Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Why some of the wildfires burning across the Yukon might be beneficial

By Tori Fitzpatrick
CBC News
July 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A recent report out of British Columbia suggests using beneficial fires to build wildfire resilience. In the Yukon, that idea is not new — but finding a way to reap the benefits of fire while preventing devastation is a delicate balancing act. …the report on beneficial fire in B.C. from the University of Victoria’s POLIS Wildfire Resilience Project says if communities can find a way to live with fire and, in some cases, use it to their advantage, they can help protect themselves and ecosystems from future devastation. …According to the report, beneficial fire is “planned or unplanned wildland fire that has positive effects on ecosystem processes and functions and has acceptable risk to human communities.” The report adds that beneficial fire can include “cultural fire, prescribed fire and managed fire.” …Sean Smith, chief of Kwanlin Dün First Nation, says fire is a part of his people’s “cultural history.”

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New community centre under construction at Xeni Gwet’in First Nation

By Monica Lamb-Yorski
The Williams Lake Tribune
July 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Construction is underway for a new community centre at Xeni Gwet’in First Nation in the west end of Nemiah Valley. “It’s on the site where then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2018 gave an apology and exoneration of the Tsilhqot’in warrior chiefs that were hanged in 1864,” said Chief Roger William. The chief said some of the logs for the structure were harvested on title land and when a logging truck went in to haul them to the construction site, it was the very first and only time that had happened in Nemiah Valley so they held a ceremony. “Our whole Aboriginal Title and Rights Case Trial and Appeals Win was because of the issue of clearcut logging,” William said. …Describing it as a log and timber structure, Michael Mylonas, director of project management for Xeni Gwet’in, said the design resembles a pit house. 

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Investigation of 2022 RCMP actions at logging protests still ongoing

By Bill Metcalfe
Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

An investigation begun in March 2023 into RCMP actions at three logging protests is still not complete. The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) is looking into the actions of the RCMP “E” Division Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), which was formed in 2017 to respond to protests against industrial projects in B.C. One of the incidents being investigated is the police enforcement of an injunction obtained by Cooper Creek Cedar against protesters at Salisbury Creek near Argenta in the summer of 2022, which led to 17 arrests. The other two conflicts arose from the Coastal GasLink Ltd. injunction on Wet’suwet’en traditional territory and the Teal Cedar Products Ltd. injunction in the Fairy Creek watershed on Vancouver Island, both in 2022. … The investigation comes after widespread complaints to the CRCC about aggressive and militaristic police tactics at all three locations.

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An Interview With Lori Daniels: On Controlling Fire, New Lessons from a Deep Indigenous Past

By Nicola Jones
Yale Environment 360
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lori Daniels

Climate change is extending the season during which hot and dry weather encourages fire across North America. At the same time, a long post-settlement history of stamping out wildfires has changed much of the continent’s landscape: …Forest ecologist Lori Daniels, at the University of BC, has found evidence in tree rings for surprisingly high rates of fires before the early 1900s, thanks to the Indigenous use of fire to manage huge swaths of forest. In BC, after European settlers put an end to burning, much of the forest changed dramatically: In one study site, Daniels and her colleagues have documented 200 to 775 trees per hectare — more than four times the historical average of 50 to 190 trees. North America, researchers say, is running a “fire deficit.” Daniels is one of many ecologists now advocating for a return of more beneficial fire to the landscape in order to break up the forest and prevent catastrophic wildfires. 

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Why are there so many films about wildfires right now?

By Paloma Pacheco
The Georgia Straight
July 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

…The National Film Board–produced Incandescence is just one of several documentaries either released this year or currently in production that speak to the province’s new reality and the urgency of the climate crisis that’s fuelled it. This spring, B.C.’s Knowledge Network released a five-part docuseries called Wildfire, about BC Wildfire Service firefighters and the on-the-ground reality of their work. A third crowdfunded documentary, BC is Burning, recently finished production and had its first community screenings in the Okanagan in June. The appearance of these films feels especially timely, and speaks to deeper trends around documentary as a storytelling tool in times of social or ecological crisis. “Environmental documentaries have kind of come in waves that are often in response to policy,” says Chelsea Birks, the learning and outreach director at Vancouver’s The Cinematheque and a film studies lecturer at the University of British Columbia. She says climate change is not an easy subject to capture.

