Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

BC Timber Sales Will Have Major Part in Restoring Forests Says Forests Minister

By John Betts, Western Forestry Contractors’ Assn
Rumour Mill RoundUpDate
April 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ravi Parmar

Forest Minister Ravi Parmar has needed a positive story for the beleaguered forest sector in BC. Using BC Timber Sales to restore forest health and community safety through treatments like commercial thinning and innovative silviculture is the beginning of one. BC Minister of Forests did say the BC Timber Sale Review would be completed in short order. … “Feedback from the review has made it clear: BCTS is more than just a market-pricing system. It has the expertise and the tools to play a bigger role in active forest management and addressing climate change and British Columbians want to see that happen,” he said at the COFI Convention. The idea that we can mitigate some of the hazards of climate change through actively managing our forests and range landscapes is an idea the WFCA has trafficked in for some time. …In fact, we have put these innovative notions forward to the BCTS Review Task Force.

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B.C. Supreme Court rules logging company can’t claim financial losses due to conservation

By Jaahljuu Graham Richard
The Narwhal
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

On March 31, the Supreme Court of B.C. released its decision on a historic case with implications for the future of resource management in Canada. The judge sided with the Haida Gwaii Management Council and Province of British Columbia against logging giant Teal Cedar Products Inc., which argued its profitability had unjustly diminished due to the former’s sustainability regulations and improved forestry stewardship standards. In its defence, Haida Gwaii Management Council and the province pointed to Teal’s careless logging and business practices, which it continued despite expert, repeated advice from Haida and Crown governments. Proceedings involved numerous expert witnesses … in 2023. Almost exactly two years later, the judge dismissed Teal’s claims. …If corporations were to earn the power to sue governments any time they passed new legislation to uphold sustainable and ecologically sound practices, then we would witness a nation-wide proliferation of lawsuits arising from every sector. 

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How Indigenous-Led Efforts are Restoring Wildfire-Impacted Forests

By World Wildlife Fund Canada in
Macleans
April 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC has experienced some of the most destructive wildfire seasons in its history. …So how do we recover from wildfires and reduce threats in the future? One way is to bring back a more balanced and resilient forest ecosystem for people and wildlife through Indigenous-led restoration, which is exactly what the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society (SRSS) is doing. This collaboration by several Secwépemc communities was formed after the 2017 wildfires that blazed through 192,725 hectares of traditional Indigenous territory. To them, restoring forests goes beyond planting trees. Most of the land devastated by wildfires were forests managed to maximize value for commercial logging. SRSS is changing that, using traditional practices that restore mixed forest canopies in a way that benefits communities and wildlife. 

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The future looks bright for the North Island’s Community Forest

By Debra Lynn
The North Island Gazette
April 12, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ione Brown

The North Island Community Forest is a small forest tenure that was offered to the towns of Port Alice, Port Hardy and Port McNeill by the provincial government in 2010. These towns then became shareholders and owners of the forest in March of 2011, managing and harvesting it to provide capital for investing in their communities. On April 3, the board of directors’ chairperson, Ione Brown, gave a presentation on how the community forest operates as well as some new information. Currently, the municipalities of Port Alice, Port Hardy and Port McNeill are shareholders of the community forest. In 2019, The Kwakiutl First Nation and the Quatsino First Nation were offered full equity shareholder positions bringing ownership to five partners with 20 per cent each. Brown said, with the new Indigenous partners, they will have the strength of the community and the support to possibly further expand the tenure. 

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Preventing a major wildfire catastrophe in the Bow Valley

By Jim Gray, Rick Doman, Bruce Eidsvik, Cassy Weber, Bob Millar, and Peter Cleyn
Bow Valley Wildfire Forum
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Bow Valley—encompassing Banff National Park, the Town of Banff, Canmore, and MD of Bighorn—is at imminent risk of a catastrophic wildfire. Despite commendable efforts in localized fire prevention (e.g., firebreaks, fireguards, neighbourhood mitigation), it is our opinion no comprehensive measures are in place to address the risk of an extreme wildfire—the kind that devastated Fort McMurray (2016) and Jasper (2024). A fire of that scale in this region would be both a national tragedy and a global environmental disaster. …Our call for action for our federal candidates: Acknowledge the real and rising risk of a Class 6 wildfire in the Bow Valley; While working with the Province and Indigenous Peoples, support federal investment in a landscape-scale fire mitigation strategy for the Bow Valley; Advance policy reform recognizing forests as carbon assets requiring active stewardship; and Champion this initiative as a model for national wildfire and carbon management.

