Newsletters

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

December 2024 Newsletter

  • Washington, DC Update
    • Lame Duck Session
    • Committee leadership changes
    • Trump Transition
  • D.C. Circuit Court Holds that CEQ Has No Legal Authority to Issue NEPA Regulations
  • The AFRC Podcast: Dr. Nate Anderson, USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station on forestry and wood products as climate solutions
  • Forest Service Moving Forward to Amend Northwest Forest Plan
  • Malheur National Forest Takes Action Following 120,000-acre Falls Fire
  • AFRC Visits Pintler, Burnt Gold Projects
  • Washington Board of Natural Resources Approves Mature Forest Sales
  • AFRC’s Motion to Intervene Granted in the Challenge to the Central/West Slope Project

November 2024 Newsletter

  • Proposed Sáttítla National Monument Raises Wildfire Risk Concerns in Northern California
  • The AFRC Podcast: Episode 38- Forester/Author Ethan Tapper on How to Love a Forest
  • Tenth Circuit Hears Arguments in Challenges to Two National Monuments
  • Federal Timber Purchaser Committee Meets in Bend Oregon
  • Western Oregon BLM 2024 End-of-Year Summary
  • Lassen National Forest Expands Use of Integrated Resource Stewardship Contracts for Hazard Tree Mitigation
  • BLM Announces Federal Advisory Committee for its Public Lands Rule
  • AFRC Visits Eastern Washington Forests
  • Washington Department of Natural Resources Continues Work on Eastern Washington Sustainable Harvest Calculation

October 2024 Newsletter

  • Washington DC Update
    • Fix Our Forests Act
    • Continuing Resolution
    • Upcoming Lame Duck Session
    • Forest Service Budget Woes
  • The AFRC Podcast: Episode 37- Understanding the impacts of NEPA litigation
  • Northwest Forest Plan Amendment DEIS Now Expected in November
  • AFRC Submits Comments on National Old-Growth Amendment DEIS
  • Ninth Circuit Upholds Three Forest Health Projects on the Fremont-Winema National Forest
  • The Gold Butterfly Saga—Why Changes to NEPA are Needed
  • Forest Service Fiscal Year 2024 Wrap-up
  • BLM Achieves Minimum ASQ for FY 2024
  • AFRC Files Amicus Curiae Brief in Seminal Tree Fall Liability Case in Washington
  • Washington Court of Appeals Denies Request to Stay Freedom Timber Sale
  • Nick Smith Receives 2024 W.D. Hagenstein Communicator Award

September 2024 Newsletter

  • Northwest Forest Plan Amendment DEIS Pushed to October
  • Washington Primary Election Results
  • The AFRC Podcast: Episode 36- Explaining the Barred Owl Strategy
  • Updates on BLM’s Public Lands Rule—Committee, Litigation, and Guidance
  • AFRC Files Amicus Brief in Support of the Twisp Project and Condition-Based Management
  • Lonerock Fire on Umatilla National Forest Destroys Thousands of Acres of Forests, Wildlife Habitat, Riparian Areas
  • Kootenai Program Getting Back on Track
  • Middle Fork Ranger District Pre-Solicitation Meeting for Upcoming Roadside Hazard Removal Project

August 2024 Newsletter

  • Washington DC Update
    • Appropriations
    • Permitting legislation
  • 6th Emerging Leaders Program, Sept 12-13, Springfield
  • The AFRC Podcast: Travis Joseph on finding consensus to modernize the Northwest Forest Plan
  • Report: Pacific Northwest Anti-Forestry Groups Dominate NEPA Litigation Nationwide
  • U.S. Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Deference and Redefines When the Statute of Limitations to Bring Actions under the Administrative Procedures Act Begins
  • Fish and Wildlife Service Finalizes Barred Owl Removal Strategy
  • Favorable Decision on the Pintler Face Project Permits Harvest Activities to Proceed
  • Favorable Ruling on the Freedom Timber Sale Amidst Sweeping Challenges to DNR’s Timber Program
  • AFRC and National Coalition Challenge BLM’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
  • AFRC Visits Eastern Washington Forests

July 2024 Newsletter

  • Washington DC Update
    • Fix our Forests Act
    • Wyden’s River Democracy Act
    • Congressional reaction to Biden Administration Old Growth Rule
  • 6th Emerging Leaders Program, Sept 12-13, Springfield
  • The AFRC Podcast: Blending Indigenous knowledge and western science in forest management
  • Forest Service Releases Draft EIS for Old Growth Amendments
  • U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case to Properly Interpret the Scope of NEPA
  • Montana Court Hears Argument on Alliance for the Wild Rockies’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction on the Pintler Face Project
  • Judge Christensen Remands the Horsefly Project Back to the Forest Service
  • AFRC Successfully Intervenes in Two Separate Challenges to DNR Timber Sales
    • Carrot Timber Sale
    • Freedom Timber Sale
  • AFRC Visits Key Region 1 Projects During Summer Field Trips
  • In Memoriam: Karl Bialkowsky

June 2024 Newsletter

  • Washington DC Update
    • Farm Bill
    • Committee Hearings
  • 6th Emerging Leaders Program, Sept 12-13, Springfield
  • The AFRC Podcast: U.S. Forest Service Invests in Wood Innovation
  • Research Assesses Constraints on Mechanical Treatment to Reduce Wildfire Threat
  • The Council on Environmental Quality Finalizes NEPA Phase 2 Revisions
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Finalizes Critical Habitat for Coastal Marten
  • Magistrate Judge Clarke Rules in Favor of KS Wild Plaintiffs’ Challenge to BLM’s Integrated Vegetation Management for Resilient Lands Project
  • Montana Magistrate Judge Grants Sun Mountain Lumber and Iron Pine’s Intervention Request in the Challenge to the Pintler Face Project
  • Milestones Reached on the Okanogan-Wenatchee Forest
  • Middlefork Ranger District Hosts Youngs Rock Rigdon Field Trip
  • AFRC’s Legal Team Presents at Sun Mountain’s Partnership Meeting
  • AFRC Welcomes Two Summer Law Clerks

May 2024 Newsletter

  • AFRC Wraps up 2024 Annual Meeting, “The Future of Public Forest Management”
  • Washington DC Update
    • Forest Service Budget Hearings
    • House Natural Resources Hearing on Westerman Forestry Legislation
    • BLM Conservation Rule
    • Mature and Old Growth
  • The AFRC Podcast: NWTF and Tackling the Nation’s Wildfire Crisis
  • BLM Finalizes Conservation and Land Health Rule
  • EPA Report Echoes Concerns with Aging Forests
  • King County Judge’s Decision on Wishbone Timber Sale Takes Problematic View on Climate Change Impacts
  • Thurston County Judge Rules Against AFRC’s Challenge to DNR’s Carbon Project
  • AFRC Members Featured in Rick Dancer Truth About Timber Video Series
  • FWS, NMFS Issue Final Rules Amending the Endangered Species Act’s Implementing Regulations
  • AFRC Meets With Region 1 PODS
  • AFRC and Mountain States Legal Foundation Partner to Combat NEPA Overreach in the U.S. Supreme Court

April 2024 Newsletter

  • Washington DC Update
    • Federal government avoids shutdown
    • Congressional hearings
    • Congress Weighs in on Mature and Old Growth Rule
  • The AFRC Podcast: Why Timber Supply Matters in Public Lands Management
  • Mid-year Federal Timber Program Update
  • The U.S. Supreme Court Denies AFRC’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari on its O&C Act Lands Case
  • The Ninth Circuit Rules in Favor of the Tecuya Ridge Project
  • Medford BLM Moves Ahead on Plan to Treat Douglas-fir Mortality in Southwest Oregon
  • Washington Legislative Recap
  • AFRC Defends the BLM’s N126 Late-Successional Reserve Landscape Scale Project
  • Blues Plan Revision Team Releases Draft Assessment
  • Two Plants Announce Closures in Montana