Mega Drought Southern Oregon- Spring 2020 Forest Under Stress (FUS)

**Download the Mega Drought Southern Oregon 2020 presentation by clicking here. Rachel Lee Hall- a citizen advocate for Forest Under Stress (FUS) during the month of April took a series  Mega Drought Southern Oregon 2020 of photos of various mountain lakes and reservoirs in surrounding communities within the borders of  Jackson County, Oregon, located in the Rogue River-Siskiyou…

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Forestry: Meeting essential needs during a global pandemic

COVID-19 is challenging our society in many ways. Today we appreciate the men and women who are serving on the front lines of this epidemic and making personal sacrifices to provide care to those in need. Judging by shortages of medical supplies and many household items, the epidemic should give us an appreciation for the basic…

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Congress needs to protect our rural timber communities

The following opinion by Bryan Lorengo originally appeared in the Montana Standard Despite growing momentum for more active management on Montana’s national forests, litigation from a small number of fringe groups continues to hurt rural communities and the ability of federal agencies to manage public lands. The indefinite suspension of Townsend’s sawmill is just the latest example why Congress…

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Trillion Trees

As the only professional forester in the U.S. Congress, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) loves trees and understands the importance of good management for healthy forests. Recently he introduced the Trillion Trees Act, legislation that would plant 1 trillion trees globally by 2050 and incentivize the use of wood products as carbon sequestration devices. The Trillion Trees…

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Colorado’s Decker Fire and wilderness near communities

The 2019 Decker Fire ignited in the early afternoon of Sunday, September 8 in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, just two miles south of Salida, Colorado. Prior to the incident, it’s estimated the wilderness had an 80 percent tree mortality rate due to spruce beetle impacts and blowdown. The fire was initially small, so the…

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How misinformation produces flawed climate and carbon policies

Those of us in the forest sector already know wood is the most sustainable building material available.  We all understand the importance of marketing wood products to environmentally-conscious consumers.  But this doesn’t mean we’re immune to the turbulent politics of carbon policy.  You can’t afford not to participate in the climate debate.  Fortunately we have…

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Explaining changes to the Endangered Species Act

In 1990 the Northern Spotted Owl was listed as a “threatened” species under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), resulting in the steep decline in federal timber harvests and the economic collapse of many rural communities across the nation. In the Pacific Northwest over 9.5 million acres of federal land have been set aside as…

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