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Can fungi fight fires? This Alberta town plans to find out

By Liam Harrap
CBC News
April 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Officials in Fox Creek Alberta are trying to find ways to better protect the community from future fires. One option includes using fungi. …This summer, researchers from Lac La Biche, Alta.-based Portage College will go into the the boreal forest surrounding Fox Creek to collect local fungi. Spores from that fungi could later be used to inoculate wood in man-made slash piles. Forests are thinned to remove wood biomass so there is less material to burn during a wildfire. Wood that has been removed can be stored in massive slash piles, which can be fire risks themselves. Fungi could be used to break down the wood faster, returning them to soil, said Michael Schulz, research chair in environment and sustainability in the boreal forest at Portage College. 

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Musqueam chief questioning claims by Stanley Park logging protester

Global News
April 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

 A local Indigenous leader is calling into question claims being made by a protester in Stanley Park. A small encampment is growing near the iconic totem poles, led by a woman who says she is the hereditary matriarch of the land. But as Alissa Thibault reports, the Musqueam chief says that isn’t true. 

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BC’s interior old-growth forests hiding billions in economic benefits, report says

By Sonal Gupta
National Observer
April 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Protecting old-growth forests in the BC interior could generate more than $43 billion over the next century — far more than logging the land, a report says. Research by environmental consultancy ESSA Technologies determined that if all the old-growth forest in regions around the Okanagan and Prince George were fully protected, the carbon storage alone would keep 28 million tonnes of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere over the next 100 years. [Equivalent of] burning 63 million barrels of oil, and worth $43 billion — $33 billion for Prince George and $10 billion for the Okanagan. Even limited protection of only the most at-risk forests would yield $11 billion in benefits. Advisory team included Dr. Duncan Knowler, Dr. Richard Boyd, Dr. Rachel Holt, Dr. Karen Price, and Dave Daust. Funding support for this study’s research … was provided by two anonymous donors. Sierra Club BC provided additional funding to finalize this document for public release.

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Complaint filed on TA0521 (Joe Smith Creek) logging plans

By Connie Jordison
Sunshine Coast Reporter
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Red-legged frog habitat on B.C. Timber Sales’ (BCTS) cutblock TA0521 is the centre-point of an Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) call for a “stop work” order and a complaint to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, one authority that provides certification to BCTS. Responses to those reports of suspected wrongdoings related to amphibian habitat on the upper Roberts Creek site are pending. …In an April 7 press release, ELF proclaimed “BCTS needs to step back from the brink on this [TA0521] block, immediately inform the contractor that the block has been cancelled and negotiate an out of court settlement.” …On June 18, 2024, Muirhead photographed a red-legged frog on the site, which was confirmed by a registered biologist. BCTS was alerted, as that species is “blue” listed on the provincial government’s endangered species list. BCTS undertook an amphibian study in August of that year as a precursor to harvesting work commencing.

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BC Supreme Court denies damages to forest licence holder operating on Haida Gwaii

By Bernise Carolino
Canadian Law
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The British Columbia Supreme Court recently ruled that Teal Cedar Products Ltd. failed to show that the provincial government engaged in constructive expropriation or breached its duty of good faith or an oral agreement to keep the company whole. The regulatory regime applicable in [the case] was BC’s Forest and Range Practices Act, 2002. Teal Cedar Products Ltd. operated two tenures on Haida Gwaii… The licensee had the exclusive right to harvest from certain lands over a specific period upon obtaining a cutting, road, or special use permit. …BC enacted the Haida Gwaii land use objectives order (LUOO) in December 2010. Teal sold its operations on Haida Gwaii to A&A Trading Ltd. six years later….The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that the province did not act in bad faith when it enacted the LUOO. The court found that the tenure agreements contemplated reconciliation, encompassing the recognition and protection of Aboriginal rights and interests.

