Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

Forest Stewardship Council News & Views

Forest Stewardship Council Canada
September 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

In the September newsletter, you’ll find these stories and more:

  • Jaguar Land Rover first to launch tires with over 70% renewable and recyclable materials
  • FSC Canada Welcomes New Team Members: Tina Langille-Hayward, Director of Policy & Standards AND Mylène Raimbault, Regional Manager, Eastern Canada
  • The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a public consultation on draft Indicators related to Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) – August 1 – September 30, 2025
  • FSC Forest Week runs September 20-26, Register Today!
  • Webinar: Wellness and Beauty and FSC, September 18, 2025
  • New Guidance Document for the Ecosystem Services Procedure

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Drought across Canada could lead to duller fall colours, Ontario biologist says

By Jordan Omstead
Canadian Press in CBC News
September 4, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Professor Susan Dudley at McMaster University in Ontario says drought-stricken parts of Canada could be in for some underwhelming fall foliage if stressed trees lose out on the energy needed to generate some of the season’s most brilliant colours. Dudley says trees in dried out parts of the country could see their leaves die off rather than turn red. As the days shorten, green chlorophyll in tree leaves starts to break down and reveals the yellow and orange pigments underneath. Yet Dudley says some trees, such as maple, oak and sumac, synthesize a pigment in the autumn responsible for turning their leaves into the reds and purples associated with the most brilliant foliage. If a tree is too stressed … the leaves may die off before that new pigment can fully develop and give off its most vibrant colour, leaving brown leaves associated with rapid stress-induced death…

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Canada’s out-of-control wildfire crisis in six charts

By Barry Saxifrage, Climate Analyst
National Observer
September 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Fossil fuel pollution is overheating Canadian forests, spawning an out-of-control wildfire crisis. Wildfire is now incinerating four times more forest carbon than during the 1990s. …This accelerating new source of CO2 is adding to the already massive and growing emissions of CO2 caused by humans burning fossil oil, gas and coal. Canada’s continent-spanning forest is especially vulnerable to this rising heat. Its billions of trees, spread across hundreds of millions of hectares, are overheating at two to three times the global pace. …Let’s start with the 1990s. During that decade, wildfire emissions totalled 800 MtCO2. …Compare that to the most recent decade (2016-2025). Over these 10 years, wildfires released four times more carbon than they did during the nineties – a total of 3,200 MtCO2. …But wildfires also impact the climate system. And that climate impact unfolds over decades.

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Many reasons to feel cautiously optimistic about the application of AI in the Canadian forest industry

By Tony Kryzanowski
The Logging and Sawmill Journal
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, remote piloting, and robotics are beginning to have a profound impact on the forest industry as we have known it, from forest management to log harvesting and delivery and right through to lumber production. This is only the beginning. In a recent interview, Bill Gates said that AI will have a more profound impact on humanity than the personal computer (PC) did. …From a forest management perspective, AI offers incredible potential for planning forest cutblocks and reforestation. In the face of climate change, forest companies will have no choice but to design forests that are more resilient to forest fires, pest and pathogens. The ability of AI to provide a variety of solutions in minutes, based on collating and analyzing past research, will make a forest technician’s job easier, while providing better solutions. This is a clear example of using AI for good—and we should make the most of it.

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Canada has pledged to plant 2 billion trees. Here’s how close we are

By Robin Della Corte
The Canadian Press in CP24 News
August 31, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

The Government of Canada says it is just over a 10th of the way to its goal of planting two billion trees across the country. Launched in 2021, Canada’s 2 Billion Trees program has reached the milestone of 228 million trees planted, with agreements already in place to plant a total of nearly one billion within the coming years. As of June, 11 provinces and territories, 58 Indigenous partners, 30 municipalities and 88 non-governmental organizations has signed or are negotiating tree-planting agreements. The program aims to protect crucial wildlife habitat, restore areas impacted by wildfires and sequester carbon. …Some of these initiatives include creating at least 10 new national parks and marine conservation areas and 15 new urban parks, as well as designating 30 per cent Canada’s land and water as conservation areas by 2030. The federal government has also committed to reach an emissions reduction target of 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

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UBC professor sounds alarm on clearcut logging

