Wildfire-driven deforestation rates in California are now among the highest in the world, according to new research highlighted by Phys.org. California’s wildfire crisis has become so severe that Governor Gavin Newsom waived portions of the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly known as CEQA, in 2025 to accelerate vegetation management projects, mirroring efforts pursued by the…
Some anti-forestry groups claim active forest management comes at the expense of outdoor recreation on public lands. Stop logging, they argue, and rural communities will transition toward more prosperous tourism-based economies. New research recently highlighted in The Conversation disputes those claims. Researchers found that severe wildfires are driving major declines in outdoor recreation across the…
The House of Representatives has passed the Save Our Sequoias Act with strong bipartisan support, advancing a focused effort to protect and restore giant sequoia groves in California. The legislation directs the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service to accelerate fuels reduction and restoration work to improve forest conditions and reduce the risk of…
For decades, federal wilderness and forest policies have largely been guided by a preservation framework rooted in laws written 40 to 50 years ago. These policies were adopted in a different era, before prolonged drought, extreme wildfire behavior, insect outbreaks, and rapid climate shifts began reshaping our forests at an unprecedented pace. Recent research highlights…
New research from the University of Washington shows that active forest management can strengthen water security. In a study published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, researchers examined how forest thinning affects snowpack in the eastern Cascade Mountains. Snowpack serves as a natural reservoir, releasing water into rivers and streams that supply farms, fish…
As wildfires grow larger and more destructive across the West, forest health projects remain stuck in court. It can take a decade to plan a project and a single court ruling to stall it completely, even as wildfires continue to burn severely on public lands, impacting communities, wildlife habitat, clean air and water. The recent…
This guest post is from Cody Altizer of the Give for Grouse Initiative. Please contribute to this important campaign here. There was a time, in our not-so-distant history, that an iconic upland species called our young forests home. All across Appalachia, their drums thundered in the woodlands, and the Ruffed Grouse, the bellwether of all…
Note: This blog post responds to an oped in The Hill by Mike Dombeck, Dale Bosworth Tom Tidwell and Vicki Christiansen, former Chiefs of the US Forest Service. Twenty-five years ago, when the Roadless Rule was adopted, few people anticipated the wildfire conditions we face today. In 2001, large fires were still relatively uncommon. Today,…
The Forest Service is asking for public comment on a new plan designed to help the agency act faster after severe wildfires on national forests. Wildfires today are larger, more intense, and more destructive than in the past. When fires burn at high severity, they do not simply clear vegetation. They leave behind unstable soils,…
The holiday season is filled with familiar traditions, many of which have roots in the forest. From Christmas trees in living rooms, to paper wrapping gifts, to the wood that helps warm homes on cold winter nights, forests play an important role in how we celebrate this time of year. What makes these traditions possible…