Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

The G7 Tackled Wildfires. Was It a Milestone?

By Zoe Mason
The Tyee
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

As world leaders gathered for the G7 summit last week in Kananaskis, Alberta, more than 50 wildfires burned across the province. The leaders’ joint statements included the Kananaskis Wildfire Charter, the first G7 document explicitly dedicated to co-ordinating international action on wildfire prevention, mitigation, response and recovery. It was agreed to by all the G7 leaders, as well as the heads of Australia, India, Mexico, South Korea and South Africa, non-G7 governments also invited to join this year’s summit. The charter outlines initiatives ranging from geospatial mapping and early warning systems to the adoption of wildfire-resilient infrastructure. Mathieu Bourbonnais, an assistant professor in environmental science at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and UBC research chair in wildfire management, said he is trying to be positive about the statement’s approach. “The other thing is, we’re doing a lot of this already”.

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Thousands Speak Up on Outdoor Access in Mosaic Forest Management Survey

Mosaic Forest Management
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Over 7,600 people shared their views on outdoor recreation in a first-ever public survey conducted by Mosaic. “The feedback we received tells us how important Mosaic’s managed forests are to people’s lives,” said Jimmie Hodgson at Mosaic. “It reinforces our responsibility to work toward solutions that reflect what we heard.” Early findings show:

  • Frequent use: Most respondents reported using Mosaic managed lands regularly throughout the year.
  • Camping experiences: Most campers described their experiences as good or excellent.
  • Top concerns: Gate access, illegal dumping and wildfire risk were the most cited issues.
  • Shared values: Respondents emphasized personal accountability when recreating, public safety and minimizing environmental impact.

While many support access restrictions during wildfire season or active operations, others expressed frustration with inconsistent gate schedules, limited access points and unclear communication. The survey also highlighted a strong desire for more transparency, better signage and real-time updates. …A full report will be released this fall.

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Forest Enhancement Society of BC Newsletter

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
June 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

With summer here, so is wildfire season. We all have a role to play in reducing the risk that wildfire represents to our communities and forests. …Over the past 9 years we have been funding projects that leave communities and infrastructure better protected, give firefighters more options when responding to wildfires and help create more resilient forests now and for the future. Find these stories and more in this month’s newsletter:

  • Message from Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar
  • FESBC’s Board Chair, Ken Day’s welcome message
  • BC Forest Safety Council safety tip
  • Faces of Forestry feature: Aaron Lee
  • FESBC Board of Directors’ tour with Ntityix Resources
  • Balancing fire and fibre utilization feature story
  • Wildfire risk reduction project led by Kenpesq’t Forestry
  • Wildfire risk reduction treatment in the City of Vernon

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Strengthening land stewardship, cultural site protection in Squamish Nation territory

By the Ministry of Forests and the Squamish Nation
Government of British Columbia
June 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Sea to Sky Gondola in SquamishSḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and the Province have signed an agreement to guide forest stewardship in Squamish Nation territory at a ceremony held at the top of the Sea-to-Sky gondola overlooking Átl’ḵa7tsem (Howe Sound). “This agreement will ensure our cultural sites and key environmental areas are protected for future generations. These have been our lands for thousands of years, and the fact they are now back under our direct control provides a greater sense of security for our people, and a strong optimism for our future,” said Sxwíxwtn Wilson Williams, Councillor and elected spokesperson, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation). …The next step will be to complete a ministerial order, which will include consultation with First Nations, and engagement with the public. It aims to establish objectives for the forestry sector to follow in alignment with the agreement and provide the Squamish Nation certainty in sites of high value.

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Salmon Arm-based company turning forestry waste into useful soil additive, reducing logging emissions

By Luc Rempel
Castanet
June 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

A local company has found a new use for forestry waste that would otherwise be burned, releasing emissions into the atmosphere. Silvachar Environmental, which is based out of Salmon Arm, is working to turn forestry waste into biochar — a soil additive that has been used for thousands of years to help retain moisture and lock nutrients into the earth. “Biochar has a high surface area, which allows it to absorb liquid, solids and gasses disproportionate to its size, just due to its surface area and the porosity of it,” said Silvachar’s Kevin Smith. Biochar’s porosity can help in a home garden or even for large agricultural applications. “You think of how much fertilizer gets put on agricultural fields each year or multiple times a year, and realistically they’re losing up to 60 per cent of those nutrients,” Smith said.