By Barb Aguiar
The Kelowna Courier
September 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Younes Alila

A UBC professor says the time is now to be serious about the way BC manages its forests because it affects our water. Dr. Younes Alila, a professor of forest hydrology at the UBC Faculty of Forestry, made the statement at the Kelowna screening of Trouble in the Headwaters, a documentary by Dan Pierce. Alila, who has studied the connection between forestry and flooding for decades, is featured in the film, which focusses on the flooding of Grand Forks in 2018. Alila alleges the flooding was caused by clearcut logging. “The forest cover is our most powerful protection against flood risk and drought risk,” he said, noting the tree canopy intercepts snow as well as shading snow that reaches the ground, allowing it to melt slower. …Alila would like to see the remaining old-growth forest left alone and selective logging in the secondary forest that’s already been logged.

Additional coverage in The Tyee, by Alice Kassam: Floods, Fires, Forests. For Younes Alila, It All Connects

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Wildsight Golden hosts UBC forestry professors to tackle local forestry challenges

Wildsight
September 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Last week, Wildsight Golden welcomed professors from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry for a collaborative visit focused on the unique forest management challenges facing the Golden region. The visit brought together representatives from the forestry industry, woodlot and community forest sectors, environmental groups, and wildfire risk reduction experts. The UBC professors were here investigating the feasibility of holding forestry field camps in Golden. …UBC professors have committed to returning in Spring 2026 – this time with forestry graduate students. These students will explore Golden’s forestry challenges firsthand, with the opportunity to develop local research projects with real-world impact—projects that may influence provincial policy. With strong collaboration across sectors already underway in Golden, and plans to host UBC’s 2026 Sustainable Forestry Field Camp and participate in provincial forestry conferences like SISCO, local leaders aim to showcase Golden as a model for sustainable, community-driven forestry.

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B.C. still failing to protect old-growth forest: Wildsight

By Wildsight
The Cranbrook Daily Townsman
September 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Five years after the release of the Old-Growth Strategic Review report, the BC NDP’s momentum towards a “new, holistic approach” to the management of old-growth forests has slowed almost to the point of regression. “Rather than the ‘paradigm shift’ we were promised, we’ve seen Premier Eby’s government doubling down on its prioritization of timber and industry profits over all other values,” said Eddie Petryshen, Wildsight Conservation Specialist. After its public release on September 11, 2020, the BC NDP government promised to enact all 14 recommendations made in the landmark Old-Growth Strategic Review (OGSR). The goal: to shift its focus towards ecosystem health, rather than timber. Since then, temporary logging deferrals have been put in place in high-risk old-growth stands in some parts of the province, and a 2023 Draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework was released for public review. 

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Chance to explore deeper in Maple Ridge’s UBC research forest

Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows News
September 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Nature lovers have a rare invitation to “Explore the Hidden Side of the Forest,” from UBC’s Wild and Immersive Programs which are held in the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest. The forest at 14500 Silver Valley Road has seen 76 years of teaching and learning, and hosted more than 1,000 research projects about a variety of topics. Now the public is invited to go behind the scenes and discover what researchers have learned over the decades. They can join a guided van tour through rarely-seen areas of the forest, and explore a rotating selection of research sites and studies each year. This tour is led by Hélène Marcoux, Registered Professional Forester and manager of the research forest.

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BC logger fighting provincial government for return of $180,000 timber sale licence deposit

By David Carrigg
The Vancouver Sun
September 4, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A BC logger is fighting for the return of a $180,000 deposit he paid to the provincial government to access a timber lot that he did not harvest for lack of demand. In 2023, Bill Bosovich struck a deal with BC Timber Sales to log 116 hectares of forest between Osoyoos and Midway. …Bosovich promised to pay the government at least $1.7 million for the wood he would harvest, and put down a cash deposit of $176,700 to cover any contingencies. However, before any logging had occurred and as wood prices fell, Bosovich learned that the four major log buyers in the area were not interested in his wood. …Bosovich let BC Timber Sales know he could not find buyers and was offered a 12-month extension, but only if he committed to paying a further $83,000 deposit. …Bosovich did not want to extend the licence. …BC Timber Sales’ Allan Powelson responded that the government would be keeping his money.

