Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Many reasons to feel cautiously optimistic about the application of AI in the Canadian forest industry

By Tony Kryzanowski
The Logging and Sawmill Journal
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, remote piloting, and robotics are beginning to have a profound impact on the forest industry as we have known it, from forest management to log harvesting and delivery and right through to lumber production. This is only the beginning. In a recent interview, Bill Gates said that AI will have a more profound impact on humanity than the personal computer (PC) did. …From a forest management perspective, AI offers incredible potential for planning forest cutblocks and reforestation. In the face of climate change, forest companies will have no choice but to design forests that are more resilient to forest fires, pest and pathogens. The ability of AI to provide a variety of solutions in minutes, based on collating and analyzing past research, will make a forest technician’s job easier, while providing better solutions. This is a clear example of using AI for good—and we should make the most of it.

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Canada has pledged to plant 2 billion trees. Here’s how close we are

By Robin Della Corte
The Canadian Press in CP24 News
August 31, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

The Government of Canada says it is just over a 10th of the way to its goal of planting two billion trees across the country. Launched in 2021, Canada’s 2 Billion Trees program has reached the milestone of 228 million trees planted, with agreements already in place to plant a total of nearly one billion within the coming years. As of June, 11 provinces and territories, 58 Indigenous partners, 30 municipalities and 88 non-governmental organizations has signed or are negotiating tree-planting agreements. The program aims to protect crucial wildlife habitat, restore areas impacted by wildfires and sequester carbon. …Some of these initiatives include creating at least 10 new national parks and marine conservation areas and 15 new urban parks, as well as designating 30 per cent Canada’s land and water as conservation areas by 2030. The federal government has also committed to reach an emissions reduction target of 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

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A walk through the Cai Creek watershed, about to be logged

By Neighbours United
Nelson Star
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Local forests like Cai Creek, rich in biodiversity, cultural heritage, and tourism value, are disappearing across the province. …The at-risk cutblock is situated in the Cai Creek drainage area, just east of Crowsnest Highway 3, above Ootischenia.The hike was led by Matt Casselman, a local biologist and founder of the Save Cai Creek campaign. …“Cai Creek is a mostly intact watershed with no resource roads or recent logging, something that is increasingly rare in the West Kootenays. Intact forests should be protected because they offer areas of refuge for wildlife, and are more resilient to climate change,” says Casselman. …“The BCTS logging and road plans for Cai Creek extend across the whole drainage and will irreversibly disrupt the forest and its ecosystems,” says Casselman. …However, Cai Creek is not considered old growth by the Ministry of Forests and has no protections from logging.

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New forestry group ‘branching’ out

The Columbia Valley Pioneer
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

A new forestry organization is branching out in its goal to become an ‘impartial’ provider of information pertaining to the role forestry plays in all walks of life. Steve Kozuki from Forestry Works for BC Society gave a presentation to the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) to let directors know what the group hopes to accomplish. Kozuki said the forest sector has been the recipient of a lot of criticism over the years, with people getting the idea that forests are disappearing or being logged out of existence, which is “not true.” But he noted the sector shares common concerns about climate change, housing and health care. Kozuki said the Society wants to get non-forest sector people involved in the industry which has promoted the financial and economic benefits of forestry and the jobs it provides. …He … reminded regional directors that “we all depend on a strong forest sector.”

Similar coverage in the Penticton Herald: ForestryWorksForBC makes another case for forestry

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BC First Nations Forestry Council August Newsletter

BC First Nations Forestry Council
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

In this newsletter you’ll find these stories and more:

  • Message from the CEO, Lennard (Suxʷsxʷwels) Joe: “Advancing international partnerships in Australia, delivering new workforce tools in Quesnel and Williams Lake, and engaging youth in hands-on forestry experiences. …Our Policy team is ensuring First Nations voices are at the table in provincial and national forestry processes.”
  • I Am Forestry — Meet Shane Harsh, a proud member of the Skidegate Band from Haida Gwaii… As Vice President of Specialty Products at Woodtone and HaiCo board member
  • Forest Governance: Policy Team ensures First Nations’ voices are at the center of forestry decision-making in British Columbia. 
  • Trade Mission Insights from Rob Manuel, BCFNFC Business Development Strategic Advisor

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BC Community Forest Association News

