Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Canada Invests in Wildfire Innovation and Resilience Through New Centre of Excellence

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

OTTAWA, ON – With wildfires impacting Canadians across the country, the federal government is taking action to prevent wildfires, mitigate their effects and boost resilience. …The Government of Canada announced an investment of $11.7 million;over four years to establish the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada (WRCC). Funded through the Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative, the WRCC will serve as a national centre of excellence and virtual hub for wildland fire innovation and knowledge exchange. The WRCC will advance many of the actions in the Kananaskis Wildfire Charter, agreed to by the leaders of the G7 this spring in Canada and endorsed by the leaders of Australia, India, Mexico, the Republic of Korea and South Africa. It will bring together domestic and international governments, communities impacted by wildfires, the private sector and individual experts to share knowledge, facilitate collaboration and accelerate the use of cutting-edge science and technology in wildfire prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response.

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It’s time to fight fire with fire in Canada

By the Editorial Board
The Globe and Mail
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Canada’s premiers met June to talk infrastructure but were distracted by the small matter of the forest fires raging across the West at the time. …Six weeks later, the country is well into one of its worst wildfire seasons ever. …“Suppression alone is no longer adequate to address the growing challenges from wildland fire,“ the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers said in a report last year. ”Wildland fire management in Canada needs to be transformed.” That means creating a national regime of prescribed burns – the deliberate setting of fires under controlled circumstances to reduce the number and intensity of forest fires, and to limit damage to property. It’s a practice that Indigenous peoples in Canada and elsewhere used for millennia to manage their lands. But its use is sharply limited in Canada, mostly because politicians are scared to the point of paralysis by the off-chance that a government-sanctioned burn could get out of control.

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Vancouver Park Board staff seeks approval to advance Stanley Park tree removal

By Akshay Kulkarni
CBC News
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver Park Board staff are seeking commissioners’ approval to proceed with the next phase of a tree removal project in Stanley Park due to an extensive looper moth infestation. Work has been underway to cut down thousands of trees in Vancouver’s biggest park since the summer of 2023, due to fire and public safety risks posed by dead and dying trees. …While the tree removal plan has faced sharp criticism staff say they have a plan that will see the least number of trees removed. “This aims to balance key public safety risks resulting from the hemlock looper outbreak while leaving a moderate extent of internal forest areas to undergo natural forest stand regeneration,” the staff motion says of its preferred approach. If commissioners approve of the staff plan, planning for tree removal and mitigation work would begin later this year and conclude in the first quarter of 2027.

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‘BC is Burning’ documentary looks to spur conversations around forest management

By Michael Reeve
CFJC Today Everything Kamloops
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Murray Wilson

KAMLOOPS — A new documentary is debuting across British Columbia this month looking into devastating wildfires in the province, while advocating for change. Called BC is Burning, the 45-minute long film investigates how forest management and policy reforms can help reduce the fire risk in our province. It debuts in Kamloops next Tuesday (July 22) at Thompson Rivers University. The documentary features 16 area experts, including four from Kamloops as well as its producer from Vernon. “I’m hoping that the film will untimely drive some change because there are solutions to wildfires and one of our best opportunities is to increase forest management in the province so we can address the fires before they start, reduce the chances of the fires happening,” said Murray Wilson. “We will always have fires, but we can reduce them by active forest management.”

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Woodlots BC is seeking board members

Woodlots BC
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Woodlots BC is looking for people who are passionate about the woodlot program in BC, and have a keen interest in guiding it into the future as a Woodlots BC Board Director. The Board consists of: Seven voting Directors who are all woodlot licence holders and one government appointed non-voting representative (from BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food). Who qualifies: Any woodlot licensee in BC, or in the case of a woodlot licence that is held by a corporation or group (ie: First Nation Bands, communities, school district, non-profit society), a single person approved/appointed by the group representing that woodlot. This person can only represent one woodlot at a time. The WPDC Board aims to: advocate for and ensure the woodlots of BC have a voice and are able to promote themselves … and, guide and govern the WPDC operations team to work for the needs of woodlots in BC.

