects reflect the innovation and commitment we continue to see from proponents throughout BC,” said Jason Fisher, executive director, FESBC.

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New Forest Act Roadshow stops off in Nelson, calls for new forestry framework

By Bill Metcalfe
The Nelson Star
June 8, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Jennifer Houghton says only a new Forest Act, radically different from the current one, will fix B.C.’s declining timber supply and the faltering forest economy in rural communities. That decline, she says, includes not only dwindling timber supply and mill closures but altered landscapes, growing fire danger, increased flooding, worsening drought impacts, shrinking employment, and increasing pressure on communities that historically depended on forestry. “These problems,” she says, but those outcomes are connected by the way the industry and the regulation of it are structured. …Houghton was the main speaker at the Nelson 2026 New Forest Act Roadshow, traveling to 12 communities throughout June. …The group is promoting a new Forest Act for the province in which ecological balance would replace timber flow as the central driver of all forestry activity. She said the new act is not a protest or a slogan but a practical roadmap to more economically healthy forest communities.

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In Pursuit of a Tiny Owl Nicknamed Brad Pitt Western screech owls are disappearing from BC

By Sarah Cox
The Tyee
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Megan Buers is dodging potholes on a labyrinth of logging roads on northern Vancouver Island, hoping for a late-night rendezvous with a western screech owl. “He’s the Brad Pitt of the screech owl world,” says Buers, a wildlife biologist. …So far, Buers has seen the owl — but not yet managed to fit him with a transmitter for tracking. …Western screech owls are disappearing from BC’s coast — and nobody is quite sure why. …We know they like to nest in big trees,” Buers says. “Outside of that, we don’t really know what they need.” Her research, for a PhD at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, aims to find out if western screech owls require old trees and mature forests for other reasons, including to find prey. Are screech owls more abundant in old-growth forests? And how does that compare to managed landscapes like replanted woods?

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The Kaslo & District Community Forest Society Receives Award

The Forest Enhancement Society of B.C.
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Jason Fisher, Susan Mulkey & Jeff Reyden

Kaslo, B.C. – The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) presented its inaugural Community Forest Project of the Year Award to the Kaslo & District Community Forest Society’s (KDCFS) ‘Jimi Crack Corn’ forest enhancement project. The KDCFS received the award during the 2026 BC Community Forest Association Conference and AGM in Vernon last week. “In celebration of our tenth anniversary, we created the Community Forest Project of the Year Award to recognize the leadership, innovation, and collaboration that community forests bring to forest stewardship across British Columbia,” said Jason Fisher, Executive Director of the Forest Enhancement Society of BC. …Completed during the winter of 2024-2025, the Jimi Crack Corn project focused on fuel mitigation, recreational values, and wildlife habitat enhancement around the community of Kaslo. 

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New Maps Chart Old-Growth Forests in Alaska and British Columbia

The Mirage News
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West, US West

Mature and old-growth forests are vital for biodiversity, carbon storage, cultural traditions and economic activity. But in Alaska and British Columbia, these rich resources haven’t been reliably mapped, leaving much unknown about what land is protected. Now, University of Oregon researchers are leading a comprehensive mapping effort that sheds light on the location, makeup and conservation status of old-growth forests across the region. Their data show that more than 40% of mature and old growth forests in the study area are in places that lack permanent legislative protection. These forests also store the most carbon in the study area. …Old-growth forests in Alaska and British Columbia are protected through a range of land classifications, including national parks, national monuments and wilderness areas. But by far the greatest area of old-growth forest was found in “Inventoried Roadless Areas” in Alaska.

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Forestry practices must be changed

Letter by Bruce Coates, president, Nature Cowichan
Cowichan Valley Citizen
June 6, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Honourable Ravi Parmar: Nature Cowichan is focused on education and conservation. We are one of about 70 naturalist groups in the province under the umbrella of BC Nature. …Our membership is a sample of the concerned citizens — concerned about the state of our forest industry. Last month, our local newspaper ran an open letter to you suggesting that you and your staff read Suzanne Simard’s latest book: When the Forest Breathes. Also last month, Creatively United ran an excellent webinar “Balancing Nature Needs with Fire Protection at Home and in Our Forests”. …I hope you are aware of THE NEW FORESTRY ACT PROJECT, and I hope you will take note that we want to see a change to what the word FORESTRY means. …On May 15, we read that $12.4 million dollars is coming to B.C. from the federal government… This is the opportunity to incorporate some ecology-based innovations into the forestry industry.

