Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Leaders, Learners and Laggards Line up Conservation Report Cards for Canada are Out

By The Canadian Parks And Wilderness Society
Cision Newswire
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

OTTAWA, ON -The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWSCanada’s only charity dedicated to the protection of public land, freshwater and ocean) just-published a report ON THE PATH TO 2030: A Report Card on Progress to Protect Land and Ocean Across Canada to shed light on which provinces and territories are sitting at the head of the class, which need improvement, and who needs to sign up for summer school. “There’s never been a more important time for Governments, organizations and all Canadians to support conservation efforts across the country,” said Sandra Schwartz, National Executive Director of CPAWS. “With constant breaking news across North America, it’s easy for all stakeholders to get lost in the woods and drift from the important conservation work they have started. There’s nothing quite as fundamental to the Canadian identity as nature, and long-term funding is essential to make it happen.”  

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BC auditor general flags flaws in forest carbon accounting

By Rochelle Baker
National Observer
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Sheila Dodd

British Columbia’s carbon-accounting process to help make forestry decisions isn’t consistent or transparent, a new report by the province’s auditor general indicates. The BC Forests Ministry uses carbon projections to help determine how management decisions could affect the amount of carbon emissions the province’s forests store and release into the atmosphere. The audit focused on the ministry’s methods for carbon projections between April 2022 and December 2024 in three areas: the forest investments program, the allowable annual cut and forest landscape planning. The forest ministry failed to establish open and consistent methods to make carbon projections the report found. …However, at the end of 2024, the ministry did finalize an open and consistent plan for carbon projections to inform landscape planning, Dodd noted. …Gary Bull, with the UBC’s forestry department said… “In order to do carbon accounting you have to have some kind of consensus around the rules of the game,” he said. 

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Canadians want next government to prioritize climate change, poll finds

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Two-thirds of Canadians agree the next federal government should prioritize action on climate change and protecting nature, a new poll has found.  The national poll was carried out by Leger on commission from the B.C.-based environmental group David Suzuki Foundation. A similar share of respondents supported Ottawa investing in renewable energy over fossil fuels. …The poll questioned a panel of 1,548 Canadian adults in an online survey. In a letter sent Tuesday to the leaders of all major federal political parties, the David Suzuki Foundation joined 13 environmental groups calling on the next government to provide tariff relief measures that don’t lead to the over-harvesting of Canadian forests. The letter also lobbies the next federal government to craft tariff relief measures that prioritize funding Canadian workers — not foreign-owned forestry corporations. …“Unsustainable logging practices in Canada put this key export market at risk,” the letter notes. “Canada must acknowledge and reform current industrial logging practices that degrade forest ecosystems.”

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International Day of Forests: Celebrating our roots, growing our future

By Kathy Abusow
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, International

Kathy Abusow

This year’s International Day of Forests is the perfect moment to recognize that sustainable forestry isn’t just a North American priority—it’s a global one. Forests provide clean air and water, store carbon, support biodiversity, and sustain economies. At the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), we believe that sustainable forests are critical to our collective future. In a time of growing uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to come together—and this spirit of partnership is at the heart of what we do at SFI. 2025 is SFI’s 30th anniversary — an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and the progress that lies ahead. …We’ve grown into an organization that connects landowners, businesses, conservationists, educators, and Indigenous partners—all united by a shared commitment to forest-focused collaboration. Together, we are creating a world that values and benefits from sustainably managed forests, today and for generations to come.

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2025 Chisholm Awards for Innovation in Forestry

Forest Products Association of Canada
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

The Chisholm Awards for Innovation in Forestry program is a national competition for young researchers who are passionate about a range of activities relevant to forest-based science, products using forest-based raw materials, process improvements, or other innovations throughout the forest sector value chain. The Chisholm Awards for Innovation in Forestry are not just about rewarding research and development – they are also about showcasing the work of students and young researchers who are passionate about climate positive forestry and forest products, clean manufacturing, and the forest bioeconomy. Winners will be celebrated to coincide with The Twentieth Session of the United Nations’ Forum on Forests on May 5-9, 2025. Winners will receive a cash prize of CAD$2,500.00 along with local, regional, national, and social media promotion. Eligible applicants must be students or researchers who are 30 years old or younger as of March 1, 2025. Deadline to apply is April 4 by 11:59pm EDT.