The BC Community Forest Association
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

In this edition of our newsletter you’ll find these headlines and more:

  • Coming Soon: 2025 Community Forest Indicators Report: Our annual snapshot of community forest impact is based on the 2025 Indicators Survey, the report pairs hard data with member stories and photos to highlight wildfire risk reduction, Indigenous partnerships, local jobs and value-added activity, and stewardship of water, wildlife, and recreation.
  • An Opinion Editorial, Community Forests: Rooted in community, growing for generations, by BCCFA Executive Director Jennifer Gunter was published in several forestry publications on August 1st. It was written in response to a July 25th article in The Tyee that questioned community forests’ support for value-added production and small manufacturers.
  • BCCFA Conference & AGM in Vernon June 3-5, 2026: It will be hosted by Monashee Community Forest—a partnership between the Splatsin First Nation and the Village of Lumby BC.

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Cyclists cautioned about month of logging coming for Revelstoke mountain

By Evert Lindquist
The Revelstoke Review
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Bikers should take note that end-of-summer logging operations are kicking into gear at Revelstoke’s Mount MacPherson for a month starting next week, but minimally impacting recreational trails, according to a local cycling group. In a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 27, the Revelstoke Cycling Association (RCA) advised that forest harvesting begins at the mountain’s upper trail network on the weekdays following the Labour Day weekend. This comes one week later than previously indicated in RCA’s trail report. Logging will run from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through most or all of September, with no activity planned for weekends, according to the association.

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Council decision puts logging back on the table for North Cowichan’s municipal forest reserve

By Eric Richards
The Discourse
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

North Cowichan council has voted to make logging in the municipal forest reserve a strategic priority, despite warnings from some councillors and staff that the move could jeopardize years of work with the Quw’utsun Nation on a forest co-management framework. Timber harvesting in the roughly 5,000-hectare public forest has been on pause since 2019 to allow for public engagement, consultation with local First Nations and advice from experts on how to manage the publicly-owned woodland. Surveys found a majority of residents preferred conservation over harvesting — with 67 per cent of telephone respondents and 76 per cent of online respondents supporting either limiting timber harvesting … or not harvesting timber at all. In 2021, North Cowichan signed a memorandum of understanding with the Quw’utsun Nation… While it could take years before harvesting resumes, some around the council table warned that exploring harvesting options could negatively impact progress made towards a co-management framework with the Quw’utsun Nation.

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Quesnel’s partnership with First Nations in forestry management

By Gary Barnes
The Quesnel Cariboo Observer
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

QUESNEL, BC — The Three Rivers Community Forest (TRCF) is showing how local control can bring fresh ideas to forest management, general manager Nick Pickles told Quesnel council this week. The area-based tenure, signed in October 2024, covers more than 38,000 hectares and is jointly owned by the City of Quesnel and the Esdilagh, Lhtako Dene, and Nazko First Nations. It comes with an allowable annual harvest of about 43,000 cubic-metres of conifer and another 10,500 cubic-metres of deciduous timber, Pickles explained at council’s Aug. 26 meeting. …Pickles said the TRCF mandate is more than just cutting trees. “It’s designed to provide long-term access to forest resources for community benefit. It focuses on local decision-making, stewardship, and sustainable forest use.” Profits are reinvested locally, whether it’s jobs, education, or infrastructure, Pickles added.

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Documentary screening in Roberts Creek highlights logging and flooding risks

By Jordan Copp
The Penticton Herald
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Younes Alila

A powerful new documentary connecting industrial logging to catastrophic flooding is coming to the Sunshine Coast this September. On September 17, the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (SCCA) and RhizomeUp!Media will host a screening of Trouble in the Headwaters at Roberts Creek Hall. The 25-minute film, directed by award-winning filmmaker Daniel J. Pierce, investigates the 2018 Grand Forks flood and its links to industrial clear-cutting practices. The documentary features the research of Dr. Younes Alila, a professor of forest hydrology at UBC, whose work has helped illuminate the hydrological consequences of logging in B.C.’s watersheds. …“This event comes at a critical time,” the release states, “as BC Timber Sales prepares to auction a logging cutblock in the recharge zones of Aquifers 560 and 552.”

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What are forestry companies doing to prevent wildfires?