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Rain lowers wildfire risk in B.C. and brings ‘reprieve from the dryness’

By Jan Schuermann
City News Everywhere
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The rain this weekend … has certainly reduced the fire danger rating in B.C. The precipitation, even though it varied in different regions, was widespread throughout the province. According to Taylor Colman, fire information officer at the BC Wildfire Service, the rain lowered the fire rating from high and extreme to moderate in Chilcotin, the Peace Region, the South Thompson, and the Fraser Canyon. “The rain rehydrated those lighter forest fuels such as grasses, needles, brush, anything on the surface layer of the forest floor and then the duration and the amount was enough to penetrate into the deeper layers of the forest floor as well,” Colman explained. “… so that reduced the fire danger rating in those areas of concern.” …There are currently 16 active wildfires in B.C.

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Enhanced Wildfire Website Provides Easy Access to Strengthened Legislation and Fire Season Updates

By Forestry, Agriculture and Lands
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has strengthened legislation to protect residents, communities and forest resources from forest fires, and is enhancing public access to important information about wildfire prevention and management. The new Wildfire Prevention and Management website is a one-stop resource for forest fire season information that includes the daily wildfire risk, active wildfires and statistics, and wildfire prevention guidelines. It also highlights updated legislation and penalties that improve enforcement and clarify burning regulations following amendments to the Forestry Act and Regulations, which came into force on June 3, 2026. Full details on amendments and penalties under the Forest Fire Offence and Penalty Regulations, Forest Fire Regulations and Mill Regulations are available on the website.

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Ontario NDP drafts forestry strategy for Northern Ontario

Sudbury News
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Under the Ford government, Ontario has seen declining timber harvest numbers, the Ontario NDP asserted in a recent report. Averaging only half of the province’s total allowable annual cut, they said, “chronic under-harvesting reduces jobs, mill capacity, value-added production and regional economic activity.” This, they report, “despite the availability of sustainably sourced forest product.” Their report, titled “Room to Grow: The Ontario NDP’s Forestry Strategy,” offers a five-point plan as follows:

  1. Take immediate action to defend our publicly administered forestry system against American mischaracterizations.
  2. Defend Ontario jobs. Strengthen the forestry supply chain by immediately directing provincial agencies to prioritize Ontario forest products in procurement processes. 
  3. Strengthen domestic supply chains. Fast-tracking residential construction and reprioritizing critical infrastructure utilizing Ontario forest products… Encourage biomass power… 
  4. Lead industrial transformation. …leverage Ontario’s opportunity to be a national and global leader in forestry. 
  5. Promote sustainability and support Indigenous economic participation and sovereignty through knowledge sharing, ownership and revenue-sharing. 

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Forests Canada and Algonquin College students lead regreening effort in provincial park

By Bill Steer
Elliotlake Today
June 6, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Funding for replanting harvested Crown forests in Ontario depends heavily on how much wood is cut, foresters say, creating challenges for renewal efforts during market downturns and reduced harvest levels. Back Roads Bill explores regreening efforts and issues surrounding it. …The forest sector has been a lifeline for communities across the country and an important pillar of Canada’s economy. In the face of unjust U.S. trade measures and climate goals, Canada’s forest industry is pivoting from traditional lumber toward a bioeconomy. It was on February 26 of this year that the federal government took decisive action with a massive $500-million transformation fund. This will support the forest sector, protect workers and their jobs, and give companies the stability they need to weather short-term shocks and retool for a stronger, more diversified future. …A couple of other things though. Our forests are well managed. And we need trees and therefore tree planting.

