The 2026 SFI Annual Conference is less than two weeks away! Don’t miss your chance to learn from and connect with leaders from across the forest and sustainability sectors–representing manufacturers, landowners, Indigenous communities, CEOs, government agencies, universities, conservation organizations, and more from May 5-7, 2026 in Montréal, Quebec. Virtual Registration: If you can’t attend in person but still want to join the conversation, virtual registration is available for $250 CAD ($180 USD). Join us in Montréal to connect with sustainability leaders, gain valuable market insights, and discuss how responsible forest management, supply chain transparency, conservation, and climate solutions are shaping a more sustainable future. The conference will take place from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday, but we encourage attendees to come early or stay a little longer to enjoy all that Montréal has to offer.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Canada, together with the FSC Canada Indigenous Chamber, the FSC Indigenous Foundation, and Indigenous communities across the country, is proud to announce the launch of the Indigenous Knowledge Networks, a new Indigenous led initiative designed to strengthen community-driven forest stewardship, knowledge sharing, and rights-based governance. The Indigenous Knowledge Networks will serve as a collaborative platform where Indigenous communities can connect, share wise practices, and advance their own stewardship priorities in ways that reflect local governance systems, cultural protocols, and community-defined goals. As part of the launch, Wahkohtowin Development GP has been named the first regional Network, supporting sister Nations across the Northeast Superior Region. Wahkohtowin will lead in-person gatherings, virtual learning opportunities, and community-driven activities that strengthen relationships and build capacity across the region. …The first phase of the Indigenous Knowledge Network will include a visioning process…
The Sunshine Coast Regional District Board is set to weigh in on 15 new or modified cutblocks BC Timber Sales is proposing over the next five years — and may withhold support for eight of those. On April 30, the SCRD board is slated to consider a large package of local comments responding to 
Creston, BC — The Creston Community Forest (CCF) is featured in a new film as part of a province-wide project led by the BC Community Forest Association, showcasing the work and impact of community forests across British Columbia. The film highlights how the CCF is managing its forests to support local priorities, including wildfire risk reduction, recreation, and long-term sustainability. “We’re excited to share this film as a way to show the work that happens on the ground and what this community forest means to the community of Creston,” said Daniel Gratton, Registered Professional Forester and Forest Manager at the CCF. Unlike traditional forestry models focused primarily on timber, the CCF has been taking a broader approach. Its work reflects the needs and values of the residents first, balancing ecological health, economic activity, and public use of the land.
After more than three years of community engagement, expert input and advisory committee work, residents in Coquitlam are left asking a simple question: Why is the city choosing not to include the very measures needed to make its Urban Forest Management Strategy succeed? The draft strategy presents a strong vision and highlights planting programs, volunteerism and monitoring. These are positive steps. But they are not enough. What is missing are the core elements that actually determine whether our urban forest survives and thrives over time. There are no measurable canopy targets to tell us whether we are gaining or losing tree cover. There is no clear alignment with the bylaws that regulate tree removal and development. There is no defined pathway to update the Tree Management Bylaw, which has not been meaningfully revised since 2010. …That is not a plan. It is a deferral. And deferral has consequences.
A North Cowichan Council meeting on April 15 drew industry representatives, union members, and members of the public into an unusually substantive debate on coastal fibre supply and log exports — one that will be remembered as much for the nature of the conversation as for its outcome. Across all the voices heard that evening, a single fundamental goal emerged: a stronger, more productive coastal forest sector that supports workers, families, and communities in the Cowichan Valley. This was not the familiar divide between those who see the forest as a working resource and those who would leave it untouched. It was a debate entirely within the pro-forestry community — about economics, policy, and the best path to keeping mills running and people employed. The motion itself, brought forward by Councillor Justice, called on the governments of BC and Canada to review and strengthen policies governing raw log exports from forest lands on Vancouver Island.
Join Kelly Greene, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests and other subject matter experts for an update on seasonal hazards in BC. As warming weather raises the risk of climate-related emergencies, the Province is urging people throughout British Columbia to prepare for potential spring flooding, drought and wildfires. “Our government is continuing to strengthen mitigation and emergency response supports for people and communities, but preparedness starts at home,” said Kelly Greene, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. …The April 1, 2026, River Forecast snowpack survey shows B.C.’s overall snowpack at 92% of normal, compared to 79% in April 2025. …The BC Wildfire Service forecast indicates the potential for an active spring wildfire season due to persistent drought conditions. This activity is expected to increase if limited precipitation continues over the next several weeks and months. 
