February 3, 2012
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SAF Biomass Report Receives More Press
E-Forester Archives? More than a few folks have asked if The E-Forester is archived on the SAF website. It is not, primarily because links to news articles change quickly. However, if you're looking for something from a past issue, contact me and I'll do my best to get you what you need.
I. Featured News
1. National Forests in Alaska, California, Idaho, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico Selected as First to Implement a New Planning Rule
2. City of St. Paul to Remove 500 More Ash Trees in Ash Borer War
3. Alaska Natural Resources Chief Wants Mission Statement Change
4. Historic Thinning Plan Could Save Rim Country
5. Wildfire Season Could Be as Bad as Last Year
Federal Lands Management
6. Forest Service Streamlines Appeal Process; Critics Object
7. Pine Beetle Epidemic Slows in Rocky Mountain Region
8. Ex-Foes Aim for Common Ground on Idaho Forests
Forest Products Industry
9. UPM to Sell Paper Packaging Unit for $170 Million
10. Forestry: Industry 'Survivors' See Profits Ahead
11. Biomass News
II. Publications, Resources, and Items of Interest
1. News from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative
2. REDD: The Amazon's Carbon Cowboys
3. Forest Service Restoring Popular Trail in Sequoia National Forest with Boardwalk
III. Science and Technology
1. Better Forest Data Lends Confidence to Carbon Markets
2. Effort to Establish Blight-Free American Chestnut Tree Switches Gears
3. Climate Change Drying Out Forests in Western Canada
IV. SAF News
1. SAF Symposium: Examining the Effects of Responsible Forest Management on Watershed Health
2. 2012 National Awards
3. Allegheny SAF Winter Meeting
4. ATFS, SAF, and ACF "Partner for Better Forests"-and Help Foresters in the Process
I. Featured News
All of these items and more appear in the "Featured News" section on the SAF home page
1. National Forests in Alaska, California, Idaho, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico Selected as First to Implement a New Planning Rule
US Forest Service (February 1) - The US Forest Service has announced eight national forests that will be the first to revise their land management plans using a new National Forest System Planning Rule, after it is finalized in the months ahead.
The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest in Idaho; the Chugach National Forest in Alaska; the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico; the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico; and California's Inyo, Sequoia, and Sierra National Forests will begin revising their plans shortly after a final rule is selected.
This announcement follows Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's release last week of the agency's intended course of action for finalizing a planning rule, included as the "preferred alternative" in the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule.
2. City of St. Paul to Remove 500 More Ash Trees in Ash Borer War
TwinCities.com (February 2) - St. Paul Parks and Recreation plans to remove aged and declining ash trees this month from about two dozen streets to get ahead of the emerald ash borer, a tree-killing beetle making itself at home in two St. Paul neighborhoods.
The goal is to remove 503 ash trees by spring and replace them with elm, maple, oak, linden, hackberry, or river birch saplings.
An additional 500 to 600 trees likely will be removed in the fall, after the beetle's summer flight season, though those plans could change if the metallic-green insect surfaces in yet another St. Paul neighborhood this year.
3. Alaska Natural Resources Chief Wants Mission Statement Change
News-Tribune (Washington State, January 30) - The commissioner of the state's Department of Natural Resources wants to change the agency's mission statement, and the proposed change is not sitting well with at least one lawmaker and conservation groups who are worried about a pro-development bent.
4. Historic Thinning Plan Could Save Rim Country
Payson Roundup (January 31) - At least 2,000 acres in Rim Country will be included in the first, historic 10-year contract with a new generation of loggers to protect forested communities through massive thinning projects, a Forest Service team told top elected officials in Payson last week.
Loggers will thin two huge tracts of overgrown forest along the Control Road between Tonto Village and Whispering Pines as part of the 4-Forests Restoration Initiative, which ultimately hopes to thin 2.5 million acres in four national forests.
5. Wildfire Season Could Be as Bad as Last Year
KRQE.com (January 30) - Fire officials say this year's wildfire season could be just as bad as last year, which was one of the most intense fire seasons New Mexico has ever seen.
At a recent press conference, Bernalillo County Fire Chief John Garcia warned of the fire danger in the Sandia Mountains and county officials talked about how they are preparing for a difficult fire season this year, saying now is the time to get ready.
Federal Lands Management
6. Forest Service Streamlines Appeal Process; Critics Object
Missoulian (January 29) - A recent change in Forest Service decisionmaking requires project opponents to argue their points much earlier in the process.
Proponents of the change expect better, faster decisions on logging sales, special use permits, and other activities on national forests. Critics fear it limits people's ability to block bad decisions.
7. Pine Beetle Epidemic Slows in Rocky Mountain Region
International Business Times.com (February 1) - An epidemic that has been slowly eating away at the Rocky Mountain pine tree population appears to be slowing in some areas, according to the latest aerial survey.
The joint, federal-state survey, which measured pine beetle infestation in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, found declining levels of infestation, especially in Colorado and southern Wyoming. In those two states, the ones most affected by the infestation, the number of acres of infected or felled trees dropped by 127,000 since 2010. To date, Colorado has 3.3 million affected acres.
8. Ex-Foes Aim for Common Ground on Idaho Forests
Idaho Statesman (January 31) - The easy work for former adversaries in the Idaho timber wars was to start talking and develop trust. Now those environmentalists, foresters, and loggers are testing the strong relationships through collaborations in places like the Clearwater-Nez Perce National Forest. The Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership is tackling the hard issues about how much timber can be cut and thinned to restore healthy forests, and how that will be paid for.
Forest Products Industry
9. UPM to Sell Paper Packaging Unit for $170 Million
Reuters (February 1) - Finnish paper maker UPM-Kymmene is selling its paper packaging business to Sweden's Billerud for 130 million euros ($170 million) as part of its drive to cut capacity and improve profitability.
UPM has closed about 14 percent of its paper capacity since 2005, making it one of the leaders of restructuring efforts as the industry battles a decline in demand.
10. Forestry: Industry 'Survivors' See Profits Ahead
Montreal Gazette (February 1) - After a decade of mill closings and the loss of about 100,000 jobs, Canada's forestry sector is getting back on its feet, and recent industrial outlook reports from the Conference Board of Canada support that view.
SAF's "Managing Forests because Carbon Matters" Study Receives More Press
Biomass Magazine (January 25) - A study by a group of forest scientists confirms forest-derived bioenergy results in no net carbon release.
Southeast Energy Challenges Lead to Interest in Biomass
Juneau Empire (January 27) - According to a draft of the recently released Southeast Alaska Integrated Resource Plan (SEIRP), while Southeast might have plenty of water to generate hydroelectricity, it is running short of ways to store it.
To get around the problem, the SEIRP has proposed a vigorous biomass conversion program and proponents of biomass cite the energy source's stable pricing and low volatility as good reasons to convert.
Auditing Agencies Now Accredited for PFI Standards Program
Biomass Power and Thermal (January 31) - The Pellet Fuels Institute's densified biomass fuel standards program may not be fully unveiled for several months, but PFI has completed accreditation of 10 auditing agencies and two laboratories.
The accredited testing facilities will now provide services to qualify biomass fuel production facilities with appropriate labeling for pellets based on PFI's standard parameters that include ash content levels, durability, fines, size, moisture content, and others.
Renewable Energy Projects on Tribal Lands: A Growing Trend
Environmental Leader.com (January 24) - Tribal communities in the Southwestern United States are making renewable energy development on tribal lands a reality. Studies have found that tribal lands nationwide have the potential for producing up to 10 percent of the United States' renewable energy.
II. Publications, Resources, and Items of Interest
1. News from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative
SFI Seeks Proposals for Conservation Partnerships Grant Program
SFI - The Sustainable Forestry Initiative has announced the 2012 Request for Proposals (RFP) for the SFI® Inc. Conservation Partnerships Grant Program, open February 1-March 14, 2012.
In 2012, SFI's conservation grants focus centers around the theme of water resources. SFI has up to $85,000 to support conservation partnerships that illustrate or inform the role of the SFI standard in supporting water resources. Projects must illustrate the role of SFI standard requirements in protecting water quality and quantity, such as building on the vast knowledge of the effectiveness of best management practices for water quality (BMPs) and how the SFI standard supports the implementation of BMPs.
For more information, visit the SFI website.
SFI and McGraw-Hill Launch Continuing Education Unit for Architects and Builders
SFI - Architects and builders can learn more about the benefits of using certified wood in green building thanks to a Continuing Education Unit (CEU) sponsored by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) program. It also demonstrates how government agencies support an inclusive approach to certification and how even LEED Pilot Credit 43 offers an opportunity for SFI-certified wood.
The unit-Certified Wood Branches Out: Forest Certification's Evolving Role in Green Building Rating Systems-is featured in the January-February 2012 issue of GreenSource Magazine, which is published by McGraw-Hill and goes to 45,000 green design and construction professionals.
