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Naresh Khanal

@nishani53.github.io
6 followers 11 following 35 posts

Forest Economics Researcher @umaine.bsky.social | Writing on mass timber, wildfire risk, & mill infrastructure in @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social, @bangordailynews.bsky.social, & @oregonianopinion.bsky.social.

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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/08/2026
Spruce budworm moths don’t present passports or stop at border checkpoints; they ride the wind. 🌲🐛🇨🇦🇺🇸 My latest op-ed in @thechronicleherald.bsky.social argues why Maine & Atlantic Canada must unite to protect our shared Acadian forest.
saltwire.com
Opinion: Insects don’t respect borders so Maine and Atlantic Canada should manage the forest as a single ecosystem
Environmental commentary
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 28/08/2026
Nepalese living abroad and foreign citizens or organizations who wish to help Nepal during this time of disaster can now send relief funds directly to the Government of Nepal's account through the web portal provided below. web portal: pmdrf.nchl.com.np
pmdrf.nchl.com.np
Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund – Government of Nepal
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Honored to see U.S. Representative Adam Smith (@adamsmith.house.gov) highlight my @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social op-ed on mass timber! Combining prefabrication technology with regional cross-laminated timber builds housing faster while driving sustainable forestry.
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Appreciate you sharing the piece, @adamsmith.house.gov! Pairing mass timber with prefabricated manufacturing is a game-changer—it turns regional forest restoration into sustainable, lower-cost housing across the Pacific Northwest while supporting local timber supply chains.
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
"The conditions for catastrophe exist. But Maine isn't waiting for hillsides to turn brown." 🌲 Thanks @bangordailynews.bsky.social for sharing! Proactive management and early pest monitoring are key to protecting Maine's forest health and timber economy. 🍁🪵
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Thank you @oregonianopinion.bsky.social for publishing my piece! Federal investments fund the chainsaws, but without local processing infrastructure, small-diameter logs stay standing as wildfire fuel. We need to treat local mill capacity as vital infrastructure. 🪵🔥
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Mass timber isn't just a sustainable building material—it builds housing 25% faster while turning regional wildfire thinning into real economic opportunity for Washington communities. Appreciate @forseattlewa.bsky.social highlighting the connection between building policy and mass timber adoption!
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Thank you for giving space for my opinion.
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
Mary Hilton @maryhilt.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Climate change is destroying Canada's forests and after Maine's devastating outbreak of spruce budworm infestation, the state is now acting to protect ours. www.bangordailynews.com/2026/05/21/o...
bangordailynews.com
Opinion: Maine is working to avoid a catastrophic spruce budworm outbreak
“The conditions for catastrophe exist. But this time, Maine isn't waiting for the hillsides to turn brown.”
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
Bangor Daily News @bangordailynews.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
"The conditions for catastrophe exist. But this time, Maine isn’t waiting for the hillsides to turn brown." www.bangordailynews.com/2026/05/21/o...
bangordailynews.com
Opinion: Maine is working to avoid a catastrophic spruce budworm outbreak
“The conditions for catastrophe exist. But this time, Maine isn't waiting for the hillsides to turn brown.”
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
oregonlive.com.web.brid.gy @oregonlive.com.web.brid.gy · 19/07/2026
oregonlive.com
Opinion: When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows
The loss of sawmills around Oregon means that efforts to conduct wildfire prevention, such as thinning, are hitting a brick wall with no one able to process the small-diameter logs, writes Naresh Khanal, who recently earned his master's degree from Oregon State University's College of Forestry. It's a critical gap that neither Salem nor Washington, D.C. have been willing to confront.
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Thank you so much for sharing my opinion.
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
Oregonian Opinion @oregonianopinion.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Opinion: When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows
oregonlive.com
Opinion: When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows
The loss of sawmills around Oregon means that efforts to conduct wildfire prevention, such as thinning, are hitting a brick wall with no one able to process the small-diameter logs, writes Naresh Khanal, who recently earned his master's degree from Oregon State University's College of Forestry. It's a critical gap that neither Salem nor Washington, D.C. have been willing to confront.
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
David Rossi @drdjrossi.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Khanal writes: "Independent regional mills are often among the few facilities willing and able to process the variable, small-diameter material these [thinning] projects create." The article calls for bipartisan support for expanding wood processing capacity via public utility stabilization funds.
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
David Rossi @drdjrossi.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Op-ed in The Oregonian: "When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows." www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2026...
oregonlive.com
Opinion: When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows
The loss of sawmills around Oregon means that efforts to conduct wildfire prevention, such as thinning, are hitting a brick wall with no one able to process the small-diameter logs, writes Naresh Khan...
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 02/08/2026
Thank you for sharing.
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Reposted by Naresh Khanal
For Seattle @forseattlewa.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