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Forestry isn’t a side industry

By Ward Stammer, MLA
CFJC Today Kamloops
July 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ward Stammer

BC Premier Eby’s Mandate Letter to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar ordered the ministry to help the forestry sector achieve a harvest target of 45 million cubic metres per year – a staggering 50% increase over last year’s total. That sounds good on paper. But it’s not going to happen. And when it doesn’t, you can already hear the excuses. …Now there’s talk of Ottawa imposing quotas on Canadian softwood exports to the US, a move that would add even more uncertainty. And you can bet this NDP government will use it as another excuse to stand back and let the annual allowable cut continue to slide further. Well, we don’t have the luxury of pretending. Even if the total harvest is only 30 million cubic metres, BC Timber Sales should still be producing at least six million. Instead, it’s on track to deliver less than three.

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Opposition to BC Timber Sales operating plans recommended to Sunshine Coast Regional District board

By Connie Jordison
Sunshine Coast Reporter
July 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

There was unanimous committee level support for the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s (SCRD) response to B.C. Timber Sales’ (BCTS) 2025 – 2029 operating plan review. That recommendation, approved at the July 17 electoral services committee meeting, is to be considered by the board at an upcoming meeting. The committee call was to state “the SCRD does not support logging of MCNR006 block that is designated as community drinking watershed.” In addition the recommendation stated it “does not support the logging of blocks ELPH008, G043B4NN, G043B4SG, G043C3ZP, ELPH010, MCNR006 that are upslope and in the same watershed as SCRD assets, without mitigation and monitoring plans.” Also, recommended for inclusion in the region’s response was the statement “as a water license holder and in view of our responsibility to provide safe, clean drinking water, (it) does not support logging blocks ELPH011, G043B4NV, G052B4R8 that are proposed in groundwater recharge areas of aquifers used for community drinking water.

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Lake Babine Nation and West Fraser Partnership Strengthens BC’s Forest Sector

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC — West Fraser Timber and the Lake Babine Nation Forestry Limited Partnership (LBN Forestry) welcomed the announcement by the Government of BC approving the creation of a new First Nations Woodland Licence in the Smithers area. The licence, created from timber tenures contributed by West Fraser and LBN Forestry, will be held by LBN Forestry which is owned by the Lake Babine Nation. …To enable the creation of the new tenure, West Fraser contributed portions of its licence volume held in the Bulkley and Morice Timber Supply Areas, to help create a meaningful area-based licence. Additional volume was made available through the Government-held, BC Timber Sales, helping enhance the licence’s scope and potential impact. …Sean McLaren, President and CEO of West Fraser said “This milestone recognizes Lake Babine Nation’s role as the resource steward in its traditional territory and reflects our shared commitment to sustainable forestry.”

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BC Timber Sales makes plans for logging in the Bonnington area, advocates call for reform

By Samantha Holomay
Castanet
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

@FortisBC

A community watershed forest plan is being developed to address public concerns about water quality, wildfire risks and impacts, but some forest advocates have little hope for change. BC Timber Sales (BCTS) is planning logging and wildfire protection in the Falls Creek watershed near Bonnington, just above the Corra Linn dam. Residents will have a chance to shape the plan, but the end result will come down to BCTS… BCTS explained that consultant Cathy Scott May, a Bonnington resident and strategic natural resource management planner for rural communities, will gather residents’ questions and facilitate conversations. May will be working with BCTS to help develop a community watershed forest plan… But some forest advocates see BCTS engagement as more symbolic than impactful. …Joe Karthein of Save What’s Left Conservation Society said … he can’t recall when forest advocates have successfully stopped BCTS from logging a proposed cut block in the Kootenay area.

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BC Wants Value-Added Mills. We Discovered a Big Obstacle

By Ben Parfitt
The Tyee
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

In an industry dominated by high-tech sawmills … a small mill in Valemount is the exception… At Cedar Valley Holdings mill virtually every unit of wood in every cedar log entering the mill, including their frequently rotted cores, gets turned into product…. It’s precisely the sort of value-added operation that Premier David Eby told Forests Minister Ravi Parmar should be the goal in BC’s forest industry. Yet the mill … is in trouble. …logs it could use are taken to Prince George where they are thrown into a chipper to make wood pulp. …the logs being chipped come from forests licensed to the Valemount Community Forest, whose mandate is to “promote small and value-added manufacturing”. …The high concentration of community forest logs in the hands of the major companies indicates that those companies do not have enough logs available to them from their own forest licences and are making up the shortfalls with community forests’ logs.

