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The article discusses the history and current state of oil and gas exploration in the Karoo Basin, emphasizing the potential of shale gas resources and the environmental considerations surrounding hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Topics include the findings of previous surveys and environmental assessments, the risks and benefits of fracking in a biodiversity hotspot, and the implications for the local economy and agriculture.

A recent study from Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development explores the socioeconomic dimension of forest therapy and its potential contributions to human well-being and sustainable forest management. The research highlights the increasing demand for forest-based therapeutic uses, particularly in Asia and Europe, and emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research approaches to integrate forest therapy into policy frameworks. Countries like Japan and South Korea are leading in the professionalization of forest therapy offers and studies, showcasing the positive health benefits of forests. The study recommends policy support, economic backing for forest managers, and the recognition of forest therapy as a valuable part of the forestry portfolio and alternative medical treatment. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports that Great Britain has used economists to place a monetary value of trees. Topics include the cost of upkeep of urban trees; government plans to forest the country to add value for tourism; the iTree application which was created by David Nowak, an employee of the United States Forest Service; and the British social enterprise Treeconomics which reports on the benefits derived from trees in London, England's Hyde Park.

The article explores the incendiary politics roiling behind the fire-fighting community in California as the Dixie and Caldor blazes continue to rage up north. Topics covered include criticisms to the 2.6 billion U.S. dollars plan of Governor Gavin Newsom in battling wildfires, the belief by some wildfire experts that the state's anti-wildfire campaign is headed for more disaster, and the study by scientists of the wildfire's complex interactions with landscapes in the age of climate change.

A recent study conducted by the University of Georgia examined the training needs of male and female family forest landowners (FeFLs) in Georgia, United States. The study found that FeFLs, who make up 27% of family forest landowners in the southern United States, are less actively involved in forest management compared to their male counterparts. The research identified a lack of understanding about gender-based training needs in sustainable forest management as a possible reason for this disparity. The study suggests implementing targeted training, peer-to-peer learning, and elevating female forestry professionals to improve the competency and capacity of FeFLs in sustainable forest management. [Extracted from the article]

A study conducted by the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences explores public perceptions and preferences regarding forest management in the face of climate change. The study used a binary discrete choice experiment in Norway and Sweden to assess public support for biodiversity-augmenting changes in forest management attributes. The results indicate that closer psychological distances to climate change were associated with increased support for changes in forest management. The findings suggest that increasing set-aside areas and implementing uneven-aged and mixed forest management are universally acceptable strategies for adapting forests to climate change. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted by researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences examines the impact of the war in Ukraine on the European forest sector. The study finds that the war has moderate economic consequences for the sector in the European Union (EU). Chemical pulp production benefits from higher electricity prices and less competition from Russia, while the production of printing and writing papers decreases due to increased energy prices. The EU roundwood harvests only slightly decrease due to the embargo on Russian wood. The research concludes that certain EU policies may have a greater economic impact on the EU forest sector than the war itself. [Extracted from the article]

PHOTO (COLOR): FOREST LANDOWNERS CEO Scott Jones PHOTO (COLOR): LANDOWNER OF THE YEAR Barrett McCall and his family journeyed from Mobile to close out his term as FLA president. FrontGate Founded 80 years ago, the Forest Landowners Association represents the economic interests of private forest landowners and their unique natural resource assets. Members range from large forest businesses whose land has been in families for generations to those who have recently become forest landowners because they view forests as long-term investments. [Extracted from the article]

A study conducted by researchers at the Technical University in Zvolen, Slovakia, explores the relationship between society and the environment. The researchers used the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) to study public environmental attitudes in the Slovak Republic. They found that respondents held technocentric, ecocentric, and resiliocentric attitudes, with the majority (70%) holding an ecocentric attitude. The researchers recommend using a combination of analysis, including demographic factors, to achieve higher-quality results. This study provides insights into public environmental attitudes and their readiness for environmental transformation. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers information on Boucher Bros. Lumber pleading guilty to charges under Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act after a worker was injured by a wood planer.