The Ancient Forests Alliance (AFA) are concerned that legislation changes in BC could put endangered old-growth forests at risk. The Province’s own logging agency, BC Timber Sales (BCTS), may see an increase in logging rates with the changes brought about by Bill 14, the Forest Statutes Amendment Act. The changes would provide BCTS with a projected increase of at least 700,000 cubic metres in timber for the 2025-26 period. This would be equivalent to approximately 15,500 to 17,700 additional truckloads. Bill 14 was introduced in March, but has not yet been passed. The proposed legislation seeks to modernize the logging industry in BC and is aimed at increasing mill production and sustainability within the forestry sector. It would give BCTS an expanded mandate, streamline salvage and fibre access for mills, change the contract authorization process and encourage future stewardship.
Urban bears in Prince George are dropping clues, and the CNC Research Forest team needs your help scooping them up! Bear poop holds a wealth of information about the bear’s health, diet, and hormones. By analyzing feces samples from across the city, CNC researchers hope to gain insight into the health and behaviour of urban bear populations versus their counterparts that live outside of Prince George. CNC Research Assistant Vanessa Uschenko is co-leading this unique study with Dr. Laura Graham from the CNC Biology department. The research project is done in partnership with the Northern Bear Awareness Society and with support from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service. “Our goal is to better understand what drives bears to enter the city. We can use that data to help inform wildlife management and conservation strategies that mitigate human-bear conflict,” shares Vanessa.
Recently, the phrase “active forest management” has come into usage by the forest industry in numerous countries. In Australia, the equivalent terms are “forest gardening” and “cultural thinning.” …The concept is convenient for the forest industry because it allows companies to continue doing what they have done since the onset of industrial logging. Better yet, the industry is promoting the idea that logging is a solution to the wildfire problem we now face. Actually, the massive cutting down of forests in B.C. and elsewhere has created the problem that the industry wants to solve by more cutting down of what is left of our primary or unlogged forests. Clear cutting forests creates several problems. First, it dries out the land. Without the shade that trees create to cool the land, and without tree roots holding back the water from snow melt and precipitation, the land becomes highly susceptible to fire. 
It didn’t take long for the smoke to clear following 2017’s horrendous wildfires for the BC government to respond with a plan to log more forests and plant more trees. The scale of what had just happened exceeded anything on record. Fires burned more than 12,000 square kilometres of the province’s forests and grasslands. No wildfire season over the previous half century had come remotely close. Yet, it would take just one more year for a new record to be set. In its 2017 post-fire response plan, BC’s Ministry of Forests promised to replant the forests that had burned. …But a look at what actually burned in the worst fires of 2017 suggests that aggressive logging and “reforestation” — essentially just tree-planting — sets the stage for even more frequent wildfires to come. …Science shows that young stands of trees, with their branches lower to the ground, are more vulnerable to burning in catastrophic fires. 
Mosaic Forest Management wants a more informed discussion on wood-fibre security and log exports with North Cowichan’s council before the municipality decides if it wants to move forward with a motion on the issue. Coun. Christopher Justice had made a notice-of-motion that, if adopted, would encourage senior levels of government to review and strengthen their policies, including those governing raw log exports from private managed forest lands on Vancouver Island. … Karen Brandt, at Mosaic, said the motion does not accurately reflect how the coastal-fibre system operates, and risks unintended consequences for the local mills, workers and communities that council is seeking to support. Brandt said… “The motion suggests international log sales from private-managed forest lands reduce fibre available for domestic manufacturing when, in fact, the opposite is true.” …Brandt said that if the objective is to improve fibre availability, the primary issue is the decline in Crown harvest levels.