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Thompson River University joins national effort to build wildfire resilience

By Thompson River University
Castanet
July 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

KAMLOOPS, BC — Thompson Rivers University (TRU) is playing a key role in strengthening wildfire resilience in Canada through the newly established Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada (WRCC). The WRCC is supported by an $11.7 million investment over four years from the Government of Canada through the Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative. …The WRCC will act as a national virtual network, bringing together Indigenous knowledge holders, researchers, practitioners and industry leaders to enhance wildfire resilience by advancing knowledge sharing, technology, and Indigenous fire stewardship across jurisdictions. TRU joined the consortium in partnership with the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) and shares a seat as one of five foundational partners. Others include the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, FPInnovations, the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council and the Forest Products Association of Canada. …For more on the WRCC and its network, please see the announcement from Natural Resources Canada.

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Peace region and Liard are the ‘engine’ of B.C., says forestry minister

By Steve Berard
Energetic City Fort St. John
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Ravi Parmar

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — B.C.’s minister of forests considers the Peace region and the northeast “the engine” of the province and its economy. Ravi Parmar spent several days earlier in July visiting Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and other territories in the northeast to learn more about the region. …“This [area] is the engine of British Columbia, in so many ways,” Parmar said. …“I think we often forget that much of that money to be able to pay for good quality infrastructure and services comes from the hardworking people here in the Peace country, and in the Liard as well.”  …He also said he recognizes the forestry industry in the northeast has struggled through recent years, between global shifts like the ongoing trade war with the United States, mill closures and repeated severe wildfire seasons.

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Kootenay environmental report calls for BC Timber Sales reforms

By Bill Metcalfe
The Kimberley Bulletin
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A report from the Nelson-based organization Save What’s Left calls on the provincial government to revamp BC Timber Sales and give it an environmental stewardship mandate. The 50-page report titled Public Forest, Public Trust alleges that BCTS logs old growth forests, disturbs watersheds and interferes with wildlife corridors.  BCTS is an independent organization within the Ministry of Forests that develops Crown timber for auction. BCTS plans and designs logging operations and builds logging roads, then sells the timber to the highest bidder. The document lays out 24 such allegations, stating they are based on field verification by Save What’s Left, on satellite time-lapse imagery, and on conversations with forest professionals and forest workers. “This paper both outlines the myriad of problems with how BC Timber Sales operates and presents a new path forward,” writes prominent environmentalist David Suzuki in his introduction to the report. “What we need now is courage by leaders to walk that path.”

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Documentary calls for changes to forestry practices to mitigate wildfire risk

By Josh Dawson
Castanet
July 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Murray Wilson

A longtime logger turned documentary filmmaker is calling for change in the B.C. logging and forestry industry, and B.C.’s forests critic says he’s hit the nail on the head. The documentary, titled B.C. is Burning, was screened on the campus of Thompson Rivers University on Tuesday evening to a crowd well over 100 people, including some Kamloops city councillors and local MLAs. The film calls for greater management of B.C. forests to reduce fire risk, which it argues can be accomplished through the further use of practices like forest thinning, partial harvesting, prescribed and cultural burnings and “regenerative harvesting” — replacing swaths of mature or damaged trees to make way for younger and healthier forests, similar to clear cutting. …Speaking with reporters following the screening, retired logger and creator of the documentary Murray Wilson said he thinks new policy and regulation is needed to reduce fire risk, and that is part of the reason he made the film.

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Audit of Metlakatla Forestry Corporation finds good practices

BC Forest Practices Board
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE RUPERT – A Forest Practices Board audit has found that Metlakatla Forestry Corporation complied with the Forest and Range Practices Act and Wildfire Act on First Nations Woodland Licence N3B. The N3B licence lies within the Great Bear Rainforest North Timber Supply Area of the Coast Mountain Natural Resource District. Auditors examined planning, harvesting, road maintenance and deactivation, silviculture and fire-protection activities carried out between Aug. 1, 2022, and Aug. 12, 2024. Auditors found evidence of good forestry practices and stewardship. Operational planning aligned with the Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order and properly addressed resource values, including visual quality, terrain stability and cultural values. Riparian areas and wildlife tree patches were managed according to the corporation’s forest-stewardship plan.