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Clear-cutting linked to 18-fold rise in extreme floods, UBC study finds

EurekAlert!
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Clear-cutting can make catastrophic floods 18 times more frequent with effects lasting more than 40 years, according to a new UBC study. In one watershed, these extreme floods also became more than twice as large, turning a once-in-70-years event into something that now happens every nine. “This research challenges conventional thinking about forest management’s impact on flooding,” said senior author Dr. Younes Alila, a hydrologist in the UBC faculty of forestry. “We hope the industry and policymakers will take note of the findings, which show that it matters not only how much forest you remove but also where, how and under what conditions.” The UBC-led study draws on one of the world’s longest-running forest experiments at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina and is published in the Journal of Hydrology. The research team analyzed two adjacent watersheds, one north-facing, the other south-facing, that were both clear-cut in the late 1950s.

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University of Saskatchewan researcher studies impact of wildfire smoke on songbirds

CBC News
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Catherine Ivy is an assistant professor of biology at University of Saskatchewan. Her new research project is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the songbird population.

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Ryan Tidman Named Audain Wildlife Conservation Fellow to Protect British Columbia’s Sea Wolves

By Royal Canadian Geographical Society
Cision Newswire
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Ryan Tidman

OTTAWA, ON -The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) is proud to announce that wildlife photographer and researcher Ryan Tidman has been named the inaugural Audain Wildlife Conservation Fellow, a prestigious two-year appointment that will support Tidman’s research, storytelling, and educational outreach focused on the elusive sea wolves of British Columbia. The Fellowship, made possible through the generous support of the Audain Foundation, represents the largest single grant in RCGS history dedicated to B.C. wildlife conservation. … “We congratulate Ryan on receiving this extraordinary opportunity to move the dialogue forward on species at risk in British Columbia. His Fellowship represents the kind of transformative project we believe can shift minds—and ultimately, policy—toward stronger protections for Canada’s most vulnerable ecosystems,” said John Geiger, CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

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Campfire ban goes into effect this week throughout B.C. coastal region

Nanaimo News Bulletin
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Coastal Fire Centre will put a campfire ban into effect this week.  The ban will be in place starting at noon on Thursday, July 17, noted a Coastal Fire Centre information bulletin issued Tuesday, July 15. Campfires will be prohibited on Vancouver Island and throughout the Coastal Fire Centre region with the exception of Haida Gwaii and the portion of the Central Coast Regional District within the North Island Central Forest District. Existing open fire prohibitions in the Coastal Fire Centre’s jurisdiction enacted May 30 will remain in place, and fireworks and burn barrels are restricted in most areas. “Open fire is the largest cause of human-caused fires provincially,” noted the information bulletin. “Human-caused wildfires are entirely preventable and may divert crucial resources from naturally occurring and/or existing wildfires.” The campfire ban and previous burning bans will be in place until Oct. 31 or until the orders are rescinded.

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Fears of a massive fish die-off in Cowichan River if conditions don’t improve

By Michael John Lo
The Peak
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Warm temperatures, low river flows and declining water quality are sparking fears of another mass fish die-off in the Cowichan River this summer. The Cowichan Watershed Board said river conditions this summer “mirror” those of 2023, when an estimated 84,000 to 100,000-plus fish died after prolonged drought and heat. Samples recently collected from six points along the Cowichan River show the water is seeing significant daily fluctuations in pH and dissolved oxygen levels similar to those of 2023. …Weir flows were reduced this spring so more water could be maintained in the summer. Researchers are also looking to identify, protect and improve cold-water refuge areas along the river that could provide fish a respite from the heat when waters warm. …Built in the 1950s to provide water for the pulp mill at Crofton, the Cowichan weir is owned and operated by Domtar.

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The Digital Forester – Domenico Iannidinardo & Aaron Fujikawa, SNRgroup

By Kevin Lim, CEO, Remsoft
The Digital Forester
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Domenico Iannidinardo, CEO, and Aaron Fujikawa, Director of Remote Sensing & Geomatics at Strategic Natural Resource Group, join us on The Digital Forester podcast. Domenico and Aaron share how their very different paths — one rooted in traditional forestry, the other in GIS and tech — led them to Strategic Natural Resource Group, a company at the intersection of boots-on-the-ground operations and cutting-edge digital forestry. From firefighting to LiDAR, and field data collection to building digital twins, this episode highlights how Strategic is helping clients navigate uncertainty with speed, precision, and deep local knowledge. Come have a listen to how a field-first culture, Indigenous ownership, and relentless curiosity are shaping the future of resource management in British Columbia and beyond.