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New Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Centre will be rooted in research and reconciliation

By Rochelle Baker
National Observer in the Penticton Herald
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Sustainability and cultural exchange will be the cornerstones of a new community hub in the heart of Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Sound biosphere region. The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Centre, rooted in Nuu-chah-nulth Nations’ values, will address ecosystem threats and promote a sustainable future, diversified economy and strong cultural traditions, said Rebecca Hurwitz, executive director of the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust. The centre — based around the nuučaanuł (Nuu-chah-nulth) principle of “Hishuk ish ts’awalk” meaning “we are all one and interconnected” — will be a three-story building that includes an Elders room, a kitchen, offices, shared community areas, research and education spaces, and an archives library, Hurwitz said. It will be built with low carbon techniques and materials and feature geothermal energy and rainwater collection, she added. The idea for the Tofino facility originated in 2014 when the ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ (Tla-o-qui-aht Nation) invited the trust to locate the biosphere centre in their territory, Hurwitz said.

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B.C.’s Forests Minister says he will ‘fight like hell’ for jobs

By Wolf Depner
Victoria News
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ravi Parmar

As B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar continues his tour of forest-dependent communities in southern B.C., he promised changes to the program that manages 20 per cent of the province’s allowable annual cut. The government announced in February a review of B.C. Timber Sales… “We are going to get the most value out of our timber, out of our logs, create more job opportunities and we are going to diversify as well,” Parmar said, speaking from Vernon March 17. Parmar had earlier visited the Gorman Brothers’ facilities in West Kelowna. …Parmar is also scheduled to stop in Kamloops, Barriere, Merritt and Clearwater. Parmar’s tour takes him through parts of the province largely held by MLAs part of the Conservative Party of B.C., including the riding of Ward Stamer, MLA for Kamloops – North Thompson. A logging contractor and former mayor of Barriere following his election to Victoria, Stamer currently shadows Parmar’s portfolio for his party.

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Forest Practices Board calls for stronger protections for cultural heritage sites

BC Forest Practices Board
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

FORT ST. JOHN – The Forest Practices Board has released its findings following a complaint from the Halfway River First Nation regarding grazing impacts on culturally significant sites and concerns about government enforcement to protect the Nation’s drinking water. In 2023, the Nation raised concerns about livestock damaging mineral licks and displacing wildlife within its territory in the Halfway River watershed. The board investigated two range agreement holders and the Ministry of Forests to assess compliance with legal requirements. Investigators examined records from 2013 to 2023 and found that government did not follow the law when it approved two range use plans. The agreement holders did meet requirements to protect riparian areas, but there were no enforceable requirements for safeguarding cultural heritage sites, such as mineral licks. …The board also found problems with how government investigated the Nation’s complaint about drinking water.

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Myths of the B.C. forest industry

Letter by Eli Pavnick and Janet Parkins, Climate Action Now!
Castanet
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Janet Parkins

Eli Pivnick

Successive B.C. governments have failed to seriously overhaul forestry policy. …A good example is the March 7 letter to Castanet by Brian LaPointe. LaPointe has worked in the forest industry continuously since 1973. His letter expresses many of the myths propagated by the forest industry. The industry has always said, echoed by Lapointe, that clear cuts mimic insect and disease infestations and wildfires. However, that is true only when a forest is regarded as a supply of timber. But forests are much more than that. …If clearcuts are so harmful, why are they the dominant form of logging? In a word, profit. Clear cutting means faster and bigger machinery can be used. So it is more efficient and cheaper. The downside is on jobs, tourism, wildlife, fires, floods, scenery, landslides, biodiversity and the climate. …In 20 years, clearcut logging will be recognized for the barbaric and destructive practice it is…

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Living with Fire: A Look into Ntityix’s Approach to Forest Management

The Forest Enhancement Society of B.C.
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

West Kelowna, B.C. – …Ntityix Resources LP (Ntityix), owned by Westbank First Nation (WFN) has undertaken extensive wildfire risk reduction work . They have achieved significant milestones in their ongoing efforts with support from the Ministry of Forests and the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC). …“Our government has all hands on deck to protect people, communities and forests, but we cannot do it alone. That’s why the work done by organizations like Ntityix is critical, especially in the Thompson Okanagan region where the wildfire risk is high. I thank them for doing their part in the fight against climate change and wildfires,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. …Ntityix has been at the forefront of wildfire risk reduction initiatives in the Thompson Okanagan region, leveraging cultural practices and traditional knowledge to enhance fuel modification zones and significantly contribute to long-term wildfire mitigation strategies.

