Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Prince Edward Island wildland firefighters heading to Saskatchewan and Manitoba

By Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action
Government of Prince Edward Island
June 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Ten forest firefighters from the Island are in Saskatchewan to help with the wildfire situation in that province. There are also two Island forestry staff in Manitoba assisting with fires there in safety roles. The province continues to be in a good position to respond to forest fire inside or outside of provincial borders. The Government of Prince Edward Island has more than 55 staff trained in wildland firefighting, including foresters, forest technicians, wildlife technicians, and others who have fire response as part of their duties. The team heading to Saskatchewan includes wildfire students who will be embedded with more experienced firefighters to hone their skills.

In related news: Canadian Press in CTV: Quebec sends aid to Alberta and Manitoba

Read More

Forests Canada says its on track to plant its 50 millionth tree this year

CBC News
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Jessica Kaknevicius

The organization Forests Canada says it’s on track to reach its goal of planting 50 million trees by the end of this year. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made that pledge in 2007, saying that figure would be reached by 2025. Forests Canada CEO Jess Kaknevicius says its efforts are in addition to trees planted after logging operations, which are legally required under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act. “So the 50-million tree program is outside of any legally obligated area,” she said. Forests Canada’s goals are to plant more trees in what it calls “settled landscapes,” which include shelter belts around farmland. …Kaknevicius said Forests Canada relies on funding from different levels of government, along with donations to fund its tree-planting efforts. Kaknevicius said she estimates that trees planted by logging companies under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act are also in the millions each year.

Read More

Ashes to Action: A Call for Post-Wildfire Restoration in Canada

By Rob Keen
Canadian Tree Nursery Association
May 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

May 2025 is just over, and wildfires have already burned over 283,618 hectares of land across Canada. By mid-May 2025, around 100 wildfires were active, primarily in Manitoba and Ontario, two major fires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan alone accounted for over half of the area burned by early May. In 2023 and 2024, wildfires destroyed over 22.3 million hectares—nearly 7% of our forested land in two years. Now is the critical moment to initiate restoration efforts that can rejuvenate both our environment and economy. The importance of forest restoration cannot be overstated. The CTNA-ACPF) calculates that restoring just 15% of the land lost in the recent (2023 and 2024) wildfires would require over 5.3 billion seedlings. This restoration effort could inject through the nursery sector alone, $1.87 billion into the economy, boost GDP by $3.91 billion, and create nearly 31,000 jobs.

Read More

Canada Invests in Green Jobs for Youth

Natural Resources Canada
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Today, the Honourable Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families, announced $15 million to create 470 employment and skills training opportunities for youth across Canada in natural resources sectors including energy, forestry, mining, earth sciences and clean technology. Through the Science and Technology Internship Program (STIP) – Green Jobs, employers in natural resources sectors can apply for funding to hire, train and mentor youth aged 15 to 30 for up to 12 months. These job opportunities will ensure that Canada’s natural resources sectors remain a source of economic growth and prosperity in the future. STIP – Green Jobs is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS), which supports youth in gaining the hands-on skills and experience they need to effectively transition into the labour market.

Read More

World Wildlife Fund Canada scaling up seed orchard program to address seed shortage across Canada

By World Wildlife Fund Canada
Cision Newswire
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

TORONTO – This spring, WWF-Canada is scaling up an initiative to help restore ecosystems across Canada by increasing the native plant seed supply. The organization awarded grants to 13 First Nations, organizations and businesses in five provinces to support the establishment and expansion of seed orchards — native plant growing operations that produce the locally-sourced seed needed for habitat restoration projects. Restoring healthy ecosystems across hundreds of thousands of hectares in Canada is necessary to protect wildlife species and fight climate change, but there aren’t enough native plants available to do so on the scale that’s needed (millions or even billions of plants). Seed orchards increase supply by producing seed from native plants grown for that purpose, replacing the need to harvest seeds from plants out in nature, which can negatively impact those wild plant populations and their local ecosystems.