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Why are forest fires getting more frequent, intense in northern Ontario?

By Faith Greco
CBC News
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

As wildfires become more frequent and intense across Canada, fire officials are seeing stark differences between northwestern and northeastern Ontario. They say it all comes down to what’s burning, how it burns, and where. More than 2.2 million hectares have burned in Ontario’s northwest since 2015, compared with around 287,000 hectares in the northeast. “The three things that we need to consider are the weather, the fuels and the topography,” said Chelene Hanes, a wildland fire research scientist at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Northwestern Ontario typically gets a minimal amount of rain, whereas the northeast has a wetter climate and vast peatlands, she explained. …”On the [northwest] side of the province, and moving into the prairies, they’ve experienced a bit more drought, which is influencing the moisture of the fuels. So that is causing more ignitions to happen as well, because it’s drier,” Hanes said.

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Canada Partners With Trees For Life to Grow Southern Ontario’s Urban and Suburban Canopy

Natural Resources Canada
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

WHITBY, Ontario — Ryan Turnbull, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance… highlighted a $4-million federal investment for tree-planting projects in urban and suburban areas in southern Ontario. Trees For Life will collaborate with planting partners to plant an average of 24,000 trees annually over five years, for a total of 120,000 trees in communities across southern Ontario. The collaboration with Trees For Life is already ahead of target, supporting the planting of 83,000 trees in southern Ontario with 35,000 trees planted in 2024 and 48,000 trees planted across 40 projects in 2025 to date. This project builds on a successful regional model piloted in the Durham Region. 

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What Nova Scotians are on the hook for as Northern Pulp winds down

By Aaron Beswick
The Chronicle Herald
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

With the announcement that there won’t be a new kraft pulp mill being built in Liverpool, the long and expensive Northern Pulp saga begins winding down. Here’s the little we know about what Northern Pulp and its associated companies are worth, who’s likely to get paid and what the taxpayer might be on the hook for. When it filed for creditor protection in 2020, Northern Pulp estimated it had $254 million in assets and $311,019,464 in liabilities. But half of those assets – what it estimated as $130 million worth of equipment and land associated with a cold-idled pulp mill at Abercrombie Point – comes with a large and undetermined liability for whoever gets stuck with the cleanup costs. How much the taxpayer ends up on the hook both for unpaid loans to Northern Pulp and cleanup of the mill site will rely on how much gets paid for the companies’ assets.

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Logging in Ontario’s boreal forest is ‘far in excess of what’s sustainable,’ study finds

By Fatima Syed
The Narwhal
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

A new peer-reviewed scientific study [Emulation or Degradation? Evaluating Forest Management Outcomes in Boreal Northeastern Ontario, by Jay Malcolm (University of Toronto), Julee Boan (Natural Resources Defense Council) & Justina Ray (Wildlife Conservation Society Canada)] suggests logging practices in Ontario are unsustainable and out of line with the province’s own strategy for sustainably managing forests. David Flood, a registered professional forester, has long thought Ontario was permitting too many trees to be cut down. Flood is from Matachewan First Nation in northeastern Ontario, home to much of the province’s boreal forest. Flood’s community has watched as forests became smaller and more sparse over time, threatening the natural habitat for caribou and martens. Flood is the general manager for Wahkohtowin Development, a decade-old social enterprise held by three First Nations — Chapleau Cree, Missanabie Cree and Brunswick House — to strengthen Indigenous participation in forest and land management across their territories. 