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New documentary highlights Indigenous forestry practices in Westbank

By Brittany Webster
Penticton Western News
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Indigenous Resource Network is releasing a new short documentary highlighting the story of Ntiyix Resources LP in Westbank.  ‘tmixʷ: A Holistic Commitment to Our Forests’ explores the connections between Indigenous forestry professionals and the land. “We are beyond excited to release ‘tmix’,” said John Desjarlais, executive director at IRN. “This project represents the IRN’s commitment to telling a meaningful story of the many examples of what ‘good’ looks like in natural resource development.” The film showcases the blend of traditional knowledge and modern forestry practices, while also addressing Okanagan wildfires and Indigenous-led management practices in forest restoration. ‘tmixʷ: A Holistic Commitment to Our Forests’ was released on April 9 and is available to watch on IRN’s YouTube channel here.

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Wildfire fuel mitigation underway on Dilworth Mountain in Kelowna

By Cindy White
Castanet
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Contractors hired by the City Of Kelowna are busy conducting fuel mitigation on Dilworth’s Mountain this week to protect nearby homes in the case of a wildfire. “We have a crew from Cabin Operations doing understory thinning, pruning surface removal and we will be doing some tree falling too, at later stages,” explains Reece Allingham with Deering Forest Management. The goal is to reduce wildfire risk by removing enough fuels to keep any potential wildfire on the ground and out of the tree canopy. That includes the removal of small conifers that can act like ladders carrying flame up into the taller trees. Crews are watching out for wildlife while they work. City staff have been conducting bird sweeps in the area. …many nearby homes are surrounded by cedar and juniper hedges. While popular for privacy and sound buffers they also pose a significant danger. 

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Parmar’s suggestion about ‘wildfire resilience’ logging called a ‘timber grab’

The Prince George Daily News
April 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

On Friday, at the Council of Forest Industries conference in Prince George, Forest Minister Ravi Parmar suggested that provincial parks and Old Growth Management Areas could be logged for so-called “wildfire resilience.” “Parks and Old Growth Management Areas should be safe from logging, period,” said Jenn Matthews. “Minister Parmar is using peoples’ fear of fire to lessen resistance to the idea of logging in areas that are supposed to be industry-free.” …In central-interior BC, landscapes have become homogenised from colonisation, fire suppression and resource management, which is making them less resistant to wildfire. …“We need prudent fire hardening directly around communities to protect human life and property, but what Minister Parmar suggested at COFI sounds like a timber grab,” said Michelle Connolly.

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Coming soon to a Renfrew County Forest near you: tree planters.

By Marie Zettler
Pembroke Observer News
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Lacey Rose

WHITE WATER REGION TWP. — Renfrew County Forester Lacey Rose presented to members of Whitewater Region council. She gave an overview of her role as part of the two-person team which manages the 6,500 hectares of county-owned forests scattered far and wide throughout the largest county in Ontario. …Most of the properties were purchased in the 1960s through what was known as the Agreement Forest Program, a provincial government grant that covered up to 75 percent of the purchase price. “If a private property was wanting to be sold by the landowner, someone would evaluate it,” Rose explained. “If it was better suited for reforestation purposes, meaning there were farm fields there that weren’t very productive, then the county could apply to that program to help fund the purchase price and then plant trees and convert that failed farm field back to forest.” …The forests are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) certified.

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Ontario urges residents to protect oak trees from oak wilt

Renfrew Today
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Ontario residents are being urged to avoid pruning oak trees during the no-pruning season, which runs from now until November. Pruning or damaging oak trees during this period makes them more susceptible to oak wilt disease, an invasive condition caused by the fungus Bretziella fagacearum. Oak wilt disrupts the movement of water and nutrients through oak trees, causing their leaves to wilt, turn brown, and fall prematurely. Over time, the tree may lose all of its leaves. While all oak trees are at risk, red oaks are especially vulnerable, often dying within 2 to 6 weeks after infection. Oak trees are an important part of Ontario’s environment, economy, and communities. They enhance property values, reduce energy costs, help prevent soil erosion, and provide critical habitat for wildlife.