A report from the University of Padua in Italy analyzes the inclusion of the forest sector in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) of European Union (EU) member states. The researchers found that the majority of member states allocate funds to the forest sector in their NRRPs, with only four countries not making any investments. The most common forest-related themes in the NRRPs include biodiversity protection, climate adaptation, and rural development. The analysis also identifies three clusters of member states based on their approach to innovation in the forest sector. The findings can inform national and European decision-makers in planning strategies and allocating funds. [Extracted from the article]

Shifting analysis to individual trees and their immediate neighborhood environments represents an important development in the continued evolution of forest economics. We review the history of individual- and neighborhood-based approaches in ecology and silviculture, and find evidence from those fields that neighborhood models of tree growth and dynamics are more descriptive than coarser-scale models, particularly for the diverse, structurally complex stands that are of increasing interest and importance to forest managers and society. Moreover, we show how economic analysis of heterogeneousquality forests is highly susceptible to aggregation problems. A thinning-and-harvest schedule optimized on the basis of stand-average stocking, structure or demographics, and applied uniformly across the stand, will generate systematically less value than the aggregate value produced from unique cutting schedules optimized for individual neighborhoods. From Jensen's inequality, the optimum of the mean is not the mean of the optima. We then outline an iterative, forward recursive solution method to optimize individual-tree thinning and retention decisions at the neighborhood scale, and illustrate this neighborhood-based approach with a numerical example. Finally, we discuss the operational advantages of this approach and briefly explore some new avenues of economic research that this framework could open up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that great forests of the U.S. are an economic wasteland, but still many people are buying in. One wouldn't know from the price of two-by-fours at the local hardware store, but United States' great forest products industry is deeply troubled. The wholesale price of two-by-fours has dropped from $307 per thousand board feet in 1979 to $190 today. Only a few years ago timber was considered by many to be better than gold. But today there may be as many as 9 million acres of U.S. timberland on the block.

This article examines the physical, business, and governmental aspects of the complex relationships and interdependencies in forest utilization in the U.S. The article addresses local forest exhaustion, multipurpose forestry, forest ownership, use of lumber and wood pulp, community dependence, forest industry administration, cooperative measures, government relations and regulation, and government ownership and management agreements. The article advocates for cooperative public and private management of forests in all regions in order to sustain the supply of forest products and provide jobs to local economies.

The article argues on the economic benefits and ecological impact of deforestation in Canada.