District of Squamish staff are asking Council to endorse a new wildfire strategy with 53 specific actions to protect residents, homes and critical infrastructure. According to staff, the 2026 Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, prepared by Blackwell Consulting Ltd., must be adopted by April 30 for the District to remain eligible for up to $400,000 in provincial FireSmart grant funding over the next two years. The plan is Squamish’s first major wildfire strategy update since 2017. In the years since, rapid population growth, increased tourism pressure, and new development pushing into forested terrain have changed the risk picture considerably. It was developed in collaboration with Squamish Nation, Squamish Community Forest, BC Wildfire Service, BC Parks, the Ministry of Forests, and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District. …The plan identifies hiring a full-time FireSmart Coordinator as a high-priority step with a three-month timeline. …The plan also calls on the District to review Squamish Fire Rescue staffing levels…
Local residents are invited to share their input on the development of the Cariboo-Chilcotin forest landscape plan (FLP) to guide long-term forest management decisions in the area. People can share their thoughts through a survey, which will run from Monday, April 13 to May 30, 2026. The Ministry of Forests will also hold two open houses (April 29 and May 2) so the community can learn more about forest landscape planning and ask questions. …FLPs are developed in partnership with First Nations to ensure meaningful participation in forestry planning and long-term decision-making. …Engagement with forest licensees, subject-matter experts and the public is a key part of every FLP. …Through early collaboration with First Nations partners and initial engagement with forest licence holders, key themes have emerged that will be integrated into the survey for public feedback to reflect community priorities. Developing FLPs is a new approach to forest stewardship that establishes clear direction for the management of forest-related values…
Alberta’s environment minister has expanded the province’s definition of “protected lands” in a bid to reject Ottawa’s nature strategy. This comes after Canada, along with 195 other countries, announced plans to protect 30 per cent of its land by 2030, an objective known as 30×30. But Grant Hunter, Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas, said that the province already protects 60 per cent of its land based on its own definition. “Federal reporting measures do not capture the full picture, focusing on narrow definitions of protected land,” he said. “Alberta takes a different approach. Our province includes all publicly owned and regulated lands, including those protected from development.” …Alberta rejects Ottawa’s one-size-fits-all approach to conservation and expects recognition and provincial jurisdiction of all national conservation targets, Hunter said. Alberta’s claim to have already achieved the 30×30 commitment is “concerning” and “disingenuous,” said Kecia Kerr, of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta.
Peachland residents are once again fighting against logging in their watershed. Following the proposal of three new BC Timber Services (BCTS) cutblocks overlapping with Old Growth Deferral zones in the Peachland Community Watershed, the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance (PWPA) have started a petition to halt old growth logging entirely. The petition, created in late March, calls to stop commercial and partial clear-cut logging in the Peachland watershed’s old growth and primary growth forests. …Taryn Skalbania, one of the founders of the PWPA, has ran the organization for over a decade to fight against logging in her community. She said this isn’t the first time the PWPA has opposed logging in their community, but that this is the “line in the sand.” …ecologist and former member of the old growth TAP Rachel Holt said there is only two per cent of old forest the IDFdk2 forestry zone – which covers the Okanagan area – remaining.
New life is sprouting in Rose Valley Regional Park, where crews and volunteers have begun restoring areas damaged by the devastating McDougall Creek wildfire back in 2023. At a community tree planting event held Saturday, hundreds of new trees were planted to help the park recover. The effort is part of a larger plan led by the Regional District of Central Okanagan to bring the forest back to life. Wayne Darlington, RDCO’s manager of parks capital planning, said the work marks an important turning point. “After 2023 McDougall Creek wildfires, we’re now at a point now where we’re actually putting some more trees back and plants back in the ground,” Darlington said. Volunteers spent the day planting hundreds of trees in some of the hardest-hit areas.
Months after Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia locked down the province’s forests, instituting a $25,000 fine on anyone who dared to enter a wooded or boggy area that they did not personally own, he’s received his first review from the courts. It’s poor: the ban on human travel through the “woods,” the Nova Scotia Supreme Court said last Friday, was unreasonable and therefore illegal. The result is a win for common sense. The actual reasoning of the court, less so. …Justice Jamie Campbell declared the ban was unreasonable — because the natural resources minister, back before he banned walks in the woods, didn’t adequately consider how his decision might interact with the Charter rights of those affected. While it wasn’t a constitutional case, the Charter ended up being the deciding factor in a backdoor sort of way.
In a province that is largely carpeted with forests, it is no surprise that timber production has long been a mainstay of Nova Scotia’s economy. Yet recent years have not been kind to the sector. Several major pulp mills have ceased production. …Worsening trade relations with the US have created further headwinds. Yet out of the apparent demise of traditional lumber, some see opportunity for. “Cheap, low-grade pulp was the key to the past,” says Royden Trainor, at the Greenspring Bioinnovation Hub, a public-private partnership working to promote the low-carbon bioeconomy in Nova Scotia. The way forward, he says, is to focus on opportunities where value can be added to forest raw materials. This involves looking towards the fibres that can be used to produce chemical products and advanced materials. Trainor highlights how residues from pulp mills or food processing plants can be used to produce biofuels, biochar and biochemicals.