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B.C.’s late-season wildfires a serious issue, minister says, as smoke descends

By Brenna Owen
The Canadian Press in Victoria Times Colonist
September 4, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

©BCWildfireService

Drought, heat and lightning have spurred late-season wildfire activity in British Columbia, with the forests minister saying the risk of new starts and growth remains a “serious issue” and there is no relief in the short-term forecast. Ravi Parmar said the heat is expected to persist through the weekend, with temperatures reaching 10 C above seasonal in some areas. There is no significant rain in the forecast for the coming days, and another bout of lightning strikes is expected along B.C.’s coast later this week, he said. …There are about 150 active wildfires across B.C., with close to 60 classified as burning out of control. There were eight fires burning on Vancouver Island as of Wednesday night, including one discovered earlier in the day west of Parksville and just east of the Wesley Ridge fire. Four of the fires were considered under control and the others were being held.

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Regional District of Nanaimo plans $30M purchase of Hamilton Marsh south of Qualicum Beach

Parksville Qualicum Beach News
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Regional District of Nanaimo and Mosaic Forest Management have signed a conditional contract of purchase and sale for approximately 360 hectares of land known as Hamilton Marsh. An offer of $30 million was accepted. The sale is anticipated to be completed by March 31, 2026 if all conditions of the purchase and sale contract are met. To acquire the lands as regional parkland and conservation area, the RDN needs to secure a minimum of $7.5 million in funding through other partners. Owned by Island Timberlands and managed under Mosaic Forest Management, the Hamilton Marsh site is located south of the Town of Qualicum Beach… “We recognize the importance of Hamilton Marsh to the community, which is why we’ve entered into a conditional purchase agreement — a key step that enables the Regional District to begin working with potential funding partners toward permanent conservation of the area,” said D’Arcy Henderson, Senior Vice President, Timberlands and Chief Operating Officer, Mosaic Forest Management 

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A walk through the Cai Creek watershed, about to be logged

By Neighbours United
Nelson Star
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Local forests like Cai Creek, rich in biodiversity, cultural heritage, and tourism value, are disappearing across the province. …The at-risk cutblock is situated in the Cai Creek drainage area, just east of Crowsnest Highway 3, above Ootischenia.The hike was led by Matt Casselman, a local biologist and founder of the Save Cai Creek campaign. …“Cai Creek is a mostly intact watershed with no resource roads or recent logging, something that is increasingly rare in the West Kootenays. Intact forests should be protected because they offer areas of refuge for wildlife, and are more resilient to climate change,” says Casselman. …“The BCTS logging and road plans for Cai Creek extend across the whole drainage and will irreversibly disrupt the forest and its ecosystems,” says Casselman. …However, Cai Creek is not considered old growth by the Ministry of Forests and has no protections from logging.

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New forestry group ‘branching’ out

The Columbia Valley Pioneer
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

A new forestry organization is branching out in its goal to become an ‘impartial’ provider of information pertaining to the role forestry plays in all walks of life. Steve Kozuki from Forestry Works for BC Society gave a presentation to the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) to let directors know what the group hopes to accomplish. Kozuki said the forest sector has been the recipient of a lot of criticism over the years, with people getting the idea that forests are disappearing or being logged out of existence, which is “not true.” But he noted the sector shares common concerns about climate change, housing and health care. Kozuki said the Society wants to get non-forest sector people involved in the industry which has promoted the financial and economic benefits of forestry and the jobs it provides. …He … reminded regional directors that “we all depend on a strong forest sector.”

Similar coverage in the Penticton Herald: ForestryWorksForBC makes another case for forestry

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BC First Nations Forestry Council August Newsletter

BC First Nations Forestry Council
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

In this newsletter you’ll find these stories and more:

  • Message from the CEO, Lennard (Suxʷsxʷwels) Joe: “Advancing international partnerships in Australia, delivering new workforce tools in Quesnel and Williams Lake, and engaging youth in hands-on forestry experiences. …Our Policy team is ensuring First Nations voices are at the table in provincial and national forestry processes.”
  • I Am Forestry — Meet Shane Harsh, a proud member of the Skidegate Band from Haida Gwaii… As Vice President of Specialty Products at Woodtone and HaiCo board member
  • Forest Governance: Policy Team ensures First Nations’ voices are at the center of forestry decision-making in British Columbia. 
  • Trade Mission Insights from Rob Manuel, BCFNFC Business Development Strategic Advisor