Read More

Canada Invests in Green Jobs for Youth

By Natural Resources Canada
The Government of Canada
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

OTTAWA, ON—The Honourable Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families, announced $15 million to create 470 employment and skills training opportunities for youth across Canada in natural resources sectors including energy, forestry, mining, earth sciences and clean technology. Through the Science and Technology Internship Program (STIP) – Green Jobs, employers in natural resources sectors can apply for funding to hire, train and mentor youth aged 15 to 30 for up to 12 months. These job opportunities will ensure that Canada’s natural resources sectors remain a source of economic growth and prosperity in the future. STIP – Green Jobs is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS), which supports youth in gaining the hands-on skills and experience they need to effectively transition into the labour market.

Read More

Small but mighty Sunshine Coast community forest stepping up in local economy

By the Ministry of Forests
Government of British Columbia
May 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Sunshine Coast Community Forest is being recognized for its excellence in forestry and its effect on the community, receiving the 2025 Robin Hood Memorial Award for Excellence in Community Forestry on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. “When you hear about local leaders and the incredible benefits they bring to their community through forestry, you can just tell this is what the future of forestry looks like,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “The Sunshine Coast Community Forest is this future and is leading with a community-first approach that weaves together local economic resiliency with healthy forests to support those who call the Sunshine Coast home.” …“It means a lot to us to be recognized among the many exceptional community forests in B.C.,” said Sara Zieleman, executive director, Sunshine Coast Community Forest. …The Robin Hood Memorial Award for Excellence in Community Forestry was established in 2016 to honour the life and legacy of the late Robin Hood. 

Read More

Helicopter logging proposed for Powell Lake

By Paul Galinski
The Powell River Peak
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

qathet Regional District’s planning committee is recommending the regional board express no objection to a Western Forest Products helicopter logging operation on Powell Lake. At the May 27 planning committee meeting, directors considered a recommendation to advise the provincial ministry of water, land and resource stewardship that the regional district has no objection to the crown land application for a licence of occupation for the purpose of industrial log handling and storage on the northern arm of the lake. Electoral Area A director and committee chair Jason Lennox said there was a detailed staff report on the application. “I’m in support of the recommendation,” said Lennox. “If you read the report, it’s a three-year activity for harvesting into the lake. You will see the different due diligence pieces in there around mitigation measures to the environment; the Powell Region Cabin Owners Association was consulted as well.

Read More

Forest Enhancement Society of BC project updates

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
May 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

British Columbia’s forests are home to a diverse range of wildlife species, which play a significant role in the ecology of a living forest. At the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, we recognize that responsible forest management plays a crucial role in enhancing wildlife habitat and supporting biodiversity. Because of this, one of our key purposes as an organization is to help improve wildlife habitat within B.C.’s forests. Collaborating with the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation we have supported over 100 wildlife habitat enhancement projects restoring forest health and evaluating the habitat and wildlife response to fire… In this newsletter: Tick Safety from the BC Forest Safety Council; An interview with Thomas Sullivan, Applied Mammal Research Institute; 64 newly funded forest enhancement projects; Lower Nicola Indian Band wildfire risk reduction; and a UBC Faculty of Forestry survey explores interest in international tours.

Read More

UBC Faculty of Forestry explores interest in international tour opportunities

By the Faculty of Forestry
University of British Columbia
May 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

In September 2023, UBC Faculty of Forestry led a tour of 31 BC foresters, technologists, and allied professionals on a study tour in Finland with the purpose of increasing our understanding of Finland forestry. We have since received a number of inquiries about upcoming forestry study tours to Finland. We are certainly capable of organizing a new tour if there is enough interest among the BC forestry professionals. With this survey, we are exploring the initial interest for a new tour, the best timing for the tour and expectations for learning objectives. Would you be interested in possibly attending the study tour? Please complete our survey and share your thoughts and expectations. 

