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The European Union Deforestation Regulation has been postponed, amended and simplified since it came about in 2023, yet the central compliance challenge confronting wood pellet producers has barely changed. Source: Biomass Magazine Producers shipping into the European Union will need to demonstrate that their fibre is legal and deforestation-free, identify the plots where the wood was harvested and preserve the connection between those plots and the finished product. That requirement reaches beyond conventional sustainability certification and deep into supplier networks that were not designed to provide plot-level information. The latest delay moved the primary application date to 30 December 2026, while providing additional time for certain small and microenterprises. The United States has also been classified as a low-risk country, reducing some risk assessment and mitigation obligations for US suppliers. Neither development eliminates the need to collect geolocation data, document legality and maintain traceability. Instead, the added time has revealed a widening divide between companies that continued preparing and those that treated postponement as permission to wait. “The delays gave producers much-needed time to figure out how to collect geolocation data and work with suppliers to prepare for compliance,” said Barry Parrish, director of sustainability at ResourceWise. “The low-risk designation also eased some of the burden by removing the need for formal risk assessment and risk mitigation, allowing producers to focus more directly on data collection and traceability.” That focus is moving EUDR from the policy office to the procurement desk. Compliance will ultimately depend less on what pellet producers already know about their overall supply bases than on whether they can connect individual consignments to sufficiently detailed, verifiable records from forests, landowners, loggers, sawmills and other upstream suppliers. The full story is at: https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/the-traceability-test

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US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L Rollins announced the US Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to rescind in its entirety the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a one-size-fits-all restriction that, according the government, has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work across large swaths of America’s national forests. Source: Timberbiz “Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction. Across the country, we’ve watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes,” said Mr Rollins. “For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities. Today, we filed a proposal to restore authority to local forest managers who know the land best, removing the barriers that have kept them from doing the work the land demands. It’s time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity.” For 25 years, the 2001 Roadless Rule restricted road construction and limited the Forest Service’s ability to carry out critical active management work within inventoried roadless areas. Today, that includes more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. The rescission is intended to prioritize local agency decision-making over regulatory rules that are the same across the country, regardless of specific land management issues and needs. “This proposed rule is commonsense policy sought since the first Trump administration. In the years since, the need for it has only become more apparent,” said Deputy Secretary Stephen A. Vaden. “It is a credit to President Trump that we can begin to put into place a rule that will allow us to properly manage our national forests, because the first step to managing forests is to have access to them.” The agency will seek public comment on the proposal and on a draft of the environmental impact statement filed today in the Federal Register. The rescission removes national designation of roadless areas but does not mandate timber cutting or road construction. The action removes regulatory burden and sends decisions about roadless areas to the local national forest managers. “Active forest management is not an option. It’s essential,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “More than 40% of inventoried roadless areas, primarily in the West, have high or very high wildfire hazard potential. And only 5% of those areas have received hazardous fuels reduction treatments since 2014. “At the same time, more than a quarter of these lands, 11.3 million acres, are already near existing roads. Acting now, thoughtfully and decisively, is the best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests and neighbouring communities.” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said that for 25 years, the heavy thumb of Washington DC has hindered Montana’s ability to properly manage wildfire risk and road development on nearly 60% of Forest Service land across the Treasure State. “Today’s long overdue decision will empower states like Montana to pursue proper forest management on federal lands with local communities in mind. I’m grateful to President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Rollins for their strong leadership in restoring common sense to active forest management.” The proposed rescission reflects the administration’s commitment to return authority to local line officers and ensure they have the tools needed to restore forest health and productivity. The rescission aligns with Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens, Executive Order 14225, Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production, Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy, and Executive Order 14153, Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential. Returning roadless-area decisions to forest-level land management planning provides flexibility the national rule did not. Future land management decisions would be based on natural resource conditions and needs and informed by states, tribes, and communities. Rescinding the rule allows forest managers to address watershed, economic, and wildfire-risk conditions within the sideboards of existing laws, regulations, and policy. That would put those decisions within the same planning framework that guides individual plans throughout the National Forest System. More than 95% of inventoried roadless areas are in 10 Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The proposed rule does not apply to national forests in Colorado and Idaho because those lands are under separate state-specific roadless regulations.

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Combining drone data and machine learning can help cover a lot more ground in monitoring forest soil health, University of Alberta research shows. Source: Timberbiz Using both tools to map and monitor soil fungal diversity — a key indicator of a healthy forest ecosystem — proved highly effective and could help ease the need for taking boots-on-the-ground soil samples over huge areas of forest, says Dr. Cameron Carlyle, a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and a co-author on the study. “To understand patterns across the landscape relies heavily on manual soil collection and DNA sequencing across many locations, which means it’s labour-intensive and expensive,” he notes. “But by integrating remote sensing data — information collected from drones — with soil measurements and machine learning, the research provides a more cost-effective and scalable way to map out fungal soil diversity.” Keeping track of that diversity is vital, adds Wanwan Yu, who led the research as a visiting PhD researcher in Carlyle’s lab. “Soil fungi are central to forest function, influencing nutrient cycling, decomposition and tree growth,” she said. “Without that monitoring, we risk losing critical information on biodiversity patterns, ecosystem stability and the ability to manage and conserve forests effectively, particularly in the face of environmental change.” The study, conducted in a 40-year-old planted forest located in a nature reserve in China, looked at alpha diversity — the number of different fungal species living in one specific spot — and beta diversity — how much the types of fungal species change from one area to another across the forest. The team collected 538 soil samples from a 26-hectare area and used DNA sequencing to identify the different types of fungi present. Drones were also flown over the forest to collect high-resolution images, measure tree heights and track how much light the leaves reflected, gauging factors such as chlorophyll content and water levels. The information was then processed by a smart computer program called a random forest model to test whether the drone data could reliably predict what was happening in the soil fungi community. The results showed that host tree species, the landscape and soil properties jointly shaped fungal patterns. Soil fungal diversity changes significantly depending on tree species, as well as among trees of the same species, by creating different micro-environments that shape the fungal community. Nor was there one single driving factor in soil fungal diversity. Rather, the variety and the shifting patterns of fungal species across the forest were influenced by different combinations of environmental factors, the study showed. The research also revealed that machine learning was successful in predicting about 53% of the beta diversity of fungi, and did a moderate job of predicting alpha diversity, ranging from 28% to 45%, depending on the specific measurement used. While the combined high-tech approach used in the study can’t completely replace more detailed, localized information provided only through hands-on field sampling of soil, it could improve the coverage and efficiency of monitoring general diversity patterns across huge, varied areas of forest, Yu suggests. “It helps extend information from limited sampling points — which can miss important spatial patterns and vulnerable biodiversity hotspots — to broader landscapes that would be difficult or costly to monitor using traditional methods alone.” The work provides a practical way to include belowground biodiversity in forest restoration, conservation and long-term monitoring efforts, Carlyle adds. “This tool allows forest managers, reclamation companies and conservation researchers to efficiently monitor underground soil health to support better long-term land management and restoration.”