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BC Community Forest Association News

The BC Community Forest Association
August 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

In this edition of our newsletter you’ll find these headlines and more:

  • Coming Soon: 2025 Community Forest Indicators Report: Our annual snapshot of community forest impact is based on the 2025 Indicators Survey, the report pairs hard data with member stories and photos to highlight wildfire risk reduction, Indigenous partnerships, local jobs and value-added activity, and stewardship of water, wildlife, and recreation.
  • An Opinion Editorial, Community Forests: Rooted in community, growing for generations, by BCCFA Executive Director Jennifer Gunter was published in several forestry publications on August 1st. It was written in response to a July 25th article in The Tyee that questioned community forests’ support for value-added production and small manufacturers.
  • BCCFA Conference & AGM in Vernon June 3-5, 2026: It will be hosted by Monashee Community Forest—a partnership between the Splatsin First Nation and the Village of Lumby BC.

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Cyclists cautioned about month of logging coming for Revelstoke mountain

By Evert Lindquist
The Revelstoke Review
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Bikers should take note that end-of-summer logging operations are kicking into gear at Revelstoke’s Mount MacPherson for a month starting next week, but minimally impacting recreational trails, according to a local cycling group. In a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 27, the Revelstoke Cycling Association (RCA) advised that forest harvesting begins at the mountain’s upper trail network on the weekdays following the Labour Day weekend. This comes one week later than previously indicated in RCA’s trail report. Logging will run from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through most or all of September, with no activity planned for weekends, according to the association.

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Forestry blockade heats up on Cape Breton’s Hunters Mountain

By Aaron Beswick
The Chronicle Herald
September 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

NOVA SCOTIA — Mikmaq have begun blocking logging trucks from leaving Hunters Mountain. Madonna Bernard began the blockade on Monday afternoon when she stood in front of two logging trucks. She was then joined by other Mi’kmaq seeking to stop harvesting from the Cape Breton Highlands. …“This is not a protest, this is a protection. We’re willing to stay as long as it takes.” A large RCMP presence has gathered and more Mi’kmaq supporters are arriving. …Port Hawkesbury Paper mill manager Bevan Lock said that the supercalendered paper relies on wood coming from the highlands for a significant part of its woods fibre. He said some 70 people work for forestry and logging contractors operating in the area. “The province and RCMP have taken steps to remove the blockade and allow travel on a public road,” said Lock.

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Record New Brunswick wildfires alter forest ecosystems, creating winners and losers among birds

By Hope Edmond
CBC News
September 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

As wildfires tear through New Brunswick’s forests at record rates this year, researchers say the resulting damage is reshaping bird habitats — displacing some species while creating new opportunities for others. “With every disturbance in a forest, you have winners and losers,” says Joe Nocera, a forestry and environmental management professor at the University of New Brunswick. In this case, the winners will be woodpeckers. Wildfires, while destructive, are a natural part of forest ecosystems, said Amy-Lee Kouwenberg, an associate director at Birds Canada explained. They clear out underbrush and create habitats that support a wider range of species, boosting biodiversity in the long run. Woodpeckers thrive in burned areas, and the resulting tree cavities they leave behind are used as nesting sites that other birds rely on. …Species like the Canada warbler, wood thrush and Bicknell’s thrush — all of which depend on dense, mature or shrubby forests — are particularly vulnerable . 

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A wildfire in southern Ontario burns differently. Here’s why

By Rebecca Gao
The Narwhal
September 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Air quality warnings are becoming a feature of Ontario summers, but for most, the source has felt far away. As southern Ontarians stayed indoors … under air quality warnings this summer, fires closer to home ignited. In July and August, the province experienced a number of wildfires in places including the Kawarthas, a couple hours northeast of Toronto, and near the town of Huntsville, in the cottage country region of Muskoka. Farther north, First Nations communities like the Pikangikum First Nation and North Spirit Lake First Nation were evacuated due to wildfires and smoke… How do wildfires in southern Ontario stack up to the massive fires farther north, and what can be done? Here’s what you need to know. …fires in southern Ontario are different for two main reasons: the forest type and the many, many people here.

