ESFPA E-News

Last Chance to Register for Forestry Awareness Day 2026

Next week, on Tuesday, March 10th, ESFPA will be hosting our annual Forestry Awareness Day (FAD) in room 104-A at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. FAD is our annual “lobby day” with the New York State Legislature.

This is the opportunity for ESFPA members to put a face on our forest and wood products manufacturing sector; educate legislators and policy makers on the importance of forests and harvested wood products; and the contribution we have in New York’s economy, environment (including climate change) and the quality of life of all New Yorkers. Please consider attending, “the world is run by those who show up.” 

To see a list of our 2026 Budget & Legislative Priorities, click here. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Gabriella Ferrera at the Empire State Forest Products Association at (518) 463-1297 or email gabriella@esfpa.org.

Registration for Forestry Awareness Day 2026 is now open. If you are planning to attend, please register as soon as possible so that you can receive a team assignment. Click the link below to register for the event:

Climate Calamity Continues in Albany

As we have been reporting over the past couple of weeks, there remain strong rumblings that Governor Hochul may introduce amendments to the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (CLCPA) during the Budget negotiations. Last week the release of a memo between NYSERDA President Doreen Harris and Director of State Operations Jackie Bray, along with strong remarks from Budget Director Blake Washington sparked a lot of response from Legislative Leaders and NGOs on whether or not Governor Hochul would actually put forth such proposals.

Legislative Leaders remain strongly opposed to changes to the CLCPA and late last week and early this week environmental leaders have been shoring up defense of the CLCPA. Everyone wants to put the blame on shifting federal energy policy, COVID impacts on supply chains, and global military conflicts or just about anything other than New York's stand-alone climate standards that differentiate New York from most every other state and country, and a lot of science. The CLCPA has missed the mark since adopted in 2019 and while well intended, it needs a course correction.

ESFPA is committed to addressing climate change, which is one of the biggest and most complex environmental, economic and social issues affecting the planet, let alone New Yorkers. Addressing climate change, however, should be done in a comprehensive fashion reflecting the best approaches for mitigation, adaptation, regulation and investment throughout New York State. ESFPA is also part of a collective of manufacturing businesses who have concerns over the impacts any climate change initiative has on New York manufacturers in a global marketplace. As we look to revisit the CLCPA policy, regulations and market-based mechanisms to address climate change, we remain committed to work with the Governor and our Legislative Partners on policy that will have net positive climate results as well as avoiding adverse consequences on existing businesses and our ability for attracting new businesses.

ESFPA also has interests in the role that forests and wood products have in climate solutions. ESFPA supports efforts to address carbon emissions that in turn cause climate change in a way that maximizes the mitigation provided by forests and the wood products produced from them. Our climate strategies must capitalize on the “natural resource solutions” to climate change and reflect the science that surrounds bioenergy.

As the discussions about amending the CLCPA continue, ESFPA will stay true to our mission and members' interests. We will also contribute to the constructive dialogue for climate policy with all stakeholders. First, we need to see what, if anything, Governor Hochul chooses to put forth for consideration.  In the meantime, we will be outlining some points that we would like to see based on what was included in the NYSERDA memo that was shared.

New Regional Forest Carbon and Climate Courses

The Society of American Foresters is hosting a new set of regional short courses from Michigan State University’s Forest Carbon and Climate Program on the ForestEd platform.

These three courses are designed to reflect the distinct forest systems, management challenges, and adaptation considerations of different regions across the United States. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, each course focuses on the realities of the forests where professionals work.

Courses available by region:

Southeast United States
An introductory course focused on forest carbon fundamentals and adaptive management. Ideal for professionals looking to strengthen their understanding of how changing conditions affect southeastern forests and to gain practical tools for implementation.

Pacific Northwest United States
Explores regional forest types, market trends, carbon pools and fluxes, and the relationship between forest disturbance and carbon storage. The course emphasizes applied adaptive management using regional examples and federal resources.

Northeast United States
Introduces northeastern forest systems, regional market trends, forest dynamics, and carbon impacts. Learners will explore how changing conditions influence forest disturbance and carbon storage, with a focus on adaptive management strategies.