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Courtenay air quality getting better thanks to local initiatives, report says

By Madeline Dunnet
Comox Valley Record
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Air quality in Courtenay is improving while pollution caused by wood stove smoke has been steadily decreasing over the past five years, according to a recent report presented to the City of Courtenay council. Wood is a common fuel source that is used to heat homes in the Comox Valley because it is relatively affordable, reliable and available. But wood stove smoke has also become the most significant source of air pollution in the region. According to the CVRD, a growing body of evidence gathered since 2008 shows that air quality in the area is concerning. There are high levels of fine particulate matter — a pollutant that can cause serious health problems — in the air and much of it is due to smoke.

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B.C. reminded of the bear necessities of safety as hibernation season ends

By Austin Kelly
Terrace Standard
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

As spring approaches flowers will bloom, leaves will come back to trees and hungry bears will be digging through your dumpsters. Angelika Langen the executive director and co-founder of Northern Lights Wildife Sanctuary says the best way to avoid bears at home is to make sure anything that might attract them, like dumpsters, are locked up because wherever they wander and wherever they roam, they’ll be looking for food. “They’re coming out of hibernation and they’re hungry, they will be looking for anything that provides them with as much calories as possible,” she said. Getting bear-proof garbage containers, avoiding leaving pet food outside and keeping gates to your property closed are ways to keep bears from being uninvited guests looking for a meal at your home.

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Nearly half of B.C. landslides linked to logging, wildfires, study finds

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Nearly half the landslides that rocked southwest British Columbia during devastating 2021 floods started in areas that were logged or burned by wildfire, researchers have found. The study, published in the journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, analyzed more than 1,300 debris flows and landslides across 70,000 square kilometres of mountainous area flooded when a powerful atmospheric river slammed into B.C. in November 2021. …Carie-Ann Hancock, who co-authored the study as a senior geoscientist at BGC Engineering Inc., said she began collecting data for the study four years ago when she flew in some initial helicopter surveys. …When they finally published their study, the results showed landslides occurred more frequently downstream of logging roads and areas burned by wildfire. Freed from the roots of trees, hillsides collapsed, allowing sediment to pour into rivers.

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Here’s a challenge to Citizen columnist’s ‘turncoats’ opinion

Letter by Art Betke
Prince George Citizen
March 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Re: James Steidle: ‘Sawmill turncoats’ handing industry over to the U.S. James Steidle challenged me to critique his latest column. Let’s begin with his contention from Google’s AI, “a truly competitive economy would likely not produce billionaires.” My response … a computer program will give you anything you ask it for. … Hi-tech operations like Dunkley, Carrier, Lakeland are not small, they are the kind of modern mill needed. So why is Canfor leaving? After going to all the trouble and expense of buying up those mills, amounting to what James calls a monopoly, why abandon it all? Monopolies are a way to make bigger profits. Why not keep the mills running here as well as in the US? …Both federal Liberals and BC NDP want 30 per cent of BC conserved. They impose ever-increasing taxes and regulations, ever more bureaucracy over resource extraction, more hoops to jump through, more restrictions, more red tape. After a while it just isn’t worth the hassle.

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Forestry Works for BC’s agenda is an insult

Letter by Joe Karthein, Save What’s Left Conservation Society
Nelson Star
March 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Joe Karthein

Re: Kalesnikoff presents new pro-forest industry group to Nelson council, March 6 The Save What’s Left Conservation Society acknowledges Ken Kalesnikoff’s call for BC Timber Sales (BCTS) policy changes to prioritize smaller independent companies. We also recognize his efforts to add value to B.C.’s forest products over the years. However, this is where our applause ends. Despite claims that “Forestry Works for BC’s goal is education, not policy change,” this is yet another forest industry group lobbying to protect the status quo. Their primary messaging promotes increasing the annual allowable cut, even suggesting that more old-growth logging will be necessary to sustain higher harvest levels. Their website’s article, “New Forestry Advocate Society Presses for Working Forest Legislation,” makes this clear. Framing Forestry Works for BC’s agenda as “education” is an insult to British Columbians.

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Vancouver Island outdoor enthusiasts want authorities to ‘open the gates’ to the backcountry. Here’s why it’s complicated.

By Rowan Flood
The Discourse
March 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…Mosaic is a forest stewardship business, which in part means it manages “private timberlands and public forest tenures in Coastal British Columbia.” Since 2018, it’s managed forestry assets on behalf of TimberWest and Island Timberlands, Mosaic explained in an email. …Across Vancouver Island, calls are growing for fewer restrictions to the backcountry, especially from recreational motorized groups. It’s also fueling tensions within some communities. …Opening up access raises challenges around complicated ownership of backcountry areas, and concerns for the safety of land and people accessing it. …As outdoor enthusiasts debate access to the beloved Vancouver Island backcountry, a larger question of addressing Indigenous title and rights in the same privatized areas. …Some conservationists are also raising ecological concerns about the little remaining Island wilderness — and worry that increasing motorized vehicle access for recreationists could hurt ecosystems.

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Forestry commission releases final report, but P.E.I. government is already dampening expectations

By Stephen Brun and Wayne Thibodeau
CBC News
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Prince Edward Island’s forestry commission has made several recommendations aimed at protecting the province’s forests against the inevitable next big storm. But some members worry the province may be already poised to dismiss the concerns outlined in the final report. The 12-member panel was struck in the wake of Dorian and Fiona, storms that devastated many of P.E.I.’s forests. Commission member Gary Schneider, who works with the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project, said the two storms demonstrated a need for more diversity in the province’s forests. “We’ve got really accurate predictions that white spruce, balsam fir, white birch are not going to do well with the warming climate, whereas red oak, red maple, white ash are going to be doing well,” Schneider said. …The commission’s report recommends that any new provincial policy encourage the development of more resilient forests, and mitigate damage caused by storms and climate change.

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Canada Supports Tree-Planting Activities in Gatineau and Across Quebec

By Natural Resources Canada
The Government of Canada
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Gatineau, Quebec — Natural Resources Canada announced more than $16 million in funding for four tree-planting projects that will bring environmental, health and social benefits to both urban and rural communities across the province of Quebec. The City of Gatineau and the City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu are receiving funding for urban tree-planting projects that will plant new trees on public lands, helping to capture carbon, increase biodiversity and cool areas vulnerable to extreme heat. …These projects are being supported in part by Canada’s 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program. This program is dedicated to working with governments and organizations across the country to support the expansion of Canada’s forests while creating sustainable jobs in communities. 

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Forest fire season underway

By Forests, Fish and Wildlife Division
Government of Prince Edward Island
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

The provincial Forests, Fish and Wildlife division is reminding Islanders that PEI’s wildfire season runs from March 15 to November 15 each year. Anyone planning on burning brush outdoors must check for burning restrictions by calling 1-800-237-5053 or visiting the province’s wildfire information page. Restrictions are updated daily at 2 p.m.  “Please don’t feed the wildfires. PEI had a few forest fires last year, and thankfully the damage was minimal,” said Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Gilles Arsenault. “I hope all Islanders will recommit to taking the important steps to prevent forest fires.”

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Ohio city sues Trump, Musk over DOGE freeze on already spent forestry grant

By Jordan Laird
The Columbus Dispatch
March 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Columbus is joining other cities and nonprofits to sue President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency for cutting federal grants for their local programs — in Columbus’ case, tree planting. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced Thursday that the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in federal court in South Carolina challenging DOGE’s cuts to community grants, including a $500,000 U.S. Forest Service grant for Columbus. The city has already spent most of the allotment to plant more than a thousand trees in neighborhoods that lack tree canopy, but it hasn’t been reimbursed. …Columbus is one of six city plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which also includes San Diego, Baltimore and Nashville. They are joined by 10 environmental nonprofits. All of the plaintiffs were awarded various federal grants and have lost, or could lose their funding. They’re suing a long list of federal agencies and their administrators in addition to Trump, DOGE and Musk.