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Activists question why Nova Scotia no longer disclosing glyphosate spray locations

By Luke Ettinger
CBC News
September 4, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Activists are pushing for more information about where aerial spraying of glyphosate is happening after the Nova Scotia government has stopped releasing the locations for spraying of the herbicide by forestry companies. However the forestry sector says the use of the herbicide gets unfair attention, and identifying the locations draws protesters who block access to woodlots.  Glyphosate is used by some woodlot owners to …reduce competition for more profitable softwood species… Previously, the provincial government provided premises identification (PID) numbers for where aerial sprays were approved. That didn’t happen when four approvals for spraying were issued in August. “We don’t have to tell everyone where these PIDs are, because it attracts people who don’t know the full story about forest management to show up roadblock your private woodlot, and prevent you from managing it as you see fit,” said Todd Burgess, executive director of Forest Nova Scotia. 

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Charter challenge on Nova Scotia’s woods ban set for next year

By Blair Rhodes
CBC News
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

It will be early next year before the province’s decision to impose a sweeping travel ban in Nova Scotia woodlands gets tested in court. Lawyers for the Canadian Constitution Foundation were in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday to set dates for its challenge to the ban. The first available dates are Feb. 2-3, 2026. The foundation will be joined in their challenge by Jeff Evely, a Nova Scotian who deliberately violated the ban and was fined $28,000 as a result. …Last week, the government removed the ban in Cape Breton and the eastern part of the Nova Scotia mainland because recent rainfall had reduced the fire risk. …On its website, the Canadian Constitution Foundation describes itself as “a national and non-partisan charity” whose objective is ensuring “government power does not infringe on the rights and freedoms of Canadians.”

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We Must Protect our Public Lands from Trump

By Ryan Gellert, CEO of Patagonia
Time Magazine
September 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Ryan Gellert

For 25 years, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has kept vital forests and grassland safe… But now the more-than 58 million acres of pristine national forest it protects are at risk of being exploited for profit. In June, the Trump Administration announced its intent to rescind the 2001 law, a hard-fought policy that prohibited the building or reconstruction of roads and timber harvesting in certain areas in national forests. At the time of its signing, it was the most commented-on rule in U.S. history, with 95% in support of protecting forests and grasslands from development. Since enactment, it has become one of the country’s most consequential conservation policies ever. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is attempting to paint rescinding the Roadless Rule as a way to protect us from wildfire and encourage responsible forest management. We should know better than to take the administration’s statements at face value

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Hearings offer outlet for unease with Forest Service revamp

By Marc Heller
E&E News by Politico
September 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

National forests and wildfire will return to the congressional agenda this week with a pair of House subcommittee hearings on Forest Service programs. The Trump administration’s challenges in managing the 193-million-acre forest system with a sharply reduced workforce — and a big agency reorganization still to come — are likely topics for both the Agriculture and Natural Resources subcommittees. In the Natural Resources hearing, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will take testimony on the state of national forests, picking up on a hearing that was initially scheduled for July 9.  In the Agriculture hearing, the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture will focus on improved active forest management, such as increased thinning of national forests to reduce potential wildfire fuel. [to access the full story an E&ENews subscription is required]

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US Department of Agriculture Announces Forest Health Resilience Projects to Improve Timber Production

The US Department of Agriculture
September 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing more than $8 million for five new projects to reduce wildfire risk, protect water quality, and improve forest health across the nation. This expands President Trump’s mission to improve the lives of American families, support rural communities, and expand domestic timber production. Today’s announcement builds on Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins’ commitment to wildfire preparedness and President Donald J. Trump’s vision to safeguard American families. USDA and its agencies are working together to take action to protect people, communities, and the natural resources on which this country depends. The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership Program is a collaborative effort between USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Forest Service to work across public-private boundaries and at a landscape scale. The $8 million investment in new projects is in addition to $32 million for 24 existing three-year-long Joint Chiefs’ projects.

