ESFPA E-News

Happy New Year from ESFPA

We at ESFPA hope you all are having a wonderful holiday week. As we close out the year, we would like to take a moment to yet again express our gratitude for your support in the work we do towards our mission.

ESFPA's success is based on member engagement and participation, and we hope that you will continue to join us as we head into the new year. We have just sent out our 2025 membership mailing, so please keep an eye out for that in the upcoming week. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at (518) 463-1297 or at gabriella@esfpa.org.

On behalf of the Board and staff at ESFPA we wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year and we look forward to working with you in 2025!

Governor Hochul Signs Climate Superfund Bill

Governor Hochul has signed into law the last bill we at ESFPA were monitoring, the Climate Superfund Bill. This is legislation that will require fossil-fuel producers to pay $75 billion to supposedly help the state adapt to climate change. “This landmark legislation shifts the cost of climate adaptation from everyday New Yorkers to the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the pollution,” Ms. Hochul’s office declared. She’s right about shifting costs, but those who will pay her climate tax are American fossil-fuel workers and consumers. Under the program, Albany bureaucrats will apportion responsibility for climate change among some three dozen companies that have sold fossil fuels in the state based on their global CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2018.

The state plans to dun fossil-fuel producers a combined $3 billion annually over the next 25 years for their to-be-determined climate contribution. Since foreign-owned producers like Saudi Arabia’s Aramco will likely claim sovereign immunity, U.S. companies—that is, their workers, customers, and to some extent investors—will foot most of the $75 billion bill. New York joins Vermont who passed a similar law earlier this year and a handful of other states who are contemplating the same legislation.  ESFPA had opposed this legislation noting that it would have costs passed onto consumers. The law is likely to be challenged, and we will have to wait and see how the courts will interpret it.

Heavy Rain and Upland Forests

This article is the last in a four-part series that focuses on climate change impacts and adaptation in forests, supported by the Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation. A companion series published last year focused on forest carbon.

The author, Alexandra Kosiba, a forest ecologist and tree physiologist, is an assistant professor of forestry at University of Vermont Extension. She specializes in climate change impacts to trees and forests and ways that foresters and landowners can incorporate climate change considerations in their decision-making and planning.

ESF Research on Forest Management and Nitrogen Emissions

Researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry were selected for a Department of Energy grant to investigate the relationship between forest management, prescribed burning, and nitrogen emissions. 

ESF researchers will study how forest management practices, such as prescribed burns, affect these microbes and the nitrogen gases they produce. By better understanding this connection, the project aims to uncover ways to reduce emissions that drive climate change and improve air quality.

Click the link below to read more:

New Wildfire Risks in the Northeast?

A new study explores how the expansion of woody cover influences wildfire activity in the eastern United States. The findings show that woody cover has increased across the region, contributing to more frequent wildfires in the South. However, the Northeast has experienced fewer large wildfires, likely due to higher precipitation levels and mesophication, where moist, shade-tolerant vegetation reduces fire risk.

The authors caution, though, that in periods of drought, the dense understory in the Northeast could escalate the risk of crown fires, highlighting the potential for significant wildfire hazards under changing climate conditions.

• Read the study: Woody cover fuels large wildfire risk in the Eastern US. 
• See also: Wildfire risk climbs as trees reclaim eastern US landscapes. 

Funding Announcements

The Northeastern States Research Cooperative is accepting proposals for its general grant award anticipating available funds of $2.2 million to support research projects in 2025. Letters of intent due January 6.

Click the link below to learn more:

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation announces $4.5 Million in new grant funding to establish large forests in the state. Applications will be accepted through January 7.

Click the link below to learn more:

Spotted Lanternfly

Scraping spotted lanternfly egg masses during the winter months is key to controlling their spread. 

“That’s a really important practice. One of the things to keep in mind is you’re not going to totally eliminate a population that way because there are going to be egg masses that are in locations that you can’t see. And so it really is a population reduction sort of activity versus an eradication activity.” 

Click the link below to learn more: