Sustainability

The Alliance for Community Trees is organizing the first annual Green Infrastructure Summit and Urban Trees Forum May 14-15 to pursue changes in domestic policy with a new Congress and a new administration. The two days of Hill meetings and discussions will take place at The Methodist Building on Capitol Hill at 100 Maryland Avenue NE in Washington, DC.

Research from the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and the Mississippi Forestry Commission have announced findings of the 2006 Forest Inventory and Analysis report, titled "Mississippi's Forests, 2006." The report shows, among other things, that despite heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi's total tree volume increased by 25 percent since the last inventory was conducted in 1994, while forestland area increased by 6 percent.

The New York Times delves into how the U.S. Forest Service is balancing its priorities in improving forest health, carbon sequestration, and protecting against devastating wildfire while still supporting the timber economy.

A federal judge has thrown out an industry lawsuit that could have led to more logging and road building in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest federal forest.

USDA has announced the 2010 Forest Legacy Program (FLP) awards, which total $72 million, will help the program reach a total of over 2 million permanently protected acres across the country.

A recent report from the Harvard Forest warns that all six New England states are experiencing a decline in forest cover. Forested areas have come under increasing pressure from a new wave of commercial development, industrial use and invasive species.

An infusion of federal stimulus funds is bringing a new Forestry Sciences Laboratory to the Fort Collins-based Rocky Mountain Research Station of the USDA Forest Service. The $5.3 million state-of-the-art facility will allow scientists to expand their research on forest-health issues such as bark beetles, climate change and water quality, officials say.

The USDA Forest Service recently reached a milestone of protecting more than 2 million acres of private forests threat

Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark and state lawmakers announced agency-requested legislation that would help prevent conversion of working forests to development-supporting clean air, sustainable working landscapes, and quality of life for communities.

"Avoiding the print option does absolutely nothing to save the planet or forests. The nation's forest landowners can't keep growing trees without markets for this natural, organic and renewable product."
Wall Street Journal editorial from tree farmer Chuck Leavell and U.S. Endowment head Carlton Owen