Chris Edwards and Travis Joseph: The forests Oregon ‘protected’ are burning (Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Oregon made history this summer, and not the celebratory kind. It’s a wakeup call: The system is broken and fixing it requires new thinking. Over 2.5 million acres burned — more than any in recorded history, and 92% are on public lands. In the last decade, almost all catastrophic wildfire originated on public lands. Something needs to change, and the now mostly contained Grasshopper Fire in the Mt. Hood National Forest is a prime example. Beginning in 2019, the Wasco County Forest Collaborative — with representation from tribes, timber, conservation, state agencies and local groups — worked with the U.S. Forest Service on the Grasshopper Restoration Project to reduce hazardous fuels and wildfire risk. After four years, the collaborative reached consensus on treating 5,280 acres — roughly one-half of 1% of the Mt. Hood National Forest — using Biden administration funds for high wildfire risk landscapes. Professional foresters and scientists concluded treatments would reduce wildfire risk. One activist group was invited to participate, declined and then sued over the project. The Forest Service settled, making minor changes and paying the group’s attorneys $55,000 in taxpayer dollars. They celebrated “halting the logging of mature and old growth trees” in their annual report.
The AFRC Podcast Episode 61: “That’s Wild” with Chris Edwards and Travis Joseph (AFRC)
Listen: In this special crossover episode of The AFRC Podcast and Oregon Forest Industry Council’s Forestry Smart Policy Podcast, AFRC President Travis Joseph joins OFIC President Chris Edwards for a wide ranging conversation about forestry and politics. They discuss the growing cost of wildfire, forest loss on federal lands, and how anti-forestry litigation delays collaborative forest management. The conversation examines the Grasshopper Fire, public frustration with wildfire and smoke, and the role Democrats should play in advancing active forest management and challenging groups that oppose it.
Timber salvage, prescribed burns highlight fall work on Kootenai (The Western News)
From timber salvage work to prescribed burns, crews are staying busy on the Kootenai National Forest. Forest officials released information about the work occurring and also issued a reminder about the upcoming open burn season. Residential burning season is currently closed through Wednesday, Sept. 30 due to Montana’s wildfire season. Even with the cooler temperatures, dry conditions can still exist creating the potential for escaped burns to create wildfires.
Grand Ronde bill would return about 18,600 acres of Oregon forestland to tribe (Tribal Business News)
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde could add about 18,600 acres of federal forest land to their reservation under new legislation introduced by Oregon lawmakers. The Grand Ronde Land Transfer Act, introduced Sept. 17 by Rep. Andrea Salinas, D‑Ore., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D‑Ore., would transfer approximately 18,628 acres, according to the bill text, of U.S. Forest Service land in Tillamook and Yamhill counties into federal trust for the tribe. The land would become part of the Grand Ronde Reservation. The bill would keep the land open for hunting, fishing and general recreation. The tribe could regulate or restrict access for public safety, land administration, fish or wildlife management, or emergencies. The measure would prohibit Class II and Class III gaming on the property and apply federal restrictions on exporting unprocessed logs harvested from federal land. Tillamook and Yamhill counties, the Oregon Department of Forest, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians and several conservation groups support the proposal, according to a joint statement from Merkley and Salinas.
Ending the roadless rule can help fight forest fires and improve wildlife access (The Hill)
On Aug. 23, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it is considering rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Across the country, newspapers ran stories saying this would open the wilderness to logging. Supposedly, the rule was designed to preserve wilderness on federal lands. But it does not apply to places that feature “sacred sites” like Yellowstone or Yosemite or to congressionally designated wilderness areas like the iconic Aldo Leopold Wilderness in New Mexico or the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. Not surprisingly, the announcement drew an immediate backlash from environmentalists and Democrats. They claim this is a ploy to pad the pockets of timber companies at the expense of wilderness and that more roads will lead to more wildfires and degradation of wildlife habitat. The data, however, support Rollins’s call for better fuel management. True, roughly 85 to 90 percent of wildfires are human-caused — sparked by vehicles, discarded cigarettes, campfires or power equipment. Areas with higher human traffic and vehicles experience a much higher concentration of fire starts.