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Firefighters urge hikers to stay out of trails near Squamish, B.C., wildfire

By Akshay Kulkarni
CBC News
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Firefighters are urging hikers and mountain bikers not to enter trails closed due to a wildfire just north of Squamish, B.C., ahead of the Canada Day long weekend. The Dryden Creek wildfire, which was discovered on June 9, is considered under control by the B.C. Wildfire Service, but a local state of emergency remains in Squamish and a campfire ban remains in effect for the district. Fire suppression work is ongoing in the area, and evacuation orders and alerts remain due to the danger of trees falling and rocks rolling loose. Despite that, firefighters say they’re seeing people disobey trail closures, which could prove to be a risky decision. “Especially last weekend, numerous hikers and mountain bikers accessed trails that were closed,” said B.C. Wildfire fire information officer Jennifer Lohmeyer on Tuesday. “Some people even moved barriers that had been put in place to indicate that the trail was closed,” she added.

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Delta undertaking a tree inventory

By Sandor Gyarmati
The Delta Optimist
June 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The City of Delta is undertaking an inventory of its trees. Crews started last week in Ladner, collecting data on street and park trees as part of Delta’s Urban Forest Strategy. In its request for proposals this spring for a qualified arboricultural consultant to conduct the urban forest subsection inventory of individual city-owned urban trees, the city noted it wanted to focus on street and park specimen trees. The project does not include trees on private property, nor is it the intent to include larger stands of trees in the city’s natural areas. The purpose of the project is to expand a tree inventory that was started in-house in 2023, improve asset management, as well as gain an accurate cost of a city-wide tree inventory for areas with low, medium and high canopy coverage.

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Environmental groups say old growth logging continues in BC’s endangered caribou habitat

By Stand.earth, Wilderness Committee and Wildsight
Nation Talk
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Thousands of hectares of old growth north of Revelstoke will soon be destroyed by industrial logging, threatening almost all of BC’s remaining southernmost mountain caribou herds, according to Wildsight, Stand.earth and Wilderness Committee. The research, conducted using provincial data, reveals that 5,713 hectares of old growth are either approved or pending approval for logging across the ranges of the Columbia North, Groundhog and Wells Gray South herds. …Wildsight recently documented ancient western red cedars being actively felled in core habitat for the Columbia North caribou herd east of Mica Dam. ..The trio of environmental groups is urging the province to stop approved logging and withhold pending permits for new logging in the ranges of these three herds, and immediately protect critical southern mountain caribou habitat. …A handful of companies are having a disproportionate impact… including West Fraser, Interfor, and Canoe Forest Products.

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Fighting forest fires in a fog of misinformation

By Tom Fletcher
Western Standard
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

It’s been hot in southern Ontario [with] apocalyptic news coverage out of Toronto…. “The world is burning,” announces the headline of a parenting advice column in The Globe and Mail. “Should we tell our children?” The author’s children are not told about forest fires… They are not told about the huge, ongoing increase in greenhouse gas emissions in Asia, cancelling out many times over the modest reductions achieved at great cost in North America and Europe. …The answer… is that natural variability is larger than the trend line produced by statistics. It’s true that Canada has seen more communities damaged or destroyed by fire, but that’s largely because there are more communities. …The Second World War was nearing its end, but the war on forest fires was just beginning, with the deployment of heavy equipment as well as aircraft. Saving timber was the goal, and the unintended consequences have piled up ever since.

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B.C. is Burning – Wildfire Documentary Premieres in Vernon Tomorrow!

By Murray Wilson
BC is Burning
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

New film reveals the roots of B.C.’s wildfire crisis—and what we must do to stop it. A powerful new documentary exploring the causes and consequences of British Columbia’s escalating wildfire crisis will premiere to the public at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Thursday June 26 at 7:00 pm. Titled B.C. is Burning, the 45-minute film delivers a sobering but hopeful look at what’s fueling today’s megafires—and the science-based solutions that could protect our forests, our communities, and our future. B.C. is Burning was independently produced and funded through community support, with Homestead Foods generously contributing half of the total budget. We also gratefully acknowledge major support from Skyline Helicopters, Padoin Reforestation, and Kalesnikoff.