This @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social op-ed makes the case for accelerating building homes differently, the exact kind of tech that's a part of the HOP (Housing Opportunities) legislation that's before @council.seattle.gov right now, a final vote coming this Tues: www.seattletimes.com/opinion/mass...
seattletimes.com
Mass timber is faster, cleaner, cheaper way to build housing in Seattle | Op-Ed
The next crane you see going up over a Seattle city block should be lifting cross-laminated timber panels harvested from Washington forests,
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/08/2026
Opinion: When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows
oregonlive.com
Opinion: When sawmills close, wildfire risk grows
The loss of sawmills around Oregon means that efforts to conduct wildfire prevention, such as thinning, are hitting a brick wall with no one able to process the small-diameter logs, writes Naresh Khan...
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/08/2026
Guest column: To save Oregon’s forests, market our worst wood - The Bulletin
bendbulletin.com
Guest column: To save Oregon’s forests, market our worst wood - The Bulletin
Every summer in Central Oregon now comes with the same uneasy routine: checking smoke forecasts, watching evacuation maps, and hoping the next lightning storm does not spark another disaster. People [...
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/08/2026
Opinion: Western North Carolina’s forests still at risk from Helene - AOL
aol.com
Opinion: Western North Carolina’s forests still at risk from Helene - AOL
Fires that typically burn 10 to 20 acres are now running 50 to 100 or more after Helene's forest destruction. Debris is also slowing suppression.
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/08/2026
Mass timber is faster, cleaner, cheaper way to build housing in Seattle | Op-Ed
seattletimes.com
Mass timber is faster, cleaner, cheaper way to build housing in Seattle | Op-Ed
The next crane you see going up over a Seattle city block should be lifting cross-laminated timber panels harvested from Washington forests,
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/08/2026
Opinion: Maine is working to avoid a catastrophic spruce budworm outbreak
bangordailynews.com
Opinion: Maine is working to avoid a catastrophic spruce budworm outbreak
“The conditions for catastrophe exist. But this time, Maine isn't waiting for the hillsides to turn brown.”
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/08/2026
Is the peg to INR still a safe harbour?
kathmandupost.com
Opinion | Is the peg to INR still a safe harbour?
It would be unwise to change it and contribute to inflation and capital outflow.
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
Full paper (open access): doi.org/10.1007/s443... Implications for rural economies, forest landowners, and Lake States policy: this framework is replicable for other Lake States such as Wisconsin & Minnesota. 6/6
doi.org
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬 is the real wildcard: from 0.48M acres of market coverage in 1985 to 15M+ by 2018, riding renewable energy policy. 5/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
Pulpwood wasn't so lucky: facilities were cut in half from 2003 to 2018. But 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐨 and 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐝 are moving in, signaling a possible rebound. 4/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
🌲 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 sawlogs volume grew from 28M to 39M MBF, but competition intensity dropped sharply after 2018 due to the recession's lingering effects and import competition. 3/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 sawlog markets proved surprisingly resilient. Volume rose from 48M to 65M MBF (2003–2023), holding steady through the 2008 recession and COVID. 2/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
🌲 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧 lost nearly a third of its wood-processing mills (428→302) since 1985. Production went UP anyway. My new paper in the Journal of Forestry breaks down the last five decades of consolidation in the forest products industry 🧵 1/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
This isn't happening yet; it depends on new small-log sawing tech becoming commercially viable. But the pieces (forest need + market demand + cost gap) all point in the same direction. Full paper (open access): doi.org/10.1016/j.tf... 6/6
doi.org
Redirecting
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
Production costs (~$500-600/m³) are also far below current CLT market prices (~$1,500/m³) — real revenue potential. 5/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
The ripple effects are real: every $1 invested generates an extra 31 cents in the regional economy, concentrated in logging, sawmilling & transportation along the I-84 corridor. 4/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
The idea: use small logs (10–23 cm), too small for regular sawmills, as feedstock for mass timber (CLT/GLT) production instead. Using IMPLAN modeling, we found this could generate 365 jobs and $105M in regional economic output in just the first year. 3/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
We found 69% of the forest in the Malheur, Umatilla & Wallowa-Whitman National Forests exceeds fire-resilient conditions, meaning it needs thinning. That's ~680k ha of small-diameter Ponderosa & Lodgepole pine that's currently unmerchantable... but it doesn't have to be. 2/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 30/07/2026
🌲 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭! 🔥 Wildfires are getting worse in the West. One overlooked fix: turn the small trees we need to cut down anyway into mass timber. New paper in Trees, Forests and People looks at eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains 🧵 1/6
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 01/10/2023
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 29/09/2023
Tiny apology 🥹
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 28/09/2023
Paw day ❤️
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 27/09/2023
Good Night tweeps
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 26/09/2023
A clear rejection is better than fake promises. #quotes
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 26/09/2023
Cats that heal your depression 😍😍
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Naresh Khanal @nishani53.github.io · 26/09/2023
Setting up the Bluesky 🤗
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