Provincial and municipal officials say they’re focusing on leveraging new resources and applying lessons learned from last year, now that Ontario’s wildfire season is officially underway. A total of 643 wildfires were reported last year in the province, burning nearly 600,000 hectares of land. Northwestern Ontario bore the brunt of wildfire activity in the province, with 11 communities facing restrictions or evacuations related to wildfire activity. “I think the biggest lessons learned obviously was how do we stretch as many resources as we can across the province,” said Mike Harris, Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. Harris was new to the MNR portfolio last year, and he said he spent a lot of time through the summer meeting with fire crews, supervisors and meteorologists to gain a better understanding of the operations that happen on the ground throughout the season.
The U.S. Forest Service’s plan to close scores of research stations could threaten the nation’s wildfire readiness, many foresters fear, and erode decades of work to understand timber production, soil health, pests and diseases, watersheds and wildlife. …It’s unclear how many scientists will be affected by the transition, but it comes as part of a larger agency reorganization that is expected to move roughly 5,000 employees to new outposts. …The Forest Service has not said how much money it expects to save by closing the research stations. Many Western leaders are skeptical that the consolidated operation will be able to replicate the work of the existing research stations. …Forest Service veterans say its research program is valued by loggers and tree-huggers alike. “Nobody was asking for this,” said Robert Bonnie, undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment during the Obama administration. “There was no call to do anything like this.”
Bayer CEO Bill Anderson says the German crop science and drug company is hoping to move past the long-running controversy over its Roundup weedkiller in 2026. Bayer — which acquired Roundup when it bought Monsanto in 2018 — recently announced a $7.25 billion settlement deal and is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could decide the product’s fate in the U.S. Anderson said that the settlement and the legal fight — which experts believe the company will win — are “major milestones” in Bayer’s turnaround. …Anderson said “This is a very important product for agriculture. It’s been demonstrated to be safe over and over again and cleared by regulators in every nation, and we’re ready to put this chapter behind us.” The Supreme Court is poised to rule on whether states have the authority to govern Roundup, or whether federal environmental regulators should control its fate.
The recently announced major restructure of the US Forest Service may disrupt a number of forestry positions in Idaho. But the details as to how those positions will be affected and what work will continue or be eliminated under the plan remain unclear. Anna Webb, an entomologist and federal employee union representative based in Boise, received a notice about two weeks ago that her position in the agency would be affected. …Leaders of the federal employee union that represents Forest Service employees for the Boise, Payette, Salmon-Challis and Sawtooth national forests are concerned about the disruption to local employees as well as the potential long-term consequences to forest health. …Although Idaho’s forests are overseen by two out-of-state regional offices, many regional and some national positions are based in Idaho — all of these may be affected by the proposed restructure.
In southern Oregon they call it the “fir-mageddon” – the rapid decline of our largest and most prolific tree in the Pacific Northwest. The Douglas fir … is the most important tree species to the economy on the planet. Their ability to grow to a massive size and live for hundreds of years through all types of weather, makes it the best source for high-grade construction lumber… Douglas fir in Oregon and Washington alone make up one-quarter of the lumber industry in the United States. Since 2000, 635 acres of Douglas fir trees in our region have died — that’s roughly 175,000 trees, a trend that is only accelerating. The decline is not from the lumber industry. It’s global warming. A recent study proves is that Douglas fir trees are resilient to wildfires, but don’t fair well during a drought. During a drought they become vulnerable to a beetle that prays on distressed trees. 
A federal judge has refused to halt logging operations on a Southwest Oregon forest project that allows more than 8,000 acres of commercial timber harvest. Though a lawsuit has raised “serious questions” about errors in the environmental analysis of the Last Chance Project, those problems don’t rise to the level of warranting a preliminary injunction, said U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has authorized several timber sales to implement the Last Chance Project, which the agency finalized last year to reduce excessive forest stand density and provide a sustained log supply. Three environmental non-profits … filed a complaint alleging the project would harm the threatened spotted owl and the northwestern pond turtle, a sensitive species, contrary to several federal laws. The BLM has acknowledged there’s a discrepancy among its environmental reports about the acreage of spotted owl critical habitat that is slated for treatment.
