September 4, 2026 HFHC News Round Up
Forest Service completes national facilities review, identifies more than $16M in savings (USDA Forest Service)
The U.S. Forest Service has completed its national review of regional offices and research and development facilities, identifying more than $16 million in cost savings through local facility consolidation while minimizing impacts to employees and preserving the agency’s critical work across the country. The review responds to a significant long-term facilities challenge facing the agency. The Forest Service owns more than 16,000 facilities and holds more than 500 leases and space-occupancy agreements. Half are rated in “poor” condition and deferred maintenance exceeds $3 billion. Currently, a third of agency office space falls below the 60% utilization standard set by the USE IT Act. “For too long, the Forest Service has carried the burden of underutilized space and buildings that sit partially vacant – square footage that drains resources without advancing the agency’s work,” said Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Vaden. “This review gives us a path to put more of those dollars to work, supporting our employees, our mission and the American people.”
When Did Protecting National Forests Come to Mean ‘Protecting’ Them From the Public? (HFHC)
For decades, powerful environmental groups have pursued a vision of our national forests that steadily removes people from the landscape. They have advocated for less road access and less active management, while supporting policies that place millions of additional acres beyond meaningful human use. Now, as the Forest Service proposes rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, that same philosophy is on full display as environmental groups warn of bulldozers, clearcuts and industrial development across nearly 45 million acres of national forests. The rhetoric is designed to frighten people about what might happen if a 25-year-old national prohibition disappears, while obscuring what rescission actually means. It would not authorize a single timber sale or road project, and it would not eliminate forest plans or environmental review. It would allow local Forest Service professionals to once again consider whether roads and active management are appropriate based on the conditions and needs of individual forests.
Wildfire Risk Demands a More Flexible Approach to Roadless Areas (Washington Policy Center)
The federal government is considering removing the Roadless Rule which was adopted in the final hours of the Clinton Administration in 2001. That rule, designed to protect wilderness areas, is now making it difficult to treat unhealthy federal forests and fight wildland fires. Currently, there are fires in at least four of the inventoried roadless areas in Washington state. Here is the comment we filed in support of rescinding the roadless rule and providing local forest managers more flexibility to address the increasing risk of catastrophic wildfire.
A century to recover: Oregon wildfire leaves families without future timber income (Madras Pioneer)
Standing on a hillside of blackened trees, Mark Wunsch looked across land that may not produce another harvest in his lifetime — or even his young son’s. Wunsch, a rancher and Jefferson County commissioner who lives near Grizzly, lost much of his family’s timberland this summer as the Rowe Creek Complex continues to burn through swaths of countryside near Madras. Wunsch estimates it will take 80 to 100 years before the forest on his land can once again generate income. “My son, who is 13 months old, will probably not be here when there’s an opportunity to generate any kind of revenue off of that land again,” Wunsch said. The Rowe Creek Complex has burned more than 373,000 acres over the past month, making it one of Oregon’s largest active wildfires. At a recent wildfire town hall in Madras hosted by U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, landowners and forestry officials described the long-term economic toll fires leave behind. The fires didn’t just destroy trees, landowners said, they wiped out decades of future income while leaving behind millions of dollars in cleanup and reforestation challenges.
How Washington State Trust Lands Support Rural Schools (HFHC YouTube)
Timber revenue from Washington’s state trust lands helps rural schools provide students with the safe, quality learning environment they deserve. For rural schools like Crescent, it makes a real difference. David Bingham, now retired superintendent of the Crescent School District, explains how this funding has helped the district protect teaching jobs, preserve programs, and modernize school facilities
Stauber will run for top Republican on House Natural Resources, while Westerman ponders next move (PolitcoPro)
Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota is making a run for the top Republican spot on the House Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress — teeing up a potential battle with the current chair, Bruce Westerman, who isn’t ruling out asking for a waiver to serve another term. “Congressman Stauber is running to serve as chair/ranking member of Natural Resources, and he is speaking to members of our Conference, including steering members,” his spokesperson said in an email Thursday. The GOP Steering Committee, composed of party leaders and members of the conference representing different geographic regions, will meet after the midterms to make assignments to the House’s standing committees — and vote on recommendations for who should be the senior Republican on those committees.
Wildfire risks are driving up costs for Northwest utilities (Washington State Standard)
When power lines are blamed for starting a wildfire, costs to utilities can stretch into the billions and trickle down to consumers. Earlier this year, PacifiCorp settled a federal lawsuit over its lines allegedly starting six fires in Oregon and California, burning nearly 300,000 acres of public land. Thousands of residents also filed claims against the investor-owned utility, which serves 2 million customers in the West. The company has agreed to pay $2.2 billion to settle roughly 90% of all claims, and it’s preparing to settle more. PacificCorp’s woes come seven years after the country’s largest utility company, California-based Pacific Gas & Electric, filed for bankruptcy. This came as the utility faced tens of billions of dollars in potential liability related to deadly fires in 2017 and 2018 that destroyed tens of thousands of structures. Anxious to avoid a similar fate, utilities in the Pacific Northwest are spending millions of dollars each year on wildfire mitigation projects. With around 20,000 miles of transmission lines across the region, fire-proofing the grid is a major engineering problem that’s not cheap or easy to solve.
Satellites spot forest stress two years before bark beetle die-offs become apparent (UU Press)
Satellite measurements detected declining photosynthetic activity in Western U.S. forests two years before bark-beetle mortality appeared in aerial detection surveys, according to new University of Utah-led research. The first-of-its-kind study suggests that satellite-observed chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), a measure of plant photosynthesis, could provide an early warning of forest stress. As drought, wildfire and insect outbreaks occur with increasing frequency across the American West, the technology could also help scientists understand how these disturbances affect forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere.