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Forest Service fuel treatments dropped by 35% in 2025

By Ellis Juhlin
Montana Public Radio
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

The U.S. Forest Service has faced budget and staffing cuts under the Trump administration, and a new analysis shows those cuts are impacting how much land the agency is able to treat to prevent wildfires. The Forest Service treated 35 percent fewer acres for wildfire mitigation in 2025, compared with the previous year. Mitigation efforts include tree thinning, brush clearing, and prescribed burning. That’s according to Forest Service data assessed by the public lands advocacy group, Center for Western Priorities. That means nearly one and a half million fewer acres were treated overall. These treatments lower wildfire risks, and make fires easier to fight, which better protects communities and keeps firefighters safe. In a state-by-state breakdown, the Center’s analysis found 63% less acres of Forest Service land in Montana were treated for wildfire risk. The Trump administration has proposed further cuts to the U.S. Forest Service’s budget, staff, and local support – including closing regional offices nationwide.

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Mike Lee ignites controversy after adding roadless rule repeal to a wildfire bill

By Brooke Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Utah Sen. Mike Lee and fellow Republicans added a repeal of the controversial roadless rule to a previously bipartisan wildfire bill on Wednesday. The amended Wildfire Prevention Act passed out of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an 11-9 vote split along party lines and now heads to the full Senate. The act would nullify the 2001 roadless rule. …This move comes nearly a year after the USDA began an effort to rescind the roadless rule through an administrative process. The environmental review is currently underway and a decision is expected later this year. …Democratic senators introduced a second amendment early in the meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to strike the repeal of the roadless rule from the bill. …Senators in both parties initially supported the Wildfire Prevention Act, which instructs federal land agencies to set targets and report on prescribed fire and forest thinning to reduce wildfire risk.

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US Drought Tests Trump Strategy of Logging to Fight Wildfire

By Bobby Magill
Bloomberg Law
June 8, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Extreme drought and rising temperatures in the US are poised to overwhelm the Trump administration’s plans to control wildfire by logging federal forests, scientists say. …The drought is expected to lead to catastrophic wildfires that stand to become the new normal amid climate change, the researchers say. “The type of drought we’re seeing this year across the West is a glimpse into the future,” said Erica Fleishman,  at Oregon State University. …The US is on track in 2026 for more wildfires than 2025, a much wetter year. More than 5 million acres burned last year. As of April, 1.8 million acres had burned so far across the US—double the acres burned in the same period last year. Trump administration officials say wildfire risk makes it imperative to log forests and help the timber industry. The administration is taking an aggressive approach to quickly suppress wildfires as it increases logging by 25% this year.

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The US government is pillaging our national forests from within

By Greg Frazier, ex-Agriculture Dept’s chief of staff
The Hill
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claims “moving the Forest Service closer to the forests we manage is an essential action that will improve our core mission of managing our forests.” That is sophistry — a failed attempt to justify an ill-advised, destructive reorganization plan to remove Forest Service headquarters from Washington and radically cut its research infrastructure. Her fallacy implies that adjacent communities have a superior claim on national forests. …Government nihilists and dismantlers have for years peddled the “proximity begets policy expertise” canard, without evidence. …Meanwhile, Tom Schultz, the chief of the Forest Service, made clear his lingering allegiance to his former employer’s interests. Last month, he laid them out to House appropriators: “timber sales, critical minerals permitting, grazing allotment management.” That timber, he said, is “vital to the nation’s well-being.” In reality, only 6 percent of the total timber supply in the country comes from national forests.

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Logging could triple in Blue Mountains national forests under plan

By Jayson Jacoby
The Blue Mountain Eagle
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

OREGON — A proposed new management strategy for the three national forests in Northeastern Oregon could more than triple the amount of commercial logging over the next two decades. The Forest Service hasn’t officially released a draft environmental impact statement for the revised management plans for the Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla and Malheur national forests, which will start a 90-day public comment period. …Shaun McKinney, Wallowa-Whitman supervisor, said on Wednesday that he expects the Forest Service will publish the draft in the Federal Register “any time.” …Typically, national forests update their plans every 15 years or so. But the current plans for the three forests in the Blue Mountains date to 1990. The three forests encompass about 5.5 million acres, including about 311,000 acres in Washington that are part of the Umatilla National Forest. 