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Timber industry analysts wonder if they can keep up with Trump logging orders

By Robert Chaney
The Mountain Journal
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

President Donald Trump’s March 1 Executive Order calling for “Immediate expansion of American timber production” generated lots of enthusiasm in the Northwest wood products world. But analysts added equal amounts of concern that Trump’s DOGE-driven federal cuts might keep the woods quiet. “It’s going to be a good thing in terms of helping stimulate activity on national forests,” University of Montana’s Todd Morgan said of Trump’s order. But Morgan, the forest industry analysis director of UM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, also recognizes the uncertainty spiraling around Washington, D.C. “A lot is going to depend on who’s left in federal agencies at the end of the day, the week, the next four years,” he said. “All this funding- and budget-cutting…is going to interfere with the stated goals.” …Trump took on the import market in a second March 1 order: “Addressing the threat to national security from imports of timber, lumber.” 

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New agroforestry maps plot benefits of trees

By Lauren Quinn
Agupdate.com
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

There’s a longstanding attitude in many farming communities that trees and agriculture don’t mix. But agroforestry — the intentional integration of trees and shrubs in agricultural systems, such as planting trees as windbreaks, integrating trees on pastures, or growing tree crops intercropped with annual crops — can provide a multitude of benefits to both farmers and landscapes. So far, in the U.S. Midwest, those benefits have gone unrealized, with vanishingly small adoption rates. Researchers say strategic plans that integrate environmental, social and economic considerations are needed to expand agroforestry throughout the Midwest. Ultimately, the team developed a map identifying areas where agroforestry could deliver the biggest impacts in terms of soil erosion, water quality, climate and profitability for lands that are not viable for other crops.

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White House Executive Orders vs. Reality: Why Federal Timber Won’t Solve the US Lumber Shortage

By Global Wood
The American Journal of Transportation
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

The US president recently suggested that domestic lumber production could be significantly increased by opening federal lands to logging. This move, he argued, would reduce US dependence on lumber imports from Canada and Europe. …At first glance, tapping into federal timber resources might seem like a logical solution. However, the reality is far more complicated. A combination of declining forestry expertise, legal challenges, labor shortages, infrastructure limitations, and lack of private investment incentives makes this an unrealistic path to reduce lumber imports to the US. …While the US president suggests that opening federal lands for logging could boost domestic lumber production, this is an unrealistic expectation. …Despite claims that the US no longer needs Canadian lumber, the reality is that imports from Canada and Europe will continue to play a crucial role in meeting US domestic wood demand in the future.

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Can Washington boost timber production to counter tariff costs?

By Drew Andre
KING5 News
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

WASHINGTON STATE is one of the most productive parts of the country for growing timber. Most of the timber is west of the Cascades and its annual production in the United States is only second to Oregon. However, harvesting faces significant constraints according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). DNR manages about two million acres of timberlands, but only half can be harvested due to challenging terrain or environmental protections, such as endangered species habitats. …Federal lands in Washington state currently produce minimal timber, and changing protected land status would require congressional action, not just presidential directives. Upthegrove, a Democrat, anticipates any attempts to increase federal timber harvesting would face lengthy legal challenges. In Washington state, over 70% of the timber harvested comes from privately owned forestland. …For these reasons, state officials believe Washington cannot realistically offset the costs associated with Canadian lumber tariffs.

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Arkansas’ federal lawmakers ask European Union leaders to reconsider deforestation regulation

By Alex Thomas
Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Dear Commissioners – We write to you today to share our significant concerns with the EU deforestation-free supply chains regulation (Regulation (EU) No 2023/1115) and to share our perspective on the impact this will have on the more than 900,000 forest products workers throughout the US. This regulation is unworkable for the forest products industry in the US and would jeopardize more than $3.5 billion worth of paper and wood products shipping into the EU. …We are asking you and the European Commission to ensure the US is recognized as the lowest possible risk for deforestation and to ensure the geolocation traceability requirements are proportional to the level of risk for a particular country. …We also believe the EUDR fits within President Trump’s “America First Trade Policy” executive order that was signed on January 20th, 2025, and …Mr. Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, has identified the EUDR as a potential technical barrier to trade.