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Draft Trump executive order seeks to create new agency for wildfire response

By Natalie Fertig and Jordan Wolman
E&E News by Politico
April 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

President Donald Trump wants to create a new federal agency that will be responsible for “all wildland fire fighting nationwide” by 2026, according to a draft executive order currently under review at the White House. The draft order, which was obtained by POLITICO and confirmed by three people familiar with the situation, would launch a national wildland firefighting task force in the next 90 days, combining resources from the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Homeland Security. The White House’s eventual goal, according to the document, is to have Congress create a National Wildland Fire Agency in the next two years. The order aims to “eliminate red tape, reform our agencies and reforge our efforts around the priority to address fighting fire fast,” the document reads. It comes four months after wildfires devastated Los Angeles, a disaster that has created a sense of bipartisan urgency to improve forest management and cut down on wildfire risk. [A Politico subscription is required for full access]

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To Boost Forest Workforce, US Senator Angus King Introduces Bipartisan Legislation

Angus King News Room
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Jim Risch (R-ID), co-chairs of the Senate Working Forests Caucus, are introducing bipartisan legislation to improve forest industry employment and participation through a grant program aimed at rural and underserved communities. The Jobs in the Woods Act would support developmental programs designed to better equip and train the forest products workforce for careers with the U.S. Forest Service and timber industries. …“As the industry continues to evolve, we must ensure our forestry workforce has the proper training and skills to help responsibly manage our forests while strengthening our local economies. The Act is commonsense legislation that will invest in new and innovative workforce programs…,” said Senator King. …“[The act] will equip rural communities to build up the timber industry with educational and training programs… to effectively manage our forests and prevent catastrophic wildfires for years to come,” said Senator Risch.

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NSF Becomes First ANAB-Accredited Certification Body for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard

Business Wire
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

NSF, a leading global public health and safety organization, is pleased to announce that it has become the first ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) accredited certification body for the SFI Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard. With this accreditation, NSF has certified its first client to the standard, Clemson University, a national public research university. Launched by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the standard provides a comprehensive framework for managing urban and community forests, addressing environmental, resiliency and economic challenges through nature-based solutions.

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Trump’s order to expand US timber production includes all of California’s national forests

By Hayley Smith
The Los Angeles Times
April 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A federal order to increase US timber production by 25% will touch all 18 of the Golden’s State’s national forests, officials said. The USDA said it does not yet have information about how many acres in each forest will be affected. California’s national forests are on the chopping block — literally — in the wake of the Trump administration’s April 5 order to immediately expand timber production. Last week, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued an emergency declaration that ordered the US Forest Service to open up some 112.5 million acres of national forestland to logging. The announcement included a grainy map of affected forests, which did not specify forest names or the amount of impacted acreage in each. However, USDA officials have confirmed that the order will touch all 18 of the Golden State’s national forests, which collectively span more than 20 million acres. [to access the full story a Los Angeles Times subscription is required]

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Judge Halts North Idaho Logging Project to Protect Grizzly Bear Habitat

By Eric Tegethoff
Northern Rockies News Service in The Daily Fly
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

BONNERS FERRY, ID – A federal district court has stopped a logging project in northern Idaho that would have carved more roads into the area and harmed the Selkirk grizzly population habitat. Only about 50 grizzlies live in the region. Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which has been in litigation with the U.S. Forest Service over this issue for nearly six years, said the project would have resulted in more roads than is allowed under the agency’s rules. “The Forest Plan, which is their management plan that governs the forest, limits road density in Selkirk grizzly bear habitat,” he said, “because most grizzly bears are killed within a third of a mile of a road, and it’s usually a logging road.” The court decision found the government had been violating road construction limits for years. Court documents show the goal of the Hanna Flats Good Neighbor Authority Project was to reduce wildfire risk.

