Secretary Vilsack announced approval of ten Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Projects (CFLRP). A fifteen member panel advised the Secretary on the allocation of $10 million for the first year of the new program. The Omnibus Land Bill of 2009 established the program, with the objective to "encourage the collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes". The ten National Forests, located in nine states, are positioned to change the landscape of forest management on federal lands. Read more>>
All Lands on Deck was the underlying theme of Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell's keynote address to the Andrus Center for Public Policy. The Symposium, entitled Life in the West: People, Land, Water and Wildlife in a Changing Economy, convened at the Boise State University Campus on May 1st. Read more>>
How do stakeholders acquire a social license for making federal forest land management a reality? Six panelists were asked to address that question during a conference session held in Boise (March, 2010). The Climate Change, Bioenergy, and Sustaining the Forests of Idaho and Montana conferenceattracted an audience as diverse as the six panelists. and the coalitions they represent Although details of their experience differed, collaboration was the common approach to secure a social license. Read more>>
No. 7, July 9 Sally Collins shared her perspectives on the role of ecosystem markets in a conference keynote address (Ecosystem Markets: Making them Work). The 2009 revision of the Farm Bill established the new Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets (OESM). The Office was formally created in December 2008 with Ms. Collins appointed as the Acting Director. During the transition between administrations, hundreds of visitors discussed the potential role of OESM. Read more>>
No. 6, June 4 Federal land ownership decisions have left a pattern of economic history in the Western United States. In the 1860's, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, providing land grants to railroad companies. The land grants were offered as incentives, and allowed the sale of land and timber by the new owners in order to finance railroad construction. Historians estimate that over 45 million acres were exchanged to industry in return for the public benefit of a transcontinental railroad. The land exchange contributed to western expansion and economic development. Read more>>
No. 5, April 22 The power station at Cascade used the Payette River's force to generate energy for local consumption (photo inset) . The station produced power from this renewable source, without relying on external suppliers. Energy independence drove the cents that enabled a forest products industry to produce lumber for decades. Hallack and Howard Lumber Company operated a sawmill in Cascade until they sold to Boise Cascade in 1960. Forest products continued as an economic mainstay until the mill closed in 2001, part of the Boise Cascade transition to an office products company. The mill closure impacted the community, and residents have explored other economic development prospects, including recreation development. Read more>>
No 4, Mar. 16 In 1900, McCall was sequestered in the forest,a common geography for many of the resource based communities in the Western U.S. Economics linked the remote location to the external world through the products made from the materials of the area. Mills produced lumber and railroad ties that literally supported local mines and the transport of farm goods to larger cities. The railroads returned the favor by bringing tourists to sequester themselves near the solitude and beauty of mountain lakes. Read more>>
No 3, Feb. 23 Ecosystem service markets offer private landowners a potential source of additional. Recalling that Ricardian Space (Vol. 2, Num. 2) refers to the indestructible characteristics of soil and the land, managing ecosystem services recognizes that other landscape features form a dynamic pattern. The features respond to environmental and cultural agents of change. Two examples of features are vegetation and stream channels. The patterns on the landscape are not only pleasing to the eye, but they provide a renewable cache for wildlife habitat, clean air and water. Because the services derived from these resources have public benefit not typically priced in markets, they compete with cash for land uses that are directly priced. Read more>>
No 2, Feb. 11 David Ricardo would make a competent advisor to the newly formed USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets (OESM). Overlooking the one detail that Ricardo was a nineteenth century economist, his pertinent studies included the economics of land and the concept of land rent. Read more>>
No. 1, Jan. 15 Private working forests have escaped the attention of the financial crisis news coverage during 2008. But trace the supply chain, and the housing starts lead to the forest with intervening links of retail and wholesale commerce along the way. The flow of dimension lumber from source to destination varies with housing demand, which in turn responds to capacity of credit markets. A robust housing market in the first half of the decade attracted new investors to private forests, seeking a hedge in capital markets, as well as refuge from the Internet bubble. Read more>>
Secretary Vilsack announced approval of ten Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Projects (CFLRP). A fifteen member panel advised the Secretary on the allocation of $10 million for the first year of the new program. The Omnibus Land Bill of 2009 established the program, with the objective to "encourage the collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes". The ten National Forests, located in nine states, are positioned to change the landscape of forest management on federal lands. 
All Lands on Deck was the underlying theme of Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell's keynote address to the Andrus Center for Public Policy. The Symposium, entitled Life in the West: People, Land, Water and Wildlife in a Changing Economy, convened at the Boise State University Campus on May 1st. 
Sally Collins shared her perspectives on the role of ecosystem markets in a conference keynote address (Ecosystem Markets: Making them Work). The 2009 revision of the Farm Bill established the new Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets (OESM). The Office was formally created in December 2008 with Ms. Collins appointed as the Acting Director. During the transition between administrations, hundreds of visitors discussed the potential role of OESM. 
Federal land ownership decisions have left a pattern of economic history in the Western United States. In the 1860's, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, providing land grants to railroad companies. The land grants were offered as incentives, and allowed the sale of land and timber by the new owners in order to finance railroad construction. Historians estimate that over 45 million acres were exchanged to industry in return for the public benefit of a transcontinental railroad. The land exchange contributed to western expansion and economic development. 
The power station at Cascade used the Payette River's force to generate energy for local consumption (photo inset) . The station produced power from this renewable source, without relying on external suppliers. Energy independence drove the cents that enabled a forest products industry to produce lumber for decades. Hallack and Howard Lumber Company operated a sawmill in Cascade until they sold to Boise Cascade in 1960. Forest products continued as an economic mainstay until the mill closed in 2001, part of the Boise Cascade transition to an office products company. The mill closure impacted the community, and residents have explored other economic development prospects, including recreation development. 
In 1900, McCall was sequestered in the forest, a common geography for many of the resource based communities in the Western U.S. Economics linked the remote location to the external world through the products made from the materials of the area. Mills produced lumber and railroad ties that literally supported local mines and the transport of farm goods to larger cities. The railroads returned the favor by bringing tourists to sequester themselves near the solitude and beauty of mountain lakes. 
Ecosystem service markets offer private landowners a potential source of additional. Recalling that Ricardian Space (
David Ricardo would make a competent advisor to the newly formed USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets (OESM). Overlooking the one detail that Ricardo was a nineteenth century economist, his pertinent studies included the economics of land and the concept of land rent. 
Private working forests have escaped the attention of the financial crisis news coverage during 2008. But trace the supply chain, and the housing starts lead to the forest with intervening links of retail and wholesale commerce along the way. The flow of dimension lumber from source to destination varies with housing demand, which in turn responds to capacity of credit markets. A robust housing market in the first half of the decade attracted new investors to private forests, seeking a hedge in capital markets, as well as refuge from the Internet bubble.