The film was produced and written by retired forester Murray Wilson and initiated by Associate Producer Rick Maddison, who played a key role in fundraising.

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Coulson Aviation to do first night-vision aerial firefighting in B.C.

By Darron Kloster
Victoria Times Colonist
June 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Coulson Aviation is joining the firefight in B.C.’s forests, bringing its night-vision technology to battle wildfires. The Port Alberni-based company, whose pilots use night-vision goggles to battle fires in Australia and the United States, has signed a 70-day contract with the B.C. Wildfire Service to provide one of its Sikorsky S-61 Type 1 helitankers that are equipped for night-time operations. The deal marks the first time Coulson will conduct night-vision aerial firefighting missions on Canadian soil. …Coulson Aviation Canada has logged thousands of night-vision flight hours and dropped tens of millions of gallons at night on urban wildfires in California and through parts of Australia. The company earned the world’s first night-vision firefighting certification from Transport Canada in 2011, followed by the first approvals in Australia and the United States. …Coulson Aviation employs a two-aircraft team, including a Sikorsky S-61 firefighting helicopter and a Sikorsky S-76 supervision helicopter.

Read the Coulson Aviation Press Release

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Kamloops councillor says community forest would provide FireSmart, revenue generation opportunities

By Kristen Holliday
Castanet
June 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A Kamloops city councillor is pitching the idea of a community forest as a way to generate revenue for local amenities and projects while reducing wildfire risk for the region. During Wednesday’s livability and sustainability select committee meeting, Coun. Stephen Karpuk said he’d like to see the City of Kamloops strike a working group to get more information about pursuing a provincial community forest agreement. “There’s an opportunity for all parties to gain some economic value, some certainty on the land base, and some safety and security and some benefits economically that we can bring back to our communities,” Karpuk said. He said surrounding communities of Barriere, Clearwater, Valemount, Clinton and Logan Lake all have community forests — a tract of land set aside for the municipality to manage.

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Trouble in the Headwaters: the hidden impacts of clear-cut logging in B.C.

By Jacqueline Ronson
The Narwhal
June 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Trouble in the Headwaters, a 25-minute documentary by filmmaker Daniel J. Pierce, explores the root causes behind the devastating 2018 floods in Grand Forks, B.C. More than 100 families were displaced and millions of dollars were spent on flood infrastructure — yet floods continue to threaten the region. The film follows Dr. Younes Alila, a professor of forest hydrology at the University of BC, as he investigates the upstream impacts of clear-cut logging in the Kettle River watershed. …Climate change is responsible for some of the increase in flooding. But decades of research by Alila and his peers suggests the role of industrial forestry is significant, and has long been underestimated. He spent years investigating… the cumulative effects of clearcutting. …Alila sees hope in ongoing class-action lawsuits: people impacted by floods in Grand Forks, Chemainus and elsewhere are suing governments and forestry companies.

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Scotch broom is a dangerous bully

By Joanne Sales, Executive Director, Broombusters
The Parkville Qualicum Beach News
June 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

QUALICUM BEACH, BC — Alien invasive species like Scotch broom do not move into a void. They displace something that was originally present. Broom displaces grasses and native plants – but while grass is food, broom is toxic to grazing animals, wild and domestic. Broom provides flowers for bees in May – but wipes out the native flowers that bees rely on for the rest of the season. Farmers call broom the Scourge of Pastureland – and it affects our food security. Broom competing with young trees on forest land creates millions of dollars in losses to forest companies – and the loss to the future of our forests is beyond measure. Biodiversity? Researchers designate Scotch broom as THE invasive species doing the greatest harm to species at risk in all of B.C. Broom is the top offender of biodiversity. Wildfire? Broom’s high oil content, naturally occurring dry branches, and dense growth patterns make broom extremely flammable. FireSmart classifies broom in the highest risk category.

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Province-wide Fire Ban Lifted; Caution Urged when Lighting Outdoor Fires

Fisheries, Forestry, and Agriculture Press Release
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

The province-wide outdoor fire ban that prohibited the setting of fires on forest land or within 300 metres of forest land in Newfoundland and Labrador has been lifted. The ban was authorized under the authority of section 99 of the Forestry Act. A Permit to Burn is required to burn brush and other materials during Forest Fire Season, which is in effect in the province until September 30. Permits are free and available at provincial Forest Management District Offices. A Permit to Burn is not required for backyard fires, recreational campfires, or boil-ups located on or within 300 metres of forest land if the fire is prepared in accordance with Provincial Forest Fire Regulations. Anyone planning a fire should check Public Reminders for Forest Fire Season and the current Fire Hazard Rating for guidance.

