Canada should be on “high alert” for 2024 wildfires, a scientist with the Canadian Forest Service said Friday, as he offered a sweeping view of last year’s record-shattering season. Research scientist Piyush Jain stopped short of giving a prediction for the upcoming season during Friday’s briefing. But he presented a number of charts showing certain indicators, such as drought conditions and soil moisture, look similar to around this time last year. He also pointed to temperature forecasts that predict a hotter than normal start to the wildfire season. Jain spent Friday’s briefing going through a far-reaching and data-centric retrospective of the 2023 wildfire season. More people were evacuated and more area was burned last year than during any other Canadian wildfire season on record. Widespread drought conditions, early snowmelt and lower than usual precipitation were some of the drivers of last year’s record-breaking season, he said.
Sitting atop the highest slopes in western North America, the whitebark pine has adapted to the continent’s harshest growing conditions. Temperatures in the sub-alpine zone where it thrives are often well below zero, snow is measured in feet, and winds often exceed 100 miles an hour. The oldest have grown for nearly 13 centuries. But change has come to this high-elevation redoubt, threatening not only the whitebark pine’s survival but that of a host of creatures — from birds to bears — that rely on this keystone species. Warmer temperatures, a fungal disease called white pine blister rust, and swarms of mountain pine beetles have killed hundreds of millions of whitebark pines across the West. Wildfires are taking an increasing toll, and other conifer species are moving upslope in the rapidly changing environment, outcompeting the whitebark for nutrients and moisture. But recently, efforts to conserve and restore the whitebark pine have ramped up. 
ʼNamǥis First Nation and Mosaic Forest Management are celebrating their shared commitment to a collaborative landscape planning project. Based on shared values and interests, the plan will define joint goals and objectives to inform good forest stewardship and sustainable resource management of the portion of Tree Farm License 47 (TFL 47) that overlaps with ʼNamǥis Territory on northern Vancouver Island. This commitment aims to increase the transparency and clarity of resource planning in the overlapping area of TFL 47. It builds on previous agreements that have reinforced this partnership, including a Forest Strategy Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding. The collaborative planning process will focus on the long-term sustainability of diverse values and interests, including forests, wildlife, fish habitat, and archaeological features, for the benefit of future generations.
Two grants from the Province for the First Nations Emergency Services Society (FNESS) will help support emergency management and land stewardship, as well as disaster- and climate-risk resilience in communities throughout B.C. “We are committed to working with First Nations partners to create stronger and more resilient forests and communities,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. “These grants build on the incredible work already being done by First Nations communities and will help grow capacity for Nation-led wildfire and emergency management in the future.” A $5-million grant from the Ministry of Forests will go toward a broad range of fire-stewardship programs at the local level. …In addition, the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness has provided $960,000 to FNESS to help advance the Province’s collective understanding of disaster and climate risk throughout B.C. to support community resilience, planning and decision-making.
The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) is beginning an innovative project in the Camel’s Hump Management Unit, as outlined in the 2021 Long-Range Management Plan. This project underscores FPR’s commitment to sustainable and adaptive forest management and is designed to demonstrate an important approach in increasing forest resilience to climate change and invasive pests. Collaborating with the University of Vermont (UVM) and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, this project is part of a series of forest adaptation experiments being implemented across the Northeast. …“This project aims to address the dominance of poor quality American beech suffering from beech bark disease and use forest management tools such as timber harvests to allow other species to thrive,” said Oliver Pierson, FPR’s Director of Forests. “This research furthers our goals of creating resilient forest stands.”
For years, Colorado’s wildfire risk map was so inaccurate that state officials all but ignored it. …After an infusion of $480,000 in state funds, Colorado unveiled a new map that included a host of updates, such as the pine beetle damage. It’s an upgrade that has put in place a “powerful” tool capable of driving wildfire mitigation, Manriquez said — and one that comes as communities across Colorado and the country brace for a future of climate-juiced wildfires. …States in recent years have struggled to keep pace with the changes. And many states haven’t dedicated enough — if any — consistent funding to keep the tools up to date. But forestry and fire officials in states such as Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Texas are stepping up their efforts to ensure they have high-quality fire risk data, models and maps to more accurately determine which areas are most at risk.
BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota — The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is tightening requirements imposed on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources when the state wants to cut trees in wildlife management areas. The federal agency is essentially asking the state to prove that any logging on WMAs has wildlife management as its primary purpose at each logging site and not simply cutting trees for the state’s timber industry. The feds say they will withhold money for each proposed project until the state proves the wildlife purpose. The new requirements are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over how much, where and why timber should be cut on the state’s 1,440 public wildlife management areas, at least those that have trees. …The debate impacts a relatively small amount of the state’s share of timber. 
The American chestnut was affected by a fungus introduced to the United States from East Asia in the 1900s known now as chestnut blight. …Researchers from various institutions have sought to introduce a blight-tolerant version of the tree, including the SUNY College of Environmental Science (ESF). In 2015, after decades of research, the college began developing the transgenic Darling line, named after early supporter Herb Darling. …According to The American Chestnut Foundation the goal of the Darling line of trees “was to confer blight tolerance by inserting a gene from wheat called oxalate oxidase.” …But in December, The American Chestnut Foundation announced it would no longer support the transgenic line developed by 
Greenville, S.C. – Two separate tracts, jointly known as the Little River Thickety Creek tract, encompassing over 440 acres of bottomland hardwood forest situated along the Little River and Uwharrie National Forest in Montgomery County, North Carolina, have been permanently protected, thanks in part to a grant provided by the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund (EFCF), which enabled Three Rivers Land Trust to acquire a conservation easement on the property and safeguard these tracts, including a variety of habitats. …Currently, the site hosts habitat for two threatened species: the Carolina redhorse, and Villosa delumbis, a mussel species also known as the Eastern Creekshell. This stretch of the Little River is classified as the Yadkin/Upper Little River Aquatic Habitat natural area with a very high rating as determined by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program.
“Enormous” cuts to forestry will “torpedo” Scotland’s chances of meeting its climate targets, Woodland Trust Scotland and Confor have said. The conservation charity and timber industry body have condemned proposals for a “massive” 41% cut in the funding to support woodland creation and management through the Forestry Grant Scheme. Scottish Forestry is facing cuts of more than £32 million from its grant budget following the Budget announcement by Finance Secretary Shona Robison last month. Alastair Seaman, director of Woodland Trust Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government must remember that warm words won’t stop climate change or restore nature. “We need investment in new woodland – and fast – if we are to have any hope of a strong economy and a healthy landscape in the years to come.
