November 7, 2025 HFHC News Round Up
How sickly forests are felling Europe’s climate ambitions (Reuters)
Concern about the capacity of Europe’s forests, degraded by wildfires and droughts, to absorb CO2 emissions was a key reason European Union governments agreed to water down their new 2040 emissions-cutting goal this week. EU countries on Wednesday backed a target to cut their net greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040 from 1990 levels – a goal designed to keep them on track for the EU’s legally-binding commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. However, the accord also introduced flexibility for various sectors. One option was for future cuts to the 2040 target should Europe’s forests, peat bogs and grasslands be unable to absorb and store millions of tons of carbon dioxide to compensate for pollution from industries. During negotiations on the 2040 goal in recent months, numerous governments – from Sweden, to Latvia, to France – warned that Europe’s forests are absorbing far less CO2 emissions than hoped, in part because of wildfires and droughts made worse by climate change.
AFRC Defends BLM’s Blue and Gold Project Supporting Oregon Jobs, Communities, and Forest Health (AFRC)
The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) appeared in federal court today before United States District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Blue and Gold Project. AFRC, along with the Association of O&C Counties, intervened in Cascadia Wildlands v. United States Bureau of Land Management to support rural Oregon jobs, timber supplies, and county revenues that depend on active forest management on O&C lands, and to uphold the agency’s authority under the O&C Act to manage forests for sustained yield, forest health, and community stability. “The Blue and Gold Project represents responsible, science-based forest management on O&C lands that Congress set aside for sustained yield and local economic benefit,” said Sara Ghafouri, AFRC General Counsel. “The project provides critical timber for local mills, supports hundreds of family wage jobs, and generates revenues that fund law enforcement, fire protection, and public schools in western Oregon’s O&C counties.”
Suit Aims to Block Timber Sale in Hurricane Helene Recovery Area (Bloomberg Law)
The US Forest Service was accused in a new lawsuit Thursday of hastily approving a timber sale in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene last year, in violation of environmental laws. Environmental groups MountainTrue and the Center for Biological Diversity say the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment for the timber sale, which is located in the ecologically significant Nolichucky River Gorge. (Subscription Required)
County Commissioners approve letter supporting rescission of public lands rule (Daily Sentinel)
The Mesa County Commissioners approved a letter supporting the rescission of the Bureau of Land Management’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule on Tuesday, over the objections of some members of the public who attended the meeting. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced in September it was considering rescinding the rule, created in 2024, because, according to the announcement, the rule bends too far in the direction of conservation of public lands.
BLM director nominee gets mixed reviews (Capital Press)
President Donald Trump on Nov. 5 nominated former Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., to serve as director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Cattle groups supported Pearce, saying he understands the issues Western ranchers face. Environmental groups opposed the nomination partly on concern about Pearce’s stance on selling public lands — contemplated but scrapped as part of a federal budget reconciliation bill passed last summer. “Having represented New Mexico in Congress and the State House for decades, former Rep. Steve Pearce understands the important role that public lands play across the West,” National Cattlemen’s Beef Association executive director of natural resources and Public Lands Council executive director Kaitlynn Glover said in a Nov. 5 statement. “Pearce’s experience makes him thoroughly qualified to lead the BLM and tackle the issues federal lands ranchers are facing. Ranchers need a permanent BLM director. NCBA and PLC members support his nomination.”
Walla Walla City Council nixes letter to USFS on Tiger-Mill Project (Elkhorn Media Group)
The Walla Walla City Council voted 4-3 against sending a formal letter to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) regarding the Tiger-Mill Project. The decision followed intense public comment and debate over the project’s potential effects on the municipal watershed. The USFS had already completed an Environmental Assessment (EA) and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), consequently deciding against a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The public expressed significant concern over the lack of an EIS, fearing that commercial logging, thinning, and prescribed burns could lead to flooding and water quality degradation. Citizens urged the council to seek explicit definitions of the USFS’s financial liability and what would constitute “injury to the water supply,” and emphasized protecting the water supply for the community. The council was internally divided, with some members stressing the legal constraint that the city cannot demand an EIS. They argued that engaging in an adversarial relationship with the USFS would be counterproductive and noted that the city’s 1918 agreement with the USFS limited its ability to compel action.
Prescribed burns a focus as Fix Our Forests Act moves through Congress (News from the States)
A bipartisan piece of legislation that could have big impacts on the nation’s forest land continues to move quickly through Congress, pushing through a Senate committee last month. The Fix Our Forests Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in April and co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Sheehy, along with Senators from California, Utah and Colorado. The legislation seeks to promote prescribed burns, expand the state-federal Good Neighbor Authority program, increase collaboration among fire agencies and improve reforestation efforts after fires. It also makes some rule changes that could impact how areas designated as high fire danger are managed and how projects in those areas proceed. “Better stewardship of our forests is not a partisan issue; it’s an imperative to securing a stronger economy, healthier forests, and safer communities,” Sheehy said in a press release. “I’m proud to see the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act move forward in the legislative process, and I’ll continue fighting alongside my colleagues to enact commonsense reforms that ensure proper forest management, unleash the resource economy, and protect American communities from the threat of wildfire.”