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Ontario offers $3 per hour pay increase, new title for forest firefighters

Global News TV
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

For years, forest firefighters in Ontario have been calling on the provincial government to reclassify their jobs to recognize them as an emergency service in a bid to stem recruitment and retention issues. It’s a change the Ford government promised it would take on after sustained pressure from front-line staff and union officials. The province now says work to reclassify forest firefighters — officially called resource technicians — has been “completed,” and is blaming the Ontario Public Service Employees Union for a delay in announcing the move. Whether the terms the government has put forward address the substantive changes called for by forest firefighters is contested. Draft information seen by Global News shows the reclassification involves renaming positions within the existing union structure — and moving people one category further up the grid, for a raise of roughly $3 per hour.

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Ducks Unlimited Canada Conserves Essential Wetland Within Ontario’s Georgian Bay UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

By Ducks Unlimited Canada
Cision Newswire
June 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

MIDLAND, ON – Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is proud to announce the acquisition of a 34.4-hectare (85.15-acre) property within Ontario’s Georgian Bay UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The newly conserved Honey Harbour Wetland near Midland, Ontario, includes 13.2 hectares (32.68 acres) of provincially significant wetlands, a crucial migratory stopover for waterfowl, and forested areas. With increasing development pressures from its proximity to Highway 400 and urban centers, Ducks Unlimited Canada supported the landowner to acquire the property to secure its vital ecological value, conserve wildlife habitat and enhance local recreation opportunities. …As wetland loss in southern Ontario continues to threaten biodiversity and the many benefits wetlands provide—such as flood mitigation, carbon storage and water filtration—this acquisition represents an essential step in conserving these vital near-urban habitats for future generations.

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Volatus Aerospace Supports J.D. Irving’s Vision for Drone-Powered Tree Planting in New Brunswick

GlobeNewswire
June 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Volatus Aerospace Corp. is pleased to announce a strategic collaboration with J.D. Irving, Limited to advance Spring 2025 tree planting operations in New Brunswick. This initiative supports JDI’s leadership in managing working forests by integrating advanced heavy-lift drone technology to enhance their efficiency, scalability and environmental impact. As part of the project, Volatus will provide a heavy-lift Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) capable of transporting seedlings and supplies to planting crews operating in remote and difficult-to-access terrain. All flight operations will be coordinated by Volatus’ centralized Operations Control Centre in Vaughan, Ontario, enabling real-time mission oversight and reduced environmental footprint compared to traditional ground logistics. “Forestry is a critical pillar of Canada’s economy and environmental stewardship,” said Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace. “We are honoured to support JDI’s long-standing commitment to well-managed working forests by contributing innovative drone logistics, training, and regulatory guidance to their Spring 2025 reforestation operations.”

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Water bomber pilot shortage grounds some aircraft in Ontario

CBC News
June 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Several aircraft used to fight forest fires in Ontario are sitting in airport hangars and on tarmacs due to a pilot shortage. JP Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), said the province is now short three water bomber pilots and six helicopter pilots due to low pay and poor working conditions. “The Ontario pilots are the lowest paid in the country, and what the government has put on the table would bring them up to a whopping second lowest paid position across the country,” Hornick said. That pilot shortage has meant one of Ontario’s nine Canadair CL-415 water bombers has been grounded. Three of the province’s eight helicopters used for firefighting have also been grounded. Hornick said two of the five bush planes used by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) have also been grounded because only three pilots are available to fly them.

