A utility company wants to cut through 5 acres of mature Doug fir and big leaf maples in a massive Portland urban forest to make way for new transmission lines. Portland General Electric executives say the company needs to improve its infrastructure to meet Portland’s electricity demands, particularly as it moves away from fossil fuels and prepares the grid to carry more renewably generated power. The company plans to meet that goal by removing 400 trees through intact, mature forest to install new power poles and 1,400 feet of transmission lines. The proposal has drawn fierce opposition from environmental groups, as well as the city of Portland itself. That opposition was on display during a public hearing Wednesday, where city staff recommended a hearings officer deny PGE’s plan. A decision is expected in early March.

Related coverage in Portland Mercury: “A Dangerous Precedent”: PGE Faces Major Backlash for Forest Park Utility Proposal

At the worst possible moment, budget uncertainty has effectively stalled the Forest Service’s effort to thin the forest to reduce the risk of wildfires: That’s the message Forest Service officials delivered to the Eastern Arizona Counties Natural Resources Committee last week. The Forest Service had already imposed a hiring freeze before the congressional budgeting process fell apart. Congress in January adopted a continuing resolution to get through March and avert a government shutdown. The continuing resolution was necessary just to allow the federal government to spend money Congress included in its last adopted budget for the current fiscal year starting in October. But it’s still unclear whether the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate can agree on fresh action to lift the debt ceiling and adopt either another continuing resolution or an actual budget. Some Republicans have demanded steep cuts in previously approved spending to rein in the federal deficit.

Around a hundred community members showed up to the U.S. Forest Service office in Medford on Wednesday night for a public meeting about proposed amendments to the Northwest Forest Plan. The plan was created in 1994 to protect threatened and endangered species, like the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet. It was meant to put an end to the timber wars of the 80s and 90s, when environmental activists protested the over-harvesting of trees in the region. The plan covers all of the Forest Service lands in Oregon and Washington, as well as a small part of Northern California. While innovative at the time, even environmentalists like Carol Valentine with the Sierra Club believe the plan needs to change to meet our new challenges. …Environmental activists held a rally outside the Forest Service office to push for stronger protections for old-growth ecosystems in the amendments.

MISSOULA – Forestry students at the University of Montana are working hard this week to set up the 106th Foresters’ Ball, a beloved campus tradition and fundraiser for students in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation.  Students and alumni have turned UM’s Schreiber Gym into an old logging town featuring wooden false fronts of a saloon, chapel, jail and other buildings. The Western atmosphere will draw hundreds of flannel-clad visitors to gather and dance to live music. This year’s theme for the ball is “Tankers Dumpin’ & Crews a Jumpin’,” a nod to the brave firefighting crews across the state. The work to create this year’s ball was inspired by fire crews past and present, said Koson Verkler, a senior forestry student and “chief push” of the Foresters’ Ball Committee. A replica wooden smokejumper aircraft and parachutes will be displayed at the ball.