Five years ago, a tragic and depressing environmental story unfolded when thousands of giant sequoia trees, an iconic California species that tower 300 feet high and can live for 3,000 years, were killed during multiple large wildfires that roared across the southern Sierra Nevada. The fires in 2020 and 2021 at Sequoia National Park, Sequoia National Forest and other areas burned with unprecedented intensity, killing nearly 20% of the world’s giant sequoias, and exposing the growing vulnerability of the most massive trees on the earth. …After the fires, stunned scientists, park managers and environmental groups formed a partnership to reduce the chances of similar catastrophic outcomes in the years ahead. Now, with another summer fire season looming, they say they are making encouraging progress. Since their efforts began in 2022, the partnership has thinned the overgrown brush and small trees that provide fuel for fires to burn hotter in 44 of the 94 giant sequoia groves in California.
U.S. House Republicans from Western states laid out a figurative welcome mat for the U.S. Forest Service Thursday as its chief pitched plans to whittle down the agency’s budget, move its headquarters to Salt Lake City and rely more heavily on states to manage millions of acres. “I think it’s very interesting what you’re proposing to do, and I support it,” said Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Democrats on the budget panel grilled Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz about how billions of dollars in cuts to the agency proposed by President Donald Trump could drive up costs for states and stamp out important research. The subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, said she’s deeply worried.
A dry winter has forecasters predicting a potentially active fire season in Oregon. Federal agencies are trying to minimize the threats from large wildfires by first clearing fuels near communities. Chainsaws were buzzing along Grants Pass’ Cathedral Hills Trail System this week, part of a 240-acre fuels reduction project meant to reduce the risk of wildfire amid warnings from climatologists. Grayback Forestry cut down small-diameter trees — below 8 inches for hardwoods like oak — and piled the timber to be dried out and burnt in the fall. Sean Hendrix, base manager at Grayback, said that while the trees are too wet to burn now without producing large amounts of smoke, they should be wetter. Oregon is coming off a dry winter and record-low snowpack. “In fire and fuels we talk about fuel moisture,” he said. “Live fuel moisture just three weeks ago, they were 60%. In the middle of May they should be 160% saturated.”
MONTANA — After the US Forest Service unveiled a proposal last month to give Montana’s lumber industry a “predictable” timber supply from three national forests, questions about the agency’s plan to incorporate an 82-year-old law into a modern forest-management framework abounded. Broadly speaking, the Tri-Forest Federal Sustained Yield Unit would direct the Helena-Lewis and Clark, Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Custer Gallatin national forests to supply local businesses with at least 35 million board feet of timber per year. The Forest Service is pitching the proposal as a tool to sustain local economies and encourage investment in the lumber industry for the 22-county region included in the unit. It’s necessary, the agency says, because the closure of the Pyramid Mountain Lumber sawmill and the Roseburg Wood Products facility have demonstrated the industry’s vulnerability. But at a recent hearing the Forest Service hosted in Helena, the proposal drew a mixed reception.
ARIZONA — Rim Country and the White Mountains are not alone in bracing for the 2026 fire season, which is approaching. A national April-to-July forecast shows nearly the entire Western United States faces an above-normal risk of wildfires over the next four months. Fire officials said two weeks of cloudy weather with scattered rain showers have given Northern Arizona some breathing room, but the lack of snowpack and above-normal temperatures will still result in an early start to the fire season. The National Interagency Coordination Center predicted above-normal fire threat in every Western state at some point between now and summer. Much of the Southwest faced high-risk conditions during an unusually warm March, and those hazardous conditions are expected to expand into other Western states this month. Forecasters point to record-low snowpack across much of the West. 
Impacts to Alaska of the announced U.S. Forest Service “restructuring” that would close regional offices and most of the agency’s research facilities remain unclear. … Among the facilities on the closure list were two that are important to Alaska: the Anchorage Forestry Sciences Laboratory and the Oregon-based Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland. But other impacts on the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest and the 5.4-million-acre Chugach National Forest were not disclosed. …Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and her staff are in a “fact-finding” mode and preparing to mount a “defense of the Forest Service in Alaska and make sure the employees are able to continue the good work that they’re currently doing,” said Murkowski spokesperson Joe Plesha. …The Anchorage lab that is scheduled for closure is located in downtown Anchorage. It supports research in the Tongass National Forest, which is the nation’s largest, and the Chugach National Forest, the second largest. 
