Climate change is making weather patterns more unpredictable and causing more droughts, which means there is more flammable materials in our forests. Hotter, drier, forests means more fires AND more intense wildfires. In fact, wildfire seasons is getting longer every year, sometimes by as much as 40-60 days each year. In Florida, fire season in now all year.
We need to make smart decisions about the future of forests to keep people and property safe by adjusting to the realities of climate change, and by better incorporating the natural cycle of wildfire into our landscapes and communities.
Reconnecting People and Forests
Fire, Forest Management, People
Living with Fire
In today’s environment of frequent fires and limited public funds, solutions are forged at the collaborative table. Living with fire means learning to work together both as a collaborative and as a community.
Fire can be both friend and foe. In the right place at the right time, fire creates environmental benefits, such as reducing grass and brush that serve as fuel for megafires, while also improving habitats for wildlife.
Healthy forests provide clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation, diverse products, and more. Fire is a natural process and necessary to the health of many forests.
Reconnecting People and Forests
Fire, Forest Management, People
Restoration in a Fire Forest: The Benefits of Burning
The Northwest Fire Science Consortium's new video showcases the role of prescribed fire.
Forests can recover naturally after a wildfire but sometimes they need a little help. When a fire kills all vegetation and heats the ground, it causes changes to the soil and prevents water from being absorbed or retained, increasing erosion and mudslides. Sometimes allowing invasive species to creep in and take over.
Replanting trees after a wildfire is a key part of forest management.
Reconnecting People and Forests
Fire, Forest Management, People
07: Okanogan Conservation District | Earth. Air. Water. Fire.
We explore both the positive and negative effects of fire on our soil, air, and water.
Conservation, Fast Facts, Forest Management, Wildlife
Fast Facts | Wildlife
Forests are home to 80% of wildlife on land. Keeping forests healthy protects the amazing diversity of animals, plants, and insects that call North American forests home. Forest management helps protect habitats across a billion forested acres.
Restoring Habitat And Creating Jobs Through Western Juniper
Discover Oregon’s effort to restore habitat for sage grouse and create jobs by harvesting Western Juniper. Collaboration efforts like this one protect Oregon's forests and create rural jobs.
It takes 2 billion pallets a day to move and store goods in the US. Most are made of wood and 95% are recycled into new pallets or other products.
Our friends at Quartz are obsessed with this humble and ubiquitous technology, featuring the wood pallet's role in the global economy as the lo-fi load bearers of the world.
Not only do pallets move the world, they also support healthy forests and strong communities.
Fast Facts
Fast Facts, Forest Benefits, Forest Management
Fast Facts | Forests + Water
More than half of the drinking water in the U.S. comes from a forest.
We have a lot to be proud of in this industry. Here are the top five reasons I’m #ForestProud:
Hampton Lumber employee Jacob Vail is #forestproud. Safety first!
#1 – Timber keeps the Pacific Northwest green - in more ways than one! Roughly one-third of all forestland in Oregon and Washington is privately owned. The decision to keep these forests as forests decade after decade is thanks in no small part to the global market for sustainable wood products. Here in Oregon, roughly 92% of the land that was forested in the mid-19th century is still forested today despite significant population growth and increased demand for residential and agricultural development. Keeping these forests as forests is good for wildlife, water quality, and overall quality of life here in the Pacific Northwest. The forest sector also just happens to be one of the oldest renewable industries in the region, helping society meet a variety of needs from housing and energy to paper and packaging in a sustainable way.
#2 – Timber helps combat climate change. Our industry helps fight climate change in two main ways. First, we plant 3-4 trees for each one we harvest and as those trees grow, they draw CO2 out of the atmosphere. When those trees are harvested decades later and made into lumber, much of that carbon is stored and kept from re-entering the atmosphere. Secondly, new engineered wood products, including cross-laminated timber (CLT), allow us to safely build high-rise buildings from wood, instead of iron, steel and concrete, products that account for some of the largest sources of industrial CO2 emissions in the U.S. Substituting renewable wood products for these traditional building materials means less harmful CO2 entering the atmosphere in the first place.
#3 – We grow local, make local, and build local. At a time when it seems we’re getting further and further removed from the production systems that support our lifestyles, timber is keeping it local. While much of our food travels hundreds even thousands of miles to fill grocery shelves and so much domestic manufacturing is being sent overseas, our forests are still here, supporting local wood manufacturing jobs that create the products that stock home stores and lumber yards throughout the region. Walk into just about any home in the Pacific Northwest and you can be assured local forests framed it.
#4 – We’ve come a long way. As modern descendants of one of the oldest industries in the Pacific Northwest, we’ve learned a lot and grown with the times and with the science and technology. Many timber and wood products companies, like Hampton, have been in business for generations. It is through continual learning, improvement, and adaptation that we have found resilience.
#5 – Timber helped make the Pacific Northwest what it is today and continues to influence its economy and its culture. You see it in the Portland Timbers soccer club, the lumberjack on your beer coaster, and at any one of the rural logging festivals that take place each summer. Timber is part of what makes the Pacific Northwest unique.