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Big Sky Fire Department comments on U.S. Forest Service firings, wildfire preparedness

By Carli Johnson
Mountain Outlaw magazine: Explore Big Sky
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

…thousands of federal employees across the country lost their jobs as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s initiative for large-scale reduction and grant freezing. …Layoffs included essential employees whose responsibilities were to respond to wildfires, provide wildland fire safety education… Dustin Tetrault, Big Sky Fire Department’s fire chief said the state is well-equipped at the local government level has been gradually filling more roles to have large-scale incident response. …Many tenured forest service employees are being fired or accepting a leave with promised pay because the state of the forest service remains so uncertain. This takes away years of knowledge of the land and relationships built with local services like BSFD, making future collaboration more difficult. …Despite uncertainty, there are two potential bills in the Montana legislature that, if passed, could have a major effect on the reorganization of how the U.S. deals with emergency fire services, Tetrault explained.

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From coal to community forest: how one Ohio organization is reclaiming former mine land

By Erin Gottsacker
The Ohio Newsroom
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Lombard and Stanley are two co-founders of Rising Appalachia. The nonprofit is revitalizing 45 acres of former mine land, once owned by the Sugar Creek Coal Company… But the space won’t exist solely for recreation and education; they want to make it economically productive for the community again. The Sugar Creek Coal Company still owns 900 acres surrounding Rising Appalachia’s project. Lombard, Stanley and other community members are trying to raise approximately $4 million to purchase the rest of it and establish a community forest. “People can hunt on the land, they can gather food on the land, they can be involved in submitting public comments for projects and management proposals,” Stanley said. “But it’s not exactly managed by the community. A community forest in contrast, is designed by and managed by the people who live here and depend on the forest.”

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Don’t wait to battle beetles Forest experts warn, now is the time to guard against pine beetles

By Sierra Ferguson
Black Hills Pioneer
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

It might be time to treat your trees to prevent pine beetle infestations in the Black Hills. That’s according to US Forest Service Entomologist Kurt Allen, and Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Forest Health Specialist John Ball. The pair have been hosting talks and information sessions on mountain pine beetle outbreaks since 1999. Last week, they stopped in Spearfish with a handful of clear messages. For one thing, the Black Hills is not necessarily on the verge of a mountain pine beetle epidemic — at least not on the scale last seen a decade ago… “Between the larvae feeding and a blue stain fungus they introduce, they kill trees very quickly,” Ball said.

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‘Stonewalling’: Forest Service mum on firings during wildfire briefing for congressional staff

By Patrick Lohmann
Tucson Sentinel
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

An annual wildfire briefing between staffers for Southwestern members of Congress and Forest Service officials was unusual for two reasons, according to a congressional aide in attendance. First, the private briefing was a month earlier than is typical, a sign of the acute risk of wildfires this season in New Mexico and Arizona amid years of climate change-caused drought and especially low snowpack this spring. Second, Forest Service officials … refused more than 10 times in the meeting to say how many Forest Service employees had been fired, how many resigned and what might come of wildfire dispatch centers if the Trump administration terminates their leases. “We’ll have to send this to Washington and they will get back to you,” was the standard response, according to a Congressional aide… The meeting embodied how fraught the relationship has become between Forest Service and congressional staff amid President Donald Trump’s blunt efforts to slash federal spending.

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Northwest Forest Plan revision should fix 2 errors

Letter by Timothy Ingalsbee, ED, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology and Tom Wheeler, ED, Environmental Protection Information Center
The Oregonian
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

…For millennia, Indigenous peoples nurtured the land with stewardship practices that sustained their communities and promoted resilient ecosystems based on a rich diversity of habitats and species. The forced removal of Indigenous peoples and the criminalization of their fire stewardship practices – replaced by industrial forestry practices that centered on commodity timber extraction and aggressive fire suppression – has caused a decline in landscape and biological diversity along with a loss of resilience to wildfires and climate change. Proposed amendments to the plan would work to better incorporate tribal co-stewardship and facilitate a more beneficial role for fire. …The inclusion of tribal co-stewardship and Indigenous knowledge represents a profound change that goes beyond undoing past wrongs to Indigenous peoples—it will help restore species, habitats and landscape diversity. …The Trump administration now threatens to subvert the progressive prospects of the Northwest Forest amendment by its effort to banish the words “diversity” and “inclusion.”