By Mick Sweetman
The Discourse
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

A reader wrote The Discourse recently with a question about why the BC Wildfire Service protects privately-owned forest land on Vancouver Island. It was an interesting question, but it hinted at a bigger one: What are forestry companies doing to prevent and mitigate wildfires from happening in the first place? Recent major wildfires on Vancouver Island have been on a mix of Crown land and private land owned by or under license of forestry companies. This includes the fire from early this week on Block 290 near Mount Benson that was recently transferred to Snuneymuxw First Nation. A recent special investigation by the BC Forest Practices Board on aligning forestry practices with wildfire risk reduction conducted in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, Peace and Sea to Sky areas found that “logging occurs at 11 times the rate of [wildfire risk reduction] treatments” in the wildland-urban interface near communities. 

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Melissa McHale Receives 2025 Wall Fellowships Award

By The Faculty of Forestry
The University of British Columbia
August 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Melissa McHale

UBC Forestry congratulates Dr. Melissa McHale on receiving one of two prestigious Wall Fellowships, UBC’s highest-value internal research awards. The fellowships will fund innovative research to help B.C. communities adapt to climate change and address rising housing demands. The Okanagan Valley is feeling the effects of climate change more than ever with hotter summers, more frequent wildfires and growing pressure on water supplies. On top of this, rapid growth and urban development are adding new challenges for local communities. Melissa’s research, entitled “Rising Heat, Roaring Flames, and Waning Waters: Building a Climate-Resilient Research Hub for British Columbia” is tackling these issues head-on in partnership with the City of Kelowna, Indigenous communities and local organizations. The project is exploring how cities can: Use trees and vegetation to cool neighbourhoods while saving water; Design greener spaces that also reduce wildfire risk; and Build healthier, more inclusive communities through nature-based solutions.

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North Cowichan’s council votes to make harvesting in municipal forest a top priority

By Robert Barron
The Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Harvesting in North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve (MFR) is considered a primary issue for the rest of council’s term, which ends in October, 2026. On Aug. 20, council voted 4-3 to make harvesting, which hasn’t taken place since 2019, one of its strategic priorities. Coun. Bruce Findlay pointed out that the municipality has received no revenues from harvesting in the MFR for six years, and it may take several more years yet as negotiations with the Quw’utsun Nation on co-management of the MFR continue. …Despite the vote, CAO Ted Swabey advised council that he thinks that it’s unlikely that any harvesting could actually take place before the end of council’s term. …The public engagement aspect of the forest review concluded in early 2023, and the feedback from that process found very strong support for active conservation in the MFR, which would allow for targeted harvesting to provide some income, while restoring and enhancing biodiversity.

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Prolonged heat brings renewed fire risk to Vancouver Island

Cowichan Valley Citizen
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

On the heels of record-breaking daily high temperatures, Vancouver Islanders face warmer than usual weather this week. Temperatures will continue to “remain well above seasonal” into mid-week for east and inland Vancouver Island with cooler temperatures overnight, according to an Environment Canada statement issued early Aug. 26. The extra warm conditions are expected to persist from inland Greater Victoria, up the east coast from Nanoose Bay to Fanny Bay. Cloud cover is expected Thursday. The Malahat area broke the newest record on the Island, hitting 30.2 C, topping the 29.8 daily record set in 2022. Nanaimo tied the oldest record, hitting a high of 33.3 set in 1958. Campbell River, Courtenay and Comox all flirted with 2016 records, with Campbell River shading the old 30 C temperature, hitting 30.2. Comox and Courtenay both tied the 2016 record of 30.3. The heat coincided with a new wildfire discovered Aug. 24 south of Nanaimo. The 8.6-hectare fire was classified as being held as of Tuesday morning.

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Canary in the cutblock: researchers target B.C.’s bellwether bat population

By Abigail Popple
The Revelstoke Review
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

An international research project in the northern is taking a hard look at the decline of keynote bat populations in a bid to help area ecosystems survive and thrive. Efforts to preserve a population of northern myotis – an endangered bat species that used to be found throughout eastern B.C., but whose range has been contracting to the central Interior – are under way near Kinbasket Lake, north of Revelstoke and Golden. Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society … are planting fake bark to mimic the old-growth trees where the northern myotis roosts, and on the north side they are using radio detectors to determine how many of the bats are present in logged areas. Logging may not be an automatic death sentence to bat populations, Lausen says, but it needs to stay within the limits of what northern myotis colonies can sustain. One of the project’s goals is to identify those limits.