Read More

What happens during a Red Flag Warning? Alberta Wildfire explains

By Steven Sandor
The Edmonton Journal
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Red Flag Warning has been sounded by Alberta Wildfire. But what does it mean? It means conditions are ripe for the ignition and fast-moving spread of wildfires. The forest-fire experts use a sliding scale, first adopted by the U.S. National Weather Service, to determine how dry the conditions are in the forest areas, and how the wind could help fan the flames if that dry tinder is ignited. Basically, a score is calculated based on wind speed, heat and the lack of humidity. A sample document provided by Alberta Wildfire shows a hypothetical watch being created when the maximum daily temperatures is expected to hit 33 Celsius, the humidity is at 25 per cent or lower, and wind speeds are 10 km/h. Basically, when it is punishingly hot and dry, it doesn’t take a lot of wind to trigger an alert. “And, just like weather alerts, “watch” is one level below “warning.”

Read More

City receives funding through Forest Enhancement Society

By Paul Rodgers
The Kimberley Bulletin
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Kimberley Fire Chief Will Booth was at the most recent meeting of City Council, discussing the 2025 Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, but also advising Council that grant funding has been awarded through the Forest Enhancement Society of British Columbia (FESBC). …These funds will support a major project to help build a larger buffer against wildfires along Kimberley’s western flank. It will involve thinning and slash piling and burning in six identified units within the Horse Barn Valley, or just south of it. The Fire Department has identified these units to help support the future development of a 140-hectare unit prescribed burn. The three main goals of the project are to reduce active crown fire potential, reduce surface fire intensity and long-range spotting and increase wildfire resilience. 

Read More

Quw’utsun Nation and Municipality of North Cowichan moving forward on co-management for Municipal Forest Reserve

By Scott Penfold
My Cowichan Valley Now
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Quw’utsun Nation and the Municipality of North Cowichan are moving forward on a co-management framework for the Municipal Forest Reserve. The initiative is being developed with the help of Your Wayfinders Management Solutions, a project management consulting firm. The goal is to create a partnership in key areas like shared decision-making, economic opportunities, Indigenous forest practices, recreation, and stewardship of culturally sensitive areas. A final draft plan is expected by early 2026. In the meantime, North Cowichan has paused new decisions on the forest reserve, but essential activities like FireSmart work and invasive species control will continue. North Cowichan had a technical review and public engagement done for the forest reserve between 2020 and 2023, and a preferred forest management scenario favouring ecological and sustainable values was presented to council.

Related content in the Lake Cowichan Gazette, letter by Larry Pynn: Glen Ridgway: the ex-politician who can’t see the forest for the clearcuts

Read More

First fire ban coming for Vancouver Island & Coastal Fire Centre

Nanaimo News Now
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

NANAIMO — Larger, open fires are set to be banned for the summer months, effective at the end of this week. The Coastal Fire Centre will enact a sweeping ban on category two and three fires beginning at noon on Friday, May 30, a typical first step in their fire prevention efforts every summer. Banned across Vancouver Island and a vast majority of coastal B.C. will be large burn piles or burns over stubble or grass to certain measurements. Also banned are fireworks, exploding targets, burn barrels and cages, air curtain burners and other, similar open flames. …“Anyone found in contravention of an open fire prohibition may be issued a violation ticket for $1,150, required to pay an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 or, if convicted in court, fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail,” the BC Wildfire Services stated.

Read More

AISIX Solutions Inc. Launches New Website Offering Wildfire Risk Solutions for Key Industries

AISIX Solutions Inc.
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver, BC — AISIX Solutions Inc., a wildfire risk assessment and analytics solutions provider, unveiled its newly redesigned website at www.aisix.ca. The platform is now purpose-built to help industry professionals in insurance, government, engineering, finance, and natural resources discover sector-specific climate risk solutions, explore data-driven case studies, and request live product demos with ease. AISIX’s wildfire intelligence tools-such as Wildfire 3.0MineSafe Wildfire are now accessible through a simplified and intuitive digital experience. Visitors can explore how AISIX’s high-resolution climate risk datasets and APIs power mission-critical decisions for asset protection, regulatory reporting, and long-term resilience planning.