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Forest Service will lift “roadless rule” to encourage logging

By Peter Aleshire
The Payson Roundup
June 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

The U.S. Forest Service has proposed lifting the rule that bars roads in designated wilderness areas. The change could open 1.2 million acres of federal land in Arizona to logging. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins proposed canceling the 25-year-old “roadless rule” that created some 58 million acres of wilderness areas throughout the west. Arizona’s forested wilderness areas come to about 1.2 million acres of the 11 million acres of Forest Service land in Arizona. …Environmental groups immediately decried the proposal. They said it would increase the danger of wildfires and destroy wilderness areas essential to wildlife and many forms of recreation. …However, a century of logging, cattle grazing and fire suppression has dramatically increased tree densities across forested Northern Arizona … from about 50 per acre to more like 1,000 per acre in the past century. …The Four Forests Restoration Initiative has tried and mostly failed to ramp up logging on six million acres of non protected forest already criss-crossed with roads.

Related coverage

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Position on President Trump’s Executive Order “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response”

The Federation of American Scientists
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response” is the latest of several significant federal policy efforts aimed at tackling the wildfire crisis. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) focuses on embedding science, data, and technology into government to support communities in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from wildfires. FAS applauds several elements of President Trump’s EO. For instance, the EO correctly recognizes that wildfire technology and prescribed fire are powerful tools for reducing risk and strengthening wildfire resilience. FAS is also glad to see the Administration promote interagency coordination; emphasize the importance of state, local, and Tribal leadership; and recognize the intersection of wildfire resilience and other sectors, such as the grid and our bioeconomy. We are encouraged that the Administration and Congress are recognizing the severity of the wildfire crisis and elevating it as a national priority. Yet the devil is in the details when it comes to making real-world progress.

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Mike Lee vows to resurrect public lands sale as Wyoming conservatives pan original proposal

By Christina MacIntosh and Jasmine Hall
Jackson Hole News & Guide
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

A proposal to sell public lands through the U.S. Senate’s budget reconciliation bill died by the sword of parliamentary procedure Monday, though the budgetary battle over public lands is not yet over. The Senate parliamentarian … nixed a provision to sell up to three million acres of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service land across 11 states, including Wyoming, finding that it violated a rule limiting budget reconciliation bills to measures that are directly related to federal spending. The provision, which framed the sale as a way to alleviate the housing crisis by opening up more land for development, has roiled Westerners of all political persuasions since it was unveiled June 11. …U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the architect of the provision, will introduce a new measure removing Forest Service land from the bill and narrowing the amount of BLM land for sale to tracts within 5 miles of population centers.

Related content:

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Plan to sell public land in Oregon, Washington and 9 other states hits roadblock in Senate

By Matthew Daly
The Associated Press in Oregon Live
June 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

A plan to sell more than 2 million acres of federal land in Oregon, Washington and 9 other Western states has been ruled out of Republicans’ big tax and spending cut bill after the Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee would violate the chamber’s rules. Lee, an Utah Republican, has proposed selling public lands to states or other entities for use as housing or infrastructure. The plan would revive a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House earlier this year.The proposal received a mixed reception Monday from the governors of Western states. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, called it problematic in her state because of the close relationship residents have with public lands. …Lee said he would keep trying. …Environmental advocates celebrated the ruling late Monday, but cautioned that Lee’s proposal was far from dead.

Additional coverage from Associated Press, by Morgan Lee: Governors of Western states give mixed reactions to proposed federal land sell-off

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USDA Rescinds Roadless Rule, Opening Logging on Federal Lands

The National Association of Home Builders
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced yesterday during a meeting at the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico that the U.S. is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which prohibits road building on more than 58 million acres of federal forest lands. NAHB supports this action to repeal the Roadless Rule because it is overly restrictive, prohibits land to be properly managed at the state and local level, and needlessly blocks federal timber harvesting in a healthy and sustainable manner. With the nation importing more than 25% of the softwood lumber it needs to build new homes, opening up federal forest lands in an environmentally responsible manner is an important step forward to increase domestic timber production to meet the needs of American home owners and home buyers. [END]

Additional coverage from the US Department of Agriculture: WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Strong Support for Secretary Rollins’ Rescission of Roadless Rule, Eliminating Impediment to Responsible Forest Management

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Why nature loss matters to companies — and what they can do

By Rajat Panwar, Oregon State University
Financial Times
June 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Rajat Panwar

Over the past two decades, corporate sustainability has made meaningful strides. But the central focus on climate action has been too narrow. Nature loss — from deforestation and biodiversity decline to soil and ecosystem degradation — poses profound risks to business operations, supply chains, and long-term value creation. While climate action can help, it cannot replace a dedicated strategy for protecting and restoring natural ecosystems.  Business leaders are beginning to take notice. A growing number are now incorporating nature into their sustainability agendas. Some are embedding biodiversity considerations into procurement and product design. Others are working to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains or investing in ecological restoration. Investors are rallying behind the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which seeks to make nature-related risks visible to markets. 

