Newsletters

October 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Government shutdown
    • Hearing on Public Lands Bills Postponed
    • SPEED Act
  • Greg Hibbard joins AFRC as Staff Attorney
  • Forest Service Fiscal Year Wrap-up
  • BLM End-of-Year Wrap Up
  • AFRC and Calforests Submit Joint Comments Urging Rescission of Roadless Rule
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 49: Amanda Kaster & Montana’s Historic Stewardship Agreement
  • Fremont-Winema Continues to Leverage G-Z Contracting
  • AFRC Presents at REAL Montana
  • Poised to Produce: Plumas National Forest’s Push for Resilience

September 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Congress returns to consider spending, forest policy
    • Trump appointees await confirmation
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 48: Fuel Treatments: Smart Investments, Healthy Forests
  • Executive Orders Spur Growth of Landscape-Scale Forest Management
  • USDA Takes Next Steps to Rescind the 2021 Roadless Rule
  • AFRC Submits Comments on USDA Reorganization Plan
  • Upthegrove Announces Proposal to Set aside 77,000 Acres
  • AFRC Defends the Forest Service’s Restoration Categorical Exclusion in Federal Court
  • Ninth Circuit Upholds the BLM’s Big Weekly Project
  • Fish and Wildlife Service Determines Fisher Not Warranted for Listing Under ESA
  • Clackamas Stewardship Partners Tour Mt. Hood National Forest
  • Forest Service Seeks Input on Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision

August 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Appropriations
    • Trump Appointees
    • Reconciliation Bill Implementation
    • Permitting reform
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 47: Rescinding the Roadless Rule- Myth vs. Reality
  • USDA, Forest Service Announce Major Reorganization, Opens Comment Period
  • AFRC Comments on USDA/DOI Revise NEPA Regulations
  • Judge DeSoto Denies Preliminary Injunction Request Against the Round Star Vegetation Management Project
  • State of Montana and Forest Service Sign Shared Stewardship Agreement
  • Colville Outlines Solid 5-Year Timber Sale Program
  • The Pause Continues – When will WA DNR Bring Timber Sales to Auction?
  • Forest Practices Board Advances Costly Rule Impacting Washington’s Working Forests

July 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update: Senate Passes Reconciliation Bill
  • AFRC Leads National Coalition Letter on Timber Priorities in Reconciliation Bill
  • USDA Moves to Rescind the Roadless Rule
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 46: John Culclasure, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation
  • Trump Administration Unveils Executive Order Aiming to Reshape Federal Wildfire Policy
  • Wood Duck Project Win: Judge Christensen Denies Preliminary Injunction Request
  • AFRC Visits Region 1 to Preview Developing Projects
  • AFRC, Freres Wood Highlight Forest Management Crisis in National Fox News Story
  • DNR Timber Sale Program – FY25 Wrap Up and Look Ahead at FY26

June 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Budget Reconciliation
    • FY26 Budget Request
    • USDA announces $200 million for expanded timber production
    • Tribal Co-Management Gets Bipartisan Support
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 45: U.S. Senator Steve Daines
  • Supreme Court Clarifies Courts’ Role in NEPA in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado
  • Federal Agencies Rescind the Definition of “Harm” under the Endangered Species Act
  • Forest Service Releases National Active Forest Management Strategy
  • Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Adopt Multiple Categorical Exclusions
  • Mitigating Wildfire Growth Utilizing Strategic Landscape Features: Using all Tools in the Toolbox
  • Parties Settle Challenge to BLM’s N126 Late-Successional Reserve Landscape Scale Project
  • AFRC Granted Intervention in Challenge to the Round Star Project
  • DNR Timber Sales Litigation Update
  • AFRC Presents at Sun Mountain Partnership Meeting, Tours Wood Duck Project
  • AFRC Welcomes Taylor Harwood, New Summer Law Clerk

