August 14, 2026 HFHC News Round Up
The Insects Moved Faster Than the Paperwork (Tribal Business News)
In the summer of 2019, a fire started along Interstate 5 in southern Oregon, at a spot the highway signs mark as Milepost 97. It burned into the forest that the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians had regained only the year before, when Congress placed more than 17,000 acres of the tribe’s ancestral homeland in trust for it.1 The fire destroyed about 3,600 of those acres and damaged more than 45 million board feet of timber. Burned timber does not keep. Within a month, insects had moved into the dead and dying trees. Once the insects are in, commercial mills stop buying the wood, and the longer fire-killed timber stands, the more dangerous it becomes to recover. The tribe’s board of directors declared an emergency to speed the work. Tim Vredenburg, the tribe’s director of forestry, described it to me as a race against time. The tribe believed its existing self-governance compact already covered the work, and it notified the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that it would begin the recovery.2 The BIA issued a cease-and-desist order. The tribe could not touch the wood until the full administrative approval process had run its course. That took eight months. Throughout the fall of 2019 and into the spring of 2020, the insects kept working while the paperwork moved along.
Tribal Forest Lands Face Rising Wildfire Risk, CRS Says (Legis1)
A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on Indian forest management, published Aug. 11, reveals a critical gap between tribal capacity and wildfire risk, forcing Congress and the Trump Administration to confront long-standing underfunding that threatens both forest health and tribal sovereignty. The stakes cut across fire prevention, trust responsibility, and tribal self-determination. The federal government holds a legal trust obligation to protect tribal assets, including forests managed by tribes; yet, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not kept pace with the funding and technical support tribes need to manage their own forestry programs. As a result, lands increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires, with 41 percent of Indian forest lands now rated as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, and that proportion rising over time.
Top Trump official asked for more resources to fight a small fire near his Idaho ranch (Washington Post)
Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Michael Boren, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, asked agency staff last month to escalate the amount of aircraft at a seven-acre fire that had started near his mega-ranch in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest, according to two Forest Service officials familiar with the matter. Boren, a tech billionaire and Trump appointee, oversees about 200 million acres of national forest and public land. He also owns thousands of acres in Idaho, including the 480-acre Hell Roaring Ranch situated within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. And before his current role, Boren has clashed with the Forest Service numerous times over the years.
Jim Petersen: The Devil is Always in the Details (Evergreen Magazine)
I don’t know Mike Garrity. I asked for the honor of an interview but he refused, even after an promised to let him review his answers to my questions to make sure that I hadn’t misquoted him. Crickets. All the more reason why his recent op-ed concerning grizzly bear management and saving old growth forests caught my eye. It has appeared in several newspapers in Montana and Idaho. Among them: three Missoula newspapers, the Billings Gazette, the Idaho Capital Sun and our local paper, the Coeur d’ Alene Press. Had these newspapers done some fact-checking they would have learned that there is much more to the grizzly story than Mr. Garrity’s op-ed reveals. As we say in the news business, the devil is always in the details. Mr. Garrity is the Executive Director and Treasurer of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. It has offices in Missoula and Helena, Montana and is easily one of the best known serial litigators in the West.
Opinion: Preserving the roadless rule in WA forests protects our water, too (Seattle Times)
Today, many Washingtonians will turn on the tap to brew a pot of coffee, trusting that clean, safe drinking water will flow. Yet many may be unaware that a looming federal policy change could have major consequences for the availability, quality and cost of the freshwater they rely on daily. Just how did we get here? In August 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture officially launched a process to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Implemented in 2001, the Rule designated special areas across nearly 60 million acres of forests within the National Forest System. These protections are designed to protect remaining natural forests, safeguard clean water, and keep wildlife safe by prohibiting new road construction and commercial logging while allowing activities to protect public safety, including tree thinning and building emergency access roads to reduce and fight wildfires.
House Ag chair ‘very concerned’ about hardwood industry’s future, but talks up increased federal usage (Fastmarkets)
Rep. Thompson said he is very concerned about the American hardwood industry’s condition and its impact on rural communities. He warned that losing sawmills would reduce forest management capacity and create unacceptable consequences for rural America. Bipartisan legislative efforts include the Solid American Hardwood Tax Credit Act and the Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act. Rep. Thompson supports increasing American hardwood use in federal buildings and military truck trailer flooring procurement. He advocated including hardwood lumber in US-China trade discussions and expressed confidence in long-term trade opportunities.