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We can do something about stressed-out forests

By Robert Bonnie, University of California, Berkeley
The New York Times
August 31, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Under the 2001 Roadless Rule enacted by President Bill Clinton, millions of acres of roadless areas on national forests across the country are conserved, protecting vital habitats and watersheds. A “blank spot on a map,” in the words of the naturalist Aldo Leopold, is increasingly valuable in our urbanizing society. …The current administration is right to look for ways to address the growing wildfire threat in these areas. But instead of doing away with the Roadless Rule, the White House should look to a simple way to make our forests more resilient to wildfire without compromising the other benefits. …One way to allow forest thinning and prescribed burns to reduce the wildfire threat is to amend the roadless rule… to permit temporary roads in roadless areas that are near neighborhoods along the wildland-urban interface to allow for forest thinning or other ecological restoration. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]

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Palm Oil sector expresses concerns over EU-US trade deal’s impact on landmark EU Deforestation Regulation laws

Confectionery Production
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

Industry concerns have been raised over a freshly-struck agreement between the EU and the US over future trading arrangements, which observers have asserted could lead to America being offered exceptions from complying with EUDR environmental laws, reports Neill Barston. As the Palm Oil Monitor non-governmental organisation noted, if America is to be permitted exemptions from data monitoring underpinning the entire basis of the much-anticipated deforestation laws following intense lobbying from its paper industry, then other trading partners including Malaysia and Indonesia – which have core interests in the supply of palm oils for the confectionery and snacks sector, should be allowed similar treatment. …Moreover, as the palm oil industry organisation stated, unveiling the broader US-EU Trade Framework Agreement presents an immediate major hurdle for the EU Commission. In seemingly offering preferential treatment for America, this could, in its view, lead to challenges from the World Trade Organisation over equal trading between nationalities.

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The Tongass is not ‘overstocked’— it’s irreplaceable

By Ariel Hasse-Zamudio, Executive Director, Alaskan Energy Infrastructure Project
The Alaska Beacon
September 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

©USForestService

In 2001, the United States recognized the … significance of over 58 million acres at the heart of our national forests and granted them additional protections known as the Roadless Rule. Last month, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced plans to advance reversing the Roadless Rule, which would open millions of acres of federal lands to industrial development. … Reversing the Roadless Rule would open up 9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest, and 5.4 million acres of the Chugach National Forest to development, allowing for roads and structures that will have negative impacts that could last many lifetimes. …With a government focused on putting profits over people, it is no surprise that Sec. Rollins would prefer to use the 58 million acres for short term commercial interests. The American public should be outraged at the prospect of tarnishing our national forests and potentially depleting their resources forever. 

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Can California Forestry Become More Fire Resilient?

By Zeke Lunder
The Lookout
September 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Today’s Lookout Livestream looks at economic, institutional, and physical constraints to California’s timber industry becoming more wildfire resilient. Topics include: The role of private timberland owners, the impact of climate change, long-term supply challenges for logs and woodchips, need for fire in dry forest ecosystems, and the challenges of prescribed fire implementation. The conversation highlighted the need for comprehensive forest management strategies that are focused on what the fuels look like after the logging is complete. Zeke Lunder discusses the complexities of forestry and biomass energy, highlighting the economic challenges of financing new power plants, and the need for long-term sources of fuels to keep the plants running over the life of the investment in the plant. He notes that biomass power plants don’t pencil out without subsidies being paid to the operators. Lunder emphasizes the need for sustainable logging practices to manage fuel loads and reduce fire hazards.

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A ‘Roomba for the forest’ could be SoCal’s next wildfire weapon

By Noah Haggerty
The Los Angeles Times
September 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — The giant, remote-controlled vehicle — somewhere between a tractor trailer, a tank and a Zamboni in appearance — slowly rolled across the dry, brittle grass growing between the tangle of freeways making up the 101 and 23 interchange in Thousand Oaks. Inside the beast, fire churned. And as it rolled over the land, that fire incinerated any brush it encountered, leaving only a thin smoke cloud billowing from the top of the machine, some flashes of orange and red from behind its metal skirt and, in its wake, a desolate, smoldering black line. BurnBot isn’t the fastest way to rid a landscape of dangerously flammable vegetation (it tops out at around 0.5 mph) but it can do something that traditional vegetation management techniques cannot: with almost surgical precision, it can kill the flammable brush sitting within feet of homes and highways with virtually no safety risks or disruptions to daily life.

