June 17, 2025 HFHC News Round Up
Forest Service plans to replace tree painting with broad guidelines for loggers (Columbia Insight)
On March 1, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production.” The U.S. Forest Service is now working to implement that order. One way the agency plans to do this is to substitute its practice of marking trees with paint—indicating timber sale contract specifications—with two alternative practices that give loggers greater discretion over which trees get cut. The practices are “designations by description,” or DxD, and “designations by prescription,” or DxP. Both DxD and DxP are different from “designation by marking” or marking with paint. In an April 3 memo addressed to Forest Service regional foresters and deputy chiefs, Christopher French, the Forest Service’s acting associate chief, directed his agency on how to implement Trump’s executive order. French’s directives included an order to make DxD and DxP the agency’s new “default approach in implementing timber projects.”
Partnerships add capacity and increase efficiency on the Rio Grande National Forest (USDA Forest Service)
The Rio Grande National Forest (RGNF) and the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) first partnered under Good Neighbor Authority in 2016. The initial agreement included minimal supplemental funding for the CSFS and targeted support for the small sales program (e.g., commercial firewood, timber sales less than 1,000 CCF, etc.). This relationship was established during a period when the RGNF was well-staffed with forestry personnel focused on Engelmann spruce salvage in the wake of a spruce beetle outbreak, whereas the local CSFS district office only had two foresters. The organizational relationship developed, strengthened, and expanded the subsequent four years. In 2020, a new Good Neighbor Agreement was executed. This agreement was built upon lessons learned and adjusted priorities based on mutual interests and shifting organizational capacities: market-interest in salvage material was waning, the RGNF forestry program had lost staff through attrition, and the CSFS was gaining capacity and funding from the Colorado legislature.
National Association of State Foresters Say State Foresters Are Critical to Solving the Wildfire Emergency (Sun Times)
As a member of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), the nation’s National Association of State Foresters logonucleus for wildland fire response since 1965, the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) took note of last Thursday’s Executive Order – Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response – which explicitly directs NIFC leadership collaboration with the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture in pursuit of “encouraging local wildfire preparedness and response.” NASF appreciates the Administration’s attention to the ongoing wildfire emergency and looks forward to continuing in our leadership role with all partners to enact meaningful improvements to the national wildland fire response system. Destructive and deadly wildfires have devastated communities and pose a real threat across the nation. The overwhelming conditions that produce these catastrophic fires are increasingly frequent, and the tragic outcomes we see do not reflect the year-round efforts amongst state, local, and federal agencies to ensure a highly integrated and coordinated wildfire response system.
Forest Service diverts state grant funds to pay departing workers (Greenwire)
The Forest Service is taking as much as $43 million away from grants to states and localities this year to pay workers who took the agency’s deferred resignation program offer. The transfer of funds, which Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz acknowledged at a Senate hearing last week, reflects both the upfront cost of prodding several thousand workers to quit and the Trump administration’s new priorities for the land management agency. Employees who took the deferred resignation offer will still be paid through the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Officials picked five grant programs within the Forest Service’s state, private and tribal forestry mission area from which to take money: the Landscape Scale Restoration program, the Forest Stewardship Program, urban forestry grants, community forests and open space, and international and trade compliance programs. (Subscription Required)
CSF Opposes Senate Push to Arbitrarily Sell-Off Federal Public Lands (Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation)
Yesterday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee released their provision of the budget reconciliation bill, the large and comprehensive bill that has been consuming most of the oxygen in the nation’s capital for much of the 119th Congress. Included in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s reconciliation text is the mandate to arbitrarily sell-off at least 2 million acres and up to 3 million acres of federal public lands across 11 western states, which the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) strongly opposes.
New Map Reveals Specific Public Lands for Sale in Budget Bill (Field and Stream)
Last week, the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources unveiled a plan to sell off as much as 3 million acres of federally managed public lands across several western states. The proposal sparked a massive public outcry among hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes. Now, a new map from the Wilderness Society shows some of the specific parcels that could be sold to private interests, with no input from the public, if the Senate’s proposal were to pass. The map can be viewed here. It allows users to toggle back and forth between the 11 states that are being targeted for public land sell-offs: Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, and Alaska. It highlight US Forest Service lands in green and Bureau of Land Management lands in yellow. Notably, Utah Sen. Mike Lee—who crafted the provision—exempted the state of Montana from his sell-off plans.
Committee limits use of public lands in reconciliation (E&E Daily)
The sale of public lands in the Republican-led megabill has ignited controversy on both sides of the aisle, but new changes to the bill would seem to narrow how those lands could be used. Text released last week by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would have mandated sales to be used “solely” for housing but also to “address associated community needs.” Such language would seemingly open the lands to a wide range of uses. But in a new draft obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News, which could undergo more changes, lands owned by the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service would now be used only for “the development of housing or to address associated infrastructure to support local housing needs.” Whether narrowing the use of millions of acres of land would be enough to convince Republican critics remains to be seen. Montana Republicans say they oppose the sales but have not threatened to tank the final bill if such sales are included.
New Wildfire Sparks In Dead Timber At Site Of 2015 Blaze (KPQ)
A new wildfire is burning in a remote area of Northern Chelan County. Officials with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest say the Pomas Fire is torching dead and down timber on austere terrain within the footprint of the 2015 Wolverine Fire in the Glacier Peak Wilderness about 36 miles northwest of Entiat. The blaze was first reported by a hiker on Friday (June 13) morning and has burned about 50 acres since sparking from officially-unknown causes, although it’s believed to have possibly been ignited by a lightning strike which smoldered for several weeks.