Flathead National Forest officials have authorized an emergency logging and thinning project in the Salish Mountains near Lakeside, three miles west of Blacktail Mountain, with the aim of reducing wildland fire risk and improving forest health. The decision authorizes 2,823 acres of commercial vegetation treatment and construction of approximately 5.6 miles of temporary roads. Crews will use more than 67 miles of existing roads and haul routes. First proposed last October, the West Truman Project advanced quickly through the U.S. Forest Service’s environmental compliance process under a categorical exclusion, receiving final approval on April 14. Implementation of the project could begin “as early as fall 2027,” according to the decision and finding of applicability and no extraordinary circumstances (FANEC) signed by Swan Lake District Ranger Sarah Canepa. …The project would commercially thin 736 acres while using improvement cuts on 939 acres. It would treat 346 acres for shelterwood and 802 acres for seed tree.
A reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service signals that the agency is planning to lean heavily on states to help manage millions of acres of federal land. State officials and timber industry leaders say they’ve been given scant details about the plan to move the agency’s headquarters to Salt Lake City and close scores of research stations in dozens of states. While they wait for the dust to settle, they’re preparing for the Forest Service … to ask more of its partners under the new model. “The Forest Service itself is unable to uphold its mission and cannot alone manage the many challenges on these landscapes,” said Nick Smith, with the American Forest Resource Council. “The transition … is a recognition that partnerships are the future for the Forest Service.” But many forestry veterans fear the shake-up will cause more attrition… [Seeing the move to] Utah — a state whose leaders are often hostile to federal land ownership — as designed to undermine the Forest Service’s management of its lands.
Despite several strong snowstorms across New Hampshire this winter and some rain in the past week, state officials warn that drought conditions persist statewide — along with an elevated risk of wildfires. The January-March period was the sixth-driest first quarter on record for the state, dating back to when measurements were first recorded in 1895, according to the New Hampshire Forest Protection Bureau. The data comes on the heels of an autumn with wildfire conditions so severe that a burn ban was declared statewide from Sept. 22 through Oct. 8. “Last year, New Hampshire experienced a 27.6% increase in the number of wildfires and a 16.8% increase in the number of acres burned,” said Chief Steven Sherman of the Forest Protection Bureau. “Many homes in New Hampshire are located in the wildland-urban interface — the area where homes and flammable wildland fuels intermix.” The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that 78% of the state is currently experiencing moderate to severe drought. 
Louisiana’s timber industry is at a critical turning point. For generations, forestry has been one of the economic backbones of our state, especially in north Louisiana. Families like mine have built their livelihoods around logging, trucking and land management. But today, that foundation is weakening — not because our forests are failing, but because our markets are. Over the past several decades, Louisiana has lost a significant portion of its wood-using infrastructure. Mill closures across north Louisiana have reduced demand for fiber, leaving a growing supply of timber without a market. While our forests continue to thrive and produce, the outlets that once supported them have steadily disappeared. …Expanding markets like pellet-to-power could help restore demand for low-grade timber, which is essential to keeping logging operations viable. These industries have the potential to sustain hundreds of jobs, increase fiber demand and bring new economic activity to rural parishes.
CONNECTICUT –Plant science researchers and the UConn Fire Department are using prescribed burns to mitigate brush fires and study the role of microbes in soil recovery to generate new insights to help Connecticut manage rising wildfire risk. …In the fall of 2024, Connecticut saw a record 605 wildfires, which burned more than 500 acres and prompted a statewide emergency declaration, a temporary burn ban, and multi‑agency firefighting support. …
The loss of our forests is one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. Forests are key to curbing carbon emissions and protecting the plants, animals and humans that call Earth home. However, we’re losing our forests at an alarming rate. Our new study shows we’ve lost roughly 300 million hectares over the past 11 years. However, it’s unclear how much of this forest has since been restored. Either way, we’re losing a significant amount of forest despite efforts to protect it through certification, protection and other conservation schemes. The European Union has introduced policies aimed at eliminating products and supply chains that contribute to forest loss. …Halting forest loss is also a major focus of international declarations, such as the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. …Protected areas may also help curb forest loss. …These two strategies should be reducing, or even stopping, forest loss. But they’re failing to do so at a global scale.
Most European consumers care about forests – they don’t want to eat, wear and wash with products that contribute to forest loss. This is the root of the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which takes aim at the links between EU imports and global deforestation, estimated to affect an area almost the size of Rome each year. Yet the EUDR has faced pushback, resulting in dilution and delays, with implementation postponed to the end of 2026. This is a critical moment for the law. The Commission has been tasked with a simplification review, which it must report on by the end of April. …EU lawmakers would do well to consider new evidence from Forest 500, showing that companies have already responded tangibly to the prospect of legislation. The EUDR has succeeded in steering business expectations, galvanising investments and driving supply chain action by some of the most influential companies in the deforestation economy.