Registration closes March 10, 2026
Course access runs March 3 through April 30, 2026

These courses are appropriate for early-career, mid-career, and retired forestry professionals, as well as others seeking regionally grounded learning in forest carbon and adaptation.

Behind every resilient forest is a forester continuing to learn and adapt. This is one way to #ThankAForester through professional growth.

Click the link below to register for any of these courses:

ESFPA Participates in Farm Show

This past weekend, ESFPA Executive Director John Bartow participated in one of the NYFOA Talks at the Farm Show at the NYS Fairgrounds. On Saturday John presented on 'The State of our Forests and Pressing Federal and State Policy Impacting Forest Landowners'. There were about 30 people who attended. ESFPA former Board member Sue Keister also presented at the Show on Friday on 'How a Consulting Forester Can Help You Manage Your Woodlot'.

It was a wonderful show and some really interesting talks over the event. If you have never attended, there is a lot of ag. equipment on display at this event and a fair amount of forestry equipment. This year, a rare experience of a lot of sunshine in Syracuse! Our thanks to NYFOA for hosting a great series of talks!

Mass Timber is Poised to Reshape Construction with More Sustainable Design

From www.science.org

The eco-friendly construction material both stores carbon and emits less carbon during its manufacture than steel and concrete.

A new wood product on the U.S. construction scene called mass timber could help the industry meet the demand for more environmentally conscious building materials. Positioned as a leader in this evolving field, the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is educating the next generation of design professionals and builders in mass-timber innovation.

Building better

Multilevel buildings are typically built with steel and concrete, but these materials account for about 16 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions, according to the World Economic Forum. Since trees pull carbon dioxide out of the air as they grow, turning to wood as a building material could help the industry reduce its carbon footprint while taking advantage of wood’s renewability. But solid wood taken directly from the forest isn’t strong enough to support very tall buildings, and it is not code-approved for such use. That’s where mass timber comes in.

Developed in Europe in the 1990s, mass timber is a group of engineered wood products with several layers of wood bonded together. Two popular types are cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (glulam). CLT panels are made of up to seven layers of lumber glued in a perpendicular arrangement for use as walls, ceilings, and floors. The wooden layers of glulam, often used as beams and columns, are glued with the boards parallel to each other.

“Mass timber solves for many factors in the construction equation, whether it’s carbon sequestration or the speed, safety, or simplicity of construction,” says Peter MacKeith, dean of the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. The layers of mass timber provide increased strength and fire resistance compared to single pieces of wood. These materials are manufactured and employed to be fully code-certified and code-compliant, in particular regarding fire codes. In addition, mass timber is glued or nailed together in factories and is often prefabricated into modular structures that are quickly and easily assembled into a building onsite, offering a potential path to affordable housing.

Form and function

MacKeith points to the school’s newly constructed Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation as an example of how mass timber can create an aesthetically pleasing and functional space. It is the fourth campus building with mass timber elements. The other structures include a library storage annex, a residence hall, and a research building.

Primarily made of mass timber, the nearly 45,000-square-foot Timberlands Center houses design studios, conference rooms, and a lecture hall, centered on a large, high-bay fabrication workshop for students working on wood-focused projects. “We want our students to gain an understanding of materials—where they come from, how they are manufactured, and how they are assembled in constructed forms,” says MacKeith. The Timberlands building itself is also a teaching tool because many types of wood were used in the mass timber products throughout its interior and exterior. “Every building on our campus, and certainly buildings for the School, are members of the faculty, teaching implicitly and even explicitly about materials and construction,” he says.

Construction wasn’t without its challenges, however. Although the intention was to source the mass timber from Arkansas companies, a portion of the product had to be shipped from Europe, largely due to supply chain and manufacturer production. “There are really good producers out there, but we’re almost in an R&D growing phase for North American mass timber production,” says Jason Wright, principal with Modus Studio, an architecture firm that collaborated with the school on the center, in partnership with Grafton Architects of Dublin, Ireland. Because local companies in the past planted two trees for every one that they harvested, there’s now an overabundance of wood. “This is a great opportunity to take up a lot of that timber glut and put it to use that will earn money for the economy,” he says.