May 2025 Newsletter

  • AFRC Concludes 2025 Annual Meeting, “The Time is Now”
  • Washington, DC Update
    • Reconciliation
    • Senate Fix our Forests Act
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 44: Travis Joseph on Annual Meeting, Trump EO’s and more
  • USDA Secretary Issues Memorandum on Timber Production
  • AFRC Leads Coalition in Challenge to FWS’s Northern Spotted Owl Critical Habitat Designation
  • Services Release Proposed Rule Removing ‘Harm’ from the Definition of Take
  • Ninth Circuit Upholds Condition-based Management for the Twisp Project
  • AFRC Welcomes New Forest Supervisors
  • AFRC Meets with Region 1 Forests
  • Washington Legislature’s Approved Budget Impacts State Trust Lands, Cuts Funding for Forest Health

April 2025 Newsletter

  • Register Now: AFRC Annual Meeting Welcomes Keynote Speaker USFS Associate Chief Chris French
  • Washington, DC Update
    • AFRC submits comments on President Trump’s Executive Orders on timber and lumber production
    • Senate Hearing on Fix Our Forests Act
    • AFRC makes trip to DC.
  • Settlement Reached in Challenge to the Pintler Face Project
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 43: Congressman Cliff Bentz
  • Big Win From Magistrate Judge DeSoto in the Challenge to the South Plateau Project
  • Injunctions Dissolved in the Challenge to End of the World and Hungry Ridge Projects
  • Judge Aiken Issues Two Decisions Involving Challenges to BLM Projects
    • Integrated Vegetation Management for Resilient Lands Project
    • N126 Late-Successional Reserve Landscape Scale Project
  • Survey Aims to Identify Oregon Forestry Workforce Needs
  • Dollar Project Shrinks But Moves Forward

March 2025 Newsletter

  • President Trump Signs Historic Executive Orders on U.S. Timber Production, U.S. Lumber
  • Register Now: AFRC Annual Meeting
  • Washington, DC Update
    • Tom Schultz appointed USFS Chief
    • Kathleen Sgamma appointed BLM Director
    • Forestry Legislation
    • CEQ Withdraws NEPA Regulations
    • Federal Workforce Cuts
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 41: Forestry for the Future, Part 2, Blake Manley
  • Northwest Forest Plan Amendment Comment Period Closing March 17
  • CEQ Releases Interim Final Rule Revising its Implementing NEPA Regulations
  • Recent Oral Arguments and Opinions in the Ninth Circuit
    • Twisp Restoration Project and condition-based management
    • Black Ram Project and unauthorized road use
    • Helena-Lewis & Clark Revised 2021 Forest Plan
  • Favorable Ruling from the Supreme Court Limiting Recovery of Attorney Fees
  • Murphy Company Hosts Rogue River-Siskiyou Staff for Mill Tour
  • Tonata-Trout Project Needs Implementation
  • Understanding Wood Products: AFRC Partners with Industry Expert at Malheur National Forest Meeting
  • Plaintiff Required to Pay a Bond if They Want to Halt the Freedom Timber Sale
  • In Memoriam: Glen Duysen

February 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Trump Transition
    • House Passes Fix our Forests Act
    • Reconciliation
  • Registration Open: AFRC Annual Meeting at Skamania Lodge, April 22-24
  • Fish & Wildlife Service Retains Threatened Status for Grizzly Bear
  • Video: Why it’s Time to Delist the Grizzly Bear
  • Parties Settle in the Challenge to the Bulldog Restoration Project
  • The AFRC Podcast Episode 41: Forestry for the Future, Part 1 Dr. Beth Dodson, University of Montana
  • Okanogan-Wenatchee Restoration Struggles Continue
  • BLM Proposes Implementation of Barred Owl Removal Strategy
  • Washington CPL Upthegrove “Pauses” DNR Timber Sales
  • AFRC in the News

January 2025 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Key Committee Assignments Announced
  • Save the Date: AFRC Annual Meeting Set for April 22-24, 2025
  • The AFRC Podcast: The AFRC Podcast: New government, opportunities for forestry and wood products
  • Northwest Forest Plan Committee Meets in Bellingham, Washington
  • AFRC Successfully Intervenes in the Challenge to BLM’s Blue and Gold Project
  • AFRC Successfully Intervenes in the Challenge to the Forest Service’s Youngs Rock Rigdon Project
  • Fish and Wildlife Service Revises Lynx Critical Habitat
  • AFRC Welcomes Steve Brink to Team AFRC
  • AFRC Attends R-1 Contractor, BLM, and MLA Meetings
  • AFRC in the News