Read More

Q&A with Forest Professionals of BC Chief Executive Officer Christine Gelowitz

By Branchlines
University of British Columbia, Faculty of Forestry
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Christine Gelowitz

Forest Professionals of BC Chief Executive Officer Christine Gelowitz stepped into her current role as CEO of Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC), formerly the Association of BC Forest Professionals, with a wealth of forest policy knowledge. She completed a Bachelor of Science in natural resource management, majoring in forestry from the University of Northern BC, and found her career footing managing large, multi-year contracts with Forest Renewal BC. Later, Christine worked as a research officer with the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and later held several senior leadership positions with the BC Ministry of Forests, largely in forest policy and planning. “I am most proud of overseeing the shift in the regulation of professional forestry that occurred due to the passage of the Professional Governance Act in 2018, replacing the Foresters Act that was first established in 1947. We had 14 months to revamp FPBC to legally operate under the Act,” said Gelowitz.

Read More

In a world on fire, making the case for burning more

By Matt Simmons
The Narwhal
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Kevin Kriese

In Smithers, B.C., Kevin Kriese explains why he believes people need to change how they think about wildfire. A former assistant deputy minister with the provincial government and recently retired chair of the B.C. Forest Practices Board, Kriese is now a senior wildfire analyst with the POLIS wildfire resilience project. He’s tall and athletic (an avid skier) and a passionate advocate for land-based solutions to ecological challenges. He speaks with the confidence of someone who has spent his entire career navigating seemingly intractable problems — but admits getting people on board with the idea of living with more fire on the land is no easy task. “Fires do have this destructive force to communities — and they should be stopped from that destruction,” he says. “At the same time, if you understand the ecology, we want more of it. It’s that dichotomy that we’re trying to get at.”

Read More

Better Protecting Communities and Forests: Wildfire Risk Reduction Project Completed Near Merritt

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

Merritt, B.C. The Lower Nicola Indian Band Development Corporation (LNIBDC) has completed wildfire risk reduction treatments in the Steffens Estates subdivision, north of the Lower Nicola Indian Band’s Mameet Indian Reserve #1, approximately 17 kilometres north of the city of Merritt. The project, which combined harvesting and post-harvest fuel reduction treatments, was conducted by crews from Shulus Forest Enterprises LP, the forestry division of the LNIBDC, with assistance from Forsite Consultants Ltd. and funding support from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC. The work will help reduce wildfire risk to communities, enhance forest resilience, and maintain critical wildlife features while generating significant economic and employment opportunities for the LNIBDC. …The LNIBDC contracted Forsite to assist in creating the fuel management prescription, which helped guide and monitor the crew’s activities as treatments were implemented, ensuring all required wildfire risk reduction outcomes were achieved.

Read More

Upload Photos Win $$! Alberta Forest Products Association Raffle Contest

Alberta Forest Products Association
May 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

To celebrate the dedication of our industry and our collective love for Alberta forests, the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA), will be hosting a raffle The prize? Be entered into a draw for a chance to win a $200 Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) or Marks Work Warehouse gift card (choice between the two) and a Love AB Forests merch item of your choosing. The Alberta forest Media Catalogue is an extensive digital archive that houses a wide range of media related to Alberta’s forests and forestry sector. This includes photos, videos, audio files, documents, and more. The catalogue is designed to be a central repository where members can easily upload, tag, share, and search for forestry-related media. 

Read More

2025 International Model Forest Network Global Forum

Ontario Woodlot Association
May 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

The Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF) and the Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) are honoured to be organizing the 2025 International Model Forest Network (IMFN) Global Forum to take place from May 26-30th, 2025 in Kemptville, Ontario, Canada at the Kemptville Campus Education and Community Centre. The event will attract up to 200 delegates representing over 60 Model Forests from over 30 countries around the world. The IMFN Global Forum is a business, technical, and networking meeting in which members share knowledge, review their accomplishments, address challenges, and agree on Networkwide and other strategic plans and initiatives for the threeyear period following the Global Forum. …The 2025 IMFN Global Forum will include a series of parallel regional annual governance meetings, a multi-day IMFN Global Forum / IMFN Assembly, an IMFN Climate knowledge consolidation workshop, as well as several one-day field tour options within the host Model Forest to learn from local experiences and landscape governance processes.