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Blockade in La Doré: A predictable crisis

By Véronique Figliuzzi
Unifor
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

LA DORÉ – In response to the blockade set up the Mamo First Nation at the Domtar sawmill in La Doré, Unifor condemns the government’s total lack of social dialogue in its reform of the forestry regime. According to the union, the development of this reform in the absence of any real consultation with stakeholders, particularly First Nations, has resulted in a predictable conflict. “The situation has reached a critical point. It is imperative that the government listen to Indigenous peoples, offer concrete responses to their concerns, and actively involve them in the forestry economy in order to limit the impact on workers,” insisted Daniel Cloutier, Unifor Quebec Director. “Dialogue must be re-established immediately in order to rebuild bridges with all partners.” Unifor is calling on all parties to avoid escalating the situation and remain peaceful and to follow the instructions of the authorities present at the site of the blockade. 

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Congress Moves To Stop Killing Of 500,000 Barred Owls To Save Spotted Owls

By Mark Heinz
Cowboy State Daily
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Forming an unusual alliance, environmental and animal welfare groups have pulled together a bipartisan effort in Congress, united by universal disdain for a Biden-era plan to massacre nearly 500,000 barred owls. Killing off barred owls in an effort to save endangered spotted owls is “wasteful, inhumane and unworkable,” Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy said. Those groups hailed the introduction Wednesday of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to nullify the Biden-era barred owl management strategy. …In September 2024, the Biden administration approved a $1.3 billion plan for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) agents to shoot about 470,000 barred owls over the next 30 years in Washington, Oregon and California.  The justification was to give spotted owls a better chance of recovery under the assumption that barred owls bully their smaller cousins out of vital, old-growth forest habitat. …Federal wildlife agents have killed roughly 4,500 barred owls since 2009. 

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The Fix Our Forests Act prioritizes industry over nature

By Rob Lewis
The Hill
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

America’s public forests are under assault. We have already seen the massive timber harvests called for by President Trump’s executive order, the elimination of the Roadless Rule, and the gutting of wildlife protection efforts. Those are the broad stokes, but there are also finer maneuvers underway, such as abandoning the traditional practice whereby forest personnel paint-mark the trees selected for cutting, handing those decisions over instead to the timber companies themselves. Or the various subsections that keep popping up in the “Big Beautiful Bill” — for example, giving timber companies an option to pay for hastened environmental review and defunding endangered species recovery efforts. It also arbitrarily requires the Forest Service to increase harvests by 250 million acres annually for nine years. This is the context within which we must now view the Fix Our Forests Act, a logging-in-the-name-of-fire-prevention bill, stuffed with provisions that significantly override scientific and citizen review.

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Gluesenkamp Perez introduces bipartisan bill to strengthen forestry career pathways

The Chehalis-Centralia Chronicle
July 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and Rep. David Rouzer, R-North Carolina, recently introduced the bipartisan Jobs in the Woods Act, which aims to connect young people with careers and training in forestry. The bill would create a grant program for nonprofit organizations, state governments and colleges to utilize for workforce training in forestry-related fields. With most of the forest manufacturing industry located in rural areas, the bill would give individuals the opportunity to learn skills that can serve them and their communities. …This year, Gluesenkamp Perez urged the Trump administration to refrain from cuts to federal workers that could negatively impact timber production, wildfire readiness and recreation in Southwest Washington, according to the release. Following the president’s executive order to increase domestic lumber production on federal lands, Gluesenkamp Perez expressed support for an approach that prioritizes small, independent logging, trucking and mill operators.

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New Documentary Reveals Canada’s Boreal Forests Getting Clearcut for Toilet Paper

By Charmin Kills Forests
Cision PRNewswire
July 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

NEW YORK — A new documentary released by Charmin Kills Forests, entitled “CHARMIN WIPES OUT A FOREST,” exposes how Procter & Gamble toilet paper and paper towels are made by clear-cutting Canada’s boreal forests. The film’s producer, forest activist Brian Rodgers. The 26 minute film is touring 23 cities, where it is being screened from a mobile video truck. …Filmed on location in Canada … the documentary features scientists, experts, and descendants of Procter & Gamble‘s founders who petitioned the company to stop using virgin fiber from Canada’s boreal forest. In addition to Youtube, the film is posted, along with photographs, links to social media posts, published studies, and other documentation and resources, on Charminkillsforests.org. The Charmin Kills Forests campaign is organized by a small, self-funded team of environmental advocates. It focuses on Charmin as one especially offensive consumer product among others using 100% virgin pulp from one of Earth’s few remaining wild forests.