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Environmentalists say bid to end roadless rule could spoil local forests

By Erika Ritchie
The Orange County Register
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

ORANGE COUNTY, California — Environmentalists are trying to raise public awareness about a plan within the Trump administration to allow roads, and potentially long-term business development, in much of the nation’s federal forest system, including the biggest undeveloped stretch of Orange County. Recently, the effort has included rallies in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. More rallies are planned in coming weeks in central and northern California. At issue is the fate of the “Roadless Area Conservation Rule,” an administrative regulation that has been in place since 2001 as a way to preserve 60 million acres of federal land for recreation and habitat protection. The rule, which is not a law, has survived every presidential administration of this century, and environmentalists say it has helped protect everything from the Pacific Crest Trail to the California Condor. …Environmentalists say ending the roadless rule would be bad for the environment and for local property values. 

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Planted trees do not make a forest

By Eli Pivnick and Janet Parkins
Castanet
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, US West

On the B.C. government website, you can read the following: “B.C. is a world leader in sustainable forest management”. …However, if you talk to BC forest ecologist Rachel Holt… or former B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Morris, you get a very different perspective. …The Council of Forest Industries says, “in BC. three to four tree seedlings are planted for every tree that is cut”. That does not solve the problem. In the last 40 years, the rate of cutting has sped up. That means there are many very young forests, not suitable for wildlife habitat and not suitable for logging. …Several groups in BC are pushing for less logging, protection of our remaining primary forests and more ecologically sound forestry practices. The down side? Large forestry companies make less profit. The upside? More jobs, healthy forests… fewer wild fires and fewer greenhouse gases.

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Oregon’s new state forester gets to work, says ‘zero tolerance’ for issues that led to predecessor’s ouster

By Alex Baumhardt
Oregon Capital Chronicle
June 8, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Kacey KC

Oregon’s new state forester Kacey KC’s… will be the first woman to permanently lead the agency in its history, and comes to the job after 24 years at Nevada’s forestry and natural resource agencies, including eight years as Nevada’s first female State Forester Firewarden. KC said she brings with her from Nevada a “zero tolerance policy for a lot of different issues, both financially and treating people poorly.” As she embarks on her third month on the job, she said she is still in learning mode and ensuring “everyone understands my expectations and that we are moving forward together in the right direction.” …In her first few weeks she said she met with environmental organizations, timber operators, tribes, rural and rangeland fire protection associations, and said she meets at least twice a month with the directors of Oregon’s other natural resource agencies.

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Washington state schools chief should leave forestry to the experts

By the Editorial Board
The Seattle Times
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Chris Reykdal

In his role on the state’s Natural Resources Board, the state’s schools chief Chris Reykdal has in recent years voted against some timber harvests with older trees. …Each month, they generally approve of the agency’s choices for logging, which follow board policy. Reykdal, though, has been protesting stands where trees near 100 years old are on the chopping block. The state’s elected superintendent of public instruction is neither a trained forester, ecologist, nor any kind of timber management expert. …Upward of 20 DNR staff are involved before the Board of Natural Resources sees the results of that work. …For that reason, Dan Brown, a fellow board member and dean of the University of Washington’s College of the Environment, called out Reykdal’s sale-by-sale approach as “reckless” at a January public meeting. …Leave science to the scientists, Commissioner Reykdal. [to access the full story a Seattle Times subscription is required]

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Environmental groups sue to stop 400 acres of logging in Washington’s Elwha Watershed

By Aspen Ford
The Washington State Standard
June 5, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Three environmental groups are suing to block the logging of nearly 400 acres of state forestland in Washington’s Elwha Watershed. Filed Monday, the lawsuit against the state’s Department of Natural Resources argues the agency failed to adequately assess the environmental harm of two timber sales, known as “Parched” and “Tree Well.” Logging would pose a “direct threat” to Port Angeles’ drinking water, which is sourced solely from the Elwha River, the lawsuit contends. “There’s only about 800 acres of structurally complex forests left in the watershed. And nearly half of those are these two timber sales that we appealed,” said Elizabeth Dunne, an attorney with Earth Law Center… Under the Department of Natural Resources’ standards, only trees that predate 1850 are considered old growth and set aside for conservation. The oldest stands proposed for harvest in the Parched sale are around 140 years old, dating back only to the 1880s. 

