One-fifth of tree-planting projects funded by the federal government’s two billion trees program are Indigenous-led, and there will soon be more thanks to a new funding stream specifically for Indigenous project proposals. The two billion trees program was launched in 2021 and quickly saw “a high level of interest” from Indigenous proponents, mainly First Nations, according to Natural Resources Canada briefing materials obtained by Canada’s National Observer through a federal access-to-information-request. …The Liberal government’s pledge to plant two billion trees by the end of 2030 was one of the party’s prominent campaign promises in 2021. …Natural Resources Canada said it is on track to plant two billion trees by 2031 and is exceeding its planting goals, with 28.9 million planted in 2021 — 95 per cent of its goal for the first year. …A 2023 audit by Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development found the two billion tree pledge is unlikely to be met “unless significant changes are made.”
In late 2023, the federal government, BC and the First Nations Leadership Council signed a $1 billion Nature Agreement to protect 30 per cent of B.C.’s lands by 2030. …The Nature Agreement follows a series of historic federal investments in nature conservation. Like the previous announcements, the 2023 Nature Agreement includes funding for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, or IPCAs. However, despite advances in Canadian conservation policy and practice, our research has shown that First Nations advancing IPCAs can still face significant challenges. …One of the biggest challenges for IPCAs is the pressure of resource extraction. Even once an IPCA is declared, it may not be safe from resource extraction. Canadian governments continue to grant tenures and licences to companies for logging, mining, fish farms and other impactful activities inside IPCAs against the wishes of Indigenous nations. …IPCAs offer tremendous potential for addressing the biodiversity and climate crises and repairing relationships with Indigenous Peoples.
The US Forest Service recently announced plans to amend all its land management plans for National Forest System units. …These plan amendments aim to protect and preserve mature and old-growth forests. If implemented, these amendments may affect many National Forest System permittees and project proponents, implicating recreational developments, timber sales, mineral development, pipeline rights-of-way, and more. …The Forest Service proposes to add to each plan new management approaches, standards, guidelines, and plan monitoring requirements, among other changes. For example, the proposed standards curtail vegetation management (such as timber harvest) within old-growth forest areas that is for the “primary purpose of growing, tending, harvesting, or regeneration of trees for economic reasons.” …Every project involving the use or occupancy of National Forest System land must be consistent with the applicable plan. Thus, every Forest Service project approval document must describe how the proposed project is consistent with relevant plan components. 
My 40-year career in the U.S. Forest Service leads me to believe that your editorial “
ASHLAND, Ore. — State Senator Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, wants to tax timber companies to acquire funding for wildfire prevention and response programs. Golden … said Oregon needs to make sure its communities have enough resources to protect its residents from wildfires. He said it’s much cheaper to prevent wildfires than it is to recover from them. …According to Golden, the proposal is similar to the timber severance tax that was eliminated decades ago. Golden said some parts of the timber industry help local economies but there are other parts of the industry that are solely focused on profit. …Golden said there are still some details to figure out but told NewsWatch 12 the tax would total a rough estimate of $75 million. …Ultimately, Golden wants his tax proposal to end up on the November 2024 ballot, so Oregonians can decide for themselves.
Columbia Land Trust met with commissioners from Wahkiakum County and Pacific County to talk about an opportunity that might benefit local communities in a variety of ways: a community forest. …Ian Sinks, the Stewardship Director for CLT discussed conversations their organization has had with community leadership and landowners, regarding issues being faced in this watershed, brought on by heavy logging, soil type, rain, and sedimentation issues, along with concerns about fishery resources and recreational access. “It led us to a conversation about a community forest, where maybe there are things we can jointly work on together to provide access, to provide economic benefit, and change the land cover and land practices in the watershed,” Sinks said. “My goal is to keep these lands in timber,” Wahkiakum County Commissioner Dan Cothren said. “I don’t want to see this place turned into real estate, where you have houses everywhere.”
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 …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. Tony D’Amato, Professor and Director of the Forestry Program in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at UVM, is a lead researcher on the project. “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.
WARSAW – The Polish government ordered a state-run company that manages more than 7 million hectares of the country’s forests to curtail logging in 10 most cherished forest areas, delivering on a campaign promise following elections last October. “We have decided to stop logging in the most valuable forest areas. It’s time to get saws out of the Polish forests,” Climate Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska told a news briefing on Monday. Hennig-Kloska said the ministry’s decision, to be in place for six months, is a first step before a systemic solution that will further limit logging in such woodlands. According to public opinion polls, 75% of Poles believe that logging should be reduced. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has repeatedly said his government would boost protection of woodlands. Last month, more than 100 environmental groups called for a moratorium on logging in the oldest and most precious forests.
A cross-party group of British MPs have issued a “wake-up call” over the U.K. government’s plans to tackle global deforestation. In a new report out today (4 January), the environmental audit select committee (EAC) warns the intensity of U.K. consumption on the world’s forests is higher than that of China, and calls on British ministers to develop a global footprint indicator to demonstrate this impact to the public. It also calls on ministers to set a firm target to reduce the UK’s impact on global deforestation and work with international partners to improve oversight on this issue, both at home and abroad. According to the committee report, the U.K. government has committed to establishing a regime to require forest-based commodities to be certified as sustainable if they are to be sold into British markets.