Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities

Montana Forest Products Week is October 17-23, 2021. All Montanans benefit from the sustainable management of the state’s forests, whether it is providing clean air and water, abundant recreation and wildlife, wood products we use daily or good paying jobs.

The scale and intensity of this year’s wildfires are staggering. California’s Dixie Fire on the Plumas National Forest could soon reach 1,000,000 acres. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire on the Fremont-Winema National Forest, now fully contained, covers 413,000 acres.  The Caldor Fire, which was threatening

Researchers are just beginning to understand the risks of wildfire smoke to public health and our climate. Emerging scientific research points to the need for more active management on unhealthy forests to reduce the heavy fuels that are contributing to

What is S.192? Introduced by Senators Merkley and Wyden, the bill (known as the ‘River Democracy Act’) would add nearly 4,700 miles of Oregon “rivers” to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.  Here’s why it’s a really bad idea:

In July alone, wildfires burning across the Western U.S. emitted enough carbon dioxide to wipe out more than half of the region’s pandemic-driven emissions reductions in 2020. California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington saw fossil-fuel emissions decline by around 69 million

Active forest management, including thinning fire-prone forests, is a good way to reduce the risk of forest fires. Decades of lack of management have left federal forests overstocked with disease and insect ridden trees and standing dead timber that fuel

Overstocked federal forests are fueling massive catastrophic wildfires like the Labor Day fires that burned over 1 million acres in Oregon.  Despite the clear need to thin these forests to reduce wildfire risks, Oregon’s senators want to further restrict federal

The following is a recent position paper from our partners at Citizens for Sensible Forest Management, a grassroots group of concerned citizens who are concerned about the future of our forests and communities.  Their position paper, which we support, articulates

Last month the Biden Administration issued a report suggesting United States must double or quadruple the rate at which it thins and removes dead wood from its forests to reduce the threat of wildfires. The call for increased forest management comes after