In The NEWS

Bark Beetles in Arizona

The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management aerial-surveyed the state in 2018, by flying over 15 million acres of forest and assessing 276,000 acres of tree damage from bark beetles, reported the Payson Roundup. What they found was a 513 precent increase in bark beetle activity.

Drought and bark beetles are responsible, as bark beetles sense chemicals emitted by stressed, unhealthy trees. Trees that are adequately hydrated produce enough pitch to deter bark beetles and other parasites. Worsening drought leads to forest-wide infestation.

For more information, links about this topic are also conveniently posted weekly on Facebook, joining Jones and a local network of gardeners and green-thumbed followers at facebook.com/gilaextenstion.

U.S. appeals WTO softwood decision

The World Trade Organization reported that the United States notified the Dispute Settlement Body in late September of its decision to appeal the panel report in the case brought by Canada in “United States — Countervailing Measures on Softwood Lumber from Canada”.

Given the ongoing lack of agreement among WTO members regarding the filling of Appellate Body vacancies, there is no Appellate Body Division available at the current time to deal with the appeal.

In a response to the U.S. announcement that it would appeal the softwood lumber decision, the Canadian government said it was surprised by the U.S.’s seemingly contradictory message that the WTO appeals body should be in charge of this case — and that it also is illegitimate.

New home sales strong in the U.S.

Home buying and selling prospects drastically improved in August, as economic concerns continued to ease for both buyers and sellers. Significant uncertainty remains for the housing market going into the fall, as the economy faces a long and bumpy recovery in the upcoming months. Nonetheless, real estate is still a hot seller’s market and improved selling prospects are a good sign and will need to remain on that path to bring more homes into the market, reported Norda Real Estate Investments.

Record-low mortgage rates and shortage of inventory has kept the US housing market strong with respect to buyer demand. With unusually high buyer interest this late in the homebuying season, buyers are moving much faster than this time last year to beat out competition and lock in low mortgage rates. The national median listing price on Realtor.com was $350,000, up 10.1 percent year-over-year, while prices rose 8.9 percent in larger markets.

Oregon timber industry hit hard by fires may cause generational impact

A rare wind event over Labor Day weekend, helped create fires that scorched roughly one million acres across Oregon. Several individual fires burned more than 100,000 acres. About 40 percent of that was private land.

Seneca Sawmill, a timber company based near Eugene, estimates fires burned through about 10,000 acres of the 170,000 which they own, report KATU2.

“Different stands are different ages, so they were affected differently. Younger trees were burned up completely, older stands fared a little better,” said Casey Roscoe, Senior VP of Public Relations at Seneca Sawmill.

Many others were affected, such as Freres Lumber. Rob Freres, President of Freres Lumber, estimates fires burned through about 6,000 acres of their timberland. Like Roscoe, he said it’s too early to tell what the financial impact of the fires were, but estimated it will be in the “high-eight figures, which leaves a real big hole in future planned harvests. It changes our business plan.”

Oregon is the number one producer of lumber in the U.S., and these fires will have a lasting impact. What it will be is yet to be seen.