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Colorado roadless rule to remain as national rule faces rescission

By Dennis Webb
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Colorado’s state-specific rule for largely protecting roadless areas in its national forests will be spared from a Trump administration effort to remove such protections on a broader basis. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release on Wednesday that a public comment period is opening on her previously announced proposal to do away with the 2001 national roadless rule. But the Agriculture Department also said in the news release that state-specific rules in Colorado and Idaho won’t be affected by the proposal. Altogether, the proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres, the release said. Eliminating the rule would open roadless areas to road-building. The existing rule has limited activities such as logging in those areas, and was instituted at the end of the Clinton administration.

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How the Rapid Spread of Misinformation Pushed Oregon Lawmakers to Kill the State’s Wildfire Risk Map

By Rob Davis
Oregon Capital Insider
September 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A year after Oregon endures its most destructive fire season on record in 2020, state lawmakers order a map estimating the wildfire risk for every property in the state. It’s the kind of rating now available on real estate sites like Zillow. The state wants to use the results to decide where it will apply forthcoming codes for fire-resistant construction and protections around homes. Around the same time, insurance companies start dropping Oregon homeowners’ policies and raising premiums to limit future losses, much as they have done in other disaster-prone states. Insurers have their own sophisticated risk maps to guide them, but some brokers instead tell homeowners the blame lies with the map. The belief gets treated as fact both on social media and in mainstream news — even though insurers and regulators say it’s not true. …By the time the state pulls back the map, the myths about it have gained so much momentum there’s no stopping them. 

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Native leaders to hold two-week campaign against Roadless Rule repeal

By Lorilyn Lirio
The Journal of Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater
September 1, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Indigenous leaders from Se’Si’Le and Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers are launching a two-week campaign across the Pacific Northwest in response to the Trump administration’s plan to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a policy that has protected vast lands of national forest for more than two decades. The campaign, called “Xaalh and the Way of the Masks,” will kick off with a rally in Olympia on Sept. 8, followed by eight other events across a 1,700-mile journey through tribal lands, houses of worship, colleges and public gathering places. …tribal leaders emphasized that protective measures, such as the Roadless Rule have safeguarded approximately 2 million acres of wild forests in both Oregon and Washington, drinking water for more than 60 million Americans, and habitat for more than 1,6000 threatened and endangered plants and animals.  …the campaign is intended to unite native nations, faith leaders and environmental organizations in defense of forests…

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More Oregon cities are buying their forest watersheds

By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Press
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

For a small but growing number of Oregon forestland buyers, timber output is no more than a potential byproduct. Their purchases are driven less by a desire for logs than for clean, drinkable water. …city governments have long drawn their drinking water from surrounding forests, but experts say more are now actually buying the tracts encompassing those crucial streams and rivers. …The prospect of hotter, drier weather diminishing summer stream flows — even as populations keep growing — is spurring cities to assert more control over their water supplies, experts say. …Apart from water quality considerations, cities are buying forested watersheds to encourage old growth characteristics, with the intent of actually boosting water supplies over the long term, experts say. …Though municipal ownership of forest watersheds is intended to pre-empt disputes between cities and timber operators, the arrangement can still lead to tension over management decisions.

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North Carolina to be home to new USDA forest project

By Katherine Zehnder
The Carolina Journal
September 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would invest more than $8 million in five new projects, including one in North Carolina. These projects will improve forest health by reducing wildfire risk and improving water quality. …North Carolina has two primary wildfire seasons, one in the spring and one in the fall. …The five new projects include efforts across several states to restore and protect essential landscapes. The National Forest is launching the “Alabama Chattahoochee Fall Line Restoring Longleaf” project in Alabama. Colorado and Wyoming will see work in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest through the “Headwaters of the Colorado” initiative. Montana’s Lolo National Forest is beginning the “Blackfoot River Valley Landscape Mosaic” project, while North Carolina’s National Forests are moving forward with “Uwharries to Sandhills, Phase 2.” Finally, Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest will focus on “Hood River Wildfire and Watershed Resilience.”

