ESFPA E-News

Wildfires Consume Hundreds of Acres and Impact Air Quality

As we previously reported, with record dry conditions and widespread drought, wildfire is making headlines throughout the region. Here are a few noteworthy items:

• Connecticut officials tracking most fires in decades as state of emergency continues. 
• Fire crews responded to a 17-acre forest fire in Leeds, Maine, with dry conditions contributing to multiple other fires around the state.
• 200 fires were reported in Massachusetts in October, 1200% above the historic monthly average. 
• New Jersey fire crews battled the 110-acre Halloween Wildfire in Cumberland County and the 202-acre Craigmeur Lookout Wildfire in Morris County, among other fires across the state.
• In New York, rangers put out eight fires across seven counties, including one that burned 20 acres in St. Lawrence County.
• A wildfire burned 150 acres on Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. 

New York deployed firefighters across the State and region and Governor Hochul updated many New Yorkers on air quality impacts from the level of wildfires.  

We Need a Bigger Workforce Pipeline

Authors: Eric Kingsley | FRA Northeastern Region Consultant 
Vanessa Connelly | FRA Communications and Marketing Manager

When I speak with people across the forest industry – in all sectors and in all regions – a shared concern is the workforce. In simple terms, we need to recruit more people into the forest products industry today, and that need will only grow in the coming years. The demographics of our industry – and many rural industries – make clear that we currently have more folks close to ending their careers than people starting. If we want a prosperous future for the forest products industry, we need to attract and retain more people in our workforce.

For some work I am currently doing, I ran across a recent report titled Trend Analysis of the Pennsylvania Hardwood Forest Products Industry 2024. It’s a well-researched look at the demographic attributes of our industry – as a whole and by sector – and provides some excellent insight into what untapped opportunities might exist to broaden our industry’s recruitment efforts. Let me say that I don’t think that Pennsylvania is in any way unique in what I am highlighting, but it’s the data that’s readily available that illustrates a point.

In a surprise to absolutely nobody, the forest industry is overwhelmingly white and male. Not a little bit; a lot. The forest industry tends to be located in rural economies. Rural economy populations are 76 percent white in the US (US Census, 2020). In Pennsylvania, rural counties are nearly 90 percent white. However, the trend is that rural counties are becoming increasingly diverse.

Click the link below to read the full FRA article:

OCP Campaign - Advanced Clean Truck & Heavy-Duty Omnibus Rules

The Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) & the Heavy-Duty Omnibus (HDO) rules, set to take effect in 2025 and 2026 respectfully, would require an increasing number of medium- and heavy-duty zero emission vehicle (ZEV) sales in New York, and combined will serve to limit the number of diesel trucks available for sale.

Due to the current limitations in technology, charging infrastructure and vehicle availability, enforcing these rules at this time will not only negatively impact New York's truck dealers, trucking companies and consumers, it will actually serve to slow down progress on New York's emission reduction goals.

Ask Governor Hochul to immediately delay implementation of these rules and protect our businesses in New York!

If you haven't already, please click the link below to join our advocacy campaign: