January 21, 2025 HFHC News Round Up
The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Week of January 20, 2025 (Scalise Press)
Thanks to regulatory burdens that hinder the ability to responsibly manage federal lands, over 117 million acres of our nation’s forests are currently overgrown, fire-prone, unhealthy, and in need of active management, contributing to the growing threat of wildfires. Forest fires are becoming more devastating and frequent, burning more than twice as much tree cover today as they did 20 years ago. As we have seen with the tragic fires plaguing Los Angeles, which have killed at least 27 people, razed more than 12,000 structures, and burned more than 60 square miles, these dangerous fires not only threaten our forests and environment, but the lives and communities of Americans, destroying homes and devastating families and workers. House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to reduce regulatory burdens that hinder active forest management, improving the health and resiliency of our forests, ensuring forests continue to supply clean drinking water and wood products, protecting wildlife habitats, making sure Americans can enjoy our forests through outdoor recreation, and keeping our communities safe.
Congress working on wildfire aid, recovery bills (Fox40)
Rep. Josh Harder introduced the Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act, a bipartisan legislation package that promises better grant programs for various projects including workforce development, retaining expert wildland firefighters with increased benefits and better working conditions, hiring more staff, updating technology, and establishing a nationwide air quality monitoring system. “The most important thing that we could be doing is not fighting these fires once they’re out of control but try to do basic forest management to ensure that they don’t get out of control in the first place,” Harder said. Harder explained that the Los Angeles fires have shown lawmakers who represent districts that aren’t prone to wildfires how serious an issue this is for everyone. He added that, unlike the current status quo in D.C., the fires are bridging the gap during an otherwise polarized time.
Wildfires are erasing California’s climate gains, research shows (UChicago)
The carbon dioxide from wildfires is not counted against California’s emissions targets. But if it were, the wildfires would be setting California back in meeting its climate goals, with the carbon emissions from California’s 2020 fire season alone making up 49 percent of the state’s 2030 emissions target. In fact, the analysis— published in the October edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Pollution—showed that the increase in emissions in a single year is about two times the reductions achieved from 2003 to 2019.
As California wildfires continue to rage, smoke researchers warn of immediate and long-term health effects (Medical XPress)
More than a week after a series of wildfires broke out in and around Los Angeles, winds are starting to let up, giving firefighting crews the upper hand in containment efforts. But the dangers are far from over. The longer the fires burn, the more people are exposed to the harmful chemicals in the air that can trigger acute health problems, according to Northeastern University researchers who study the effects of smoke inhalation. “Based on the literature we have now, exposure and inhalation of fire smoke is positively associated with the number of hospital admissions or visits for different types of cardiovascular disease,” says Chiara Bellini, an associate professor of bioengineering at Northeastern. “Most of these visits occur within the first few days after the fire begins.”
Trump says he’ll visit California’s wildfire-hit communities on Friday (Axios)
President Trump said he’ll visit Southern California areas affected by the historic wildfires on Friday. The big picture: Trump at a pre-inauguration rally in D.C. on Sunday announcing his visit said he wanted to send his “love to everyone affected” by the Los Angeles-area fires that have killed at least 27 people.
Daines Secures Commitment from Trump Secretary of the Interior Nominee Doug Burgum to Work to Delist Grizzly Bear (Montana Outdoor)
U.S. Senator Steve Daines last week secured a commitment from Trump’s Secretary of the Interior nominee Doug Burgum to bring common sense back to the Department of the Interior and fight for Montana issues like returning recovered grizzly bear populations to state management and issuing critical federal mining permits.
WA’s new lands chief hits pause on controversial timber sales (Seattle Times)
He’s so new, the bracelet from the inaugural ball the night before was still on his wrist, and he had to check what floor his office is on as he reported for work last week — on his first day as Washington’s new commissioner of public lands. But Dave Upthegrove knew one thing he would do right away: make good on a campaign promise by pausing for about six months on cutting unprotected, older forests on state trust land. Valued both for biodiversity and carbon storage — and high-quality timber — these forests have been at the heart of a yearslong controversy over cutting forests that could be the old growth of tomorrow.
Washington’s new lands commissioner pauses logging (Capital Press)
The pause was expected based on Upthegrove’s campaign, American Forest Resource Council spokesman Nick Smith said. The pause will make the supply of timber and revenue to the state less predictable, he said. “We’re curious about how a six-month pause works in the context of a budget crisis,” Smith said. Older forests support biodiverse habitats, provide recreation and store carbon, an important tool to address climate change, according to DNR. Upthegrove said he knows timber is essential to Washington. “But with so much contention regarding recent timber sales, it’s apparent we need to stop, take a breath and revisit how to meet the targets laid out in the agency’s timber management plans,” he said.
Forest coalition files opening brief in appeal of decision to dismiss antitrust suit against Malheur Lumber, Iron Triangle (East Oregonian)
The latest battle in Grant County’s timber wars is underway. The Malheur Forest Fairness Coalition has filed an opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing the dismissal of the group’s antitrust suit against two John Day businesses should be reversed. The coalition, which includes the Prairie Wood Products sawmill in Prairie City and several Grant County logging companies and timberland owners, in 2023 filed a $117 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pendleton claiming that Malheur Lumber and Iron Triangle LLC had created a de facto monopoly over softwood sawlogs in the region and were colluding to stifle competition.
Citizens asked to comment on South Fork Mountain vegetation management plans for Forest Service (Action News Now)
The South Fork Mountain Vegetation Management Project will provide defensible space along main roads to expedite safe evacuations and improve wildland firefighter response, safety, and suppression during wildfires. The project area is the South Fork Mountain ridge both north and south of Highway 36. The project area straddles the border of Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests and Trinity and Humboldt Counties. The project purpose is for fuels management and forest products, as outlined on the Forest Service website. The project activity is specifically listed as vegetation improvements and green timber sales.
Introducing Australia’s One and Only Wood Science ‘Theme Park’ (Wood Central)
We have just revisited Wood World, a science–technology ‘theme park’ that has become the epicentre of Australia’s research into wood products and processing. Covering two hectares on the outskirts of Brisbane with more than 3100 sq m of machine shops, laboratories and offices, the Salisbury Research Facility indeed has a global perspective. The team continues to gain strength with a staff of timber engineers, wood and forestry scientists and technicians. They are also linked to a network of institutions –Timber Queensland, the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia, Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, Griffith University, University of Sunshine Coast, Australian National University and the University of Tasmania, to name just a few.
