News in timber

According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, a series of tornadoes tracked across Northeast Texas on November 4th damaged timber across more than 10,000 acres. The storms destroyed an estimated $13 million worth of timber. Most of the damage to timber was on private property.

Representatives of the Alabama Wildlife Federation and the Westervelt Company unveiled “Westervelt Forest” with a ribbon cutting ceremony on December 6th. The seventy-acre working forest and wildlife demonstration area, located at AWF State Headquarters in Millbrook, Alabama, will be viewable to the 50,000+ annual visitors.

According to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), logging in Oregon’s state forests produced more than $97 million in revenue for country and state governments in 2022. Oregon currently distributes about two-thirds of the timber revenues from state forests to surrounding counties under a management agreement.

In 2017, FPInnvoation’s Steep Slope Initiative research described the evolution of steep slope harvesting in Canada and the associated challenges that such a process would bring. Five years later, that research remains ongoing. Winch-assist technology is one suggested technique.

Denbury, an independent energy company with operations and assets focused on Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), and Weyerhaeuser announced on Monday an agreement for the evaluation and potential development of a CO2 sequestration site in Mississippi.

In mandate letters to his land stewardship and forestry ministers, recently elected BC Premier David Eby says he wants to double the amount of protected land in the province, support new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, and move faster on recommendations around the logging of old growth trees.

Nuveen’s newly launched global timberland strategy arm, Nuveen Natural Capital, announced on Monday that it has made its first portfolio acquisition, purchasing 47,751 acres of timberland in Washington and Oregon from Green Crow for an undisclosed amount.

Since its most recent peak in 2019, the mountain pine beetle population in Alberta has declined 94%. The drop reflects the continuous effort to slow the spread following the 2019 and 2020 winter seasons. Sustained periods of widespread, extreme cold also increased beetle mortality.

The Abitibiwinni First Nation Council and GreenFirst Forest Products recently announced the conclusion of a 5-year collaboration agreement aimed at providing for mitigation, accommodation, and compensation measures in relation to the impact that the company’s activities could have on the Abitibiwinni Aki territory and rights.

On Wednesday, the US Forest Service announced that it has signed 11 co-stewardship agreements with thirteen tribes as part of the agency’s commitment to protect tribal interests in the lands they value as part of their culture and history. These agreements are in response to Joint Secretarial Order 3404.