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Fire Officials are on High Alert, Residents Encouraged to Be Prepared

Flagstaff Business News
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Wildfire season is upon us in Northern Arizona. Although our fire-adapted ponderosa pine forest could experience a wildfire at any time, May and June are typically the driest and most fire-prone months for large, destructive wildfires, following spring’s gusting winds that strip moisture from grasses and downed logs.  National Weather Service (NWS) officials say this year, especially, we need to be particularly vigilant as winter’s snowpack was far below normal. Although last fall’s warm storms bumped up precipitation for the year with 0.93 inches above-normal rainfall, winter snowfall fell short. Just 26.9 inches of snow landed in Flagstaff for the 2025-’26 winter season, far below the 90-inch annual average. Thus, Flagstaff is entering summer with a snowpack deficit that ranked this winter season as the fourth-lowest snowfall in Flagstaff’s recorded weather history, dating to 1899.

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Controversial plan to kill owls is underway in WA. Here’s who’s leading the way

By Gavin Feek
The News Tribune
June 8, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Barred owls …are now officially under attack themselves. Theoretically, they’ve been in danger since the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife released its barred owl management plan in 2024, announcing its intention to kill tens of thousands of barred owls per year for up to 30 years to protect the northern spotted owl and California spotted owl populations. The federal government and some environmentalist groups agree that protecting the endangered owl is necessary, but others argue it is inhumane and exists only to aid the timber industry. It’s been two years since the plan’s announcement, but only since November has a group in Washington officially begun killing barred owls… The Yakama Nation Tribe in South Central Washington has initiated barred owl management on reservation lands and is actively killing the once-protected species. They are the first and currently the only group in Washington to do so.

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New Hampshire moose are under a tick attack. Could changing the way forests are logged help save them?

By Molly Rains
Valley News
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

In fall, hoards of winter ticks latch on to New Hampshire’s moose — sometimes upward of 50,000 per adult animal. Over the course of the winter, the ticks drink their fill of blood, weakening adult moose and sometimes killing calves. …a team of New Hampshire researchers has a new hypothesis: Could the way forests are logged make moose more or less likely to encounter parasites? …Winter ticks are the driving force behind years of decline in Northeastern moose populations. …In recent decades, parasitism of moose by winter ticks has boomed… major driver was a boom in the local moose population… The sheer abundance of hosts helped tick populations in the region reach the high levels they remain at today. …One option is raising hunting quotas to reduce the number of moose… Another line of attack is the use of pesticides. …But there’s another idea … that has not been extensively studied: managing their habitat.

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Pleading for routine purchases: Inside the chaos at the Forest Service in Vermont.

by Greta Solsaa
VT Digger
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

USHundreds of pages of records obtained by VTDigger reveal internal confusion in the U.S. Forest Service in Vermont during the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term, with federal cutbacks and budget slowdowns leaving research and conservation projects hanging in the balance. … Meanwhile, the Trump administration was urging the Forest Service to concentrate its focus on emergencies, to increase logging and mitigate wildfire. … A review of the Forest Service by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency resulted in a nearly complete shutdown on spending, leaving routine purchases in limbo, the internal records show. …The report says the Forest Service lost over 5,000 workers nationwide in the first half of 2025, or 16% of its workforce, after mass layoffs in February 2025 and several rounds of the resignation program.

