Proposed $1.35 Billion Investment in Southeast Louisiana Would Establish Large-Scale Renewable Natural Gas Plant and Green Hydrogen Facility
Woodland Biofuels, Inc., announced a planned $1.35 billion investment at the Port of South Louisiana to establish one of the world’s largest renewable biofuels production facilities. The Toronto-based company would utilize waste biomass to produce sustainable biofuel used in transportation, heating and electricity generation.
If the project moves forward as outlined, the company expects to create 110 direct new jobs with an average annual salary of more than $90,000. Louisiana Economic Development estimates that the project would result in 259 indirect new jobs for a total of 369 potential new jobs in the Southeast Region. Woodlands Biofuels estimates that the project would create approximately 500 construction jobs.
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Minding the Forest: Louisiana's Forest Economy
Brooks Mendell, founder, president and CEO of Forisk Consulting, was one of the guest speakers at the 77th annual convention of the Louisiana Forestry Association.
His company does extensive research in the industry throughout the United States and Canada. During the late August event, Mendell sat down with us to talk about the forest productions industry in Louisiana for the September episode of Minding the Forest, LFA's podcast.
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LSU Uses Artificial Intelligence for More Accurate, Faster Wildfire Detection and Prediction
Uncontained wildfires can quickly engulf homes and infrastructure, leading to significant economic losses, displacement of communities, and health risks due to smoke. They also present significant threats to forests, grasslands, and other natural habitats, leading to the death or displacement of countless animals and plants.
Providing firefighting teams with the best technology improves their chances of containing wildfires before they cause widespread damage.
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Logging Equipment Set Ablaze In Vernon Parish Woods
On the night of August 24, Vernon Parish volunteer fire departments and Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) fire crews were dispatched to the area off Highway 465 north of Simpson. Investigators say that on August 23, after the logging crew left for work, several pieces of logging equipment and timber caught fire.
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Louisiana Forestry Association Discusses Future as Recovery Continues After Devastating 2023 Wildfires
The Louisiana Forestry Association is hosting its annual convention around a year after the state saw unprecedented damage from several wildfires, including one here in Southwest Louisiana known as the Tiger Island Fire.
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Louisiana Lawmakers Look for Emergency Funds to Remove Dangerous Dead, Beetle-ridden Trees
Have a dead tree in your yard from the dry summer last year? It could be infested with beetles, making it more likely to fall. Lawmakers are looking for an emergency declaration to get people funds to remove dangerous trees before that happens.
After the drought of 2023 that cost the state millions of dollars in agricultural losses, more than 12 million trees across the state are dead because of it. Those dry conditions make the perfect home for the ips beetle to dig into the bark, further weakening the tree.
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Companies are Selling the Carbon Stored in Louisiana Trees
The sound of leaves crunching underfoot follows Cakey Worthington as she makes her way into a forest of pine and oak trees in the Atchafalaya Swamp. She stops at a rebar marker placed in the ground then walks up to a tree nearby.
“We come back every five years to remeasure all the trees in this location,” she said, cicadas singing nearby.
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Louisiana’s Beetle Subcommittee Discusses Drought, Helping State Forestry
The Louisiana Legislature’s House Emergency Beetle Subcommittee held its second meeting at the state capitol on August 14 to discuss the state’s infected trees and find potential solutions.
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USDA Forest Service Announces $25M Funding Opportunity to Reduce Wildfire Risk, Support Local Businesses
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is announcing a funding opportunity through the hazardous fuels transportation assistance program to reduce wildfire risk, expand and create market opportunities, and support local jobs. This program is available to local businesses and partners that remove hazardous fuels from national forests and transport the material to be processed for wood products or services.
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Learn the Facts about the Emergency Forest Restoration Program
The Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) provides technical and financial assistance to owners of nonindustrial private forestland whose forestland was damaged by a qualifying natural disaster event.
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Hurricane Preparation and Recovery Guides for Louisiana Producers
Louisiana agriculture generates approximately $3 billion in sales each year, but in most years agricultural productivity is negatively affected by hurricane damage. Louisianans are familiar with the devastation and loss of life and property that can accompany a hurricane event as the state experiences, on average, one hurricane every three years. The total economic losses from a single hurricane can reach tens of billions of dollars, while agricultural losses can exceed one billion dollars. Louisiana is a major agricultural producer for the United States, but the structures, livestock, and crops are highly exposed to extreme wind and flooding during hurricane events.
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LSU AgCenter Researcher Helps to Secure $300,000 Matching Grant for Mass Timber Supply Chains
LSU AgCenter researcher Richard Vlosky has helped secure $300,000 in funding for a project to support a regional mass timber supply chain connecting underrepresented populations and communities in the South with consumers and developers along the Eastern Seaboard and Mid-Atlantic.
Vlosky, professor and director of the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center in the LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources, is part of a team that brought in the 2024 U.S. Forest Service Wood Innovations Program Grant.
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USDA Announces $190M Grant Opportunity To Help Private Forest Landowners
Friday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is making $190 million available to help private forest landowners adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and retain working forestlands.
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Louisiana Tribes Restore River Cane to Preserve Their Culture and the Environment
Rose Fisher Greer and her daughter are the only basket weavers left in the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, a tribe based in Central Louisiana.
To practice her craft, Greer needs river cane. For that, she has to go into Kisatchie National Forest, and she’s the only person in her tribe willing to make the journey. At one patch just off the side of the road, a few feet into the forest, the river cane grows in clusters of green stalks several feet high.
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LDWF Wildlife Management Area Forest Management Prescriptions Now Available for Review
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has published twelve draft forest management prescriptions for nine Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) that are now available for review.
The above detail proposed methods to improve, maintain, and sustain wildlife habitat while providing quality wildlife-oriented recreational improvements and growing quality timber resources for the long-term.
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