United States Department of Agriculture awards $570,000 grant to West Bio-Hat Creek Bioenergy in Burney (Action News)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a $570,625 grant to West Bio-Hat Creek Bioenergy to support its bioenergy power plant. The facility converts hazardous forest fuels into energy while reducing wildfire risk in Shasta County. Bryan Anguiano, USDA Rural Development California State Director, visited the Burney facility to recognize the Rural Energy for America Program funding. The visit highlighted the Trump Administration’s commitment to regional wildfire mitigation efforts and rural economic development.
BLM Urges Fire Prevention as Agency Begins Recovery Work on Burned Public Lands (BLM)
Fire restrictions remain in effect on all Bureau of Land Management public lands in Oregon and Washington as the region navigates an exceptionally strenuous wildfire season. With more than 2 million acres already impacted by wildfires in the Northwest, BLM officials are calling on all public land visitors to exercise extreme caution, follow fire restrictions and closures, and help prevent additional wildfires. Fire restrictions vary by location based on fire danger, weather conditions, and fuel moisture. Before visiting public lands, visitors should check local restrictions and closures. These restrictions address when power tools may be used, whether campfires or portable stoves are allowed, and what fire prevention equipment must be on hand.
DNRC Proposing to Harvest Timber on State Owned Parcel Near Roundup (Hi-Lane)
The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), Southern Land Office is proposing to harvest timber on a state owned parcel located about 6 miles southeast of Roundup, Montana, and approximately 35 miles north of Billings. The primary objectives of this project are to: Generate revenue for the trust; Address forest health issues such as stand density, stand structure, and fuel loading to reduce the potential of stand replacing fire; Promote natural and healthy growth of established timber by decreasing competition and encouraging growth of Ponderosa Pine stand recruitment; Manage conifer encroachment to allow for the historic landscape to make a return
Census Puts Wood in 96 of Every 100 Owner-Built American Homes (Wood Central)
Americans who act as their own builder put wood framing into 96 per cent of the houses they finished in 2025, up from 93 per cent a year earlier, in a segment where concrete held 2 per cent. That is according to the United States Census Bureau, whose Characteristics of New Housing file, published on 1 July, counts 1,005,000 single-family completions across the year compared with 1,019,000 in 2024. Owner-built houses are a slice of that market rather than the whole of it, and the framing share across every completed American house sits lower. The National Association of Home Builders put that wider figure at 94 per cent for 2024, the most recent year it has analysed, working from the same Census survey.
Dispute Over Counting Forest Carbon Roils Global Standard-Setter (Financial Post)
A scientist has resigned from the World Resources Institute amid disagreement over how to tally forest carbon in accounting rules that are under development. Those rules, which are being drafted by Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) — a global standard-setting body overseen in part by the non-profit — will shape how companies in the forest industry report their carbon footprints.
Dave Tenny: Wildfires are showing us that America’s forests have a wood problem — Congress has the answer (AgriPulse)
For the first time in years, Congress has a bipartisan opportunity to address two vexing challenges facing America’s forests: the loss of U.S. pulp and paper mills and the growing risk of wildfire. The Wildfire Reduction Market Expansion Act of 2026, led by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Reps. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., would make a targeted fix to the definition of woody biomass in the Renewable Fuel Standard so wood removed from forest thinning, hazardous fuels reduction, the residuals from timber harvest and sawmills, and other lower-value material can qualify as feedstock for advanced biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel. The bill offers a practical path forward on problems that are building and compounding. Since 2014, 37 U.S. pulp and paper mills have closed, stranding more than 50 million tons of pulpwood, wood chips and other residual material — the equivalent of nearly 11,000 truckloads of American-grown wood every day, costing the forestry sector over $800 million each year. Making matters worse, nearly a quarter of remaining mills are at significant risk of closure, making new markets for lower-value wood even more urgent.
Pete Madden: Working Forests Need Working Markets (Biomass Magazine)
America’s working forests are among our nation’s great assets. They provide wood and paper products, clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation and livelihoods for families and rural communities across the country. Their ability to keep delivering those benefits depends on something practical, which is healthy markets. That reality should guide the current conversation about woody biomass and bioenergy. Much of the debate has focused on fiber supply for existing pulp and paper mills—a legitimate concern. Mills anchor local economies and create products Americans use every day.
When Markets Move, Wood Moves Too (FRA Woods to Mill)
Last week, FRA Lake States Region Consultant Josh Burling explored why healthy forests need healthy markets. His message was straightforward: strong markets provide the economic foundation that keeps forests productive, sustainable, and working. But what does that actually look like in practice? Recent shifts in global log exports offer a timely example of just how much markets matter. When a tree is harvested, most people picture it heading to the nearest mill. Sometimes it does. Other times, it begins a much longer journey. That log may travel hundreds or even thousands of miles before it is sawn into lumber and transformed into a wide variety of wood products. In today’s global economy, the journey from woods to mill doesn’t always end at the local mill gate. And when markets shift around the world, the effects are often felt first by the people working closest to the forest.
