Note: Bruce Ward and David Peri contributed the following article to our blog At last the smoke begins to clear and it feels like we can once again get out and run and cycle and enjoy the outdoors after being warned to stay inside and avoid outdoor activities. Massive forest fires in Colorado and across…
Catastrophic wildfires over the past years are devastating the American landscape and the socioeconomic infrastructure. Landscapes left behind catastrophic wildfires resemble war zones with death and destruction all around. The 2020 California wildfire season is wreaking havoc on the already desperate California economy; and this may just be the beginning of the season. Greenhouse Gases…
Thanks to your help, we’re making progress protecting working forests in Snohomish County. First, the Snohomish County Council has so far declined to seek “reconveyance” (or conversion) of DNR trust lands into a county park- a proposal that comes with questionable benefits and costs. Proponents of this proposal have falsely claimed the Tulalip Tribe supports putting…
Note: This article was provided to us by the National Association of State Foresters The COVID-19 pandemic has produced the largest economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression. During the Great Recession of 2008, America’s real GDP declined by 8.4% during the second quarter of 2008. A recent estimate by the Federal…
Note: The following is a news release from New Mexico Forest Industry Association An ongoing lawsuit brought by a Santa Fe environmental group has led to the closure of several rural New Mexico businesses, threatening the long-term health of the state’s watersheds and causing a firewood shortage for the state’s most vulnerable communities. The lawsuit,…
Our friends at Communities for Healthy Forests, Inc. have released the results from a recently conducted statewide poll conducted by the Portland based independent, nonpartisan opinion research firm DHM Research. The goal of the survey was to assess Oregonians’ opinions about how to manage federal forests in Oregon to prevent severe wildfires and what to…
“Paperwork protests” are keeping the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from reducing wildfire and smoke risks on public lands, and providing sustainable timber harvests to support jobs. The good news is the BLM is proposing to modernize its forest management rules for the first time in 35 years. These rules provide an alternative to the paperwork protests…
This month American Wildlife Conservation Partners (representing the country’s top 50 hunting conservation organizations) released a report recommending specific actions that can be taken to improve wildlife conservation and management in the United States. Their Wildlife for the 21st Century: Volume VI can be found here. Among the recommendations is the need to increase active forest management on…
Note: Frank Carroll contributed the following article to Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities. Forest Service supervisors in Utah are enforcing a moratorium on “managed wildfires” in 2020, this terrible year of the pandemic “wildfire” that so affects all aspects of our lives. The thinking is that Covid19 is putting enough pressure on hard working firefighters without…
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service to undertake an assessment of the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. Though some use the NEPA process to stall or stop projects they don’t like, the process offers important opportunities for citizens to get involved,…