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Union warns Trump’s rapid changes for wildland firefighters will be ‘disastrous’

By Drew Friedman
The Federal News Network
June 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

A union is warning about the risks of moving too fast on the Trump administration’s plans to consolidate federal programs for wildland firefighters, as the U.S. heads into an intense wildfire season. The National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents federal wildland firefighters, said some of the administration’s end goals for wildfire management are “broadly positive,” but warned that a lack of detail and planning — coupled with an expedited timeline — could lead to serious consequences. “Making major changes during fire season, without congressional authorization or full planning, could be disastrous,” NFFE wrote. NFFE’s memo comes after Trump signed an executive order last week calling for the consolidation of wildland fire programs between the Interior Department and the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service. …Steve Lenkart, NFFE’s executive director, said the administration’s changes would immediately impact federal wildland firefighters, who have struggled for years with major recruitment and retention issues.

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Final decision released for Bonanza Project in Castle Mountains

The USDA Forest Service
June 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, Montana — The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest has released a final decision for the Bonanza Project, located in the Castle Mountains just east of White Sulphur Springs. Primary management activities planned include timber harvest and prescribed fire. “The project area is highly impacted by the mountain pine beetle and some areas have experienced 90% tree mortality,” said District Ranger Jason Oltrogge. “The timber generated from this project will provide wood products to local companies and prescribed fire will restore forests and reduce wildfire severity.” The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest partnered with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to plan this project, and the joint effort made this project a reality. …The project includes commercial timber harvest on 1,980 acres and prescribed burning on 918 acres. Project implementation is anticipated to start later this summer.

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Watch Out For This Tree Eating Bug

The US Department of Agriculture
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SANTA FE — If you see brownish-yellow or red discoloration of trees while exploring the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF), it may be the result of defoliation from the Douglas-fir tussock moth (DFTM). Do not pick up this cute – and potentially dangerous – caterpillar. These caterpillars have thousands of tiny hairs covering their bodies. The female moths, egg masses, and cocoons also have hairs, which can cause tussockosis, an allergic reaction from direct skin contact with the insects themselves or their airborne hairs. …Trees with brown branches signal the outbreak of the Douglas-fir tussock moth, whose larvae feed on the needles of a variety of fir tree species. …An aerial survey will also be conducted to pinpoint specific locations and assess the acreage of the defoliation. …Anyone seeing these caterpillars is asked to leave them on the ground and report the sighting to the nearest Santa Fe National Forest district office. 

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Merkley, Murray, Heinrich, and Klobuchar demand immediate halt to forest service reorganization, funding cuts

Jeff Merkley, Senator for Oregon
June 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Washington, D.C. – Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately cease its plans to reduce Forest Service staffing and to distribute federal funding to states and communities as the law requires. The letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins follows U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz testifying before the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee and admitting the agency was intentionally withholding Congressionally approved federal funding. “We write to express our concern that the staff reductions and unauthorized funding cuts that have occurred since February 2025 threaten the Forest Service’s ability to fulfill its statutory responsibilities to states, local governments, Tribes, and forest landowners.” They are asking for a response by July 9, 2025.

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US Agriculture Secretary says ‘roadless rule’ roll back impacts all but two states — Colorado and Idaho

By Robert Tann
Sky-Hi News
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

When U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Monday that her department would be opening up more US Forest Service land to development, she did so with the caveat that just two states — Colorado and Idaho — would not be impacted.  Rollins, who serves in President Donald Trump’s cabinet, unveiled the plans during a meeting of Western state governors in Santa Fe, where she told reporters that the Agriculture Department would be rescinding the 2001 “roadless rule” established under former President Bill Clinton. The rule, hailed by conservationists as a landmark preservation effort, protects roughly 58.5 million acres of backcountry Forest Service land from road construction, logging and other development. “For too long, Western states, especially those with large swaths of land administered by our incredible Forest Service, have been inhibited from innovating because of burdensome regulations imposed by the federal government,” Rollins said.