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‘One of the riskiest places in the US’: Southwest Idaho All-Lands Partnership targets high wildfire risk in the Gem State

By Abby Wilt
KTVB 7
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

IDAHO, USA — The U.S. Forest Service has identified Southwest Idaho as one of the nation’s most at-risk regions for wildfires as organizations prepare for the upcoming wildfire season. The Southwest Idaho All-Lands Partnership is working on wildfire mitigation across public and private lands to reduce damage from wildfires. “Southwest Idaho is, for lack of jargon, one of the riskiest places in the U.S. for wildfire,” said Ford Van Fossan, who is the Conservation Connect program manager at the National Forest Foundation and oversees the partnership. “We have a lot of folks that are in harm’s way potentially when fires come through our landscape.” Wildfires scorched over 800,000 acres of Idaho’s land in 2024… The National Forest Foundation said it aims to use a mix of “public funding, including federal grants and private funding,” to support these efforts amid federal funding cuts.

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Federal forestry changes leave state officials in the lurch

By Libby Denkmann and Alec Cowan
KUOW News and Information
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Washington’s Department of Natural Resources says it’s coming up with backup plans to address the growing threat of serious wildfires in the state. The typically close working relationship with federal forest managers has frayed under the Trump Administration. It started in mid-February, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut thousands of probationary employees at the U.S. Forest Service. The USDA is in charge of stewarding places like the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. Altogether, about 2,000 employees across the country were fired. The USDA emphasized that no “operational firefighters” had been let go, and argued the critical work of responding to wildfires would not be interrupted. …Grassroots Wildland Firefighters estimated that three-quarters of the employees laid off had secondary wildland firefighting duties, meaning firefighting wasn’t their primary job, but they were pulled in to fight fires as needed.

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Alaska Forest Association takes action against US Forest Service for failing to sell timber in Tongass

By Suzanne Downing
Must Read Alaska
March 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Alaska Forest Association and two of its members have taken legal action against the US Forest Service. The lawsuit … seeks to compel the federal agency to comply with the Tongass Timber Reform Act’s mandate for timber sales, a move that could help revive the struggling timber industry in southeast Alaska. “Federal law requires the Forest Service to sell enough timber every year to meet market demand,” said Frank Garrison, attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents the plaintiffs that include Viking Lumber and Alcan Timber. “…the agency has violated federal law three times over.” The dispute stems from the US Forest Service’s 2016 Management Plan, which outlined a gradual transition from selling old-growth timber to younger trees over a ten-year period. … However, the plaintiffs argue that the agency abandoned the plan, ceasing old-growth timber sales immediately and failing to provide sufficient young-growth timber as promised.

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Northwest Forest Plan less effective in the face of climate change, says Forest Service, proposing changes

By Shari Phiel
The Columbian
March 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Time is running out for those wanting to offer feedback on proposed changes to the U.S. Forest Service’s Northwest Forest Plan. The public comment period closes Monday. The plan includes four management alternatives for 24.5 million acres of federal forest lands in Western Oregon, Washington and Northwestern California. It covers 17 national forests, seven Bureau of Land Management districts, six national parks, and 165,000 acres of national wildlife refuges and Department of Defense lands. Locally, this includes parts of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. …First put into effect in 1994, the plan includes standards and guidelines for management activities for each of the agency’s various land use and aquatic conservation categories. The proposed alternatives are intended to reduce the risk of wildfires, address climate change and — perhaps most controversially — expand logging.

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New Study Finds Time is Not the Driving Influence of Forest Carbon Storage

By Chrissy Billau
The University of Michigan
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

PELLSTON, Mich. — It is commonly assumed that as forest ecosystems age, they accumulate and store, or “sequester,” more carbon. A new study based at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) untangled carbon cycling over two centuries and found that it’s more nuanced than that. The synergistic effects of forest structure, the composition of the tree and fungal communities, and soil biogeochemical processes have more influence on how much carbon is being sequestered above and below ground than previously thought. …“Time is a playing field, and the rules of the game are things like canopy structure, tree and microbial community composition, and soil nitrogen availability. That means that changes in things like structure, composition, and soil nitrogen are what control forest carbon trajectories, whether quickly or slowly, and whether we are influencing those changes through management or letting them happen on their own terms,” Dr. Luke Nave said.