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Forest Minister tours Alberni operations

By David Wiwchar
The Nanaimo News Now
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Ravi Parmar

BC Forest Minister Ravi Parmar was in Port Alberni on Monday, touring the Mount Underwood fire site as well as local mills. Parmar said local logging played an important role in helping control the massive wildfire. “The Mount Underwood fire could’ve been a lot worse if there wasn’t those breaks from those logging roads,” he said. “Having a chance to fly over and see where the fire stopped because the logging road was there, or there was a cutblock speaks to the role of the forest sector for managing our forests.” Parmar celebrated the recent purchase of the former Coulson Mill by Fraserview Cedar Products after the SAN Group fell into bankruptcy. …Parmar then met with Domtar / Catalyst managers, before sitting down with Mayor Sharie Minions. He congratulated the BC Wildfire Service, ACRD and local First Nations for working together to battle the Mount Underwood fire.

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Cougar sculpture erected to block logging trucks in Upper Walbran Valley

By Jeff Lawrence
Chek News
August 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Logging trucks in the Upper Walbran Valley were met with an unusual blockade Monday morning — a 15-foot cougar sculpture erected by anonymous forest defenders demanding permanent protection of one of Vancouver Island’s last intact old-growth watersheds. The group, which says it has the blessing of several local First Nations elders, is targeting eight provincially approved cut blocks in Tree Farm License 44. The license is currently held by C̕awak ʔqin Forestry, a partnership between the Huu-ay-aht First Nation and Western Forest Products. …While the provincial government enacted temporary logging deferrals in 2021 for the Central Walbran Valley and neighbouring Fairy Creek watershed, those measures do not extend to the upper valley. Geoff Payne, for C̕awak ʔqin Forestry, said… “Our approach reflects this understanding and follows the Pacheedaht First Nation and the Province’s shared objective for the area. He said that the Pacheedaht First Nation chief and council have consented to the tree harvesting plan.”

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Heat wave shatters records across B.C. as wildfire risk climbs

By Josh Recamara
Insurance Business Magazine
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

A prolonged heat wave gripping British Columbia has already toppled more than 20 daily high-temperature records, with forecasters warning the sweltering conditions are set to persist through mid-week. Environment Canada has extended heat warnings to large parts of the province, including Fraser Canyon, South Okanagan, and South Thompson, where highs in the upper 30s are expected to continue. Inland sections of the north and central coasts are forecast to reach up to 29C, while four special weather statements remain in effect for Vancouver Island. …Even as air quality improves, wildfire officials warn the soaring heat and dry air are fuelling dangerous conditions. The B.C. Wildfire Service said low relative humidity is making forest fuels highly susceptible to ignition… For insurers, the intensifying fire risk underscores a costly pattern. …Another active fire season … adds further pressure to an industry already grappling with rising catastrophe exposures in B.C.

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Soil performing balancing act

By Emily Dontsos
The Chronicle Journal
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Amanda Diochon

Amanda Diochon is digging into the relationship between soils and sustainability, and her findings hold the potential to change the way forests and agriculture are managed for a healthier future. An associate professor in Lakehead University’s department of geology, co-ordinator of the water resource science program, and assistant dean of the faculty of science and environmental studies, Diochon says soil science is critical in a changing climate. “Soils are the largest reservoir of organic carbon, and they emit 10 times the amount of carbon dioxide that humans do,” she says. “So knowing how they respond to changes in the climate and understanding how to better manage them is important not just in Canada, but globally.” With a focus on the carbon cycle, or how carbon moves between the Earth, living things, and the atmosphere, Diochon’s research examines changes to soil’s ability to store carbon and how agricultural and forest-management practices influence sustainability.

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Restrictions on New Brunswick Crown land end at midnight, provincewide burn ban remains

By Oliver Pearson
CBC News
August 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

John Herron

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says most restrictions on Crown land will be removed at midnight Monday night, but the province’s burn ban will remain in place to decrease the risk of wildfires. Speaking to reporters Monday, Holt said cooler weather and efforts by firefighters have made it possible to ease restrictions. Restrictions remain on timber harvesting, which will only be allowed from 6 p.m. to noon and will be reassessed on a daily basis, according to a news release from the province. …Natural Resources Minister John Herron said people should also stay away from any areas where firefighters are still actively fighting fires. All Crown land has been closed to industrial and recreational activities since Aug. 10 because of wildfires that required the province to request outside help. Herron said the decision to reopen may be changed again if multiple fires are ignited.