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Drop in state funding for Washington’s work to prevent severe wildfires is stoking concerns

By Emily Fitzgerald
The Oregon Capital Chronicle
July 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

If state funding for forest health and wildfire prevention isn’t ramped back up in the next legislative session, it could hinder efforts to prevent severe fires in the coming years, Washington’s top public lands official and others warned this week. The state Legislature approved House Bill 1168 in 2021, which committed $500 million over eight years to the state Department of Natural Resources for wildfire preparedness and response. State spending had largely kept up with that target until this year, with the department receiving $115 million in the last two-year budget and $130 million in the one before that. Then this year, as lawmakers confronted a budget shortfall, they slashed the wildfire preparedness funding to just $60 million for the next two years. The Department of Natural Resources says it’s prepared for this fire season and has money left over from past years. But the funding rollback has sparked concerns.

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Drop in state funding for Washington’s work to prevent severe wildfires is stoking concerns

By Emily Fitzgerald
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The state’s top public lands official is urging lawmakers to restore the spending to previous levels after they cut it by about half this year. If state funding for forest health and wildfire prevention isn’t ramped back up in the next legislative session, it could hinder efforts to prevent severe fires in the coming years, Washington’s top public lands official and others warned this week. The state Legislature approved House Bill 1168 in 2021, which committed $500 million over eight years to the state Department of Natural Resources for wildfire preparedness and response. State spending had largely kept up with that target until this year, with the department receiving $115 million in the last two-year budget and $130 million in the one before that. Then this year, as lawmakers confronted a budget shortfall, they slashed the wildfire preparedness funding to just $60 million for the next two years. 

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Forest service firefighters use drones with ping pong balls to fight California wildfire

By Jessica Skropanic
Redding Record Searchlight
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

REDDING, California — In firefighting, drones get used to see hot spots in the dark, map the size of fires and look for damage. But the recent Green Fire also proves the flying robots also are effective in starting backfires on terrain firefighters cannot safely get to in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. “If the mission is dull, dumb or dangerous, send the drone,” said John Schuler, a firefighter and US Forest Service spokesperson on the Green Fire. Drones can go where no firefighter can: Into remote areas that are difficult to impossible for crews to reach, and where manned aircraft have trouble flying due to smoke or other safety concerns. Firefighters like those on the Green Fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest are using drones to check fire size and directions wildfires are moving. They do the latter by dropping ping pong balls full of chemicals, said Schuler.

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Goats assigned to Reno wildfire prevention work in urban wildland interface

By Jeniffer Solis
Nevada Current
July 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

@Wiki

Hundreds of goats will mow down dead vegetation across hilly terrain in Reno over the next month in an effort to reduce wildfires in an area prone to burning. Buildup of dead vegetation near homes, has created a wildfire hazard the Reno Fire Department hopes to mitigate by introducing 250 goats that will eat away dry brush for the next 45 days. “They’re working all day long,” said Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran. The move comes as wildfire season approaches its peak this month. Wildfire season in Nevada has lengthened due to climate change. Last year, nearly 860 wildfires burned about 104,000 acres of land across Nevada, according to the Nevada Division of Forestry. …The goats, from High Desert Graziers in nearby Smith Valley, are bred to consume a wide variety of non-native grasses and weeds that fuel wildfires including bitterbrush, manzanita, and cheatgrass.

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Yellowstone aspen may be recovering thanks to 1990s reintroduction of wolves

By Sharon Udasin
The Hill
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The restoration of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park has helped revive an aspen tree population unique to the region, a new study has found. Quaking aspen, one of the few deciduous tree species in the northern Rocky Mountain ecosystem, is once again thriving, after suffering severe decline during the 20th century, according to a new study. “This is a remarkable case of ecological restoration,” lead author, Luke Painter, at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, said. The decline in aspen growth occurred in tandem with a surge in Rocky Mountain elk, which had lost a key predator following the elimination of wolves from the region by 1930. …At the same time… aspen recovery hasn’t been uniform across northern Yellowstone — and the growth is subject to numerous potential threats including climate change and encroachment of coniferous trees, are possible such factors. And other herbivores have increased in the region.