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A school-based traineeship creating a pathway for young people into timber manufacturing careers has been named a finalist in the Industry Collaboration category of the 2026 South Australian Training Awards. Source: Timberbiz The Timber and Wood Products Operations Traineeship brings together the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub (GTFIH), Group Training Employment (GTE), LITA Training and host employers Porta Products, OneFortyOne, AAM Timber and Timberlink. Trainees remain at school while completing paid employment, nationally recognised training and workplace experience across the four host businesses. Developed in response to a shared need for skilled, work-ready production operators, the program provides an entry point into timber manufacturing, with opportunities to progress into further training, employment and technical roles. The program grew from the Green Triangle Forestry Skills Centre Pilot, which established local delivery of the Certificate II and Certificate III in Timber and Wood Products Operations. All five trainees in the inaugural 2025 cohort successfully completed the traineeship and Certificate II, with a second cohort now underway. The Green Triangle is one of Australia’s most significant forestry and timber processing regions. Continued investment in manufacturing capability, new timber products, automation and process technology is also changing the skills required within modern production environments. GTFIH Chair Dr Ruth Schubert said the finalist recognition highlighted the importance of developing local skills alongside industry investment. “The Green Triangle is home to a nationally significant timber industry, and we are continuing to see major investment in processing, manufacturing and technology across the region,” Dr Schubert said. “That creates exciting opportunities for young people, but also means we need to develop the skilled workforce required to support the industry into the future. To have this collaboration recognised at a state level is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved.” GTFIH Workforce Development Manager Lara Kroeger said the traineeship allowed young people to experience an industry they may otherwise know little about. “Across the four host businesses, trainees experience different products, technologies and production systems, while seeing the core skills that connect the industry and the range of careers that can grow from an entry-level production role,” Ms Kroeger said. GTFIH is also working with employers to explore a similar school-based traineeship linked to the Certificate II in Forest Operations, extending the approach into other parts of the forestry value chain. The winner of the Industry Collaboration Award will be announced at the South Australian Training Awards Gala Presentation Dinner in Adelaide on Friday 11 September 2026.

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The New Zealand Forest Owners Association (NZFOA), Eastland Wood Council (EWC), Forest Industry Contractors Association (FICA) and Ngāti Porou Forests have jointly backed the Government’s decision to appoint Doug Leeder as an independent facilitator to support land transition and long-term forestry management in Tairāwhiti. Source: Timberbiz NZFOA Chief Executive Dr Elizabeth Heeg says the appointment provides an opportunity to make progress on difficult questions around land use, woody debris and forestry-related environmental issues. “Forestry wants a system that protects the environment while allowing businesses to keep investing and operating responsibly in the region,” Ms Heeg said. “Tairāwhiti needs to see decision-making that recognises where land use has to change, while allowing forestry to continue on land where it remains appropriate. “Bringing Government, Gisborne District Council, iwi, communities and industry together with an independent facilitator gives us a practical way to work through those issues.” Eastland Wood Council Chairman Julian Kohn says decisions about forestry have consequences for everyone living in Tairāwhiti. “NZIER research has shown forestry accounts for 7.9 per cent of Tairāwhiti’s GDP, the highest proportional contribution of any region in New Zealand. Around $295 million per year is added to the regional economy through forestry and logging, support services and wood processing,” he said. “We want environmental issues addressed, but the decisions made through this process also have to recognise the scale of forestry’s contribution to Tairāwhiti and the communities that depend on it.” Ngāti Porou Forests Chairman Whaimutu Dewes says decisions about land use have long-term consequences for iwi landowners and communities. “For iwi landowners, there is a responsibility to look after the whenua for generations to come but also to create opportunities for our people today. Forestry supports whānau by generating employment and providing income from whenua to sustain our communities,” Mr Dewes said. “Bringing iwi, communities, Government, Council and industry together gives us a better chance of making decisions that achieve both.” Forest Industry Contractors Association Chief Executive Rowan Struthers says contractors and forestry workers will bring an important operational perspective to the process. “Decisions about forestry directly affect crews, trucking companies, machinery operators and local businesses,” Mr Struthers said. “Our members want high environmental standards and clear expectations, but those expectations also have to work on the ground. “The experience of the people carrying out harvesting and other forestry work will be important as practical solutions are developed.”

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