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How a centuries-old fire foreshadowed the future

By John Woodside
The National Observer
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

A monster firestorm roared through the pine and spruce forests of New Brunswick. It burned one-fifth of the province’s forests and raged through villages, reducing buildings to ash and killing at least 160 people — although historians believe that is likely a severe undercount. This was the Miramichi Fire, which 200 years ago this fall announced an era of megafires in North America. Commemorated in folk songs, documented in archives and seared into memory for those who lived through it, the Miramichi Fire to this day ranks among the largest and most devastating fires the continent has ever seen. The Miramichi Fire was the continent’s first megafire rooted in extracting resources from the land, but that century was packed with other examples that collectively destroyed thousands of buildings and caused millions in damages, all while claiming lives. Among the major fires were Quebec City in 1845, 1866, 1876 and 1881; St. John’s in 1846 and 1892; Toronto in 1849, 1885 and 1895; Montreal in 1850, 1852 and 1898 and both Calgary and Vancouver in 1886.

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We can do something about stressed-out forests

By Robert Bonnie, University of California, Berkeley
The New York Times
August 31, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Under the 2001 Roadless Rule enacted by President Bill Clinton, millions of acres of roadless areas on national forests across the country are conserved, protecting vital habitats and watersheds. A “blank spot on a map,” in the words of the naturalist Aldo Leopold, is increasingly valuable in our urbanizing society. …The current administration is right to look for ways to address the growing wildfire threat in these areas. But instead of doing away with the Roadless Rule, the White House should look to a simple way to make our forests more resilient to wildfire without compromising the other benefits. …One way to allow forest thinning and prescribed burns to reduce the wildfire threat is to amend the roadless rule… to permit temporary roads in roadless areas that are near neighborhoods along the wildland-urban interface to allow for forest thinning or other ecological restoration. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]

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Palm Oil sector expresses concerns over EU-US trade deal’s impact on landmark EU Deforestation Regulation laws

Confectionery Production
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

Industry concerns have been raised over a freshly-struck agreement between the EU and the US over future trading arrangements, which observers have asserted could lead to America being offered exceptions from complying with EUDR environmental laws, reports Neill Barston. As the Palm Oil Monitor non-governmental organisation noted, if America is to be permitted exemptions from data monitoring underpinning the entire basis of the much-anticipated deforestation laws following intense lobbying from its paper industry, then other trading partners including Malaysia and Indonesia – which have core interests in the supply of palm oils for the confectionery and snacks sector, should be allowed similar treatment. …Moreover, as the palm oil industry organisation stated, unveiling the broader US-EU Trade Framework Agreement presents an immediate major hurdle for the EU Commission. In seemingly offering preferential treatment for America, this could, in its view, lead to challenges from the World Trade Organisation over equal trading between nationalities.

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Colorado roadless rule to remain as national rule faces rescission

By Dennis Webb
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Colorado’s state-specific rule for largely protecting roadless areas in its national forests will be spared from a Trump administration effort to remove such protections on a broader basis. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release on Wednesday that a public comment period is opening on her previously announced proposal to do away with the 2001 national roadless rule. But the Agriculture Department also said in the news release that state-specific rules in Colorado and Idaho won’t be affected by the proposal. Altogether, the proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres, the release said. Eliminating the rule would open roadless areas to road-building. The existing rule has limited activities such as logging in those areas, and was instituted at the end of the Clinton administration.

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How the Rapid Spread of Misinformation Pushed Oregon Lawmakers to Kill the State’s Wildfire Risk Map

By Rob Davis
Oregon Capital Insider
September 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A year after Oregon endures its most destructive fire season on record in 2020, state lawmakers order a map estimating the wildfire risk for every property in the state. It’s the kind of rating now available on real estate sites like Zillow. The state wants to use the results to decide where it will apply forthcoming codes for fire-resistant construction and protections around homes. Around the same time, insurance companies start dropping Oregon homeowners’ policies and raising premiums to limit future losses, much as they have done in other disaster-prone states. Insurers have their own sophisticated risk maps to guide them, but some brokers instead tell homeowners the blame lies with the map. The belief gets treated as fact both on social media and in mainstream news — even though insurers and regulators say it’s not true. …By the time the state pulls back the map, the myths about it have gained so much momentum there’s no stopping them. 