Washington lands commissioner pleads for alternatives to logging (Capital Press)
Washington Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said his department may have to log more mature forests unless it gets permission to try to make money by not cutting trees. Upthegrove acknowledged at a press conference Sept. 24 that his campaign pledge to conserve 77,000 acres of timberland in Western Washington was unrealistic under current laws. It’s unrealistic because timber sales fund the Department of Natural Resources. DNR is losing money and may have to log those acres unless it gets permission to lease forests for conservation and market trees as a way to store carbon and fight climate change, Upthegrove said. He called his 77,000-acre pledge a “false start.” “As we tried to make the numbers work, I’ve been incredibly frustrated and deeply disappointed that reality couldn’t yet meet my vision,” he said.
With tax receipts flat, budget hurdles remain for Washington state leaders (Nisqually Valley News)
The latest forecast of state tax collections released Friday did nothing to brighten Washington’s budget outlook. But it does predict the state’s new income tax will gross hundreds of millions of dollars more than prior projections — if it survives challenges on the ballot and in court. Friday’s forecast shows tax receipts up $22 million for the current budget that ends June 30, 2027, and $430 million higher in the next biennial spending cycle, compared to estimates the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council adopted in June. That’s not enough to erase a several hundred-million-dollar-deficit in the 2028 fiscal year that begins next July or make a dent in the anticipated multibillion-dollar shortfall in the next budget.
Fitzwilliams pleads for bipartisan vision for managing the nation’s public lands (Vail Daily)
In the midst of a record-low snow year and ongoing and brutal drought, former White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams saw the federal agencies that oversee vast swaths of publicly owned land in Colorado decimated by arbitrary and capricious staff cuts in 2025. “Instead of making our communities more safe and our resources more protected, we created instability and fear,” Fitzwilliams told a crowd at the EagleVail Pavilion gathered for the annual Eagle County Democrats fundraiser. “We lost five firefighters in western Colorado and 12, I think, across the country. And it was the ill-thought-out and draconian changes that we’ve seen in the last 21 months that make us less safe.” One of two keynote speakers Saturday afternoon, Fitzwilliams was never particularly political, but after taking early retirement in the face of massive Trump administration staffing cuts in 2025, the 34-year U.S. Forest Service veteran vowed to keep fighting for the uniquely American and largely bipartisan concept of protecting and conserving millions of acres of public lands.
Smoke ecology studies what can be done to prevent harms from wildfire smoke (NPR)
Listen: A new field of study called “smoke ecology” strives to understand the smoke blowing off wildfires, and whether anything can be done to protect the environment’s inhabitants from it.
Commentary: Not every loss from the Hermit’s Peak Fire fits on a receipt (NM Political Report)
FEMA has spent years arguing that the law Congress passed to compensate Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon (HPCC) Fire victims only covers losses with a price tag, for example a home, a fence, a business, or a medical bill. Everything else, in FEMA’s reading, doesn’t count. That distinction matters more than it sounds. Somebody forced from their home for months, watching their community come apart, spending a year not knowing where they’d sleep next, walks away with nothing under FEMA’s interpretation, no matter how real the loss was. Congress wrote a law meant to cover what people lived through, not just lumber, adobe bricks, and trees. FEMA narrowed that on its own.
Why West Virginia manages wildlife inside a federal national forest (West Virginia Explorer)
Much of the wildlife habitat inside West Virginia’s largest national forest isn’t managed by the federal government alone. For generations, biologists with the W.Va. Division of Natural Resources have worked alongside the U.S. Forest Service to manage trout streams, wildlife habitat, and sensitive species across the Monongahela National Forest. The two agencies have now renewed the agreement governing that cooperation, substantially updating a document that had not undergone a major revision since the 1980s. The bureaucratic-sounding agreement has practical consequences across some of West Virginia’s best-known public lands. Ten state wildlife management areas lie within the Monongahela, and state fisheries officials estimate that approximately 90 percent of West Virginia’s trout streams are within the forest.
