The Outlook | April 2024

A trusted source of environmental information

Community Partners Initiative

Dovetail Partners is excited to announce a new partnership with The Watershed Research and Training Center!

Dovetail’s Community Partners Initiative (CPI), made possible by our partners, will facilitate increased community wildfire and climate resilience through supporting community partnerships, local leadership, and institutional capacity-building.

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Registration is Now Open for Collaboration on Carbon Workshop

A workshop to understand downstream impacts and the future of US forest carbon markets, is to be held June 17-18 at Montgomery Bell State Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Join with other experts, market-actors, and interests in identifying risks and collaborative solutions. This event is the culmination of a project entitled Exploring the Potential Effects of an Expanding Forest Carbon Market in the United States.

Attendees will hear a summary of the project’s concept paper, survey, and mapping analysis; presentations from experts, and engage in small group discussions. Thought leaders representing a full range of perspectives and experiences on forest carbon markets are invited to participate in the workshop and contribute to the final results of the project.

Do You Export to Europe?

Urgent Attention to EUDR Needed

By: Jim Bowyer and Sarah Harris

Several years in the making, the EUDR (European Union Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products) quietly went into effect at the end of June 2023, with enforcement to begin on December 30, 2024. Every company that exports wood in any form to Europe will be affected, as will others throughout the supply chain all the way to the forest.

Dovetail Intern Reflects on Attending Soil Health Summit

Seamus McCarthy is a soon-to-be graduate of Macalester College and an intern at Dovetail. Seamus attended the Midwest Soil Health Summit in Mankato and wrote about his experience:

"Over my Spring break, I had the privilege of attending the Midwest Soil Health Summit, a modestly-sized convention organized by the Sustainable Farming Association. The summit lived up to my expectations in its content and speakers, and was right up my alley of interest. The event consisted of guest speakers, organization tables, and social hours where farmers and other soil enthusiasts could make connections and catch up with each other. After having the chance to attend this conference, it seems only fitting to explain why all these people and I care so much about dirt, and why there’s a great deal to be excited about when it comes to dirt’s future."

Recording Now Available

On March 27, the U.S. Forest and Wood Products Sector Inclusion Council held the event, "Sustaining our Sector: The Role of Diversity and Inclusion in U.S. Forestry and Wood Products". The panel highlighted the importance of diversity and inclusion within the sector and some of the important work that is underway to move the sector forward.

Ecological & Environmental Identity:

Strategies for Building Community and Mitigating Conflict

What you think and feel about the environment is important to how you act. And each person’s beliefs and values play into categories of “us” and “them.” This can create community around shared beliefs and values, but differences, real or imagined, also create conflict. To get more community and less conflict, I believe in spectrums and that people are able to come together when we spend time better understanding each other. This article provides three specific strategies in the form of individual or group exercises to build personal and shared understanding.

Guest Article By:

Michelle Doerr

Anavah Consulting, LLC

Save the Date for Tools for Living with Fire Event

The Tools for Living with Fire Event will take place June 15th from 8:30am - 4:30pm in Ely, MN. This event will give landowners empowerment tools to enhance their wildfire resilience and optimize land care practices.

Registration link coming soon.

On May 15th at noon (CT), 100 Rural Women is hosting a virtual screening of our new video Rooted in the Future, followed by a discussion with Gloria Erickson, Dovetail's Fire Adapted Communities Project Coordinator, about what landowners can do to increase wildfire resiliency on their properties and care for their land. Register here.

Additional upcoming events can be found at the Minnesota FAC website.

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities Initiates the Steps for a National Forest System Land Regional Risk Assessment

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, Inc. (The Endowment) has gained approval from the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) for their proposed methodology and sponsorship of a Regional Risk Assessment (RRA) for national forests. The scope of the assessment includes the national forests in the lower (contiguous) 48 states, and the USDA Forest Service is a key partner for the project. The Endowment has contracted with INCOS Strategies and Cambium Consulting to coordinate the assessment and complete the RRA process. Dovetail Partners is engaged in the public consultation activities for the process. The RRA will be developed and submitted to SBP in accordance with the applicable SBP rules, standards, and procedures.