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Native leaders to hold two-week campaign against Roadless Rule repeal

By Lorilyn Lirio
The Journal of Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater
September 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Indigenous leaders from Se’Si’Le and Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers are launching a two-week campaign across the Pacific Northwest in response to the Trump administration’s plan to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a policy that has protected vast lands of national forest for more than two decades. The campaign, called “Xaalh and the Way of the Masks,” will kick off with a rally in Olympia on Sept. 8, followed by eight other events across a 1,700-mile journey through tribal lands, houses of worship, colleges and public gathering places. …tribal leaders emphasized that protective measures, such as the Roadless Rule have safeguarded approximately 2 million acres of wild forests in both Oregon and Washington, drinking water for more than 60 million Americans, and habitat for more than 1,6000 threatened and endangered plants and animals.  …the campaign is intended to unite native nations, faith leaders and environmental organizations in defense of forests…

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More Oregon cities are buying their forest watersheds

By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Press
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

For a small but growing number of Oregon forestland buyers, timber output is no more than a potential byproduct. Their purchases are driven less by a desire for logs than for clean, drinkable water. …city governments have long drawn their drinking water from surrounding forests, but experts say more are now actually buying the tracts encompassing those crucial streams and rivers. …The prospect of hotter, drier weather diminishing summer stream flows — even as populations keep growing — is spurring cities to assert more control over their water supplies, experts say. …Apart from water quality considerations, cities are buying forested watersheds to encourage old growth characteristics, with the intent of actually boosting water supplies over the long term, experts say. …Though municipal ownership of forest watersheds is intended to pre-empt disputes between cities and timber operators, the arrangement can still lead to tension over management decisions.

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Many older forests spared by Washington state order. Others to be logged

By John Ryan
National Public Radio
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

An executive order by Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove has put 77,000 acres of older forests off-limits to logging. …Some local activists call these old-but-not-quite-old-growth stands “legacy forests,” and have resorted to protests, including tree sits and road blockades, to stop them from being sawed down. Upthegrove’s order would also allow logging to go forward on 29,000 acres of those almost-old-growth forests. Some environmental groups praised the move, while others say it greenlights too much logging of the best remaining older forests. …Forest activists still hope to save some of areas slated to be logged over the next five years. …State officials say that timber harvest levels — and the revenue that goes to schools and counties — would be largely unaffected by the executive order. …The Department of Natural Resources has 346,000 acres of structurally complex forests on the 2.4 million acres of forestland it manages.

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U.S. House delegation visits Alaska this week, with focus on mining, timber and drilling

By James Brooks
The Alaska Beacon
August 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Ten members of the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources are making an unusual visit to Alaska this week during a break from business on Capitol Hill. The 45-person committee deals with a variety of issues pertaining to public lands in the United States, and the visit is giving eight Republicans and two Democrats a chance to put their literal hands on the topics they cover. …Among the group was the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, as well as the home-state Republican Rep. Nick Begich. Also attending were Reps. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming; Tom Tiffany, R-Wisconsin; Pete Stauber, R-Minnesota; Rob Wittman, R-Virginia; Val Hoyle, D-Oregon; Paul Gosar, R-Arizona; and Sarah Elfreth, D-Maryland. …Several of the Republican lawmakers said they believe there is room to increase logging in the Tongass in order to meet the demand for lumber to build housing, particularly locally.

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Hundreds of Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs leap back into the wild

By Alex Feltes
Birch Aquarium
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

More than 350 Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs have been reintroduced into the wild in Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains, marking one of the largest releases to date and a significant step in efforts to save this endangered species. The release also represents a milestone for Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego — the aquarium’s first-ever species reintroduction and a historic moment in its growing conservation work. Birch Aquarium, in collaboration with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, UCLA, Big Bear Alpine Zoo and others, released the frogs into a wildlife preserve managed by The Wildlands Conservancy. This effort is part of a long-running recovery program …“Thanks to these efforts, Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs are hopping around Bluff Lake for the first time since they were last recorded here in 1951,” said Tim Krantz, Conservation Director for The Wildlands Conservancy.

