April 25, 2024 HFHC News Round Up
Interior alumni eye return for a second Trump term (Greenwire)
A Trump administration Interior Department 2.0 — if it happens — could well turn out to be a reboot of the original. Particularly at the department’s upper levels, Interior veterans of the first Trump administration are being cited by their former colleagues and others with skin in the game as strong potential candidates to serve again, if former President Donald Trump wins against President Joe Biden in November. “I think there are going to be a lot of familiar faces that will want to go back,” said Cole Rojewski, Interior’s congressional liaison between 2019 and 2021. “I think a lot of people enjoyed their experience in the Trump administration.” Many remain hesitant to publicly ‘fess up to specific Interior ambitions right now. But in interviews with former Trump administration officials, Capitol Hill veterans, GOP-connected lobbyists and others, a number of names keep popping up. Those among the frequently mentioned range from former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt down to other political appointees now leading agencies in Republican-led states. (Subscription Required)
Biden taps ex-BLM lawyer to be federal judge in Montana (Greenwire)
President Joe Biden has selected a former Interior Department official to fill a vacancy on a federal court in Montana that frequently decides public lands cases. If she is confirmed, Danna Jackson — who previously served as a senior counselor to the director of the Bureau of Land Management — would be seated on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Jackson grew up on a ranch on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana and is currently a lawyer for the tribe, a position she has held since last year. Her service at Interior spanned 2021 to 2023, first as senior counselor to the BLM director and then as senior counselor to the assistant secretary for water and science. “Working at the Department of the Interior is like coming home,” Jackson said in a 2021 interview published on the White House website while she was at BLM. (Subscription Required)
Giant Sequoia Logging Projects Challenged By Environmental Groups (Bloomberg Law)
The US Forest Service unlawfully approved two large logging projects in Giant Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia National Forest, environmental groups said in a federal lawsuit filed in California. Sierra Club, Earth Island Institute, and Sequoia Forestkeeper said that the projects were approved “under the guise of ecological restoration,” but would harm imperiled species like the Southern Sierra Nevada Pacific fisher, gray wolf, California spotted owl, and several amphibian and bat species. They would also increase fire erosion and adversely affect water quality and carbon storage, the suit said. (Subscription Required)
Wildfires Contributing To U.S. Air Pollution Levels, Study Finds (Forbes)
Extreme heat and wildfires are contributing to unprecedented levels of air pollution in the United States, according to a new study. The American Lung Association’s 2024 State of the Air report warns 131 million people are now living in areas with unhealthy levels of air quality. It also notes spikes in particle pollution – often referred to as PM2.5 or soot – at the most severe they have been in the 25 years the report has been published. The microscopic PM2.5 or soot particles can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, and cause lung cancer. The association’s national senior director for policy, Katherine Pruitt said in an interview these unprecedented levels of severe PM2.5 air pollution are being driven “almost exclusively” by wildfires.
Experts warn millions of Americans will be exposed to ‘staggering’ wildfire smoke: ‘Going to slowly make some parts of the country relatively unlivable’ (Cooldown)
A new study predicts that wildfire smoke in the U.S. will worsen significantly by mid-century, putting millions of Americans at risk. What happened? Research released by the First Street Foundation estimates that by 2054, more than 125 million Americans will be exposed to at least one day of “red” air quality — the level at which th U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes as unhealthy — each year, as The New York Times summarized. This is a 50% jump from 2024, the Times reported. The shift is largely due to increases in wildfire smoke. An estimated 11 million people would face at least one “purple” or “very unhealthy” air quality day. Almost two million Americans would experience the highest risk level, “maroon,” which the EPA calls hazardous, by 2054.
Lawsuit Challenges Logging in Utah’s Ashley National Forest (CBD Press)
Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service today for approving logging within up to 147,000 acres of sensitive roadless habitat in Utah’s Ashley National Forest. In October 2023 the Forest Service authorized the Aspen Project, which will chainsaw habitat for bighorn sheep, deer, elk, bear and raptors, including the imperiled northern goshawk. The forest also provides habitat for elusive and rare forest dwellers, including lynx and wolverine. “This logging is a huge threat to the Ashley’s beautiful roadless forests, which are rich in biological diversity and beloved by hunters, hikers and many others,” said Ted Zukoski, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Forest Service officials are supposed to protect these wild places and the plants and animals that depend on them, but with this logging plan they’re ignoring that duty.”
Grizzly Flat residents oppose proposed biomass project (Mountain Democrat)
Implementing a biomass facility in Grizzly Flat became a talking point for District 2 Supervisor George Turnboo while campaigning in 2023 to retain his El Dorado County Board of Supervisors seat. Turnboo discussed with the Mountain Democrat the notion of a biomass facility that would be located next to a proposed community center and the town’s elementary school if it were to be rebuilt after being destroyed by the 2021 Caldor Fire. In the weeks following the local election in March, a handful of Grizzly Flat residents made their opposition to the biomass facility known. While no official plans are set in stone, a March 14 informational meeting revealed to residents more ideas for the project. According to residents who attended the meeting, county staff and Turnboo have been making plans to place such a facility on 17 acres of U.S. Forest Service land on String Canyon Road, which is adjacent to the site of Walt Tyler Elementary School and the proposed community center.
Healing the land: USFS plants new trees to replenish site of Fish Fire (Sundance Times)
A hundred years from now, the forest south of Sundance may look just the way it used to. The Fish Fire burned through just under 6800 acres back in 2022, leaving blackened scars in its wake. Left to its own devices, the land would likely take multiples of that timespan to heal those wounds, but the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) was on site last week to offer a helping hand. Along with a contracted crew of planters, Forest stewards arrived with boxes of foot-high seedlings to take advantage of a two-week window during which conditions are ripe for success. Though the tiny trees were born in Nebraska’s Bessey Nursery, they were grown from local seeds. Ponderosa pine take 60 to 80 years to reach maturity and start producing viable seeds.
Condition-Based Management: Forest Service FAQs (The Smokey Wire)
Apologies to the Forest Service, the WO Press Office provided this excellent summary of “What is Condition-Based Management: FAQs” in February, and it got lost in my e-pile. My idea was that people of all persuasions often mean different things by CBM and that our discussion would be clearer if we started with “What the Forest Service Thinks it is” since they are the ones using it. There are six pages attached here and I only excerpted the first questions below. Conceivably, we could also look at cases in which the use of CBM wins in court and when it loses, and see if that relates in any way to the topics as addressed below, or to other factors. I was hoping that some law students would look at these cases and share their observations. The Forest Service Office of General Counsel probably has done this work and shared it with the Forest Service, so if anyone would like to share that, it would help our joint learning also.
Update: Draft environmental assessment for proposed Jellico Mtn. logging job to be released (News Journal)
The Stearns Ranger District of the Daniel Boone National Forest has announced that they will release a draft environmental assessment for the Jellico Vegetation Management Project on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The project, now open for public comment, proposes to conduct silvicultural treatments, including timber harvest, intermediate treatments and associated road work, on approximately 9,600 acres of National Forest lands in McCreary and Whitley counties. “Survey work and analysis during the 2022 Jellico Integrated Resource Management Strategy process made it clear that the Jellico area is not on track to produce the variety of forest types and habitat conditions desired by our Forest Plan,” said Tim Reed, Stearns District Ranger. “After further analysis and a preliminary public comment period, we’ve drafted a set of proposed actions to help the Jellico area transition to a more biodiverse forest with a variety of forest types and habitat conditions present.”
Air Force C-130 crews train to fight wildfires (Capital Press)
Air Force C-130 cargo planes specially equipped to drop thousands of gallons of wildfire retardant took part in training this week at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station in Port Hueneme, Calif. The planes will join the fight when Forest Service-contracted air tankers are all deployed on wildfires. Their usage was unusually high in 2021 and 2020, when they flew hundreds of missions. The special equipment, called a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, can be installed in eight C-130s without major structural modifications, according to the Forest Service, which owns the modular systems and supplies the fire retardant.
No probable cause found, criminal charges dismissed against Allegheny Wood Products president (Metro News)
A Hardy County magistrate has dismissed criminal charges against Allegheny Wood Products President John Crites II. Crites, whose 50-year-old company closed its doors earlier this year because of financial problems, was charged with two felony counts of obtaining goods under false pretenses in connection logs delivered to the company’s yard near Moorefield. Two loggers, Mark Rexrode and Victoria Dyer, claimed checks used to pay them bounced because AWP’s account with United Bank had been frozen. Magistrate Shawna Crites, no relation, heard testimony during a preliminary hearing last week and found there was no probable cause to forward the charges to a grand jury. Both criminal counts were dismissed.
Georgia-Pacific’s Albany Lumber Facility Produces its 1 Billionth Boardfoot (PR Newswire)
Georgia-Pacific’s Albany Lumber has produced its 1 billionth boardfoot. The record-setting board rolled off the production line on April 18, just four years after the facility opened in 2020. The mill tracks production using an internal database, giving employees insight into volume in real time and to determine important milestones. Construction on the $150 million, 320,000-square foot, technologically advanced plant began in 2018. Albany Lumber is one of the two largest mills in the state of Georgia, and currently employs more than 150 full-time employees. The mill was also recently recognized as “Star Business of the Week” by the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.