With this article we try to give an extensive overview of the development of the Faustmann model (cf. Figure 1). Goal of the article is to outline and discuss the basic assumptions behind the Faustmann formula and describe the developments of the Faustmann model with regard to main trends and changes in forestry throughout history. The basic idea of the Faustmann theory was outlined in Great Britain by HOUGHTON ([1683] 1727-1728), HOUGHTON ([1701] 1727-1728), RICHARDS ([1730] 1971) and, finally, by WATSON (1794) and MARSHALL (1808) explaining that the interest rate of a forest stand is closely linked to its tree growth. In Germany, KÖNIG (1835) gave recommendations for forest evaluation and methodological insights regarding the determination of the optimal rotation period. However, only with the article of FAUSTMANN (1849) and his introduction of the land expectation value, forest evaluation gained interest and relevance in forest economics. With the discussion about the land rent theory at the end of the 19th century, the model moved into focus (PRESSLER, 1860b). We point out that with OHLIN (1921), besides questions of forest evaluation, the issue of determining the optimal rotation period became more important. OHLIN (1921) formulated the first order condition for an interior solution of the rotation period problem. Although Ohlin, Pressler and Faustmann discussed the Faustmann model throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, only after the Second World War, the Faustmann model increasingly gained in importance in forest economics. In the context of the general investment theory, the Faustmann model is based on the idea of dynamic investment calculation and is a special case of the net present value reflecting not only the limitation of capital but also the limitation of the forest land (MÖHRING, 2009). Various research was published discussing the question about determining the optimal rotation period, first under simple but later also under more complex silvicultural scenarios (PEARSE, 1967; WORRELL, 1953). In this context, the thinning problem as a problem of the control theory which can be solved with dynamic optimization was introduced by SCHREUDER (1971) and further developed throughout the last decades (BORCHERT, 2002). Moreover, with its increasing relevance through the second half of the 20th century, methodological discussions about the Faustmann formula and its assumptions arose. SAMUELSON (1976) presented one of the most important critical reviews about the Faustmann model not criticizing the model itself but its application in research and practice. He stated that the basic assumptions made within the Faustmann theory are the premise for the development of simple solutions for complex problems. These assumptions needed to be clarified and discussed as part of the scientific research (SAMUELSON, 1976). We outline the basic assumptions of the Faustmann theory in this paper and how various research tried to overcome selected basic assumptions to generate additional insights in forest management behavior. Examples are the assumption of stable conditions of costs and prices, or the validity of the Faustmann model on business instead of stand level. CHANG (1998) generalized the Faustmann theory to meet the demand of a volatile economic environment in forest economics. This generalization enables the application of the Faustmann model in an environment of changing costs, prices and discount rates (CHANG, 1998). Whereas CHANG (1998) discussed the effect of changing costs and prices on a theoretical basis, MÜLLER und HANEWINKEL (2018) took up the discussion and set it into the context of historical cost and price changes. They concluded with respect to historical developments that already within one rotation period parameter changes can have a significant effect on the land expectation value (cf. Figures 2 and 3). Another example is the extension of the Faustmann model from stand level to the forest level (REED und ERRICO, 1986) which is also based on a control theory approach and was intensively discussed through the end of the last century (YIN und NEWMAN, 1997; TAHVONEN und VIITALA, 2006). Besides methodological discussions in the 1970s and influenced by the environmental movement, the Faustmann model was set in the context of ecosystem services beyond timber production for the first time. HARTMAN (1976) discussed how the optimal rotation period changes once the recreational value is incorporated as part of the land expectation value. In this paper we outline the challenges coming with the evaluation of eco - system services such as biodiversity protection (CHRISTIE et al., 2006; YOUSEFPOUR und HANEWINKEL, 2009; AMACHER et al., 2014), recreational value generation (OESTEN, 1994; ELSASSER und WELLER, 2013; EDWARDS et al., 2011) and carbon sequestration (KÖTHKE und DIETER, 2010). Until today, the valuation of such ecosystem services is an important research topic in forest economics (YOUSEFPOUR et al., 2010). Under the impression of the forest dieback discussion in the 1980s, the winter storms of the 1990s and the recent climate change discussions, the role of risk and uncertainty gained high relevance as additional factor within the Faustmann model. REED (1984) incorporated risks from natural hazards within the Faustmann model and outlined that it can be seen as premium to the discount rate. LOISEL (2011) described the effect of storm risk on the LEV, the optimal rotation period and other forest management decisions. With respect to the uncertainties from climate change, HANEWINKEL et al. (2013) demonstrated that, depending on the applied climate scenarios, the loss of the current land expectation value within European forests amounts to 14-50% due to climate change. Finally, this article discusses the importance of the Faustmann model in forestry showing that today the Faustmann model is of more relevance for forestry practice outside Germany - especially in Scandinavia and North America. Furthermore, it is discussed that the Faustmann model nowadays is only one of many elements in forest valuation due to the fact that profit maximization as limiting principle of the Faustmann theory is of decreasing relevance for forest economics. Finally, this article highlights the diversity of applications of the Faustmann model which evolved throughout 170 years of forest history. Whereas the Faustmann model was originally developed to determine the value of forest land (FAUSTMANN, 1849), with PRESSLER (1860b) and OHLIN (1921) the Faustmann theory became the most important instrument of the forest investment theory. However, the value of the Faustmann model for forest investment decisions is limited especially for forestry regions with long rotation periods due to high uncertainties resulting from production times (COORDES, 2014). However, even under long rotation periods, the Faustmann theory is a useful framework to facilitate and structure investment decision-making in forestry. Furthermore, throughout the last 170 years, the Faustmann model developed towards a main analysis instrument of forest economics. In this article, we show that within a predefined theoretical framework countless analyses were conducted to describe forest management decisionmaking on the one hand and to evaluate the effect of changing environmental conditions on the other hand. Finally, the variety of the Faustmann model in science is the basis on which future research can be build on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of normative decision models in forest economics is to evaluate the best possible decision from a given set of possible operations. In decisions about capital usage, the interest rate functions as guide-price, when foresters decide to harvest trees or forest stands. When enterprise-specific restrictions like sustainability of capital maintenance are considered, the interest rate is not exogenously determined any more but results from the enterprise-specific attributes and the aims of the decision maker. The interest rate itself is therefore no input parameter any more but a result from the decisions made by the forester within the ecological reasoned boundaries in a dynamic forest ecosystem. In this essay, we make use of discrete choice models to estimate the real empirical endogenous interest rate from an empirical dataset. We use the German National Forest Inventories 1 and 2 to estimate the interest rates where harvesting decisions were made in time frame of 15 years for distinct types of ownerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Conservation Fund and conflicting resource rights that hinder investment in timber and coal. Hidden beneath a misty canopy of oak, pine and hickory trees on 75,000 acres of timberland in eastern Tennessee, an investment opportunity of the rarest kind is unfolding--one that unites bickering factions of timber companies, coal miners, state regulators and greenie activists. In the Cumberland Forest deal, the Conservation Fund has made itself the middleman in a fractious relationship between rival rights owners. The dealmaker is the Conservation Fund, which seeks to preserve pristine lands by lining up big investors to buy the tracts outright. Longtime environmentalist Patrick Noonan founded it in 1985 with the "genius grant" he was awarded by the MacArthur Foundation. Each year the group looks at 500 deals and gets involved in a quarter of them. "We speak their language; we know what the hurdle rate is," says the Conservation Fund's chief executive, Lawrence A. Selzer. The 75,000-acre sweep of forest in eastern Tennessee was the unwanted asset of International Paper. The Conservation Fund's pinstriped M.B.A.s took on--for a fee that covered their expenses--the mountain of paperwork required to divvy up the rights into neat and sellable strata and then helped match the owners with new buyers. They also stripped the tract of its development rights and stipulated that much of the land must stay open for recreation and that wetlands and wildlife must be protected. For the timber rights, the greenie dealmakers brought in a TIMO--a timberland investment management organization--GMO Renewable Resources in Boston.