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Experts dubious Trump logging push will diminish wildfire risk

By Greg Wong
The San Francisco Examiner
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — State experts said they’re dubious about President Donald Trump’s claims that his directive opening up well over half of the country’s forests to logging will reduce wildfire risk and “save American lives.” Some, such as University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources climate-change scientist Daniel Swain, flatly called the administration’s rhetoric disingenuous and misleading. “It’s BS, frankly,” Swain told The Examiner. “Are we going to try and justify logging forests commercially under the guise of wildfire-risk reduction? …The Trump administration says the benefits of these actions are largely twofold: It will reinvigorate the economy by boosting a stagnant timber industry and significantly mitigate wildfires tearing through the West. …UC Berkeley wildfire researcher Scott Stephens said that logging can be a viable way to mitigate fire risk, as long as it’s done sustainably and arborists are strategic about what trees they’re chopping down.

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Alberta spending $900K to upgrade wildfire monitoring as season begins

By Matthew Scace
The Canadian Press in Global News
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, US West

As Alberta heads into the heart of wildfire season, the province is committing almost $1 million to upgrade its early-warning systems. Forestry Minister Todd Loewen says $900,000 is being allocated to upgrade and expand its network of 150 weather stations. These stations monitor environmental conditions, like temperature, humidity, wind and moisture, in real time to help fire crews know where they will be needed when the weather gets hot and dry. The monitors will also be able to keep track of snowpack levels, which are strong indicators of Alberta’s fire risk early in the season. Alberta’s wildfire season has been slow off the mark, with 65 wildfires recorded so far compared with the 115 blazes that had started by this time last year. …Loewen said they are preparing as best they can for the inevitable.

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Curtis joins bipartisan bill to reduce wildfire risks in the West after years of devastating blazes

By Alixel Cabrera
Utah News Dispatch
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Amid a growing number of wildfires, mostly across Western states, a U.S. Senate bill is aiming to protect areas where communities are most vulnerable to fires, using “good neighbor” agreements, cross-boundary collaboration and the expansion of tools to prevent fire hazards. The bill, titled the Fix Our Forests Act, was introduced Thursday by Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Tim Sheehy R-Mont., and Alex Padilla D-Calif. to “combat catastrophic wildfires, restore forest ecosystems, and make federal forest management more efficient and responsive,” according to a news release. …The U.S. House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., passed the House in January. The legislation designates the top 20% of the landscape areas where wildfires are likely to spread and impact communities, including tribal areas, as so-called Fireshed Management Areas. The areas would be selected based on factors including risks to communities and to municipal watersheds.

Los Angeles Times by Faith Pinho: California Sen. Padilla hopes Fix Our Forests Act will prevent more L.A. fires

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Man pleads guilty to rig bidding fuel services to U.S. Forest Service wildfire fighters

NBC Montana
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A Salmon, Idaho man has pleaded guilty to a seven-count indictment for his role in schemes to rig bids, allocate territories, and commit wire fraud over an eight-year period while providing fuel truck services to the U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire fighters. Kris Bird, 62, pleaded guilty at the end of March to all counts two weeks before trial, with no assurances from the government as to what sentence will be recommended when he goes before a judge with another involved executive in June 2025. The men were indicted after a federal wiretap investigation in December 2023… “The defendant illegally profited from American taxpayer money,” said Special Agent in Charge Mehtab Syed of the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office. “The FBI and our partners are committed to rooting out fraud and protecting fair competition in the bidding for government contracts.”

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Oregon wildfire map may be swapped for voluntary incentives

By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Press
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A contentious Oregon wildfire map that imposed new regulations on high-risk landowners may be swapped for incentives meant to promote home hardening and defensible space. The Senate Natural Resources Committee has unanimously voted to scrap the state’s wildfire hazard map, originally approved in 2021, as well as the enhanced building code standards and other requirements it entailed. Repealing the wildfire map involved a “difficult conversation” but it’s proven necessary, not only because the provisions were deeply unpopular but because they were impractical, said Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, the committee’s chair. Senate Bill 83, which is now headed for a vote on the Senate floor, would eliminate the map and instead allow local governments to adopt model building codes intended to increase fire resilience.