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Oregon House passes bill to repeal controversial wildfire risk map

By Zach Urness
Idaho Statesman Journal
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

After a longer wait than expected, the a bill that would eliminate the unpopular Oregon Wildfire Hazard Map passed the Oregon House on June 24. Senate Bill 83 repeals a map meant to identify parts of Oregon at high risk of catastrophic wildfires but has become a lightning rod for anger from rural residents who say it places an unfair burden on them. The bill, which passed the Senate in April, now heads to the desk of Gov. Tina Kotek. The map, which was released earlier in 2025 and identifies areas at high wildfire risk, requires stricter building codes and creation of defensible space for roughly 100,000 properties in the name of wildfire prevention. The map was roundly condemned by impacted residents who said it was inaccurate, decreased property values and imposed burdensome regulations.

Related content:

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Idaho Roadless Rule won’t be affected by revocation of national directive

By Eric Barker
Moscow-Pullman Daily News
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

The Idaho roadless rule is not included in the effort by the Trump administration to rescind the national rule. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, “the Idaho state-specific roadless rule was part of the Administrative Procedures Act petitions and will not be affected by rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule.” The rule, a collaboratively written offshoot of the national rule, was spearheaded by then-Gov. Jim Risch in 2006. It is more flexible than the national rule and allows limited logging and road building in some of the state’s roadless forests that are not otherwise protected as wilderness areas. But it also offers more stringent protections to the most remote areas. …Risch’s Idaho-specific roadless rule, implemented in 2008, overrides the national rule and forbids logging and roads on 3.2 million acres of the state’s 9 million acres of inventoried roadless areas. Some logging and roads are allowed, under limited circumstances, on the remaining 6 million acres.

Additional coverage in the Idaho Statesman: USDA to end rule that kept logging from national forests. What’s it mean for Idaho?

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Trump’s elimination of Roadless Rule concerns conservationists

By Laura Lindquist
The Missoula Current
June 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Less than two weeks have passed since the public learned of a Senate proposal to sell off public lands, and now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has removed roadless protections for more than 58 million acres of federal land across the nation. …Helena Hunters and Anglers …decided to call an emergency meeting for Tuesday to discuss the implications of the announcement. If roadless areas were truly gone, the group might not continue their yearly monitoring of roadless areas. Montana has almost 6.4 million acres of inventoried roadless areas… Helena Hunters and Anglers has been monitoring some of those roadless areas for the past few years to assess their condition, and some of the findings aren’t good. …A number of other conservation organizations immediately criticized the action, calling it another handout to corporations to the detriment of the American public and future generations. The Colorado-based Center for Western Priorities said Rollins’ reasons were suspect.

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Oregon wildfires have already burned 20,000 acres and destroyed 56 homes. What’s next?

By Zach Urness
The Register-Guard
June 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

It’s been a busy and destructive start to Oregon’s wildfire season. Two state parks have already been evacuated by fast-moving wildfires, 56 homes have been destroyed, and 20,300 acres have burned in more than 400 fires — mostly east of the Cascades. Rafters on the popular John Day River have twice found themselves floating through the middle of an active blaze. …At one point, Interstate 84 was closed due to wildfire activity. …“What’s striking is the size of the fires we’ve seen this early in the season,” Oregon Department of Forestry wildfire spokeswoman Jessica Neujahr said. …High fire danger is expected to persist across the entire summer and into fall. …A combination of factors has led to the large wildfires seen so far this year. A wet winter led to the rapid growth of fuels like grasses in eastern Oregon, which then dried out rapidly under hot and dry spring conditions.

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How Maine is impacted by Trump administration’s plans to rescind rule blocking national forest logging

By Russ Reed
WMTW ABC News 8
June 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday that the Trump administration plans to rescind the Roadless Rule, which blocked logging on national forest lands for nearly 25 years. The Roadless Rule has affected 30% of national forest lands nationwide… This includes the White Mountain National Forest, which is located mostly in New Hampshire. But part of that national forest land is located in western Maine… According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the White Mountain National Forest contains approximately 368,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas. The nonprofit organization said the Roadless Rule has kept logging at bay on about 213,000 roadless acres, but noted the remaining 155,000 roadless acres are vulnerable to road construction and timber sales because they were identified later in the 2005 Forest Plan. …The announcement comes amid recent talk of selling off federal lands in part to improve housing affordability, an idea criticized by Democrats as a public land grab.