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The Longleaf Alliance seeks areas to harvest pine cone crops

By Jennifer Allen
Coastal Review – North Carolina Coastal Federation
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

©NC Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service estimates that the cone crop for longleaf pines in the Southeast will be “poor for 2025,” according to the “Longleaf Pine Cone Prospects for 2025”. Because of the anticipated seed shortage … the Longleaf Alliance is scouting for locations to harvest in the fall. Based on observations collected earlier this year … researchers estimate the average for seed-producing cones is 12.4 per tree this fall. The study …defines a good crop as 50 to 99 green cones per tree, a fair crop as 25 to 49, poor as 10 to 24, and a failed crop as less than 10 seed-bearing cones per tree. Once plentiful, the longleaf pine could be found on an estimated 90 million acres in the coastal plains between southeast Virginia to eastern Texas. … [but] demand grew exponentially when the turpentine industry took off, nearly stripping the ecosystem of the native pine. Today, its estimated that there’s around 5 million acres remaining. 

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Man’s best friend could be the spotted lanternfly’s worst enemy

By Virginia Tech
EurekAlert!
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

©Clark DeHart for Virginia Tech

Imagine if your dog’s favorite game — sniffing out treats or toys — could help protect America’s vineyards, orchards, and forests from a devastating invader.  It turns out, it just might. A new study led by Virginia Tech found that volunteer dog-handler teams — made up of everyday people and their pets — can effectively detect the elusive egg masses of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect that’s damaging farms and forests across the eastern and central United States. It’s the first study to show that citizen dog-handler teams can achieve detection success rates comparable to professional conservation detection dogs. “These teams demonstrated that citizen scientists and their dogs can play a meaningful role in protecting agriculture and the environment from invasive species,” said Sally Dickinson, the study’s lead author. “With proper training, dog owners can turn their pets into powerful partners for conservation.” 

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Big Billionaire Bill Will Lead to Bigger Fire Risks

By Matt Sedler
Center for Economic and Policy Research
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

You could be forgiven for not reading the entirety of the GOP’s massive One Big Bill for Billionaires that Trump just signed into law. Yet right at the beginning of the table of contents is “Subtitle B — Forestry,” which might give the impression that the GOP is serious about investing in wildfire prevention and forest restoration. Instead, the new law strips critical funding that had been appropriated to the National Forest System under the Inflation Reduction Act. Contrary to Trump’s stated goal of preventing wildfires, two sections within the Big Billionaire Bill will, in fact, exacerbate the risk of fires across the US. …Trump’s plan is simple, but the pieces of the puzzle are spread across different bills, laws, agency processes, and executive orders to obfuscate the overall intent: Cut the funding to protect the forests, open the areas for development, and then eliminate the environmental reviews. 

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Agreement Reached to Preserve Mature Ponderosa Pines in Southwest Colorado

The Center for Biological Diversity
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

DOLORES, Colo.— Forest health advocates have finalized an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service that will preserve tens of thousands of the largest, oldest ponderosa pine trees in Colorado’s San Juan National Forest. “Large, mature trees are critical for climate resilience, habitat and forest health” said John Rader, public lands program director for the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “We are pleased to reach a common-sense agreement that helps safeguard our forests from climate change and biodiversity loss.” In June 2023 San Juan Citizens Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Forest Service in federal court over its approval of a nearly 23,000-acre timber project in the Dolores District of the San Juan National Forest. The project area is a watershed for the Dolores River and provides important habitat for elk, mule deer and raptor, including imperiled goshawks. It was extensively logged throughout the 1900s, and few mature ponderosa pines remain.

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Wildfire that consumed North Rim ignites tragic debate

By Peterr Aleshire
Payson Roundup
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

©NationalParkService

ARIZONA — The dawning debate about the wildfire that jumped containment lines and destroyed the iconic, Grand Canyon Lodge underscores the trap that has frozen forest management efforts for half a century. The slow-moving Dragon Bravo fire sudden flared into a monster illustrates the extreme difficulty of restoring forest health after a century of clear cutting. …The National Park Service initially released reassuring bulletins suggesting fire crews would develop fire lines to contain the fire. …Then everything changed, as winds gusting to 40 miles an hour ushered in stormfronts. By July 12, the Dragon Fire had jumped containment lines. …The pattern Is all too familiar to fire ecology experts like ASU professor Stephen Pyne. He argues that… all-out fire suppression had increased tree densities across millions of acres of Northern Arizona from about 50 per acre to more like 1,000 per acre. …Moreover, construction of homes and towns in the most fire-prone landscapes has exploded.

