NEWS

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has postponed the effective date for the reclassification of the northern long-eared bat from threatened to endangered status under the Endangered Species Act to March 31. This will allow USFWS to prepare conservation tools and guidance and give landowners more time to prepare for the change.

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Legislators in the Montana Senate have proposed revising the tax laws on forestland. The goal of the bill, which passed through the Montana Senate Taxation Committee with a unanimous vote, is to provide a better incentive to timberland owners to continue growing trees.

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The EPA's expanded definition of "waters of the U.S.," or WOTUS, will increase the scope of required permits in forest management, expanding regulators' reach over private property, experts say. Administrative burdens—and legal uncertainties of the expanded definition—may increase costs and drive down the value of forestland. See the Hardwood Federation's report for more details.

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U.S. imports of multilayered wood flooring grew to $1.2 billion in value, up by more than 16%, and reached nearly 715 million square feet, up by 13% in volume, through November of last year. Imports from Vietnam alone grew by nearly 33%. These significant increases follow growth of more than 31% in volume in 2021.

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Through November of last year, imports of hardwood plywood grew by nearly 25% in value to more than $2 billion and almost 8% in volume to more than 3.1 billion square feet. These dramatic increases follow a 35% growth in volume in 2021. Indonesia and Vietnam drove growth in 2022, as the value of imports from Indonesia increased by a whopping 55% and imports from Vietnam grew by 33%.

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