Related content:

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What Trump’s “emergency” logging declaration could mean for Colorado’s U.S. Forest land

By Tracy Ross
The Colorado Sun
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Environmental groups are sounding the alarm after the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared more than 100 million acres of national forest land “an emergency situation” that can only be helped with chain saws, wood chippers and the bigger, more destructive tools of industrial logging.  But an attorney specializing in environmental litigation and a longtime forester and policy analyst both say contrary to how bad the memo from USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins may sound, its contents could be a shot in the arm the U.S. needs to ramp up its response to the growing wildfire crisis and continue much-needed work on forest health and restoration where mill infrastructure exists… Trump’s executive order says the U.S.’ inability to “fully exploit” its timber supply has, among other things, contributed to wildfire disasters.

Related content:

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‘Ill-advised and unwise’: Critics question plan to open California forests to major logging

By Janet Wilson
Palm Springs Desert Sun
April 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Gary Earney

The USDA’s order for the U.S. Forest Service to increase lumber production by 25% is being panned as both unwise and infeasible in Southern California’s sprawling national forests due to a lack of quality wood and nearby sawmills. But those four forests were heavily logged from World War I through the Korean War for soldier barracks and equipment needs, and then to support rapidly growing post-war housing markets, said Gary Earney, who managed timber sales and other multiple use permits for the San Bernardino National Forest from 1978 through 2007, and was a consultant to the forest through 2014. …A public lands advocate said via her action, Rollins is decreeing the agency only needs to propose one action for a given logging project, not the typically legally required range offering less and more environmentally harmful options, and also eliminates the public objection process.

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Bark beetles killing more trees along the front range, according to a Colorado State Forest Services report

By Ashley Michels
KDVR.com
April 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The latest findings about the health of Colorado’s forests are a “mixed bag”, according to forestry experts. On Tuesday, the Colorado State Forest Service released its annual report tracking the damage from forest pests. “Insects are so closely tied to a lot of that temperature and precipitation so in Colorado it’s really been a number of years, actually 31 years, since we’ve been below average temperatures so that makes it really hard to be a tree in Colorado,” CSFS forest entomologist Dr. Dan West said. …According to the report, the front range is experiencing a surge in activity from the mountain pine beetle. In 2021, the insect impacted 1,500 acres statewide. In 2024, that number grew to 5,600 affected acres and included areas in Jefferson County and Castle Rock. …Not only do the dead trees cause forests to be less visually attractive, but they also create more fuel for more damaging wildfires.

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Bill to eliminate controversial Oregon wildfire risk map moves forward

By Zach Urness
Statesman Journal
April 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

An Oregon bill that would eliminate a controversial wildfire hazard map moved one step closer to reality on Tuesday after unanimously passing the Senate Committee on Natural Resources. Senate Bill 83 would repeal a map meant to identify parts of Oregon at high risk of catastrophic wildfires but has become a lightning rod for anger from rural residents who say it places an unfair burden on them. The bill moves to the Senate floor for a vote by the chamber. It would need to pass the House and be signed by the governor before becoming law. Most lawmakers say it’s likely to pass all of those hurdles. …The map was roundly condemned by impacted residents who said it was inaccurate, decreased property values and imposed burdensome regulations. Republicans who made killing the map a priority this session celebrated the progress.

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Reviews for logging in national forests to be fast-tracked

By Danielle Kaeding
The Iron Mountain Daily News
April 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

WISCONSIN — The Trump administration is speeding up environmental reviews of logging projects on more than half of the country’s national forests, including parts of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin. A large part of the western Upper Peninsula, in the vicinity of Ottawa National Forest, and several smaller areas in the eastern Upper Peninsula are also included. …Ron Eckstein is the co-chair of the public lands and forestry work group for Wisconsin’s Green Fire. He said he doesn’t think existing federal regulations are too burdensome for loggers. …Scott Dane, executive director of the American Loggers Council, saidTrump’s order is a big step forward to reversing policy that has resulted in less forest management and unhealthy forests. “(Agencies are) not abandoning any requirements… but things do need to be streamlined,” Dane said. “They’ve been delayed at the national forest level for years at a time.”