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New tool sheds light on California wildfires

By Roseann Cattani
The Record Searchlight
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A new tool sheds light on the impact of wildfires across California. The California Vegetation Burn Severity Online Viewer, launched by CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP), is an interactive public mapping tool that people can use to see where wildfires have impacted vegetation. The online tool displays burn severity data for all wildfires over 1,000 acres in California from 2015 to 2023. CAL Fire says the tool enables post-recovery planning and makes the information easily accessible to landowners, planners, scientists, and the general public. “This tool helps Californians see and understand how fire affects our landscapes,” said Chris Keithley, Assistant Deputy Director for FRAP. “It gives communities data to support efforts to plan prescribed burns, guide restoration work, and reduce future wildfire risk.”

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Kotek declares state of emergency in Oregon due to imminent threat of wildfire

By Zack Urness
The Statesman Journal
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

@USDA

Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency in Oregon on July 16 that will last through the end of the year due to the imminent threat of wildfire. Multiple large wildfires have already exploded this year, largely east of the Cascade Range, including the growing Cram Fire, which roared to more than 60,000 acres by July 16 and is spreading smoke across central Oregon. The Rowena Fire burned 63 homes in The Dalles in June. “Oregon is already experiencing a devastating wildfire season that will have lasting consequences. The summer is only getting hotter, drier, and more dangerous – we have to be prepared for worsening conditions,” Kotek said in a news release. Oregon’s wildfire danger is forecast to remain above normal through summer — remaining high in every part of the state in July, August and September — the first time in recent history that’s happened.

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Trump’s big bill calls for much more logging

By Jamie Hale
The Chronicle
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

New federal laws could “lock up” timber land for decades at a time, raising concerns big companies could elbow out smaller competitors and that timber revenue for counties could be delayed for years. President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill, which he signed into law earlier this month, increases the length of federal logging contracts to a minimum of 20 years. The contracts, which determine how long a logging company has to harvest on the land under contract, have typically averaged three to four years, and the longest contracts extended up to 10 years. The concern raised by a coalition of timber companies and local governments is that companies could sign long-term contracts, then wait years to harvest trees. “If the timber volume is tied up in these 20 year contracts,” Doug Robertson, executive director of the Association of O&C counties, said, “that volume then is no longer available to generate revenue for the counties and the state.”

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Oregon forestry board drills Gov. Tina Kotek’s staff on choosing next state forester

By April Ehrlich
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Oregon’s forestry board has long had the power to hire and fire the state forester, who oversees logging and environmental protections on state lands, as well as firefighting across millions of acres of public and private land. But the board lost that hiring-and-firing power this session with Senate Bill 1051, which handed it over to the governor. This bill has left many forestry board members wondering how much authority they still have. “Right now, after the passage of this senate bill, I have very little reason to trust your office,” vice chair Brenda McComb told members of Gov. Tina Kotek’s staff at the board’s Wednesday meeting. There’s a lot riding on forest management in Oregon. Revenues raised from logging trees on state lands help fund rural schools and some county budgets. Timber sales are also a key revenue source for the Oregon Department of Forestry, which fights fires on about 12 million acres of private land.

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Research shows aspen forests slow wildfire spread

Colorado State University
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

©Jonathan Coop

A new study from Colorado State University, Western Colorado University and the U.S. Forest Service found evidence that stands of aspen trees could resist wildfires by slowing a fire’s advance or changing its course. The researchers found that even modest increases in aspen cover dramatically reduced the rate at which fires spread. Their findings suggest that aspen forests can act as natural firebreaks, which is valuable information for land managers and agencies. “Where managers can encourage aspen over conifers, they may represent a more desirable fuel treatment in some forest types than traditional thinning or shaded firebreaks because of the aesthetic value and wildlife habitat aspen provide,” said Camille Stevens-Rumann, study principal investigator and interim director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at CSU. Fires in areas with vegetation composed of at least 25% aspen spread at about a third the rate of fires in forests with less than 10% aspen trees.

