News in timber

In the largest land-back agreement in Minnesota and one of the largest-ever in Indian Country, the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe restored more than 28,000 acres of land within its reservation boundaries back to tribal ownership. The Band plans to directly manage the restored lands under a forest management plan.

The Professional Logging Contractor of Maine conducted a survey of its members during the winter in regard to their operating costs. The results of that survey revealed that operational costs have gone up an average of 24% over the last two years—on everything from tires and hydraulic filters, to brake parts and labor.

The scars of last summer’s Dixie Fire can be clearly seen for miles in burnt California hillside and forestland. However, there is hope. The burnt timber has value and the newly created sawmill in Crescent Mills, California, is working as quickly as possible to convert those burnt timbers into viable lumber products that can be used to rebuild the area.

University of Arkansas Forester Joe Friend said in a recent news release that forestland owners can get paid to complete their first tree thinning. The program is part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service initiative to help prevent the spread of the southern pine beetles—the most damaging insect pest in the eastern U.S.

On Monday, the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center reported that the 2022 wildfire season continues to gain momentum and is currently at a at a pace that is well in excess of both 2021 and its 10-year average. Currently, more than 4,100 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the country.

In April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed into law legislation that establishes a program to commission projects that will burn wood to create electricity and also capture the heat produced for use on-site—heat that would go to waste in a conventional power plant. Some climate activists are cynical, saying questions remain as to whether the program will cut carbon emissions as intended.

The BC government is continuing to work through a process, which is already underway, to temporarily defer logging in priority old-growth forests. In turn, it allows the government time to work with First Nations to decide how they should be managed in the long term. Experts had identified 2.6 million hectares of unprotected old-growth forest at risk of permanent biodiversity loss.

PotlatchDeltic Corporation and CatchMark Timber Trust today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction. The combination brings together two high quality timberland REITs, resulting in PotlatchDeltic owning approximately 2.2 million acres of diversified timberlands.

The B.C. government today still wants First Nations to reach a consensus before logging is deferred in old-growth forest on shared Indigenous territories. Tara Marsden, sustainability director for the Gitanyow Nation’s hereditary chiefs’ office in northwestern B.C., said consensus represents a “high bar” in a complex process.

Federal investigators announced that the two fires east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, which merged together in April to form the massive blaze at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, have been traced to planned burns set by U.S. Forest Service managers as preventative measures.