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Arkansas foresters receive top honors

The Pine Bluff Commercial
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Don Bragg — one of three inducted into the Arkansas Foresters Hall of Fame — was a forester who loved science and sharing that passion with others. The late Bragg joins the Arkansas Foresters Hall of Fame roster along with Greg L. Hay and Pete Prutzman. The hall is housed in the Forest Resources Building at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Plaques honoring the three were officially hung this month following last November’s induction ceremony at the Ouachita Society of American Foresters. The Arkansas Foresters Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to forestry in Arkansas, according to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

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U.S. Senators Introduce Legislation to Help Conserve Working Forests and Give Landowners More Options to Ensure Their Land is Protected

By Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Sierra Sun Times
March 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Kirsten Gillibrand

U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Roger Wicker (R-MS) are reintroducing the Forest Conservation Easement Program Act, which would help conserve working forests and give landowners more options to ensure their land is protected. The bill would expand the Healthy Forests Reserve Program and rename it the Forest Conservation Easement Program, which would aim to: Prioritize keeping forests as forests, benefiting the economy and the environment; Help landowners restore and protect habitats for at-risk species while simultaneously increasing carbon sequestration; and Enhance the abilities of the Natural Resources Conservation Service so it can effectively conserve working forests through conservation easements. Landowners would be provided with two options for placing voluntary easements on their land: Forest Land Easements and Forest Reserve Easements.

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The U.N. Misses the Forest and the Trees

By Vahaken Mouradian
The National Review
March 19, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

To do its part to save the natural world and its wonders (such as the Amazon rainforest), the Brazilian state of Pará is laying a massive strip of asphalt across the Amazon rainforest. Laugh all you like. This four-lane highway might be the only concrete outcome of this year’s United Nations climate change conference. Fifty thousand sojourners’ worth of traffic is expected to gum up the city of Belém in November during COP30. …This will be the United Nations’ 30th annual Conference of the Parties, during which delegates of the parties will agree on the need for more agreements and more conferences. The COP series has succeeded in conserving itself if not the environment. …Can’t blame local officials for making the most of it. This, as far as anybody can tell, is its chief function: to allow the host country to expedite development projects and extend the season for the regional leisure and hospitality industry.

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Forest Stewardship Council Launches the FSC Brand Hub

Forest Stewardship Council
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is thrilled to announce the launch of the FSC Brand Hub, a user-centric platform designed to streamline trademark management, marketing resources, and brand assets for all FSC stakeholders. Developed with input from users around the world, the FSC Brand Hub is tailored to the needs of certificate holders, promotional licence holders, certification bodies, and other FSC partners. This new platform replaces the legacy system, offering an improved, modernized experience… Whether you’re managing trademark designs, building marketing campaigns, or creating custom assets, the FSC Brand Hub is a one-stop solution. …FSC will also host a webinar to introduce the Brand Hub, including how to navigate the platform, customize assets, and make the most of this exciting new resource.

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Drone tree-seeding trial could ‘revolutionise’ the expansion of rainforests say exponents

By Angela Garwood
Positive News
March 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

A pioneering drone seeding initiative in south-west England – one of the largest of its kind using native tree seeds to date – has the potential to transform rainforest restoration, say those involved. The project, by the Woodland Trust, has seen high-tech drones scatter 75,000 seeds across the Bodmin landscape in Cornwall. The drones, which weigh 110kg and can carry up to 58kg of seeds each, hover a few metres above the ground and can access areas where the planting of trees by hand isn’t feasible. Joining forces with the South West Rainforest Alliance, the Woodland Trust aims to use the technique to triple the land area of temperate rainforest across Cornwall and Devon from 8% to 24% by 2050… Scattering tree seeds that are native to these rainforests, including common oak, alder, wild cherry, downy birch and hazel, the drones seeded 11 hectares of land in eight hours.

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