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Experimental forest in Idaho can’t maintain all its science during Trump freeze

By Michael Wright
Idaho Statesman
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Each day, as afternoon turns into evening, the U.S. Forest Service research staffer based at the experimental forest there walks over to the weather station next to the office and looks at two thermometers — one showing the day’s maximum temperature, the other showing the minimum. They record the readings and add them to the station’s long-term dataset, which stretches back to 1913. …And the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the site, can’t fill the role permanently because of the federal government’s continued hiring freeze, which has been extended to October. …But there will be no full-time research staff there, forcing the discontinuation of a handful of long-term data collection efforts — such as the daily weather readings, regular streamflow monitoring and a weekly acid rain sample that’s part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program.

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Oregon Department of State Lands gets new leader in scientist and lawyer Kaitlin Lovell

Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Kaitlin Lovell

A lawyer, scientist and former manager at the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services will become the new director of the Department of State Lands. Kaitlin Lovell of Colton, Oregon, begins her four-year term as the agency’s leader in early August. She’ll be in charge of managing more than 130 staff in Bend and Salem, a budget of more than $116 million, and roughly 680,000 acres of state-owned land. …The agency is in charge of managing the state’s agricultural, industrial and residential lands for conservation, development and revenue generation for the benefit of Oregon’s public schools. The agency also administers mineral and energy rights on more than 768,500 acres statewide. …Lovell spent most of the last 18 years working for Portland’s environmental services and regulatory agency, and was most recently its Regulatory Strategy Manager, in charge of financial planning for its wastewater and stormwater management services.

See Government Press Release

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Colorado politicians introduce legislation to support forest and grassland restoration

By Abby Smith
KRDO News
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse, along with other politicians, introduced the Joint Chiefs Reauthorization Act. This legislation would reauthorize the program to better support forest and grassland restoration projects on both public and private lands. “Our Western forests, grasslands, and watersheds are as important to our economy as the Lincoln Tunnel is to New York, but they are under threat from a changing climate and consistent federal underinvestment,” said Bennet. …Bennet mentioned that strengthening the program will ensure that restoring landscapes, protecting water supplies, and reducing wildfire risks can continue for future generations. “Western and Northern Colorado are all too familiar with the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires,” said Neguse.

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Could Trump’s tariffs bring back the Pacific Northwest lumberjack?

By Joshua McNichols
KUOW News and Information
July 16, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Could President Donald Trump’s strategies help revive Washington’s diminished timber industry? For nearly a century, Washington’s timber industry produced everything from paper and two-by-fours to the massive wood beams that hold up the Tacoma Dome. Lumber mills were the backbone of logging towns throughout the Northwest. But the industry has been on a long decline since the 1990s. Now, Trump wants to reduce foreign competition and increase US logging to bring back those jobs. To find out whether it could work, KUOW visited a sawmill in Morton, a small town in the foothills of Mount Rainier. …Today, the state has about 100,000 timber-related jobs, including mills. That means Washington has lost about a quarter of its timber jobs in the last thirty years. The loss has been devastating to rural communities built around those sawmills, like Morton, Washington. …The Hampton Mill is still the economic heart of the community today. It’s survived the waves of closures over the years.

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Eastern Oregon’s ancient trees face alarming decline, study finds

By Bobby Corser
KATU News
July 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A new analysis reveals that many of Eastern Oregon’s ancient trees are dying at an alarming rate. The study, conducted by a team led by James Johnston, an assistant research professor at the University of Oregon, found that between 2012 and 2023, a quarter of trees over 300 years old in roadless areas of the Malheur National Forest had died. Johnston attributed the decline to a combination of drought, insect infestations, and competition with younger trees. “It’s sad to see so many old trees dying,” Johnston said. He emphasized the need for active management to protect these ancient trees, particularly in the dry forests of Eastern and Southern Oregon. The study, published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, highlights the importance of old-growth trees, which store carbon, provide critical habitat, and help maintain water quality. Johnston’s research, which began a decade ago, involved taking core samples from old-growth trees in unlogged sections of the forest.

