Region Archives: United States

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) is seeking feedback on a public lands project that would furnish permanent protections on nearly 33,000 acres of private timberland in northwest Montana while precluding development on a patchwork of forestland surrounding the Thompson Chain of Lakes between Kalispell and Libby. …FWP is working with The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Green Diamond Resource Company to identify funding sources for the potential easement. …Under the terms of the easement, which provide for public recreation access and the preservation of wildlife habitat, Green Diamond would retain ownership of the land under an easement owned by FWP. The easement would allow Green Diamond to sustainably harvest wood products from its timberlands. It is the first of a potential two-phased project totaling 85,792 acres of private timberland. …“Green Diamond has essentially offered to donate 35% of the value of this easement,” Dillon Tabish said.

Two aerial firefighting jets, including one based in Missoula, have been grounded because of corrosion apparently caused by a new fire retardant the U.S. Forest Service approved for use beginning last year. Two large air tankers — passenger jets converted to carry 3,000 gallons of retardant each — used a magnesium chloride fire retardant product while fighting wildfires last year. Both are grounded pending a joint investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Forest Service. The magnesium chloride retardant was in limited use last fire season, loaded into the two large air tankers and some smaller, single-engine aircraft also in Montana. After the discovery this winter of corrosion in areas of tankers where the retardant accumulated, the Forest Service decided not to use it this year. Instead, the agency will continue its widespread use of ammonium phosphate fire retardant that has been the go-to retardant nationwide for years. 

In a monumental move within the timber industry, Rayonier Inc. has set the stage for a most significant timberland transactions in recent history. The Clallam Tree Farm, a property in the heart of the Pacific Northwest’s Olympic Peninsula, is now up for sale. The Clallam Tree Farm spans 115,250 acres of forestland. The property is located within the Douglas-fir region of the upper-west Olympic Peninsula. With nine miles of the North Fork of the Calawah River meandering through its expanse and neighboring the Olympic National Forest, this property stands as a testament to managed forestry. Rayonier’s decision to put the Clallam Tree Farm on the market marks the first time this property has been available for acquisition since the 1940s. With nearly eight decades of stewardship, the property is a legacy of sustainable forest management. …Their website invites prospective buyers to participate in a single-stage, sealed-bid process, with bids due on June 6, 2024. 

Josh Becker

Insurers in California have sounded the alarm: A warming climate has dramatically raised the risk of devastating wildfires, and with it the cost of providing coverage. But those insurance companies should credit the state and homeowners for the work done to reduce our vulnerability to wildfires, says State Sen. Josh Becker (D), who has introduced a bill that would require insurers require insurers to consider the state’s efforts to thin flammable brush and trees as well as property owners’ steps to make their homes more fire resistant, such as covering vents and clearing vegetation. Those efforts would need to be incorporated into their risk modeling to determine coverage decisions and costs. …The American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said the bill “has several complicating factors to consider.” …Becker said the proposed law wouldn’t mandate any particular discount or result, only for insurers to account for wildfire risk reduction efforts. 

Colorado can expect a normal wildfire season this year, very similar to last, as the state flexes enhanced firefighting practices in the wake of devastating fires. The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) outlined the state wildfire preparedness plan to Gov. Jared Polis during a press conference on Wednesday. …Behind the speakers stood the newest addition to Colorado’s air tanker fleet, a brand-new S-70 Firehawk. Based on the military Blackhawk helicopter, the Firehawk is classified as a type I helicopter air tanker, meaning it is the largest and fastest type of firefighting helicopter. The Firehawk can carry 1,000 gallons of water or fire retardant. …The state of Colorado paid $2.3 million last year for pilots and mechanics for the helicopter, even as it sat in a hanger unused. After purchasing the $24 million whirlybird in 2021, it generated so much excitement in the legislature, they earmarked an additional $26 million for a second

Nich Smith

The Western timber industry is in crisis. The region has lost over a half-dozen wood processing facilities so far in 2024, and more will likely close. This is not just another economic blow to our rural communities; it signals a broader failure of the federal government to align the management of public lands with the health of our forests and wood products sector. Despite billions of dollars in new government spending, and strong bipartisan support in Congress for forest management, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are paralyzed by anti-forestry litigation, obstruction and bureaucratic red tape… which not only prevent efforts to reduce wildfire risks, they depress regional timber supplies that industry depends. …The administration and Congress should ensure that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management work in partnership with industry to help meet these pressing economic and environmental challenges.

Kendall Cotton

Just in time for Earth Day on April 22, Gov. Greg Gianforte recently announced the state has placed over 36,000 acres of Montana forest land under active forest management in 2023, nearly triple the total acres actively managed in 2020. More active forest management is great news for those who love Montana’s “clean and healthful” environment and want to improve the global climate. It’s unfortunate when the average person thinks about the front lines of environmental conservation and addressing climate change, they are probably far more likely to picture an activist like Greta Thunberg tweeting out pictures of protests from her iPhone than a Montana logger hard at work out in the woods….Wildfires send billions of tons of emissions into the atmosphere when they burn every year. …Healthy, actively managed forests are robust carbon sinks that sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Diana Tomback

Dorena Genetic Resource Center near Cottage Grove, Ore., scientists are collecting whitebark pine cones, growing seedlings, examining them for resilience to disease and then gathering cones from the strongest survivors. Those select seeds are then used to grow hundreds of thousands of baby trees in nurseries and plant them across the West. …Whitebark pine trees …stretches across 80 million acres in seven western states and two Canadian provinces. Now, one of the West’s few tree species able to survive on cold, windy ridgetops and steep slopes at alpine and subalpine elevations is in serious trouble. A blister rust, a nonnative fungus has become an existential threat to the pines, says Diana Tomback, one of the foremost researchers of the unique relationship between whitebark pines and Clark’s nutcracker. …Tomback says work on the National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan started in 2016 — six years before the tree was listed as threatened.