The Nature Conservancy and WestRock Foundation announced a partnership for two conservation projects in Southeast Virginia and along the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Aligning with The Nature Conservancy, whose mission is to conserve lands and water for people today and for future generations, further demonstrates WestRock’s commitment to sustainable forestry and environmental stewardship. “The Nature Conservancy thanks the WestRock Foundation for their generous support of our goal to restore longleaf pine forest in Virginia,” said Bill Kittrell, acting Director of The Nature Conservancy in Virginia. “This gift will allow us to expand the Big Woods Conservation Area and protect vital floodplain forest along the Nottaway river, which will preserve water quality, support rare species like the red-cockaded woodpecker, and one day be home to the returning longleaf pine tree.” click Read More below for additional detail

This spring, UPM will begin a transplantation project of rare and threatened wood-inhabiting fungi in co-operation with Natural Resources Institute Finland and the University of Helsinki. The aim of the project is to accelerate the reintroduction of species inhabiting deadwood to forests by planting these fungi to deadwood concentrations in the company forests. The project advances UPM's target to improve the biodiversity of the company forests in Finland. Increasing deadwood is a key method for achieving this target. "This is a completely new and a globally unique way to protect biodiversity", says Timo Lehesvirta, Sustainable Forestry Lead at UPM. Volume of decaying wood is the biggest difference affecting to forest species between sites reserved for wood production and natural forests. A quarter, i.e. approximately 5000, of forest species in Finland live on deadwood. Most of them are fungi and insect species. "The mycelia of fungi are grown in petri dishes. The mycelia are transplanted onto wooden pegs planted during the growing season to naturally developed deadwood and to deadwood made for the project", says Timo Lehesvirta. Click read more below for additional detail.

American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman has issued the following statement regarding the letter sent today to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency from 46 of senators. The letter stated senators’ support of “biomass energy as a sustainable, responsible, renewable and economically significant energy source.” “The carbon neutrality of energy from biomass harvested from sustainably managed forests has been repeatedly recognized around the world. By using biomass manufacturing residuals, the paper and wood products industry is harnessing the energy value of the residuals before the CO2 is lost to the atmosphere through other means.