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Start seeing Minnesota’s trees for the forest values they are

By Brian Buhr, Dean of Natural Resource Science, University of Minnesota
The Duluth News Tribune
June 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

Brian Buhr

…However, few people consider how Minnesota’s nearly 18 million acres of forests can drive bioinnovation, supporting both a healthy environment and economy. For those who do, they’d likely underestimate the growing diversity of products that can use components of wood sustainably harvested from our state’s forests. Research at the University of Minnesota is leading the way to further develop those innovations… One such emerging opportunity is using woody biomass to produce climate-smart, low-carbon biofuels. …Clearly, forest loss also brings economic costs. Each acre burned or left unproductive loses $234 in carbon value, not to mention all the other products that could be created from that acre. Bottom line: Managing forest health and timber harvesting creates jobs, strengthens the economy, and reduces carbon emissions and wildfire risks. The University of Minnesota leads this effort through partnerships with industry, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Minnesota DNR, supported by public investment. 

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Why Canada’s wildfire smoke is now a fixture for Minnesotans when the weather warms

By Patrick Hamilton, Science Museum of Minnesota
The Star Tribune
June 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States, US East

It has only been in the past few years that wildfire smoke from Canada has become a persistent risk to the air we all breathe. Why is this? …A vast swath across northern Canada has a subarctic climate. The types of vegetation best adapted to these conditions are conifer forests dominated by black and white spruce with some pine, balsam fir, larch, aspen and birch. Fire has always been an element of this biome. Historically, about 7.3 million acres have burned annually but in 2023, an astonishing 67 million acres burned. This year’s acreage is on pace to meet or exceed the record-breaking year of 2023. …The fire season is changing in Canada because the climate of Canada is changing. …What this means is that large, long-duration wildfires in Canada’s boreal forest and the smoke plumes they produce are likely to be a new and persistent phenomenon going forward. 

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Can Business Conserve Forests and Our Future?

By Seth Larson
World Wildlife Federation
June 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Last month, alarming new data were released showing record-breaking tropical forest loss in 2024—an 80% increase over the previous year. Forests are critical to our planet and to us as humans, so we need to double down on efforts to stop the loss of forests where possible and more responsibly manage forests that are earmarked for production. Businesses have a big role to play because 54% of the world’s forests are managed either wholly or partly for the production of things like timber, pulp and paper, and furniture. In this episode of Nature Breaking, host Seth Larson sits down with Linda Walker, WWF’s senior director of corporate engagement for forests, to explore the urgent threats to global forests and the role of business in helping reverse current trends. [Watch the interview on You Tube or read full transcript in story link]

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The Woodland Almanac – Spring 2025

Woodlots BC
June 26, 2025
Category: Forestry

The Spring 2025 issue highlights Woodlots BC’s 2025 Conference, happening on October 16-18 in beautiful Osoyoos, BC. Check out the brochure and register by the Early Bird Deadline of September 15. Also in this issue, learn about how many woodlots are covered by LiDAR in BC, meet a few more woodlotters, and discover more about log watering facilities on the coast.

In this Issue:

  • LiDAR
  • Executive Director Report
  • Funding Partnerships
  • Meet a Woodlotter Profiles
  • The Intersection of Woodlots and Trails
  • Perspectives on Log Watering

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Forest Enhancement Society of BC Board of Directors Tour with Ntityix Resources

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
June 19, 2025
Category: Forestry

The FESBC Board of Directors visited two wildfire risk reduction project sites with Ntityix Resources funded by FESBC. In collaboration with local residents and community members the project work will ensure important infrastructure, homes, and wildlife habitat are better protected. “It was great to be hosted by the Ntityix team. Walking the land, hearing how these projects are led by Indigenous values and worked in the face of wildfire was inspiring,” said Jason Fisher, RPF, Executive Director, FESBC. Ken Day, who recently stepped into the role of Chair of the FESBC Board of Directors said, “it has been my great pleasure to work on the Board with our outgoing president, Dave Peterson. Dave has been on the Board of Directors since FESBC was created in 2016, and we are pleased to have his continued contribution as a Director of the Society”.

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