Read More

US Department of Agriculture Invests $200M to Expand Timber Production, Strengthen Rural Economies, Secure American Industry

The US Department of Agriculture
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a bold $200 million investment to implement the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s National Active Forest Management Strategy, a key initiative to increase timber harvest, improve forest health and productivity, reduce wildfire risk, and support rural prosperity in forest communities. The strategy supports President Trump’s Executive Order: Immediate Expansion of Timber Production by streamlining burdensome regulations, leveraging emergency authorities, and expediting project approvals—ensuring faster access to critical timber resources. Increasing the use of long-term contracts to carry out these projects, the strategy envisions a more stable supply of wood products, healthier forests, and stronger rural economies. “Trump is committed to cutting red tape, rolling back burdensome regulations and unleashing the potential of America’s abundant natural resources. This is a win for … forest management which will help keep our forests safer and reduce wildfire risk,” said Secretary Rollins.

Read More

Managing forests and other ecosystems under rising threats requires thinking across wide-ranging scenarios

The Conversation
May 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

In Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California, trees that have persisted through rain and shine for thousands of years are now facing multiple threats triggered by a changing climate. Scientists and park managers once thought giant sequoia forests nearly impervious to stressors like wildfire, drought and pests. Yet, even very large trees are proving vulnerable, particularly when those stressors are amplified by rising temperatures and increasing weather extremes. The rapid pace of climate change – combined with threats like the spread of invasive species and diseases – can affect ecosystems in ways that defy expectations based on past experiences… To protect these places, which are valued for their natural beauty and the benefits they provide for recreation, clean water and wildlife, forest and land managers increasingly must anticipate risks they have never seen before. And they must prepare for what those risks will mean for stewardship as ecosystems rapidly transform.

Read More

If a tree falls in the forest, was it a pine? Researchers can now make a good guess

By Zeina Mohammed
Phys.Org
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

If you’re wondering why squirrels seem to vastly outnumber raccoons—or why certain car brands dominate city streets—a team of University of Virginia researchers may be able to help. Some species are abundant while most are rare. For nearly a century, scientists have sought a mathematical model to describe this pattern, the “hollow curve” species-abundance distribution, found universally within ecological communities. A recent breakthrough by a team within UVA’s Department of Biology seems to have finally cracked this ecological puzzle. By analyzing 30,000 datasets ranging from the distribution of tree species across the United States to bacterial communities living in the human gut, they found that a model called the “powerbend distribution” accurately describes the species abundance across plant, animal and microbial communities. Their findings were published recently in the journal Nature Communications.

Read More

Court denies request to halt logging activity in Elwha Watershed

By Emma Maple
The Daily World
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

The Clallam County Superior Court denied environmentalists’ request for an administrative stay on two local Department of Natural Resources parcels, although it granted a motion to compel information from the state agency. If the stay had been granted, it would have barred logging-related activities for 90 days on the parcels named Parched and Tree Well. The motion to compel will require the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to file administrative records relevant to the case by June 18 — a five-month delay from the original required date of Jan. 2. The logging rights for these two forests were bought by Oregon-based Murphy Company in December. The sale to the Eugene, Ore.-based Murphy Company was approved by the Washington State Board of Natural Resources in December. The Murphy Company is a more-than-a-century-old, family-owned wood products company based in Oregon, with a veneer mill in Elma.

Read More

Bureau of Land Management timber sales to offer up to 8.5 million board feet in western Oregon

By Kyle Sullivan, Medford District Office
US Bureau of Land Management
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MEDFORD, Ore. – The Bureau of Land Management will offer up to 8.5 million board feet of timber across 380 public acres for sale on June 26, 2025. Timber produced from these sales will provide critical supplies for construction and other industries, and support jobs across western Oregon economies. The Salt Creek salvage sale will offer salvage logging on 110 acres, producing an estimated 2.2 million board feet. The Rotors Up timber sale will offer commercial thinning on 16 acres, selection harvest on 252 acres, and right of way clearing on two acres, producing an estimated 6.3 million board feet of timber. “The BLM is proud to offer these timber sales,” said BLM Medford District Manager Elizabeth Burghard. “Our timber sales provide building materials and jobs that improve life in local communities, while also improving the health of local forests.”

