FPInnovations is conducting a national survey on the usage of Advanced Driver Assistance System in logging and chip hauling: FPInnovations’ 2022 Forest Transportation Safety Improvement Survey. The survey will take less than 15 minutes of your time and help make a real difference to the forest industry! The survey is on the use of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in Canadian log and chip haul operations. Descriptions of ADAS technologies such as lane departure warning, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking can be found here. The adoption rate of ADAS technology is rising in highway fleets, but it is still at an early adoption stage in forestry transportation, as operational implementation and re-engineering is still required in many cases. …FPInnovations is seeking input from log and chip haulers to help identify the benefits of these technologies and required improvements to meet the industry’s needs and safety requirements.
With old-growth harvesting on pause until at least the end of the year, the Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) is looking ahead to other possible revenue generators—including a greater focus on its carbon sequestration program and logging mature and second-growth trees. The CCF board hosted an open house Feb. 28, giving the public its first look at the proposed harvest plans for 2022. Co-managed by the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Lil’wat Nation, and the Squamish Nation, the CCF hasn’t seen much commercial logging in recent years. Last June, in the midst of rising local opposition following the high-profile blockades at Fairy Creek, the board 
There are concerns about how much timber could soon be coming from forests around Prince Albert. The four island forests — Canwood, Nisbet, Fort-a-la-Corne and Torch River provincial forests – cover more than half a million acres and are in the northern portion of the agricultural zone. The management plan to guide the future protection and logging of the forests was released for public consultation back in October 2021, seven years after studies by the provincial Forest Service began. The 2021 plan considers significant reductions in wood supply due to recent wildfires and the need to remove some land from the forested land base. In addition, it recommends a 37 per cent reduction in the allowable cut from what was proposed in the old plan from 2016. …A formal decision from Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Environment is expected in the coming months.
MISSION, BC— The City of Mission is holding two virtual FireSmart Community Forums in March to help residents learn effective ways to reduce the risks of wildfire at home. Offered on the evenings of Mar. 15 and 22, the forum will be an opportunity for residents to hear the benefits of FireSmart strategies and have a chance to ask questions. …The forum will be led by Bruce Blackwell of B.A. Blackwell & Associates, and was funded by Community Resiliency Investment program. “These forums represent a key component of our planning to help keep our community safe from wildfire,” said Chris Gruenwald, Director of Forestry. 
Yesterday two US Congressmen…introduced legislation directing the U.S. Forest Service to immediately suppress wildfires on National Forest System. 
Whether it’s wildfires that sweep across the West Coast, storms rolling in from the Pacific Ocean or dense fog that blankets the Pacific Northwest, a new weather satellite will be able to track them all. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched GOES-T, the third in its series of advanced geostationary weather satellites, at 4:38 p.m. ET Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once the satellite is in orbit, it will be renamed GOES-18 and monitor weather that impacts the western United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Ocean. The satellite will provide our most sophisticated and sharpest look yet at what Earth’s Western Hemisphere looks like from 22,236 miles above the planet. …”Since many of the weather systems of the United States move from west to east, GOES-T will improve model forecasts for the entire country,” said James Yoe, chief administrative officer for the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation
The Colorado State Forest Service published its annual forest health report this week, highlighting the current conditions of state forests and how the agency is improving their health despite persistent drought and historic wildfires. The report shows how years of dry conditions have stressed forests across the state, creating ideal conditions for insect outbreaks and large wildfires that threaten Colorado’s communities, water supplies and the many benefits forests provide. The report emphasizes the need to reduce wildfire fuels through forest management and prepare more communities for inevitable wildfires. “This is a unique moment for Colorado’s forests,” said Matt McCombs, state forester and director of the CSFS. …“In this report, we look at the trends driving these forest health challenges and what the Colorado State Forest Service is doing to protect our forests and help communities adapt to a new normal for wildfire.”