Forest Market Bulletin: August 2026 Sawmill Update (Forisk)
North American softwood lumber production rose 1% in Q1 2026 but fell 4% year-over-year according to WWPA. Forisk tracks over 2,350 wood-using mills in North America in the North American Mill Capacity Database. This update provides a summary of sawmill investment activity as reported in Forisk’s Q3 2026 edition of the Forisk Research Quarterly. Several mills opened in the US South, and lumber manufacturers in the US North and West are investing. Canadian sawmill closures continue.
Market Report: Wood Products Market Shaped by Tariffs, Wildfire, and Mass Timber Demand (Freres Wood)
Plywood markets have improved noticeably over the last several weeks. We sold significant volumes above our production capacity during the last two weeks, and those sales occurred at escalating prices. FEA reported a 4% week-over-week increase for 1/2-inch 4-ply, which is consistent with what we are seeing in the market. More importantly, prices are up approximately 36% year over year. That improvement helps offset many of the cost increases we have absorbed over the past year, particularly in fuel and resin. The recent move does not eliminate margin pressure, but it improves the near-term outlook and confirms that buyers are beginning to respond to tighter supply and higher replacement costs.
With Data Centers Devouring Construction Materials, Mass Timber May Finally Have Its Moment (Bisnow)
With interest from Big Tech and a new bill before Congress that would expand its use in federal projects, mass timber is on the cusp of a new era of growth. Relatively stable lumber prices that buck the broader trend of increasingly expensive construction inputs are meeting with greater levels of comfort around the material’s use to drive faster adoption after years of cautious incorporation. “There’s a more robust supply chain and we’re getting more experienced,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication for Skanska USA. “When you say, ‘I want to use mass timber,’ people aren’t like, ‘What is that?’ They want to know what you want to do with it. The conversation has changed.”
The US Army Wants American Red Oak in Its Truck and Trailer Floors (Wood Central)
Washington is close to phasing out imported keruing from military truck and trailer flooring in favour of American red oak, ending a supply arrangement that has floored Army vehicles with Southeast Asian rainforest hardwood for decades. That is according to Glenn Thompson, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, who told Fastmarkets that the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act started the pivot and a full switch is now close to reality. “That alone would make a huge difference,” Thompson said of the change, in an interview otherwise given over to the shrinking of American hardwood and the sawmill closures behind it.
After wildfires, southwest France’s timber sector preps for mass influx of salvageable wood (Le Monde)
A race against time will then begin to fell all the burned trees as quickly as possible before the appearance of the destructive bark beetle and in the hope of selling the timber for the best possible price, depending on the extent of the burn. In some areas, the flames climbed all the way to the tops of the maritime pines, consuming them down to their needles; in others, the trunks were almost entirely spared, with only the shrub layer on the ground having burned. The most damaged parts could be turned into heating pellets, while the preserved sections could be used for pallets, the paper industry or as timber (such as plywood panels or battens).
Ask a Ranger: Turning forest restoration into community support: How Wood for Life serves northern Arizona (AZ Daily Sun)
Forests across northern Arizona are being thinned to reduce the risk of severe wildfire and to improve forest health by removing thousands of small-diameter trees and woody material every year. Much of this wood has little commercial value and is often burned or left behind, even as many tribal and rural families rely on firewood as their primary source of winter heat. Wood For Life was created to turn a forest management challenge into a community benefit by redirecting surplus woody material to households that rely on firewood. Rather than treating excess woody material as waste, the program works to distribute firewood generated through forest restoration projects to tribal and other firewood consuming communities where it is needed most. According to Sean Etsitty, director of the National Forest Foundation’s Northern Arizona program, the benefits of Wood For Life extend beyond providing heat to individual households.
Grand fir from Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests will serve as the 2026 U.S. Capitol Christmas tree (Spokesman-Review)
A grand fir growing in the 4 million acres of Idaho’s Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests will serve as the 2026 Capitol Christmas tree. The Capitol’s Office of the Architect and the U.S. Forest Service conduct a search each year to select a tree to display on the lawn of the nation’s capitol. In the release, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins said she’s looking forward to sharing “a little piece of the Gem State” with the rest of the country. “America’s national forests are one of our country’s greatest treasures, and this Christmas, a beautiful grand fir from Idaho’s Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests will stand proudly at the U.S. Capitol for the entire nation to enjoy,” Rollins said.
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