Keywords for this news article include: Warsaw, Poland, Europe, CDC and FDA, Polish Academy of Sciences. New CDC and FDA Study Findings Recently Were Reported by Researchers at Polish Academy of Sciences (Challenging the Dominant Path of Forest Policy? Bottom-up, Citizen Forest Management Initiatives In a Top-down Governance Context In Poland. [Extracted from the article]

The policy arrangement approach confirms two features in WSG industry policies; the transition of discourse of non-timber forest products from quantity-oriented to quality-oriented focusing on food safety and centralized governance mode." Keywords: Pyeongchang; South Korea; Asia; Food Poisoning; Food Safety; Foodborne Diseases and Conditions; Gastroenterology EN Pyeongchang South Korea Asia Food Poisoning Food Safety Foodborne Diseases and Conditions Gastroenterology 96 96 1 09/04/23 20230907 NES 230907 2023 SEP 7 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Food Weekly News -- Investigators publish new report on Foodborne Diseases and Conditions - Food Safety. Pyeongchang, South Korea, Asia, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Foodborne Diseases and Conditions, Gastroenterology. [Extracted from the article]

This article presents information about investing in hardwood forests. Real estate makes a sensible diversification for any investor whose portfolio is heavy with financial assets. Its principal advantage is that it stands up to inflation. Its chief disadvantage is that it is illiquid. That's not a problem if the investor can afford to buy and hold, and hold and hold. The better hardwoods have comfortably beaten inflation over the past decade. It can be called as a growth commodity. It's like owning an oil reservoir that gets bigger every year.

The article reports that the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) to grow a resilient pellet sector that creates green, renewable products at the forefront of the global transition to a low carbon economy, and to maximize the sector's innovation in the bioeconomy. Topics include Wood pellets offer a world of possibilities to meet the targets of greenhouse gas emissions; and bioenergy opportunities realized by the Canadian wood pellet sector.