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From the Next Gen Newsroom: Logging poised to accelerate in Allegheny National Forest under emergency declaration

By Abigail Hakas
Pittsburgh Union Progress
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Swaths of Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania could be on the chopping block as the federal government moves to increase logging in national forests across the country. In a memo released last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins put almost 60% of national forest lands under an emergency designation, citing declining forest health and risk of wildfires. The designated forest lands will be easier to harvest for more timber as some federally mandated regulations and processes, such as one that allows challenges to logging proposals, are not required under the emergency designation. The U.S. Forest Service declined to comment on how much of Allegheny National Forest falls under the designation. …That memo also calls for the use of “innovative and efficient approaches” to meet “the minimum requirements” of environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act and Endangered Species Act.

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Nearly 1M acres of Michigan state forest damaged by ice storm

By Lindsay Moore
Michigan Live
April 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

MICHIGAN — Aerial images show thousands of acres of state forests have been damaged in Northern Michigan in the aftermath of March’s severe ice storm. Approximately 919,550 acres of state forest land are impacted by the ice storm, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Resources Division. “I’ve worked for the state for 39 years and I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” said Jeff Stampfly, Chief of the Forest Resources Division. The DNR started drone flyover assessments of state forests on April 8. The damage was put into stark clarity for the public when the DNR shared aerial footage of Pigeon River Country State Forest, known as Michigan’s “Big Wild.” Footage showed a plantation of red pines reduced to stick-like figures after heavy ice snapped tree tops off of hundreds of trees. 

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Gov. Stitt stands by firing some Forestry Service staff members

By Dylan Brown
KFOR Oklahoma
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Governor Stitt said he’s standing by his firings of staff from the Forestry Service after the March deadly fires. Several fire crews have now called for an independent investigation into what happened and what the state could do better. “It’s tough to believe anything – he’s been fact-checked several times by fire departments and the media and his facts have been incorrect. So right now you just can’t believe anything that comes out of the governor’s office,” said Fire Chief Jason Dobson of the Olive Volunteer Fire Dept. His department was one of the first to share the Change.org petition which called for Governor Stitt’s impeachment… “If the governor can’t fire the head of the forestry, who can?,” said Gov. Stitt.

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Millions of seedlings and cases of hot sauce: Behind the scenes at a Missouri state tree nursery

By Jana Rose Schleis
NPR – St. Louis Public Radio
April 12, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Cory W. MacNeil / KBIA

Every year, Missouri’s George O. White State Forest nursery sends out 2 million tree seedlings to customers across the state and beyond. The nursery was founded by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1930s to assist landowners in reforesting the state. The Ozarks had been heavily logged during the construction of railroads heading west. The original site was just 40 acres. It’s now owned and operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation. KBIA’s Jana Rose Schleis interviewed the staff growing and cultivating the trees on the now 100 acre site in Licking, Missouri… As for keeping wildlife from eating on the plots of snacks the nursery unintentionally makes available for them, the forest technicians use diluted Frank’s Hot Sauce sprayed over the fields. “We buy it in cases and Jeff City has never said a word about why we buy so much hot sauce.”

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South Carolina lawmakers to continue looking into bill increasing penalties for illegal burning

WMBF News
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A group of South Carolina lawmakers will continue considering a bill that would increase penalties for illegal burning in the state. The South Carolina Criminal Law Subcommittee discussed H.4265 during a meeting on Wednesday. The bill, filed by Rep. Tim McGinnis of Horry County, came after a wildfire allegedly started by a Carolina Forest woman burned more than 2,000 acres last month. McGinnis’s bill would increase fines and even jail time for burning during a ban issued by the South Carolina Forestry Commission. He spoke during Wednesday’s meeting, saying that an amendment to the bill was also made after meeting with the SCFC on Tuesday. …The bill would also repeal a section of South Carolina law that allowed exemptions for fire regulation, such as fire pits and chimineas.