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A century of data reveals declining forest diversity

By Rami Jameel
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have analyzed 96 years of forest census data to better understand ecological changes and inform management practices. Their study reveals concerning homogenization trends. This means the forest has become less diverse over time, losing trees that played a critical role in its ecosystem. The researchers analyzed census data from Trelease Woods, which the university acquired in 1917. Homogenization was linked to the spread of the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle, and Ophiostoma fungi, which causes Dutch elm disease. Many deciduous forests are losing diversity, co-author Jennifer Fraterrigo said. …She worked on the study with her former graduate student, Jennifer Álvarez, who is currently an environmental assessment researcher at the Illinois State Geological Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. Integrative biology professor James Dalling and former NRES forest ecologist John Edgington were also co-authors on the study.

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Washington wildfire fighting efforts ‘finally’ get $20 million after delays

By Daniel Schrager
The Bellingham Herald
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The state of Washington will get about $20 million for wildfire fighting efforts after a months-long delay, a Washington congresswoman confirmed Thursday. The Trump administration distributed $280 million in federal funding to forestry agencies across the country, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington. The money will help fund the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ efforts to train and equip wildland firefighters across the state. “The state of Washington is in the middle of an active and dangerous wildfire season,” Cantwell said in a news release. “After questioning the Chief of the Forest Service and the Secretary of Agriculture, I am pleased that Washington — and all states — are finally receiving the funding they need to prepare for and respond to wildfires this summer and in the future.”

Additional coverage from the Bellingham Herald: Could Trump budget cuts hurt WA wildfire fighting efforts? We asked an expert. “According to Robyn Whitney, strategic advisor to the State Forester, the Washington Department of Natural Resources, will operate at full capacity this summer, regardless of possible federal budget cuts.

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Colorado ski resort fights mountain beetle infestation with this unique substance

By Jonathan Ingraham
Denver Gazette
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) in central Colorado has been dealing with a mountain pine beetle infestation for the last two years, but the Gunnison County resort is fighting back using small packets of pheromones stapled to trees.  Beetles were first detected mountainside at CBMR in 2023… During the 2024 season, ground crews revisited large areas of lodgepole pine within and around CBMR’s boundaries, confirming limited but recent beetle activity among the trees. …But now CBMR Mountain Operations, alongside rangers with the U.S. Forest Service, are fighting the beetles back with the help of verbenone pheromone packets. Verbenone is an anti-aggregation pheromone produced by mountain pine beetles to indicate a tree has reached maximum capacity, letting other beetles know there are no resources available to consume within the tree.

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Salt River Project plans to thin another 50,000 acres in five years

By Peter Aleshire
The Payson Roundup
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

The Salt River Project has extended its partnership with the state to thin watersheds, which will also improve fire protection for communities in Rim Country and the White Mountains. In the past five years, The Valley utility has worked with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management to thin 35,000 acres of overgrown forest, including a portion of the watershed of the C.C. Cragin Reservoir. SRP has also signed long-term contracts to buy electricity from NovoBiopower, the state’s only biomass burning power plant. The Snowflake power plant remains crucial to forest restoration efforts by providing one of the few markets for the tons of low-value biomass removed on each acre treated. SRP issued a release this week stating it hopes to fund the treatment of another 52,000 acres in the next five years. SRP also helped thin overgrown forests outside Payson, adding to a buffer zone protecting the community from wildfires.

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Time for action. Proper forest management is a matter of survival

By Nathan Magsig, County of Fresno
The Fresno Bee
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Nathan Magsig

If you’re from California, you’ve likely seen it — our once-thriving forests are turning into graveyards of dead trees, and the threat of wildfire looms larger every year. Since 2010, over 27 million trees have died in Fresno County alone. The combined effects of drought, beetle infestations, and bureaucratic gridlock have left our forests vulnerable and our communities exposed. The tragic 2020 Creek Fire, which devastated entire neighborhoods and ecosystems, is just one of many examples of what happens when we fail to act. Let me be clear: this is not just a forestry problem. It’s a public safety emergency, an economic threat, and an environmental crisis — all rolled into one. …Our policies have not kept up with the crisis. Regulatory and budgetary roadblocks have stifled forest management efforts. Even when we have willing landowners and local governments, they’re hamstrung by red tape and a lack of resources.

