Feds just narrowed what counts as "harm" to wildlife

A rule change out of Washington quietly loosened one of the constraints on land clearing and utility work this month. It shares the week with a fatal chipper accident in Florida, another lanternfly surge, and a timber heist that reads like a movie script.

The big one

The Trump administration finalized a rule on July 11 that narrows the definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act. The old interpretation counted "significant habitat modification or degradation" as harm. The new rule strips that out and keeps only the statute's plain text, so knocking down or degrading habitat no longer automatically triggers the ESA's take prohibition (The Regulatory Review).

The rule takes effect September 14. Several environmental groups have already sued in federal district court, calling it arbitrary and capricious.

For crews doing site clearing, line-clearance vegetation management, or forest-edge work near listed species, this is the government pulling back a rule it has used to slow or stop cutting. Less habitat review before the saws come out. That's the direction of travel. But the case is in court and could be tossed or paused, so don't tear up your permitting checklist yet. If your work touches designated critical habitat, keep documenting what you did and why until the litigation settles.

The canopy

The House farm bill dropped the pesticide lawsuit shield

The U.S. House passed its version of a five-year farm bill after stripping a provision, opposed by the Make America Healthy Again crowd, that would have blocked some lawsuits against pesticide makers (Agroforestry Partners). Pulling it keeps some litigation avenues open even after the Supreme Court narrowed failure-to-warn claims in June. The House bill still has to be reconciled with the Senate and signed before any of it is real.

Two more shops change hands

Riverview Landscapes bought B&B Landscaping & Gardening of Cortlandt Manor, New York, its 27th acquisition since 2022, folded into its Westchester County branch (Business Wire). Separately, Willie C. and Sons Landscaping of Topsham, Maine sold to Winterberry Gardens, a Gemini Investors portfolio company, in a deal that closed March 24 (Business Wire). The roll-up machine keeps running.

Prescribed fire saved thousands of sequoias

A UC Davis study in Nature Communications found that giant sequoias in Sierra Nevada groves burned with prescribed fire in the prior decade were nearly four times more likely to survive the 2020 Castle Fire and the 2021 KNP Complex Fire than untreated trees (UC Davis). The researchers estimate prior burns prevented about 1,900 sequoia deaths, that another 3,900 could have been saved with full treatment, and that the burns cut the odds of death by roughly 77%. Low-intensity fire is doing the work fuel loads otherwise won't let you avoid.

Safety report

An arborist was killed after being caught in a wood chipper at Ocean Ridge Town Hall, about 60 miles north of Miami, Florida. Police responded around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to a report of an accident involving an employee of a contracted tree-trimming vendor. The worker died from his injuries. No one else on scene was hurt, and OSHA was notified and sent investigators. His name has not been released (AM 1230 KBAR).

In Montgomery County, Texas, a tree trimmer in the Conroe area got trapped near energized power lines the evening of July 14, around 6:10 p.m. He was left suspended close to live conductors, and responders couldn't reach him safely until Entergy crews arrived to de-energize the circuit. Radio traffic and a witness said both the trapped worker and at least one rescuer took shocks before the power was cut (Montgomery County Police Reporter).

DeLand Fire Rescue in Florida pulled an unresponsive man out of a tree on South Salisbury Avenue on July 16. He was hanging upside down in what the report calls an unstable homemade harness. Firefighters ran a technical rescue to get him down. The report doesn't say whether he was a pro or his condition afterward (WFTV).

An update on the Ponca City, Oklahoma bucket truck collapse we covered last week: the two men who fell about 45 feet when the aerial device's cable snapped are brothers, working for a family company called Curb Appeal. The community set up a GoFundMe for their medical bills (Kay NewsCow).

Pest and disease watch

Lanternflies surge again near Pittsburgh

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture reports spotted lanternfly numbers surging again in Allegheny County, which has been under quarantine for years and has the state's highest sighting count. Reported sightings have dropped from tens of thousands to several thousand in recent seasons, but the insect still feeds on more than 70 plant species, maples and black walnut among them. A Penn State study cited in the report estimates uncontrolled lanternflies could cost Pennsylvania about $324 million a year and more than 2,800 jobs (USA TODAY). West Virginia, meanwhile, confirmed the pest in St. Albans, making Kanawha its 22nd county with a detection (WOAY).

EAB news pulls in two directions

Maine has issued draft rulemaking to repeal its emerald ash borer quarantine, along with a European larch canker quarantine, with two public hearings scheduled before a final call (Bar Harbor Story). Oklahoma went the other way, confirming EAB in Wagoner County and putting all ash across the Tulsa metro at risk (Ulrich Tree Care).

Minnesota puts $1.7 million toward ash

The Minnesota DNR is offering $1.7 million in Protect Community Forests Grants for EAB response, with awards up to $150,000. Applications open August 3 and close September 14. Tribal governments, nonprofits, schools, and local governments can apply for removal, treatment, replanting, inventories, and management plans (Minnesota DNR).

Species spotlight

Jack pine is the tree that grows where nothing else bothers to. It colonizes burned, sandy, sterile ground across boreal North America, down into the Great Lakes and Northeast, topping out at 35 to 50 feet. The wood is light and moderately soft, about 0.40 specific gravity, and mostly ends up as pulp, poles, and rough lumber. Stems run crooked and gnarled, so don't expect clean rigging lines out of one. Short twisted needle pairs and curved, tightly closed cones make it easy to ID.

Those closed cones are serotinous, meaning they stay sealed until fire's heat pops them open. It's a short-lived, scrappy tree, but young stands are the only place the endangered Kirtland's warbler will nest. Late dormant season is your pruning window, though the tree does a lot of its own pruning.

One for the lunch break

State, federal, tribal, and local officers hit seven properties across Delaware, Ottawa, and Nowata counties in northeast Oklahoma to break up an organized timber theft ring. The multi-year investigation alleges the crew illegally cut, hauled, and sold high-value hardwoods including black walnut. Four men were arrested. Investigators are telling landowners to watch for late-night equipment, unauthorized roads into woodlots, fresh stumps, and logging debris, and to report suspected cutting to ODAFF Forestry Services or the sheriff (Radio Oklahoma News). Walnut has always been worth stealing. Now it comes with a multi-agency takedown.

Stay safe out there,

The TreeNerd crew

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