Read More

Court denies request to halt logging activity in Elwha Watershed

By Emma Maple
Peninsula Daily News
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Clallam County Superior Court denied environmentalists’ request for an administrative stay on two local Department of Natural Resources parcels, although it granted a motion to compel information from the state agency. If the stay had been granted, it would have barred logging-related activities for 90 days on the parcels named Parched and Tree Well. The motion to compel will require the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to file administrative records relevant to the case by June 18 – a five-month delay from the original required date of Jan. 2. The logging rights for these two forests were bought by Oregon-based Murphy Company in December. Although road building has begun, there is no planned logging on these properties until next year at the earliest, according to Murphy’s intervenor.

Read More

Elliott State Research Forest HCP Integrates Forest Management and Conservation Efforts

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Ore. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued an Endangered Species Act incidental take permit to the Oregon Department of State Lands for its Elliott State Research Forest Habitat Conservation Plan. The permit covers incidental take of the threatened marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl associated with implementing the HCP over 80 years. The state voluntarily created the HCP to promote innovative forest research and timber production while ensuring the conservation of listed species and their habitats in the Elliott State Research Forest, located in Coos and Douglas counties. The incidental take permit provides consistency and management certainty for the landowner and the public while facilitating extended studies essential to understanding working forests. …The HCP is intended to be financially self-sufficient, using revenue generated from the sale of harvested forest products consistent with the plan’s research framework and conservation measures.

Read More

Legal Intervention Aims to Defend Tongass Against Increased Old-Growth Logging

The Center for Biological Diversity
May 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

JUNEAU, Alaska— A coalition of conservation groups, Alaska tribes, a commercial fishing advocacy group and an ecotourism operator today filed a request to intervene in a timber industry legal challenge that seeks to revive industrial old-growth logging in the Tongass National Forest. The timber industry litigation, filed March 6, asks a federal court to order the U.S. Forest Service to offer more old-growth trees for timber sales. The plaintiffs — the Alaska Forest Association, Viking Lumber Co. and Alcan Timber Co. — contend the Forest Service violated the law by announcing the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, or SASS, in 2021 and not offering enough large old-growth timber sales to meet government-estimated market demands. The groups seeking to intervene in the case argue that current forest management is legal and supports a sustainable regional economy that has flourished in recent years as the Tongass has started to recover from large-scale industrial logging.

Read More

Utility companies update AZ Corporation Commission on wildfire mitigation efforts

By David Bolla
The Payson Roundup
May 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

As Arizona utility companies make aggressive plans to mitigate wildfire risks, many met in Payson to update a state regulatory body. On May 15, the Arizona Corporation Commission hosted a special open meeting on wildfire mitigation at the Payson Public Library. ACC Vice-Chairman Nick Myers moderated the nearly three-hour town hall, which included stakeholder presentations from Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power & UniSource, Salt River Project, Navopache Electric Cooperative, Alliant Gas, Arizona Water Company, and the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. Following brief opening remarks and commissioner comments, utility companies from throughout the state provided insight and information regarding their ongoing wildfire mitigation efforts. The electric companies focused on both grid hardening and creating defensible space around their infrastructure, before providing updates about each of their Public Safety Power Shutoff programs.

Read More

Court denies request to halt logging activity in Elwha Watershed

By Emma Maple
Peninsula Daily News
May 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PORT ANGELES – The Clallam County Superior Court denied environmentalists’ request for an administrative stay on two local Department of Natural Resources parcels, although it granted a motion to compel information from the state agency. If the stay had been granted, it would have barred logging-related activities for 90 days on the parcels named Parched and Tree Well. The motion to compel will require the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to file administrative records relevant to the case by June 18 – a five-month delay from the original required date of Jan. 2. The logging rights for these two forests were bought by Oregon-based Murphy Company in December. …These organizations have lawsuits filed on several other sales in Clallam and Jefferson Counties, as well. …In addition to the motions, activists have blocked access to the parcel titled “Parched” since May 7 by engaging in a tree sit.