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Montana logging project can continue — for now — despite environmental concerns

By Hillel Aron
Courthouse News Service
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A major logging project in Montana can continue after a federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by four environmental groups. Last year, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved the Round Star logging project, which covers 28,300 acres of land about 13 miles west of the city of Whitefish. …The agencies also approved the construction of nearly 20 miles of permanent roads in the national forest. …The four conservation groups — Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, Council on Wildlife and Fish and Yellowstone to Uintas Connection — sued to stop the logging in January, and filed their motion for a preliminary injunction months later. By that time, the logging was already underway. …Though the timing of the motion wasn’t a dealbreaker for the motion, DeSoto also found that the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits of the case.

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New Opportunities for Forest Resources Association and Universities to Collaborate on Expanding Wood Supply Chain Workforce Development

By Clay Altizer
The Forest Resources Association
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

Our universities have played an active role in supporting the forest products industry over the years. Numerous applied research projects have helped address supply chain issues. Drs. Charlie Blinn (University of Minnesota) and Joe Conrad (University of Georgia) recently collaborated to evaluate logging capacity in the Lake States and the Southern US. …Dr. Conrad’s “Benchmark Data on Log Truck Insurance Premiums, Claims, and Transportation Safety Practices in the US South” is an example of FRA-funded research aimed at improving transportation safety and supply chain efficiency. …Last week, the US Forest Service announced its 2025 Wood Innovations Grant recipients.  Approximately $80 million will be awarded to “spur wood products manufacturing, expand active forest management, and accelerate energy innovation across America’s timber-producing communities”. FRA will receive funding for its proposal “Enhancing the Wood Supply Chain Workforce” to “expand its southern U.S. logging and wood supply chain training program nationwide”—to support workforce development in timber-producing communities.

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Golden, Collins introduce bipartisan legislation to create disaster relief fund for loggers

United States Congressman Jared Golden
July 23, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) today introduced the bicameral, bipartisan Loggers Economic Assistance and Relief Act, which would establish a new program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support loggers who have lost income due to natural disasters. …Current law excludes loggers from the kinds of disaster relief and assistance available to other industries, including fishermen and farmers, when natural disasters strike. Under the Loggers Economic Assistance and Relief Act, a disaster declaration from the president or governor would unlock federal assistance eligibility for logging businesses with at least a 10 percent loss in revenue or volume compared to the prior year. Covered damage would include high winds, fire, flooding, insect infestation and drought. “There must be a safety net to ensure one particularly bad season cannot uproot logging families and communities” Golden said. 

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Fir forests dying in Greece, as heat peaks and snow cover wanes

The Straits Times
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

KALAVRYTA, Greece – Around the village of Kalavryta in southwestern Greece, hundreds of dying fir trees stand out among the dark green foliage, a stark reminder of how drought slowly drains the life from nature. Greek fir species Abies cephalonica are known to need cooler, moist climates. But prolonged droughts in recent years linked to a fast-changing climate in Greece are leaving them exposed to pest infestations, scientists and locals said. …Less water and moisture mean that fir trees become more vulnerable to attacks by pests that bore into their bark to lay eggs and create tunnels, disrupting the trees’ ability to transport nutrients between roots and branches and leading to their death. …In Kalavryta, authorities plan to remove dead and infested trees to limit the damage. But this might not be enough to save the forests. “We cannot stop climate change,” director of research at the National Observatory of Athens, Dr Kostas Lagouvardos said.

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Forest Stewardship Council lifts its suspension on the remedy process with Asia Pulp & Paper

Forest Stewardship Council
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

At the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Remedy Forum held in Jakarta, a group of stakeholders and rights holders interested in the implementation of FSC’s Remedy Framework shared a clear message with FSC. They expect to see restoration outcomes scaled up and delivered. They want the implementation of remedy to pick up pace so that degraded forest landscapes are transformed and people and communities get an opportunity to heal. And they want FSC to develop robust systems that ensure verified and holistic redressal of past unacceptable activities. …After reviewing all relevant considerations, FSC is now ⁠lifting the suspension on Asia Pulp and Paper’s (APP) remedy process. …The legal review is still ongoing and FSC will publish a summary of the conclusions once completed. …Further delaying their implementation of remedy puts rights holders’ access to remedy at risk. It is in the interest of speedy delivery of remedy, at scale, that APP will take its remedy process forward. 