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A Sequoia Forest Grows in Detroit

By Michaela Haas
Reasons to be Cheerful
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Behind David Milarch’s desk in a large warehouse in rural Michigan grows the future of climate change solutions. Thousands of sequoias, coastal redwoods, oaks and a hundred other tree species form the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive (AATA), a living library of the world’s mightiest trees. These are not just any saplings — they all are descendants of so-called champion trees. …At 75, David Milarch is trying to save the world’s last old-growth forests from extinction — by using their DNA to help reverse climate change. …Cloning these giants is challenging. It involves scaling the trees to the high points where the newest growth sprouts, snipping off the most vital tips, and then coaxing them to root in a mix of soil and specialized hormones. While arborists believed it was impossible to clone redwoods older than 80 years because of their diminished vitality, Milarch proved them wrong.

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USDA, Bighorn National Forest reexamining roadless areas

By Alex Hargrave
The Buffalo Bulletin
July 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

WYOMING — The future of roadless areas in the Bighorn National Forest and other national forest system lands is uncertain after the Trump administration announced that it would rescind the 2001 roadless rule. …Of the Bighorn National Forest’s 1.1 million acres, 600,000 acres are managed as inventoried roadless areas. In these areas, road construction and reconstruction and timber harvesting are prohibited. Rollins’ action will require environmental analysis, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, tribal consultation and coordination with affected states, according to the U.S. Forest Service. So, at this point, how the proposal will impact forest management is uncertain. …Bighorn National Forest Supervisor Andrew Johnson said he planned to seek a technical correction to the forest’s roadless boundaries from Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. Johnson said that roughly 50% of the forest’s suitable timber base is located in areas designated as roadless.

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Kansas could get stiffed by the White House for this year’s firefighting and forestry programs

By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
KCUR
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

©Kansas Forest Service

The money lets Kansas train more than 1,500 firefighters per year across the state and helps get trucks, generators and hand-tools for rural fire departments. Most of the Kansas Forest Service’s budget for this fiscal year might simply not show up. That’s the fear — with just 2.5 months left in the federal fiscal year — as the Trump administration continues to withhold federal money that states and tribal governments use for forestry and for preventing and combating wildfires. “One of the main things we do with this funding is provide training, response resources, response assistance” for wildfires, State Forester Jason Hartman said. …Rural departments are the vital, frontline responders when it comes to the kind of fires that the Kansas Forest Service focuses on preventing and combating — wildfires that sweep across the state’s prairies and woodlands. …Kansas sees about 4,000 wildfires each year.

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This Golden Fungus Is Spreading Wildly in North America’s Forests

By Jacey Fortin
The New York Times
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

For a few years, foragers and fungi enthusiasts around the Midwest have been seeing something yellow. The butter-colored flushes of the golden oyster mushroom are difficult to miss. They bloom on dead or decaying trees, and they have become profuse in states around the Great Lakes. The fungi, which are native to Asia, are good to eat and easy to grow. But a new study shows that they may also be sapping the resources of native mushrooms. And their footprint is spreading fast. “I don’t think anyone would hesitate to call it invasive,” said Aishwarya Veerabahu, a mycologist and doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an author of the study, published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology. She and her colleagues call the golden oyster “a literal and figurative bright yellow warning” in the study, adding that “as of now, there are no management strategies available to control its spread.” [a paid subscription is required to read the full article]

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‘We knew it was coming’: Oklahoma deploys tiny wasps to control invasive forest pest

By Chloe Bennet-Steele
KGOU
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

On a day in early June, state forester Will Phifer carried a pill bottle-orange canister into a southeastern Oklahoma forest, tied it to a shaded tree trunk and left. The area was a confirmed spot for a growing population of tree-killing beetles called emerald ash borers, which likely seeped into the state from the east. The container held what scientists hope is a solution to controlling the harmful pest: more than 100 minuscule parasitoid wasp eggs. “These emerald ash borer eggs are laid on the outer bark of the tree,” Dieter Rudolph, forest health specialist for Oklahoma Forestry Services, said. “So, this wasp will go find them and basically inject an egg into the emerald ash borer egg.” Instead of producing an emerald ash borer larva, the host egg will hatch a new wasp.