2. REDD: The Amazon's Carbon Cowboys
Global Post.com (February 1) - For many impoverished rainforest communities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, REDD-the effort to reduce carbon emissions by preventing deforestation-promises a rare shot at economic development. For others, it threatens to become yet another resource grab.
3. Forest Service Restoring Popular Trail in Sequoia National Forest with Boardwalk
Visalia Times-Delta (California, January 27) - It has taken almost half a year, but the National Forest Service has decided to use a boardwalk to restore a popular path taken out of commission by the fall of two giant sequoia trees last September.
The Forest Service went through a lengthy public consultation process to determine what to do about the ruined portion of about 100 feet of trail within the Trail of 100 Giants in a Sequoia National Forest grove east of Porterville.
To read an opinion-editorial by Forestry Source Editor Steve Wilent on this matter, see the publication's February 2012 issue.
III. Science and Technology
1. Better Forest Data Lends Confidence to Carbon Markets
Forbes (January 31) - A study published in Nature Climate Change estimated that tropical forests in the Americas store around 118 billion tons of carbon, a fifth more than indicated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations' 2010 Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) study.
Based on the new data, some researchers believe that current models, such as a 2010 study in Nature Geoscience, may overestimate the net flux of carbon into the atmosphere due to tropical vegetation loss by 11 to 12 percent.
2. Effort to Establish Blight-Free American Chestnut Tree Switches Gears
Penn State (January 27) - The three-decades-old initiative to restore American chestnut trees back into forests in the eastern United States has entered a new phase, according to an expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
According to Sara Fitzsimmons, northcentral region science coordinator for the American Chestnut Foundation and a research support technologist in Penn State's School of Forest Resources, the primary focus of the project has transitioned from cross-breeding to testing and reintroduction into forests.
3. Climate Change Drying Out Forests in Western Canada
The Canadian Press (January 30) - Research shows northern forests in the three prairie provinces are drying up and shrinking from drought caused by climate change, while the eastern boreal forest is holding its own.
According to a new study, the forests of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are already emitting more greenhouse gases than they absorb.
The finding could overturn assumptions that global warming would improve growing conditions for trees in the North.
IV. SAF News
1. SAF Symposium: Examining the Effects of Responsible Forest Management on Watershed Health
SAF will hold a symposium on the relationship between forest management and water quality on February 17 at the Capitol Visitor Center, Room SVC 210-212 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. The event's featured speaker will be the Honorable Benjamin H. Grumbles, president of Clean Water America Alliance, and there will also be administrative, legal, and scientific panels discussing the connections between forest management and the Clean Water Act.
Participants are asked to RSVP by February 10, 2012. For more information, the symposium agenda, or to register, please contact the SAF Policy Department at (866) 897-8720, ext. 113.
The deadline to submit nominations for the 2012 National Awards is February 28. Awards criteria and nomination forms are available on the SAF website.
3. Allegheny SAF Winter Meeting
Want to know what your colleagues have been reading? Below are the top most downloaded articles from each of SAF's scientific journal publications for the month of November.
The New Jersey Division of the Allegheny SAF invites you to attend the Allegheny SAF Winter Meeting to be held at the Holiday Inn Select in Clinton, New Jersey, on February 15-17. The theme of the meeting is "21st Century Challenges to Our Forests and Our Profession" and pertinent management, social and political, and economic issues will be addressed by a range of speakers. Eight SAF CFE Category 1 credits are available.
For more information or to register, contact Elizabeth Faircloth.
4. ATFS, SAF, and ACF "Partner for Better Forests"-and Help Foresters in the Process
The "Partners for Better Forests" initiative, a collaborative effort among the American Tree Farm System, the Society of American Foresters, and the Association of Consulting Foresters (ACF), aims to increase the number of engaged inspectors across the United States to provide landowners with the tools they need for on-the-ground support, and promote better forest stewardship.
Because members of ACF and SAF have traditionally been those who have volunteered their time to work as Tree Farm inspectors and committee members, Partners for Better Forests is rewarding participating foresters with membership dues support to their respective professional association.
In return for completing two reinspections or two initial inspections, the program will give foresters $100 to be applied toward the annual dues of ACF or SAF. The money will be paid directly to SAF or ACF and will result in a $100 dues reduction for the member forester.
For more information, visit the SAF website.
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P: 301.897.8720 - toll free: 866.897.8720 - Email: safweb@safnet.org - Contact Us