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‘Conservation outcomes don’t get much bigger than this’: Great Koala National Park announced

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
The Sydney Mornng Herald
September 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Minns government will announce the proposed boundaries of its signature Great Koala National Park on Sunday, and call an immediate halt to logging in 176,000 hectares of state forest near Coffs Harbour. The creation of the Great Koala National Park will fulfil a promise made by former Labor leader Luke Foley 10 years ago and taken to every election since. The announcement comes 2½ years after the March 2023 election, and logging has continued throughout the lengthy assessment and consultation process. NSW Premier Chris Minns said the government would provide an additional $60 million for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to establish the park, on top of $80 million allocated in 2023, as well as $6 million to boost tourism in the region. “Koalas are at risk of extinction in the wild in NSW – that’s unthinkable,” Minns said in a statement.

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Global forestry companies not ready for EUDR, analysis finds

By Joshua Neil
The Edie Network
September 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

UK — The majority of leading tropical forestry companies do not disclose where their materials come from, meaning they will fail to comply with the EU’s forthcoming Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR). The Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) latest assessment found that only 18% of the world’s largest 100 tropical forestry companies disclose the countries from which they source. Additionally, only 4% state the percentage of their supply that is traceable to the forest management unit level. The assessment additionally found that none of the companies studied have published georeferenced maps for third-party FMUs, with only 3% reporting on how much of their supply is verified deforestation-free. Without clarity around sourcing and supply, companies are unable to prove responsible sourcing to stakeholders. Given that the timber and pulp industry is worth $480bn a year, ZSL said, small traceability failures can put billions of market value at risk.

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Ireland’s next forestry programme must ensure that planting is ‘economically viable’

By Kathleen O’Sullivan
AgriLand Ireland
September 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

IRELAND — The next forestry programme must “ensure that forestry as a land use option is economically viable and competitive, while satisfying environmental requirements”, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA). IFA president Francie Gorman has said that forestry is a “strategically important sector that has a key role to play in achieving climate change targets”. …Ireland’s largest forestry and timber body, Forest Industries Ireland (FII) has highlighted the “huge opportunity” for farmers “to take advantage of afforestation grant schemes” during a meeting with the IFA this week. FII highlighted the need for more farmers to consider planting forestry on their land amid rapid growth in global demand for timber products, driving up the value of future forestry harvests. “The Irish timber industry has the potential to significantly grow as many countries move towards net zero carbon targets and focus on sustainable building materials such as timber.”

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How climate change and deforestation interact in the transformation of the Amazon rainforest

By Marco Franco, Luciana Rizzo, et al
Nature Communications
September 2, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Amazon rainforest is one of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems, playing a key role in maintaining regional and global climate stability. However, recent changes in land use, vegetation, and the climate have disrupted biosphere-atmosphere interactions, leading to significant alterations in the water, energy, and carbon cycles. …Here, we quantify the relative contributions of deforestation and global climate change to observed shifts in key Amazonian climate parameters. We analyzed long-term atmospheric and land cover change data across 29 areas in the Brazilian Legal Amazon from 1985 to 2020. …While the rise in atmospheric methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) mixing ratios is primarily driven by global emissions, deforestation has significantly increased surface air temperatures and reduced precipitation during the Amazonian dry season. Over the past 35 years, deforestation has accounted for approximately 74% of the ~ 21 mm dry season decline and 16.5% of the 2°C rise in maximum surface air temperature. 

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Forestry Corporation of New South Wales accused of logging breaches in Tallaganda State Forest

By Alasdair McDonald & Joshua Becker
ABC News, Australia
August 28, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

AUSTRALIA — Conservationists are calling for native forest logging to be abolished in New South Wales (NSW), after the state’s environment regulator launched a court action against the Forestry Corporation of NSW for allegedly breaching laws designed to protect an endangered species on the south coast. …The alleged offences include failing to properly search for and identify glider den trees before logging, failing to replace hollow-bearing and other retaining trees that were damaged or felled, and damaging the habitat of a threatened species. …In 2022, the company was fined for logging hollow-bearing trees in the Brooman State Forest near Ulladulla, and in 2023 it was fined for committing the same offence in a part of Mogo State Forest that was badly burnt during the Black Summer bushfires.

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