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SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Addresses Challenges in Northern Forest Region

By SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Newswise
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

SYRACUSE, N.Y.  Three research projects led by scientists at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) have received funding as part of a $2.2 million investment from the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC), supporting studies that address key challenges in the Northern Forest region, including forest health, community resilience, and public engagement. Research goals for the program include sponsoring research to sustain the health of northern forest ecosystems and communities, developing new forest products, and improving forest biodiversity management. …“These research projects reflect ESF’s commitment to advancing forest health, sustainability, and community resilience in the Northern Forest region,” said ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “This funding from NSRC is a vital investment in science that benefits both ecosystems and the people who depend on them.”

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A nation mobilized: Türkiye’s relentless battle against forest fires

The Daily Sabah
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) under Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has issued a stark warning, urging extreme caution as temperatures are forecast to rise by 6 to 12 degrees Celsius between July 19 and 25. As record-breaking summer heat and dry winds sweep across the Mediterranean basin, Türkiye is once again on the front lines of a growing global crisis: forest fires. Citing meteorological data, the OGM emphasized that a combination of soaring heat, low humidity and wind can create a dangerous trifecta, fueling wildfires that spread rapidly and with devastating intensity. “Even a moment of carelessness can ignite a fire of catastrophic scale,” the statement read. Citizens are urged not to burn brush, discard cigarette butts, light open fires or leave glass bottles in nature during this critical period. With 86% of wildfires caused by human activity, the risk is real and preventable.

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Interview with FSC’s Subhra Bhattacharjee

By Hans Nicholas Jong
Mongabay
July 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Subhra Bhattacharjee

The Forestry Stewardship Council, a voluntary global certification was established in 1993 by environmentalists, Indigenous groups, human rights advocates and the timber industry to help ensure sustainable forestry practices. A recent report has raised alarm over the implementation of the remedy framework, which allows companies to reclaim certification if they redress past environmental and social harms. Mongabay interviewed FSC’s new director-general, Subhra Bhattacharjee, who stressed Indonesia’s role in how the remedy framework will be implemented worldwide. “When you think of Indonesia, you think of these lush natural tropical forests. You think of the breadth of the biodiversity … sometimes it takes my breath away, the kind of biodiversity we have. The world depends on these natural tropical forests,” she says.

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Qarlbo Biodiversity and Woodland Biofuels Sign Agreement to Advance Sustainable Forestry

By Qarlbo Biodiversity
Cision Newswire
July 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

STOCKHOLM — Qarlbo Biodiversity has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Woodland Biofuels to supply up to 500,000 tons of sustainably harvested pine forest thinnings from properties it manages using its Nature+ Forest Management Strategy. This agreement marks a significant milestone in implementing the Nature+ Strategy, an innovative approach to ecological stewardship that goes beyond traditional forestry methods. Designed for biomass-intensive industries, the strategy ensures a sustainable supply of biomass by combining biodiversity conservation, native species restoration, and responsible forestry production. This integrated approach helps sequester carbon, generate biodiversity credits, and promote resilient, high-performing forest ecosystems. …The pine forest thinnings supplied under this MOU will come from Qarlbo Biodiversity’s expanded properties in the U.S. 

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Russia’s Timber Industry Faces Shutdowns Amid Sanctions, Strong Ruble and Slumping Demand

The Moscow Times
July 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Russia’s timber industry is warning of widespread production shutdowns as the sector reels from Western sanctions, declining demand and a surging ruble that has battered the country’s export competitiveness. …The Russian Association of Organizations and Enterprises of the Pulp and Paper Industry described the current moment as one of the industry’s most difficult periods in modern history. Industry data show that timber harvesting fell 13% in 2024 compared with pre-war levels in 2021, lumber production dropped 11% and plywood output declined 23%. Even pulp production, one of the sector’s more stable outputs, decreased by 3%. Major industry players including Segezha Group and ULK Group have been restructuring loans over the past two years in response to falling output, sliding prices and soaring costs. But the situation has continued to deteriorate, especially within the export-heavy pulp and paper sector. Compounding the problem is the Central Bank’s steep 20% key interest rate along with a hike in the profit tax rate from 20% to 25%.

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