Read More

Slowly dying trees impact forest recovery post-wildfires, according to study of 2020 fires

By Cristina Rojas
Portland State University
May 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Across the western U.S., wildfires are becoming larger and more severe — and even trees that initially survive are dying in subsequent years, making it harder for forests to regenerate, according to new research from Portland State University. Building on previous research exploring fire refugia — the green islands of live trees that remain after forest fires — researchers in PSU’s Global Environmental Change lab mapped annual changes in the extent of live tree cover up to three years after the unprecedented 2020 Labor Day fires in Oregon’s western Cascades. The study quantifies changes in the spatial distribution and attributes of fire refugia as a result of delayed tree mortality. …there is potential for delayed fire effects to cause trees to die in subsequent years, including direct burn injuries as well as a combination of direct and indirect effects related to climate, insects, pathogens and heatwaves. 

Read More

The rate at which California trees are dying hits 10-year low

By Ryan Curry
KCRA Sacramento
May 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The rate at which trees are dying in California has hit a 10-year low, according to a survey from the U.S. Forest Service. Trees were dying at an alarming rate from 2015 to 2018, but after significant snow and rainfall in recent years, trees are getting their necessary nutrients. “We’ve had a couple good years of precipitation,” said Jeffrey Moore, aerial survey manager with the Forest Service. “We expected the amount of mortality to start tapering off, and indeed that was the case.” Severe droughts, he says, are the main culprits for the amount of trees that die. Less water means fewer nutrients, which then allows for a greater chance of trees to get disease or infected with bugs that feed on dry bark.

Read More

Lush nature preserve near Lake Michigan added to nationwide roster of old forests

Michigan Live
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Thousands of acres of deep-woods habitats at Arcadia Dunes are now part of a nationwide network of current and future old-growth forests. The wooded areas at the C.S. Mott Nature Preserve in Benzie County this week became the latest place in Michigan to be inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network, which now includes more than 270 permanently protected forests nationwide. The forest near the Lake Michigan shoreline boasts unique microclimates teeming with old beech and hemlock trees, spring wildflowers, and rare native plants. Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy hosted a two-mile hike Wednesday, May 21, along the preserve’s Dryhill Trail Chestnut Loop to celebrate the northern mesic forest being added to the nationwide old-growth roster. The nature preserve is the conservancy’s largest and includes a mix of secondary hardwoods, coastal dunes, and open fields around old farmland and pastures.

Read More

EU Deforestation Regulation Country Benchmarking Misses the Mark

By Kerstin Canby and Marigold Walkins
Forest Trends
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

On May 22, the European Commission released its long-awaited country benchmarking classifications under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). …After years of development, one might have expected a risk classification tool robust enough to help companies navigate the complex terrain of global sourcing. Instead, the rankings are poised to mislead businesses into thinking certain countries are “low risk” when the realities on the ground tell a very different story. …The EUDR sets out dual requirements: products placed on or exported from the EU market must be both “deforestation-free” and “produced in compliance with the laws of the country of origin.” However, the EC’s benchmarking appears to focus overwhelmingly on deforestation metrics and existing EU political sanctions—giving little attention to equally critical issues like governance, corruption, and law enforcement capacity. Findings from Forest Trends’ Illicit Harvest, Complicit Goods report further underscore the problem.

Read More

Europe urgently needs to prepare for worsening wildfires, report finds

By Hunter Bassler
Wildfire Today
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

A new report published by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, or EASAC, a collective of national science academies across Europe calls for collective action to face increasingly disastrous wildfires in the region. The report estimates that nearly 20% of Southern Europe will experience extreme fire danger every two years by the end of the century. Researchers argue that a unified European integrated fire management system, emphasizing landscape wildland fire governance, is the region’s only way forward. “Current EU wildfire policies and funding mechanisms primarily emphasise emergency responses to wildfire prevention, limiting their effectiveness in addressing the root causes of wildfire risk,” the report said. “EU wildfire risk management is hampered by the lack of a targeted, cohesive policy framework. Instead, wildfire risk is managed indirectly, disconnectedly, and fragmentarily through sectoral policies such as the EU Forest Strategy 2030, the Biodiversity Strategy, and the Climate Strategy.”