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Minnesota-based USDA workers ordered to relocate to other states

By Christopher Vondracek
The Minnesota Star Tribune
June 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An email dropped into the US Department of Agriculture staffer’s inbox this spring. The Minnesota-based worker was about find out where she would be asked to relocate with her family. …The federal government employee had been hired to work remotely. However, her entire team was now being told to move to a new city. …The USDA, the massive federal department covering agriculture policy to anti-poverty food programs to the forest service, is consolidating offices across agencies, moving many workers out DC into select hubs. In Minnesota, USDA lost 21% of its 1,800 employees between fiscal year 2025 and 2026, coinciding with the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. It was the hardest hit of the federal agencies operating in the state. …The latest move also is different than conservation program cuts announced this spring or the USDA-run U.S. Forest Service announcing closure of research sites, including two in northern Minnesota.

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France adds 157,000 hectares of protected forest as nature preserves face pressure elsewhere

By Craig Saueurs
Euro News
June 11, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

From the rainforests of French Guiana to ancient woodlands in eastern France, thousands of hectares of forest are gaining new protections. On 9 June, France said it has created seven new biological reserves and expanded two existing ones. Together, they safeguard an additional 157,000 hectares of forest as it works toward placing 10 per cent of its land under ‘strong protection’ by 2030. “This translates into less pressure on natural environments and stronger protection for species and habitats,” says Monique Barbut, France’s minister for ecological transition, biodiversity and international climate and nature negotiations. However, the vast majority of that land – around 99.5 per cent – lies in a single reserve in French Guiana, France’s overseas territory in South America. The new reserves in metropolitan France collectively cover under 1,000 hectares. …The remaining eight reserves, spread across metropolitan France, range from the mountain forests of Bannes-Ravines in the Vosges to the Mediterranean woodlands of Pas de la Lauze in Hérault.

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A disease of deforestation: how Ebola is linked to the smartphone in your pocket

By Sonia Shah
The Guardian
June 5, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

As demand for cobalt, gold and other minerals grows, mining is accelerating deforestation in the Congo basin – and increasing the risk of deadly Ebola outbreaks. For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola have been much larger, affecting thousands and even tens of thousands of people across multiple countries. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in west Africa infected more than 28,000 people in 10 countries on three continents. The current eruption, which began in early May and shows no signs of abating… The conventional explanation has to do with the larger and more interconnected human populations that pathogens can access. But there’s a more fundamental driver: the transformation of the underlying ecology of Ebola, which is being remade, in part, by the rising global hunger for minerals to power the hi-tech economy.

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Istanbul bans forest access, open fires to curb wildfire risk

The Daily Sabah
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

TURKEY — The Istanbul Governor’s Office announced that access to forested areas across the city, as well as lighting fires for barbecues, gas stoves, hookahs and similar purposes, will be prohibited between June 8 and Oct. 15. In a statement the governor’s office said the increase in human and vehicle activity in forest areas during the summer months raises the risk of wildfires. To prevent risks that may arise intentionally or through negligence, authorities decided to implement a series of measures. The restrictions also prohibit the burning of stubble, trees, branches and all types of vegetation for purposes such as cleaning vineyards, gardens, olive groves and agricultural fields in villages and neighborhoods, including those located within, adjacent to or otherwise connected to forest areas. There are no restrictions on picnics, sports, walking or similar activities in designated picnic and recreation areas, groves, parks, nature parks and ecotourism sites within Istanbul.

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Ireland on fire

By Pádraic Fogarty
The Journal Ireland
June 7, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

THE HOT DRY spell at the end of May was welcome sunshine after a particularly wet and miserable winter. However, the flip side of the nice weather is the near inevitability with which it is accompanied by large fires on the hills. A blaze engulfed the south Dublin Mountains as well as areas of Wicklow. National Parks and Wildlife Service described as “lit intentionally, destroying hundreds of hectares of habitat and all associated animals, insects and plants within it”. …Shocking and disruptive as these fires are, they are nothing new. According to the European Forest Fires Information System, 4,355 hectares of land in Ireland were burned in 31 fires in 2025. …In the last decade, some things have changed. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine now issues alerts in the run-up to dry spells with appeals for ‘vigilance’. …Climate change is a significant factor in this issue; 2025 was the second-warmest year on record in Ireland

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