A Federal Judge Just Blocked Logging Above One of Northern California’s Favorite Lakes (Active NorCal)
U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins struck down the Forest Service’s South Fork Sacramento Public Safety and Forest Restoration Project, ruling that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s review of the plan’s impact on northern spotted owls was arbitrary and capricious, and that the Forest Service broke the law by relying on that flawed analysis. The project called for cutting more than 8,000 acres within a 16,000 acre footprint on the slopes above the lake near the city of Mt. Shasta, framed as wildfire mitigation and recreation improvements. The problem, according to the court, is that the area contains two of the longest continuously occupied spotted owl territories in the California Cascades, nesting grounds that anchor the threatened species’ regional population. A 2023 biological opinion concluded the project posed no jeopardy to the owls, a finding the judge determined the government never adequately supported.
Bitterroot logging project suspended to evaluate grizzly protection (Missoula Current)
In a rare event, the U.S. Forest Service has agreed to reassess a logging project before groups had to follow up their intent to sue. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service sent a letter to six conservation organizations saying they would reinitiate consultation on whether the Bitterroot Front Project would potentially affect grizzly bears. That means the 135,000-acre Bitterroot Front project is on hold for the time being. On June 16, the groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Bitterroot, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, WildEarth Guardians, Friends of the Clearwater and Native Ecosystems Council — sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the two federal agencies over the Bitterroot Front project, which was approved in mid-May.
Fighting fire with fire: Montana researchers study how prescribed fires can improve wildfire outlooks across the west (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)
On a typical day, Dr. Joseph Shaw, distinguished professor of engineering at Montana State University, can see the mountains in every direction from his rooftop air quality lab and weather station. That view began to change as smoke from fires in the western U.S. settled over Bozeman in early August. “I can usually predict some of the scientific data just by looking at the mountains. That’s just because I’ve looked at both for so long,” Shaw said. “If we can’t make out the ‘M’ on the mountain, it’s really bad.” Shaw’s work is part of a collaboration between MSU, the University of Montana and six other universities across the state. The SMART FireS project (short for Sensors, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Real-Time Fire Science) brings together researchers from engineering, chemistry, computer science, social science and public health disciplines to study prescribed fires — small fires intentionally set to burn away fuel and reduce the risk of future wildfires. The team aims to understand how prescribed fires behave, how they affect human health, and their impact on communities.
The SLB Accelerates Lumber Demand Growth in the First Half of 2026 (SLB)
The SLB has released its Q2 2026 Report, highlighting strong progress in growing demand and expanding market opportunities for softwood lumber. Through the first half of 2026, SLB-funded programs generated more than 1 billion board feet of incremental lumber demand while continuing to strengthen wood’s competitive position through project conversions, education, market development, and codes and standards.
Canada — Idaho’s top trade partner — matched Trump’s tariffs. What’s that mean here? (Idaho Statesman)
While not among Idaho’s top exported commodities to Canada, wood, paper, pulp and printing products are also on the list of items facing 50% tariffs from both sides. According to data from the Idaho Department of Commerce, Idaho imports wood and paper products from Canada more than twice the amount it exports, and with booming construction throughout the Treasure Valley, Idaho relies on Canadian lumber, Burkhart said. The U.S. and Canada have had a strenuous relationship over lumber trade dating back to the 1980s over what the U.S. perceives as unfair Canadian pricing. In an effort to boost the U.S. lumber industry, which faces much higher production costs than Canada, the U.S. government has long enforced anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber.
67th Annual Southern Forestry Conclave (FRA Woods to Mill)
The University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) Forestry Club hosted the 67th Annual Southern Forestry Conclave in Monticello, Arkansas, bringing together 14 universities from across the Southeast. As always, Conclave was a mix of technical forestry skills, traditional timbersports, and a lot of time spent building relationships across programs. Conclave has been around since 1958, and the purpose has stayed the same—give students a chance to apply what they’ve learned, compete at a high level, and represent their programs. It’s one of the few opportunities where students can move directly from the classroom to real-world skill application in a competitive setting, albeit some of the events are a little “old school” for today’s modern technologies.
The Home Depot Announces 5-Million-Tree Reforestation Initiative with Strategic Wood Suppliers (Home Depot Press)
At The Home Depot, responsible wood sourcing goes beyond the products on our shelves—it extends to the forests and communities that make those products possible. As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainable forestry, The Home Depot and selected strategic lumber suppliers have launched a long-term reforestation and forest conservation initiative designed to help restore and protect forests for future generations. Together with wood suppliers Arauco, Irving Forest Products, and Weyerhaeuser, The Home Depot has established a collective initiative to support the distribution of at least 5 million tree seedlings by 2032, contributing to the restoration and conservation of approximately 10,000 acres of forestland globally. To put that scale into perspective, that’s an area equivalent to 12 of New York’s Central Parks or approximately 8,000 football fields.
Finnish company launches “world’s most carbon-storing building material (Dezeen Magazine)
“Finnish firm Elementic has unveiled MO6, a wall-surfacing material produced from forestry industry offcuts that is almost pure carbon. Called MO6, the product takes the form of thick, lightweight tiles with a rough texture and an off-black colour. Materials technology company Elementic established MO6 as a brand in May, with the debut collection, MO6 Eternal, launched on Wednesday at trade fair Habitare. MO6 claims to be the most carbon-negative, or carbon-storing, building material in the world, with carbon molecules making up 90 per cent of its chemistry. It uses lignin as a raw material – a by-product of the forestry and timber industry that is considered difficult to use and is usually burned for energy. Through a patented process that remains highly secretive, impurities such as oxygen are removed from the lignin in a bioreactor to result in a material that is highly durable and fire-resistant with a dramatic aesthetic.
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