SALEM — State lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly in favor of new logging standards negotiated by timber and environmental groups under the Private Forest Accord compromise. Senate Bill 1501, which enshrines the deal into law, was approved by the state House on Thursday in a 43-15 vote. The Senate on Wednesday voted 22 to 5 for the legislation. Representatives of timber and environmental groups struck the deal last year after a year of talks mediated by the office of Gov. Kate Brown… “Thank you to legislators from both parties for coming together to pass this historic legislative package,” Brown said. “The Private Forest Accord is a perfect example of the Oregon Way — Oregonians coming together to find common ground, to the mutual benefit of us all. …Under the agreement, small forestland owners are subject to less rigorous logging restrictions in recognition of their tendency to grow trees on a longer rotation cycle.
An out-of-control wildfire in the Cleveland National Forest 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles on Wednesday may have been caused by U.S. Marines using explosives to blow up small dams, according to area property owners. The Jim Fire, which authorities said started at about 11:20 a.m. in the Holy Jim Canyon area, had ballooned to more than 500 acres by nightfall. A towering cloud of smoke and ash blotted out large stretches of sky through the afternoon and was visible in three counties. U.S. Forest Service firefighters responded with fire engines, hand crews, and air resources, assisted by the Orange County Fire Authority and Cal Fire resources. The fire started in a drainage bottom and spread uphill, according to the forest’s incident report page, and “is under investigation by Forest Service Law Enforcement. No structures are threatened, no injuries have been reported.” 
The Private Forest Accord passed the Oregon Senate on Wednesday, making its way to a final House vote before the end of the February short session. …The bill would change the way more than 10 million acres of private forests in the state are managed to protect at-risk animals and water quality in rivers and streams. The accord, called Senate Bill 1501, passed with 22 Democrats and four Republicans in favor. It would dramatically change logging rules for private forests established in the Forest Practices Act, 50-year-old regulations dictating various rules, including how close logging can occur to rivers and streams and the use of pesticides. …If the Private Forest Accord is approved by the House, it would form the basis of a Habitat Conservation Plan regulated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. …The accord excludes forestland owned by the nine Oregon-based Tribes but allows them to opt into the plan.
Drought, coupled with last year’s heat waves, have weakened the health of forests across Oregon. “In Oregon, we’re facing several emerging issues: drought, fire, tree decline, insect outbreaks, tree pathogens and invasive species,” said David Shaw, Oregon State University professor and forest health specialist with the Forestry and Natural Resources Extension. Shaw was speaking at OSU’s biennial State of the State Forest Health in Oregon Conference. …The connection between drought and forest health is sometimes self-evident: dry fuels burn more easily. But drought also weakens trees, making them more susceptible to pests. …According to Jessica Halofsky, director of the U.S. Forest Service’s Western Wildland Environmental Threats Assessment Center, some potential solutions include conducting more prescribed fire treatments, thinning stands, improving beetle control, creating fuel breaks, removing non-native species and planting tree species that are more disease- and drought-resilient.
Vermont’s old-growth trees need our help now, while they’re still here. In contrast to forests managed for wood products, old and wild forests are more resistant to climate change, and support the highest level of biodiversity; they store more carbon than immature trees, and help reduce sediment and nutrient pollution in water bodies; just as important, they protect communities from the impacts of extreme precipitation events. …Are wood products important? Of course. But with nearly 90% of New England forests available for timber harvest, very few will ever be given the chance to grow old unless we permanently manage more forests as wildlands. It’s time for Vermont’s congressional delegation and leadership at Green Mountain National Forest to do the right thing. Vermont’s old=growth trees must stand. 
Five of the world’s biggest agribusiness firms sought to weaken a draft EU law banning food imports linked to deforestation, eight days after pledging to accelerate their forest protection efforts at Cop26, documents seen by the Guardian show. Forest protection hopes had been raised when the CEOs of 10 food companies with a combined revenue of nearly $500bn (£373bn) vowed to “accelerate sector-wide action” towards eliminating commodity-driven deforestation as the climate summit began on 2 November. Agriculture is responsible for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the companies promised a supply chain reform plan to peg global heating to 1.5C by November 2022. But on 10 November, trade associations representing five of the firms – ADM, Bunge, Cargill, LDC and Viterra – warned the EU’s green deal chief, Frans Timmermans, of soaring prices and food shortages if the EU proceeded with its own blueprint.
