Region Archives: United States

A second round of funding through the USDA Forest Service’s Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program will support communities across Alaska through grants for creating Community Wildfire Protection Plans, planning efforts, or implementation totaling $3,759,337. Communities received priority for this program if they are a low-income area, recently impacted by disaster, or in a wildfire hazard location. “To support additional wildland fire mitigation in at-risk communities, the State of Alaska opted in to the CDWG program to allow local applicants the maximum resources and assistance from the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection,” said Norm McDonald, Deputy Director of Fire Protection. “The program aims to help communities effectively deal with wildfire risk and the division encourages eligible communities and organizations to take advantage of this funding opportunity and apply throughout the five-year program.”  

Federal courts recently upheld the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument on the border of Oregon and California. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is working on a plan for that monument’s future, inviting the public to learn more about the management options. The monument located on the border of Oregon and California was first in 2000 and expanded in 2017. Timber companies challenged that expansion, arguing the president didn’t have the power to designate a monument on Oregon and California railroad lands originally set aside for logging. In March, a federal appeals court upheld the expansion. …The BLM’s preferred plan, labeled “moderate active management,” emphasizes flexibility, according to the agency. That option would reduce the amount of land managed for recreation from 9,859 acres to 431 acres. It would also decrease the area where wildfire fuels reduction is prioritized from 29,600 acres to 10,944 acres, with a focus on land .25 miles from at-risk communities.

YAKIMA, Washington – Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small announced $250 million to help at-risk communities protect their homes, businesses and infrastructure from catastrophic wildfire, made worse by the climate crisis, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The Community Wildfire Defense Grant program will fund 158 projects to help communities in 31 States, two Territories and 11 Tribes develop community wildfire protection plans and remove overgrown vegetation that can fuel fires that threaten lives, livelihoods, and resources. …Now in its second year, the program helps communities in the wildland-urban interface maintain resilient landscapes, create fire-adapted communities, and ensure safe, effective wildfire response — all goals of the unifying National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and aligned with the objectives of the National Climate Resilience Framework.

YAKIMA, Washington – Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small announced that the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is investing nearly $74 million to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy from sustainably sourced wood, and increase the capacity of wood processing facilities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. …these investments fund 171 project proposals across 41 States and American Samoa, and directly support forest health and the wood products economy. …The Forest Service is awarding grants to entities across the public, private, and non-profit sectors through its Wood Innovations Grant, Community Wood Grant, and Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance Grant Programs. …Funded proposals include converting heating systems in schools to sustainable biomass boilers, installing cutting-edge equipment in sawmills and processing facilities to increase efficiency, supporting innovative housing using mass timber, and more.

NEWBERG, Ore. — Following the destructive wildfires in 2020, state officials started looking to plant new trees to replace those that burned. Now the Oregon Department of Forestry has turned to an expert to make sure those new trees have the best chance of survival. Workers at the Oregon Department of Forestry spend a lot of their time keeping Oregon green, and one place they spend much of that time is at J.E. Schroeder Orchard in Saint Paul. ODF manages the property, but you could say Kevin Barnes is a key figure in making sure our forests continue to grow. He’s a grafting specialist and makes sure the trees in the orchard will be able to produce seeds for replanting in forests both in Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest.

PORTLAND, Oregon — The Oregon Department of Forestry says it is not sending crews to help with fires burning in western Canada. Dozens of fires in British Columbia and Alberta are labeled “out of control.” …While we haven’t seen any major fires in the Pacific Northwest, that could change in an instant, officials say. The Oregon Department of Forestry wants to make sure we’re ready when it happens. They are building a vision for Oregon’s forests. Right now, the Oregon Board of Forestry and the Department of Forestry are working together to put together a strategy to protect the state’s forests and the people who rely on them. …The plan includes funding wildfire resources, expanding the use of prescribed burns, and teaching more people about wildfire safety and prevention. The plan could be adopted in June, before heading to Governor Kotek’s desk.

ARIZONA — According to a release from the Coconino National Forest, Wolf Fire operations have resulted in the treatment of roughly 10,000 acres of land following a late April lightning strike on the Coconino National Forest’s Mogollon Rim Ranger District. Fire managers spent roughly one week conducting firing operations to reduce dead vegetation and hazardous fuels, restore critical nearby watersheds, improve wildlife habitat and lessen the future risk of catastrophic wildfire in the Clints Well area. Firing operations wrapped up in advance of predicted rains for Tuesday and Wednesday. The Northern Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team, which has been managing the Wolf Fire since April 6, plans to transition management of the fire back to the Coconino National Forest on Wednesday.

A large logging project ended in an unusual way for many lawsuits involving logging, endangered species and federal agencies: It settled without years of litigation. Late last year, two conservation groups, Native Ecosystems Council and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed suit to halt a large logging project near Townsend, known as the “Middleman Project,” that they said hurt elk, grizzly bear and Canada lynx, the latter two of which are classified by the federal government as endangered species. …The project was originally slated as a 20-year project in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest and the Big Belt Mountain Range. …As part of the agreement, the Forest Service can continue with the “associated activities” in the Crouching Trout Timber sale. The service also agrees to limit prescribed burning to the “inventoried wilderness areas” of no more than 25% of any area.

Tina Kotek

Gov. Tina Kotek abruptly pulled back this week on a pair of nominations to the board that oversees Oregon forest policy, after blowback from environmental groups over one of her picks. Kotek had planned to tap two men for the state Board of Forestry who have often been on opposite sides of debates over how much of Oregon’s forests should be open to logging. One was Bob Van Dyk, a conservationist who formerly spent a dozen years with the Portland-based Wild Salmon Center. The other: Heath Curtiss, vice president of government affairs for Hampton Lumber. The dual appointment would have left the balance unchanged on a seven-member board that is closely scrutinized for where its volunteer members stand on forest issues. …The reason appears tied to a letter eight environmental groups sent to Kotek’s office on Tuesday, railing against the selection of Curtiss for the board.