Wisconsin Forest Products Industry Navigates Challenging Market Conditions (WI DNR Forestry News)
Wisconsin’s forest products industry continues to navigate a challenging market environment as mills, loggers and other industry partners respond to changing demand, limited pulpwood markets and broader economic uncertainty. The Wisconsin DNR Forest Products Services team regularly connects with forest industry partners throughout the state to better understand regional and statewide market conditions. Recent conversations indicate that while portions of the industry remain stable, pressure continues across several key markets.
Trump Lines Up China Tariff Relief for Logs as Lawmakers Want Lumber Too (Wood Central)
American log exporters could get cheaper entry to China, with Washington and Beijing agreeing to recommend lower tariffs on US$30 billion of goods each way and the White House placing logs and wood products on the American list. That is according to a White House fact sheet released on Friday, at the end of a three-day state visit in which President Donald Trump hosted President Xi Jinping.
The High Cost of Hauling (Biomass Magazine)
Fueled by supply chain interruptions due to war in the Middle East, diesel prices have reached historic highs in 2026, driving up operating costs across many industries and hiking prices for consumer goods. With narrow margins and significant volumes of feedstock to transport, biomass-to-energy facilities and wood pellet producers face a challenging financial equation. In August 2026, average U.S. diesel prices stood at $5.37 per gallon, according to AAA’s fuel price tracker. Supply chain disruptions due to conflict in the Middle East jumped significantly in 2026. U.S. Energy Information Association data has tracked this trend as diesel prices climbed from an average of $3.52 per gallon in January to $4.91 in March. Since then, prices spiked to $5.60 on average in May, rising to a crushing $6.31 national average by mid-September—an all-time record in the United States.
Timberlab gives salvaged glulam a new role in mass timber interiors (Woodworking)
Exposed steel can create a visual break in buildings designed around the warmth and appearance of mass timber. Timberlab is addressing that challenge with a finish panel made from salvaged glulam. Resolve GLT is designed to wrap structural steel columns, beams and stair assemblies, giving non-timber elements a finish that visually integrates with surrounding mass timber. The panels are made from salvaged glulam, allowing reclaimed and nonstructural material to be used again in the built environment. The product is intended for both new hybrid mass timber construction and renovations or tenant improvements where existing structural steel remains in place. Rather than modifying or replacing the underlying steel, Resolve GLT provides a finish layer that can create a more continuous wood appearance throughout an interior.
Greif to Exit CRB Business, Close Sweetwater Paperboard Mill (Globe Newswire)
Greif, Inc., a global leader in performance packaging products and services, announced today it will exit the coated recycled paperboard (CRB) market with the closure of its Sweetwater paperboard mill in Austell, Georgia. The mill is expected to cease operations by the end of the calendar year. The decision is part of Greif’s broader strategy to focus its resources on businesses and assets where the company has a leading market position and a clear path to long-term value creation. Approximately 90 colleagues will be affected by the closure. Greif will provide severance benefits, career transition resources, and other support to help affected colleagues navigate the transition.
25 years ablaze: SIU’s ‘Fire Dawgs’ inspires land management careers (Capitol City Now)
On a clear spring morning in southern Illinois, a group of students stands at the edge of the woods near Lake Murphysboro in rural Jackson County. They wear bright yellow fire-resistant shirts, green pants, heavy boots and helmets. Each person carries a tool — a hoe, shovel or drip torch. Everything is calm for now. But that’s about to change. The group walks nearly a mile into the woods before reaching a burn site. Once there, they start clearing sticks and debris from the ground. They listen carefully to the directions called out by their experienced leader, Charles Ruffner, a professor with the Southern Illinois University Carbondale School of Forestry and Horticulture. Ruffner also oversees the Fire Dawgs, a campus club that provides both hands-on experience and a community service for students interested in land management careers.
Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities
Supporting active, multiple-use management of federal forest lands