Michigan Lumber & Wood Fiber was founded in 2008 as a trucking firm that expanded into lumber and wood products under owner Tim Bills. The health of the timber industry can be measured in various ways, including harvest levels, employment in timber harvesting and at mills, and lumber demand. This announcement illustrates what is at stake in the Black Hills - our very ability to care for and manage our forests, and to support our communities", Neiman says. [Extracted from the article]

Michigan Lumber & Wood Fiber was founded in 2008 as a trucking firm that expanded into lumber and wood products under owner Tim Bills. Sokol in Vologda Oblast to oversee the grand opening of Segezha Group's cross-laminated timber (CLT) plant. The health of the timber industry can be measured in various ways, including harvest levels, employment in timber harvesting and at mills, and lumber demand. [Extracted from the article]

Critical habitat acreage designation for the owl has hovered around 6.8 million acres of federal land, not including national parks, national wildlife refuges, and congressionally designated Wilderness areas where logging is largely prohibited, since the original USFWS designation in 1992. Risks of severe wildfires - the kind that burned more than 560 square miles of suitable nesting and roosting spotted owl habitat in Oregon last year, AFRC stated. The AFRC lawsuit argues the USFWS critical habitat designation was the product of extensive public comments and is consistent with the agency's obligations under the Endangered Species Act and the O&C Act. [Extracted from the article]

All the 36 states in Nigeria should of necessity use "drones" with experts in Forest and Geographic Information Systems to map out all the constituted state forest reserves in Nigeria with a view to consolidating the remaining forested area and replanting the deforested and degraded areas. Nigeria forest information and data according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations (2010) showed that 9.9% of about 9,041,000ha of Nigeria was forested. 2 Association News Commonwealth Forestry Association (CFA) Nigeria Chapter Forest Ecosystem Potentials in Nigeria: Opportunities for Green Economy in the 21st Century COMMUNIQUE Dr. O.V. Oyerinde (CFA LOC CHAIR), Professor J. A. Fuwape (Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Akure) and Professor B. O. Agbeja (President, CFA Nigeria Chapter) observing the National and FUTA Anthems before 3rd CFA Conference was declared open on 2nd December, 2020 Since the fi rst conference in 1920, these meetings have brought widespread awareness of forest resources around the globe and have introduced strategies for their long-term sustainable use. [Extracted from the article]

He article focuses on MWV's transition from a purely forestry operation to a community and industrial development company in South Carolina. It states that transition was made under the leadership of MWV Community Development and Land Management president Ken Seeger. It mentions that Seeger was instrumental in developing rural land sale program, digging of popnds, and improving wildlife habitats before selling them for recreational use.

(Bloomberg) -- Jim Hourdequin is one of the planet's biggest sellers of carbon offsets - the widely used instruments that are supposed to act as a balm for the rapidly overheating climate. Although critics for years have revealed how carbon markets fail to deliver their intended climate benefits, Hourdequin is likely the first major industry participant to admonish the market from the inside. With carbon prices hovering around $10 to $13 per ton, Hourdequin says, the payments are far too low to cover both this lost value and any changes to how Lyme would manage its forests. Most forest carbon projects, including some from Lyme, fall into this category, Hourdequin says. [Extracted from the article]

She adds, "Forest landowners who suffered timber losses from natural disaster in 2021 may recoup some of their losses by claiming federal income tax deductions." Family forests provide many valuable goods and services that extend beyond their boundaries, including clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration. [Extracted from the article]

Family forests provide many valuable goods and services that extend beyond their boundaries, including clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration. She adds, "Forest landowners who suffered timber losses from natural disaster in 2021 may recoup some of their losses by claiming federal income tax deductions.". [Extracted from the article]

She adds, "Forest landowners who suffered timber losses from natural disaster in 2021 may recoup some of their losses by claiming federal income tax deductions." Family forests provide many valuable goods and services that extend beyond their boundaries, including clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration. [Extracted from the article]

She adds, "Forest landowners who suffered timber losses from natural disaster in 2021 may recoup some of their losses by claiming federal income tax deductions." Family forests provide many valuable goods and services that extend beyond their boundaries, including clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration. [Extracted from the article]

She adds, "Forest landowners who suffered timber losses from natural disaster in 2021 may recoup some of their losses by claiming federal income tax deductions." Family forests provide many valuable goods and services that extend beyond their boundaries, including clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- A new study proposes a radical prescription for the ailing health of dry U.S. Western forests: cutting back trees by as much as 80%. CO levels are much higher today and climate conditions are warmer and drier, all factors that affect forest growth, said Christopher Still, a professor of forest ecosystems at Oregon State University who was not involved in the new study. The study suggests that forests in the Sierra Nevada and nearby ranges could better withstand severe wildfire, drought, infestations and climate change if the density of trees was dramatically reduced. [Extracted from the article]