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No Boundary Waters logging, feds say after including it in timber harvest map

By Jimmy Lovrien
The Duluth News Tribune
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

DULUTH — The U.S. Forest Service will not log in designated wilderness areas like the Boundary Waters, federal officials clarified Tuesday evening, days after issuing an emergency order intended to boost logging on national forest land throughout the country. … Wide swaths of several wilderness areas, like the Boundary Waters, were included in that total, and a map  accompanying the order made no distinction between wilderness areas, where logging is banned, and non-wilderness national forest land, where logging is allowed but regulated. Locally, that caused concern that the order would lead to logging within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. …”The clumsy map that they put out shows how poorly planned this whole order was,” said Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director for Wilderness Watch. “It showed logging would occur in all kinds of wilderness areas … for me, it’s indicative of the slap-dash way in which the Trump administration is approaching this.”

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New trial against polyphagous shot-hole borer achieves early success

By Ashleigh Davis and Kate Leaver
ABC News Australia
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Just four months into a new chemical trial, the City of Canning believes it has found a way to combat the polyphagous shot-hole borer. In the trial, 131 infested trees were injected with a small vitamin-like capsule containing insecticide and fungicide, and are now showing no signs of live beetles or larvae. The tiny invasive tree-killing pest was detected in 2021 and has since led to the destruction of more than 4,000 trees in the Perth metropolitan area as the state government follows an elimination strategy. …City of Canning Mayor Patrick Hall said the method did not pose a risk to wildlife, as the trees absorbed the capsule. “The insecticide is a very small dose, injected deep into the tree, and then we put a plug behind it to make sure it can’t leach out. And that traps the insecticide inside the tree — that then goes up the vascular system.”

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Dr. Gerald Tuskan is awarded the 2025 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for his pioneering work in sequencing and analyzing the first tree genome

The Marcus Wallenberg Foundation
April 11, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Gerald Tuskan

Dr. Gerald Tuskan is awarded the 2025 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for his pioneering work in sequencing and analyzing the first tree genome. His leadership in this project has revolutionized research in tree and forest genomics and biotechnology, paving the way for genome-based breeding of commercially important trees. Dr. Tuskan led the project to sequence the genome of the black cottonwood tree (Populus trichocarpa), which was published in 2006. This was the third plant genome to be sequenced… His work formed the basis for extensive molecular genetic studies of the Populus genus, generating new discoveries in wood biology and tree phenology. This project has laid the foundation for many other tree genome sequencing projects, including conifers such as Norway spruce and loblolly pine, as well as the important plantation tree eucalyptus. Tuskan is the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy Center for Bioenergy Innovation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Forestry industry fears for future as drought hits pine plantations in South Australia and Victoria

By Elsie Adamo and Sam Bradbrook
ABC News
April 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Representatives of one of Australia’s largest forestry regions say prolonged drought conditions are killing pine trees and increasing disease risks, threatening long-term timber growth. The Green Triangle region consists of around 334,000 hectares of pine plantations in south-east South Australia and south-west Victoria. Parts of the region are in drought and experiencing their driest weather on record, which industry representatives say is now taking its toll. Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub general manager Tony Wright said forestry pine plantations were planted on a 30-year rotation. He said the current drought damage had stunted tree growth, which was unable to be recovered throughout the trees’ life cycle. “An impact on growth in any particular year will affect the yield at the end of that rotation and that then will affect the supply chain.”

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Conservation group cleared to take legal action against NSW Forestry Corp

By Patrick Bell
ABC News, Australia
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The High Court has cleared the way for a conservation group to proceed with a civil case against the Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) over its biodiversity assessment of of areas of native forest logging in NSW. The South East Forest Rescue group (SEFR) alleged the corporation did not conduct a broad area habitat search for features of habitat for three species of glider, two of which are regarded as vulnerable, and another as endangered. …The corporation’s sole ground of appeal was an argument that private people or entities could not launch a case to enforce the duties of a forestry approval. But the High Court has ruled that, for such persons to be prevented from launching a case, there needs to be “a clear and unmistakable” intention to do so in the legislation, which does not exist.

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