Wildfire risk making timberland less valuable, long harvest rotations less feasible (OSU)
Rising wildfire risk in the Pacific Northwest combined with notoriously volatile timber pricing may lower forestland values by as much as 50% and persuade plantation owners to harvest trees much earlier than planned, a new analysis of Douglas-fir forests shows. Under the worst-case scenarios, modeling by researchers at Oregon State University suggests harvesting trees at 24 years would make the most economic sense. Absent wildfire risk, the optimal age would be 65 years. Generally, private landowners harvest between those two ages, but it’s not a surprise for the optimal rotation age to go down in these scenarios, the scientists say. “Basically, under high wildfire risk that rises with stand age, every year you wait to harvest you’re rolling the dice,” said Mindy Crandall, an associate professor in the OSU College of Forestry.
Researchers uncover wildfire smoke’s impact on respiratory health (Medical Xpress)
Breathing wildfire smoke, even briefly, can change the bacteria and immune cells in your lungs, which may contribute to adverse health effects. Everyone knows smoking tobacco is bad for you, but what about smoke from burning wood—in particular that of wildfires? UNC School of Medicine researchers have now made some advances in learning how breathing in wood smoke can change the natural balance of bacteria in our lungs—leading to effects on our respiratory health that could contribute to disease, like asthma and COPD. “Similar to the skin and the gut, the inside of our lungs is covered in microbes that can help maintain lung health, also called the microbiome,” said UNC School of Medicine’s Meghan E. Rebuli, Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at the Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology. “However, if the balance of bacteria present in the lungs is altered by exposures, such as what we were testing here with wood smoke, it has been associated with lung disease.”
Dave Upthegrove on land sales, federal funding cuts and wildfire immigration raids (Washington State Standard)
The Trump administration has proposed significantly shifting management of the nation’s public lands toward producing more revenue. President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have issued orders aimed at expediting energy production on federal lands. Burgum has repeatedly referred to federal lands as America’s “balance sheet,” pushing for increased oil and gas extraction, logging and mining. The administration also wants to roll back the Roadless Rule, which prohibits logging on millions of acres of national forests. Meanwhile, some congressional Republicans have pushed bills to sell off millions of federal acres. Other administration proposals include transferring more federal responsibilities — such as disaster recovery — to the states, changing oversight of federal firefighters, and making significant cuts to federal lands agencies.
CA law firm enlists Inslee, Ferguson adviser in push for WA wildfire fund (Seattle Times)
Six years ago, California created a $21 billion fund to cover lawsuit payouts over utility-sparked wildfires that burned thousands out of their homes and bankrupted the nation’s largest investor-owned utility. The growing threat of such catastrophic wildfires in Washington is prompting leaders to consider creating a wildfire compensation fund — paid for by utility companies and possible surcharges on ratepayers’ electric bills — as early as next year. The push is being led behind the scenes by California law firm Singleton Schreiber, which has won billions of dollars for its clients in wildfire lawsuits. The firm recently expanded into Washington and has enlisted heavy hitters for its advocacy effort, including former Gov. Jay Inslee and Mike Webb, a longtime top adviser to Gov. Bob Ferguson.
Machines, Microchips, and Montana: Where AI Meets HI (Evergreen)
Machines and computer technologies have been doing the heavy lifting in the logging and sawmilling industries for decades. They’ve eliminated some jobs and created others—especially in equipment manufacturing and advanced wood products. Among the latest innovations: Mass Panel Plywood from Freres Engineered Wood in Lyons, Oregon—a dazzling, fully automated process that assembles massive structural panels capable of holding up the new Portland International Airport concourse roof. So here’s a question: Will future technological advancements in logging and sawmilling be influenced by the light-speed rise of artificial intelligence? It’s certainly possible. But we don’t believe AI will be ready for prime time until it can think for itself.
Proposed buffer change would have economic impact on Montesano’s City Forest (The Daily World)
On Nov. 12, the Forest Practices Board will vote on a proposed change to buffers on non-fish, perennial (Type Np) waters. If adopted, the buffer width has the potential to increase from the current 50 feet to 75 feet, depending upon site conditions. Additionally, the length of the required buffer along the Type Np water would also increase, also depending upon site conditions. Collectively, this proposed change decreases the acres of harvestable land, which has the cascading effect of decreased revenue from timber harvests and lower volumes of timber available to mills. The potential impacts of the proposed change were the subject of a lengthy discussion during the Montesano City Forest Tour held on July 15. At a tour stop that featured a riparian buffer, City Forester John Bull discussed how he manages these buffers. On the fish-bearing (Type F) waters, Bull maintains a buffer of 150 feet instead of the 130 feet required by the Forest Practices Rules. A benefit of having “good, strong buffers” results in less blowdown, healthier buffers, and bigger, stronger trees, he told the tour attendees.
CLT passive fire protection breakthrough (Construction Index)
Research commissioned by Willmott Dixon has eliminated a technical gap that has created uncertainty and delays in the use cross-laminated timber (CLT) projects in the construction industry. Previously, all CLT projects required individual technical assessments. Now, there are certified solutions for projects using cross-laminated timber (CLT) and Siderise cavity barriers in both wall and floor applications. The testing programme was conducted at Siderise’s Innovation Centre in Maesteg with support from Willmott Dixon and CLT manufacturer KLH.
Largest class in six years graduating in Maine forest trucking and logging program (WABI)
Twenty weeks of learning the ropes in logging and forest trucking came to a close for 15 graduates at Kennebec Valley Community College. on Thursday. This is the ninth year of the Mechanized Logging Operations and Forest Trucking program with the largest graduating class since 2019. The program teaches students in and out of the classroom with hands-on experiences with logging equipment and steps for them to receive a CDL. Directors say that both trucking and logging industries are in need of people joining the field and it’s exciting to see young motivated graduates going right in to the field.
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