Read More

What would happen if the Amazon rainforest dried out?

By Fabiano Maisonnave
The Associated Press
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

BRAZIL — Fallen logs are rotting, the trees grow sparser and the temperature rises in places sunlight hits the ground. This is what 24 years of severe drought looks like in the world’s largest rainforest. But this patch of degraded forest, about the size of a soccer field, is a scientific experiment. Launched in 2000 by Brazilian and British scientists, Esecaflor — short for “Forest Drought Study Project” in Portuguese— set out to simulate a future in which the changing climate could deplete the Amazon of rainfall. It is the longest-running project of its kind in the world, and has become a source for dozens of academic articles. …This resulted in the loss of approximately 40% of the total weight of the vegetation and the carbon stored within it from the plot. The main findings were detailed in a study published in May in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. 

Read More

Consultation begins on new environmental standards for forestry sector

Inside Government New Zealand
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Government has opened public consultation on proposed amendments to the National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry (NES-CF), aimed at restoring national consistency and protecting the sector’s right to operate. Minister of Forestry Todd McClay said the proposed changes were about “getting foresters and wood processors back in the driver’s seat and stopping councils from using their plans to rewrite the rules on forestry through the back door”. “Our fibre sector – from forestry to wood processors – plays a crucial role in New Zealand’s economy, particularly in regional communities,” Mr McClay says. The current NES-CF was designed to provide a nationally consistent framework for managing the environmental effects of plantation forestry. However, recent changes have allowed councils to bypass that intent by imposing more stringent rules without justification – a trend that is now undermining investment and confidence in the sector, said the Minister.

Read More

Trees Synchronize Their Bio-electrical Signals During Solar Eclipses: ‘The Wood Wide Web in Action’

Good News Network
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

More evidence that trees display group cognition and communication has arrived from the Dolomites where a multidisciplinary team monitored a forest during a solar eclipse. Their research witnessed two things, that the trees of the forest synchronized bioelectrical activity during the eclipse, and that the process of synchronization was started and directed by the eldest trees—a full 14 hours before the eclipse even started. The results of their experiment, which was published in Royal Society Open Science, demonstrate both the incredible value of old trees to the forests in which they live, but also the extent to which our woody cousins respond to their environment… The two older trees in the study, about 70 years old, had a much more pronounced early response to the impending eclipse than the young tree.

Read More

‘A gut punch’ – Ireland has the fewest trees in Europe

By James Wilson
Newstalk
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Centuries ago, around 80% of Ireland’s green landscape was covered in trees – many of which were hundreds of years old. The arrival of modern agriculture changed that now less than 1% of the island is covered by ancient woodland. The Government hopes to reverse this historic trend and is aiming to cover 18% of the State in trees by 2050. Businesses are getting involved as well; Wolfman Digital bought a plot of land seven-years ago and staff were bussed out to plant trees on it. “Back in 2017, we decided we wanted to become carbon neutral,” CEO Alan Coleman said. “We were looking into our different options and we learnt three things about forests that really made us feel strongly that we wanted to start planting trees. “The first thing we learnt is that forestry is one of the strongest solutions to global warming.”

Read More

Young trees face ‘make or break’ moment as drought reshapes Europe’s forests

By Wageningen University
Phys.Org
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The future of the European forests is at risk due to our changing climate. To observe the effects of climate change, we often look at the large trees. But the young trees are the future of the forest and are also the most vulnerable. The current drought is the biggest threat to young trees. A recent study published in Ecological Modelling by Wageningen University & Research and forest inventory institutes from 11 EU countries highlights new signals in the critical young phase of the forest. Forest rejuvenation—the process in which new trees establish themselves and start to grow—is very important for the future forest structure, biodiversity, growth and resilience of the forest. When new trees start to grow, it marks the beginning of an important process. This phase is crucial for the future forest. Predicting forest regeneration at a European scale was very limited.

Read More