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Washington state to conserve thousands of acres of ‘legacy forests’

By Isabella Breda
The Seattle Times
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

David Upthegrove

TIGER MOUNTAIN, Issaquah — Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove is making good on a campaign promise to conserve thousands of acres of older forests in Washington dubbed legacy forests. The state Department of Natural Resources announced it would conserve 77,000 acres of these structurally complex forests. The state defines these structurally complex forests as those with gaps in the canopy, diverse species growing below and a relatively low presence of large fallen logs or snags. …They are very close to fully mature forests with increased biodiversity. …These forests will no longer be in the state’s traditional logging rotation. Instead, the state said it would go to the Legislature for permission to enter carbon markets and look to new ways of managing the lands. …The state said it could also provide supply for mass timber. …Environmental advocates have been calling for the protection of these second-growth forests since 2021.

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Saving both fire-frequent forests and the spotted owl

By Jerry Franklin and Norman Johnson
The Bend Bulletin
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) was developed in 1994 for the 24 million acres of federal land within the range of the northern spotted owl… A network of large reserves for the spotted owl across its range (late successional reserves (LSRs)) were created in the NWFP along with a system of riparian buffers to protect streamside areas. …The Forest Service is currently updating the NWFP and chartered a committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to help advise on amending the plan. …We strongly endorse this proposal for widespread restoration treatments in dry forests inside and outside of the LSRs. Reducing stand densities in these forests while retaining all trees over 150 years of age is essential to owl survival, as is reintroduction of fire as a regular management tool. …Integrating forest restoration in dry forests with spotted owl conservation is one of the biggest challenges in updating the NWFP.

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Washington to conserve 77,000 acres of older forests on state lands

By Emily Fitzgerald
The Washington Standard
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

David Upthegrove

Eight months after Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove entered office and paused logging sales in older forests on state land, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has identified 77,000 acres to set aside for conservation. …these older forests aren’t quite old enough to qualify for old-growth protections but are biologically diverse and naturally resistant to wildfire. Under Upthegrove’s plan, 29,000 acres of the forests will remain available for harvest. Most of the roughly two-dozen timber sales paused will proceed. …Timber industry groups and some conservation activists were both dissatisfied with the commissioner’s order. …But industry was opposed, making a case that larger, older timber is needed for certain wood products, like power poles, and that pulling lands back from logging would hurt jobs and mills. …the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, one of the leading groups calling for protection of structurally complex forests, described Upthegrove’s plan as a disappointment.  

Press Release by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources: Forest Forward – A New Direction For Our Forests

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Wildfire impacts on soil microbes can cause long-lasting effects to ecosystem

By Cindy Landrum
Clemson University News
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Antonino Malacrino

Over the past decades, fire seasons are getting longer and extreme wildfires have become more frequent, more intense and larger. …Fire leaves a dramatic and noticeable impact on the landscape — scorched trees, missing canopies and a forest floor devoid of plants and shrubs. But it has underground impact as well. “Within the context of fire ecology, we know a lot about plants and a lot about animals. We know a bit less about microbes,” said Antonino Malacrino, an assistant professor in the Clemson University Department of Biological Sciences. “Some studies show that if you have a severe wildfire, the soil microbiome is impacted. You can see the signature of that fire in the soil microbiome even after decades.” But very little information is known about what happens after a fire to the microbial community in terms of diversity, composition and the ecological processes that drive the assembly of the microbial community.

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Ruling allows logging plans for White Mountain National Forest to go forward

The Concord Monitor
August 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

©USDAFlickr

A federal judge ruled that commercial logging in two North Country sites in the White Mountain National Forest can go forward, raising questions about a similar lawsuit against logging plans in the Sandwich Range. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante rejected many of the arguments against the U.S. Forest Service in a summary judgment handed down Aug. 20. The lawsuit was filed by Standing Trees, a Vermont-based group that advocates for forests on public lands, on behalf of New Hampshire individuals and businesses who would be affected by the logging operation. “It’s really a ruling on the process: Did the National Forest Service follow the appropriate process … with public hearings and other procedures?” said Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, one of several environmental groups that supported the logging plans. …The lawsuit was filed by Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic on behalf of Standing Trees. 

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How climate change and deforestation interact in the transformation of the Amazon rainforest

By Marco Franco, Luciana Rizzo, et al
Nature Communications
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Amazon rainforest is one of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems, playing a key role in maintaining regional and global climate stability. However, recent changes in land use, vegetation, and the climate have disrupted biosphere-atmosphere interactions, leading to significant alterations in the water, energy, and carbon cycles. …Here, we quantify the relative contributions of deforestation and global climate change to observed shifts in key Amazonian climate parameters. We analyzed long-term atmospheric and land cover change data across 29 areas in the Brazilian Legal Amazon from 1985 to 2020. …While the rise in atmospheric methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) mixing ratios is primarily driven by global emissions, deforestation has significantly increased surface air temperatures and reduced precipitation during the Amazonian dry season. Over the past 35 years, deforestation has accounted for approximately 74% of the ~ 21 mm dry season decline and 16.5% of the 2°C rise in maximum surface air temperature. 

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Forestry Corporation of New South Wales accused of logging breaches in Tallaganda State Forest

By Alasdair McDonald & Joshua Becker
ABC News, Australia
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

AUSTRALIA — Conservationists are calling for native forest logging to be abolished in New South Wales (NSW), after the state’s environment regulator launched a court action against the Forestry Corporation of NSW for allegedly breaching laws designed to protect an endangered species on the south coast. …The alleged offences include failing to properly search for and identify glider den trees before logging, failing to replace hollow-bearing and other retaining trees that were damaged or felled, and damaging the habitat of a threatened species. …In 2022, the company was fined for logging hollow-bearing trees in the Brooman State Forest near Ulladulla, and in 2023 it was fined for committing the same offence in a part of Mogo State Forest that was badly burnt during the Black Summer bushfires.

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Forest soils accumulate microplastics through atmospheric deposition

By Collin J. Weber & Moritz Bigalke
Nature
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The occurrence and fate of microplastics in forest ecosystems is a recognized knowledge gap. In this paper, we used an aligned extraction method to quantify microplastics (>20 µm) in organic and mineral forest soil horizons and throughfall deposition. Calculation of forest soil microplastic stocks and throughfall fluxes allowed an estimation of throughfall contribution to microplastic accumulation in forest soils back to 1950. We identified a short-term microplastic enrichment in decomposed litter horizons followed by an accumulation in lower mineral soil caused by litter turnover processes. Similar microplastic features in soil and throughfall deposition indicate that microplastics entering forest soils primarily originate from atmospheric deposition and litter fall, while other sources have a minor impact. We conclude that forests are good indicators for atmospheric microplastic pollution and that high microplastic concentrations in forest soils indicate a high diffuse input of microplastics into these ecosystems.

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Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize Unite to Protect Maya Forest

Yucatán Magazine
August 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Three nations joined forces Friday to establish what will become the second-largest nature reserve in Latin America. Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize announced the creation of a massive tri-national protected area spanning 14 million acres (5.7 million hectares) across the heart of the ancient Maya forest. The announcement came during a summit in Calakmul, where Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stood alongside Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and Belize Prime Minister Johnny Briceño to reveal plans for the Biocultural Corridor of the Great Mayan Forest. “This is one of Earth’s lungs, a living space for thousands of species with an invaluable cultural legacy that we should preserve with our eyes on the future,” Sheinbaum said during the joint press conference. She called the move “historic.” The new reserve will encompass 50 existing protected areas across the three countries.

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Group sues to save bull trout streams from logging damaged

By Laura Lundquist
Missoula Current
August 26, 2025
Category: Forestry

A nonprofit group is suing to stop the Lolo National Forest from logging areas around some of the best remaining bull trout spawning tributaries of the central Clark Fork River. On Friday, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed a complaint against the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula federal district court, challenging the approval of the second part of the Redd Bull logging project on the Lolo National Forest. The complaint says the project will further harm threatened bull trout because of the haul roads planned along some of the few streams where bull trout live and spawn. …Because the agencies didn’t do a full environmental study and look at the direct, indirect and cumulative effects all these projects had on bull trout in the middle Clark Fork, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies is accusing the agencies of violating the National Environmental Policy Act.

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