In related coverage by Greenpeace: FSC Risks Reputation by Lifting Suspension of APP’s Remedy Process

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Forestry union head blames lack of training for deadly wildfire in Türkiye

Türkiye Today
July 25, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

A deadly wildfire in Seyitgazi, Türkiye that killed 10 forestry workers was the result of a lack of training and institutional expertise, a senior union leader has claimed. The accusation was made by Yusuf Kurt, president of the Agriculture and Forestry Workers Union, who said unqualified personnel were deployed to the scene, while experienced staff had been reassigned due to internal rotation policies. Kurt criticized the practice of assigning staff who had never responded to wildfires before, simply as part of internal rotation policies. “Fire has no school, but the institution used to train its own staff through in-house training centers,” he said. “Now those centers are being shut down. Sending untrained personnel into active fires leads to fatal consequences.” Emphasizing the complexity of fire management, Kurt warned that theoretical knowledge is not enough. “Fire has a language. If you cannot read it, you cannot control it,” he said. 

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Costa Rica Launches Traceability System to Tackle Illegal Logging

The Tico Times
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Costa Rica is advancing with the creation of a National Forest Traceability System, a key tool to guarantee the legality and sustainability of timber use. Public and private sectors came together for the first time to plan this initiative. This process is led by the Ministry of Environment and Energy through the Vice Ministries of Environment and Strategic Management of Costa Rica, with technical support from the FAO. It is part of a national strategy to strengthen forest legality, reduce the risk of illegal timber trade, and enhance the competitiveness of the Costa Rican forestry sector in demanding markets such as Europe (EUDR) and the United States (Lacey Act). “Costa Rica has made significant progress in forest legality, but the next step is to integrate technology and innovation into the process to ensure traceability from the farm to the primary wood product,” commented Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy.

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For 1st Time, Fires Are Biggest Threat to Forests’ Climate-Fighting Superpower

By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey and Harry Stevens
The New York Times
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

In 2023 and 2024 the world’s forests absorbed only a quarter of the carbon dioxide they did in the beginning of the 21st century, according to data from the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch. Those back-to-back years of record-breaking wildfires hampered forests’ ability absorb billions of tons of carbon dioxide, curbing some of the global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions. Those two years also marked the first time wildfires surpassed logging or agriculture-driven deforestation as the biggest factor lowering forests’ carbon-capturing ability. It’s an emerging pattern that’s different from the last big drop, in 2016 and 2017, which was largely the result of increased deforestation for agriculture. …Other recently published studies suggest that climate change is making extreme-forest-fire years more common, and the worst events more frequent and intense. …“We’re reaching the point where global warming is feeding the warming,” said Werner Kurz, an emeritus scientist for the Canadian Forest Service. [A subscription to the New York Times is required to access the full story]

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Albanese government plotted to maintain native forest logging in New South Wales if court battle was lost, documents show

By Anne Davies
The Guardian
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Anthony Albanese

AUSTRALIA – The Albanese government was so worried a court case could halt native forest logging in northern New South Wales that it drew up plans to essentially sidestep federal environment laws in the event of a loss, documents released under freedom of information laws reveal. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, played a key role as the commonwealth and NSW governments worked to ensure some logging could continue in the face of any “adverse decision” and to manage a potentially volatile situation between loggers and environmentalists. In the end the governments won the case … despite the fact that the RFA was amended in 2018 without fresh scientific studies regarding the impact on threatened species. …If the federal and state governments had lost, there could have been an immediate halt to logging and lengthy processes to assess areas under the commonwealth’s environment laws. The government was concerned [this] could lead to environmentalists demanding an end to logging.

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How the UK is addressing the challenge of forest resilience

Letter by Mike Seddon, Chief Executive, Forestry England
The Guardian
July 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Alastair Collier is right to point out that to build forests that can withstand future conditions, we must invest in resilience from the outset (Britain’s forests need help to adapt to the changing climate Letters, 17 July). At Forestry England, forest resilience is our most critical challenge. We must ensure the nation’s 1,500 forests in our care can withstand and adapt to the threats facing them, including climate change, biodiversity loss, extreme weather, and pests and diseases. We are doing this by planning 100 years ahead in the way we manage these beautiful places, which are home to some of the UK’s rarest wildlife. …The benefits of the nation’s forests are enormous, from storing carbon and mitigating floods to supporting our health and wellbeing. They are an unsurpassed national asset. As their custodians, we are putting forest resilience at the heart of everything we do.

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