164 Structures Lost Due To The Rowena Fire In Oregon. Trout Fire In NM Doubles In Size. (The Hotshot Wake Up)
Listen: A full operational update of all the fires in the United States. 164 structures were destroyed due to the human-caused Rowena Fire in Oregon. New Mexico fires double in size as Red Flag conditions move into the area. Utah sees multiple new fires, including the France Canyon in the Dixie National Forest. Montana and Idaho have a very early start to their fire season. An AI wildfire detection company, Pano AI, has raised $44M to expand its detection operations in the United States. I cover the company’s plans and its current $100M in contracts for implementation.
Forest Service issues final plan to manage 72,000 acres in Rutland, Windsor and Addison counties (Vermont Public)
After several years of debate and review, the U.S. Forest Service has issued a plan for managing 72,000 acres of public and private land in the Green Mountains, near Rutland. The agency is proposing to open roughly 11,000 acres to timber harvests, a move that’s proven controversial and sparked disagreement among environmentalists in the state. At the heart of the disagreement is how the project defines and treats old forests, and how much land it proposes for logging. Jamey Fidel, with the Vermont Natural Resources Council, said the organization supports the final plan. “Close to half the overall acreage that will be treated will be trying out some different approaches, many of them that have a lighter touch on the land, that are designed to have more of a beneficial carbon outcome, to be bird-friendly, but also to enhance old forest conditions through harvesting,” he said.
PotlatchDeltic’s Carbon Storage (3BL)
We have divided our forest carbon stocks into three pools that allow us to track our carbon inventory and to follow and account for stored carbon when timber is harvested. The three pools are: 1) merchantable portions of trees, 2) above ground non-merchantable portions of merchantable trees and pre-merchantable trees, and 3) below ground portions of all trees (excludes soil carbon). Our forests, on all lands owned at the end of 2024, stored a total of 143 million metric tons of CO2e in all three pools. Merchantable above ground portions accounted for 91 million metric tons of CO2e; 28 million metric tons of CO2e were in pre-merchantable and above ground portions; and 24 million metric tons were in below ground portions of trees.
Rep. Wright: Disappointment over Elliot Forest Bill (Oregon Catalyst)
Mr. Speaker, this lengthy process, moving from one inefficient and ineffective agency to another over the last five years, has been a fiasco from the start and continues to be an example of government bureaucracy and red tape at its best. It’s time for the Elliott Forest mismanagement to stop. and give these trust lands back to our children and communities. The environmental non-profit for-profit organizations have supported and pushed their agenda of forest mismanagement of the Elliot over our children’s education, safety from wildfires and costing rural communities good paying jobs that put food on their tables, clothes on their backs and roofs over their heads. Oregon State University seems to be the only member of this idiocy that said no to the project’s feasibility, and so should this legislature.
Environmental groups sue to protect western North Carolina forests from increased logging (WSOC)
As Western North Carolina’s forests recover from Hurricane Helene, environmental groups say Pisgah and Nantahala face a one-two punch from the federal government, potentially setting the stage for further destruction. For as long as the country has had national forests, logging has been a part of their management, but those needs are also weighed against the need to maintain habitat, recreational opportunities, protect local water systems and defend wildlife. In the past few years, the U.S. Forest Service has opened up more land to logging and now with a recent executive order calling for increased timber production across the country, environmental nonprofits like Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Asheville-based MountainTrue are suing to prevent what they believe could severely damage habitat in a way that could take decades to recover from.
Wildfire Smoke May Be Disrupting Ocean Carbon Storage (Science Blog)
The study analyzed 20 years of water quality data from Canada’s Fraser River basin, finding that fires explained up to 16.3% of water quality changes—a surprisingly large impact for such a vast river system. The research uncovered something unexpected: while fires near waterways affect water quality immediately, the most dramatic changes occur 7-10 months later during spring snowmelt. “Using monitoring data collected by Environment Canada over the last 20 years, we calculated that up to 16.3 per cent of the variation in water quality could be attributed to wildfires,” said Dr. Brian Hunt, professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. This timing matters because it coincides with when rivers flush massive amounts of material into coastal waters. The study found that this delayed flushing carries elevated levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, and lead into marine ecosystems.
Pending auction in Usk foretells end of papermill’s return (Spokesman Review)
The owners of the defunct Ponderay Newsprint Mill plan to sell its equipment at auction next month after years of empty promises to reopen what had been one of the largest employers in northeast Washington. The sprawling 927-acre property in Usk has 29 buildings and storage facilities. It is situated adjacent to the Pend Oreille River and the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Instead of making paper or reconfiguring the mill to make cardboard, as the new owners promised multiple times in public hearings, the site has produced nothing for the past several years. Instead the owners used vast amounts of electricity to run computers mining for cryptocurrency. The paper mill previously was owned by Lake Superior Forest Products, a subsidiary of Quebec-based Resolute Forest Products, and five major U.S. publishers. They declared bankruptcy in 2020, ending the jobs of about 140 workers.
Maintaining, Protecting Forests and Woodlands Across NY Needs to Take Priority (Adirondack Almanack)
Carbon sequestration is an important function of New York’s forests and woodlands. It is necessary to recognize the difference between the STOCK, or amount of carbon in a tree, and the RATE at which the tree is sequestering, or adding to the storage of carbon. Large old-growth trees contain larger amounts of carbon STOCK, but more vigorous younger trees sequester carbon at a much higher RATE. We also need to focus on the net sequestration of the forest and not individual trees. Carbon storage can be compatible with other forest uses and will increase through various woodland improvement practices. New York’s Climate Action Scoping Plan recommends “leaving mature forests intact”. In most of New York’s private forests, it is common to have mature trees for timber being harvested at ages of 80 to 100 years. This is consistent with the age of maximum carbon storage RATE that will slow down as the tree grows older.
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