It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week: Friday! We love this day because it means that we get to share another edition of our Forest Digest with you!

Check out this week’s news in trees:

  • “Cost Of Wildfires Burns Through Budgets, Pushing Feds To Find Other Funds” — HuffPost Green
    Wildfires are burning through federal funds because of a prolonged fire season along the West Coast. Experts fear wildfires will only worsen with higher temperatures and more severe drought conditions, which indicates that funding will become more of an issue.

  • “New bark beetle threatens southern Washington forests” — Washington State University News
    The beetles are coming — for Washington pine trees. A new species of pine bark beetle called the California fivespined ips has been identified as a threat to pine trees in forests across the state.

    • American Forests named Washington, D.C. one of the 10 Best Cities for Urban Forests, thanks to the commitment of local arborists.
    American Forests named Washington, D.C. one of the 10 Best Cities for Urban Forests, thanks to the committed work of local arborists.

  • “Tree Whisperers: Meet the DC Employees Who Watch Over Our Trees” — Washingtonian
    A city beautified with urban forests relies on dedicated arborists to protect its greenery. Duffy McCully is one of those remarkable individuals. For the last 15 years, McCully has participated in the movement to reforest Washington, D.C.’s urban canopy — a remarkable achievement!

  • “Deadly Fungus Killing Thousands of Trees in Everglades” — Nature World News
    The tiny redbay ambrosia beetle has a special delivery for Everglades trees: the laurel wilt fungus. However, this fungus isn’t really a gift for the forests. In fact, it is lethal; the fungus has killed 330,000 acres of swamp bay trees since 2011.

  • “Trees Are Urban Superheroes” — Outside Online
    A study from the U.S. Forest Service reports that we can all breathe easier, thanks to trees. Trees across the country are responsible for saving some 850 lives and eliminating 670,000 potential cases of respiratory diseases.

  • “Trees Get the Ax in War Against Asian Beetle” — The Wall Street Journal
    Invasive insects: 1, trees: 0. Officials in Worcester, Mass., have decided to fight a prevalent pest — the Asian longhorned beetle — by cutting down 500 trees in the city.

  • “The Tragic Deforestation of the Chaco” — Rolling Stone
    One of South America’s grandest — and relatively unknown — tropical forests is in a race against time. Gran Chaco forest is a hot, desert-like region that has been destroyed and deforested for many years. Now, farmers who have cleared the forests for agriculture insist they can save the region through sustainable practice.

  • “Stunning high-resolution map reveals secrets of Peru’s forests” — Mongabay
    A newly developed carbon map of Peru reveals that the country’s forests absorb an amazingly high amount of carbon; however, a majority of this greenery lies outside of the country’s protected areas.