Apparently the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Report was pulled from the USDA website, but not other USG websites.
Here’s the USDA website. With all the other stuff about the Commission but not the report. But the report is still there, but not the link to the other site, apparently. I found it at the US Fire Administration website.
Intentional? Mistake? Over-reaction to some request? Does anyone know?
New Admin.. if you are reading, please set up a place to receive info from the public on missing/broken links.
The report makes mention of climate change, that is why it was taken down.
So you think that any doc that has climate change in it has been removed? Like a global “find, delete link”? I don’t think so.. https://www.fs.usda.gov/search?Content=climate
100% that is the direction. Any references to climate change are to be removed. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/usda-climate-change-websites-00201826
Just like the Agency terminated any contract that included environmental justice as an objective or requirement. Haven’t heard about any agreements but all the Keystone Agreements have DEI goals as objectives it seems…
Yes, it’s a clean sweep of anything that mentions DEI, climate change and other no-nos without much finessing.
methinks broken links are a feature, not a bug.
if you report alt links they are they will delete those too.
I do not know. While I did not agree with some things in the report, there was lots of work that went into its development. If it has been deleted, that is shameful. You cannot ignore wisdom just by having the position power to toss. Again, as a citizen of the great country, I am embarrassed for such behavior.
Very respectfully,
According to the Hotshot Wake Up (https://substack.com/home/post/p-156191023): “an email from the USDA came out ordering Forest Service employees to delete all references to climate change, including those that suggest it is causing more catastrophic wildfires.”
It is going to be interesting for things like NWFP amendment revision, which the DEIS included this need for change: “Strengthening the capacity of NWFP ecosystems to adapt to the ongoing effects of climate change.” The DEIS also includes a lot of analysis about climate change and fire. How do you walk all that back?
Well according to the Politico story, that’s not what the memo said. That’s why it makes sense to wait until the dust clears before getting excessively concerned.
Hi Sharon: I owe an apology to Kelly Martin on another discussion string for underestimating his experience and ability. I had never heard of this Commission before, and Google led me here — a Smokey Wire post saying that it had just recently been removed from the USDA website!
I was able to get a USDA link that verified Kelly’s participation as a Commission member, so maybe it was just a glitch and not censorship. InciWeb had been a huge resourceful me for many years — and then they did something to their websites and URLs that ruined all my links. No idea what happened to all of that great content.
I usually don’t follow government “insider” posts, but see that “Anonymous” claims the link was removed because of references to “climate change.” Although I have strongly disagreed with that claim (other than seasonal climate change) since it was invented, I agree with Michael that that content — and all government content — should at least be archived and made readily available with indexes and Google. We paid for this stuff and there is no need to remove it as if it never occurred. Searchable digital archives and maybe warning labels for when things become unpopular or disproven would be an easy solution.
Bob, maybe you’re not remembering it by that name.. we discussed it (with Kelly) here https://forestpolicypub.com/2023/10/24/lets-discuss-your-priorities-and-bold-innovations-to-carry-out-recommendations-from-the-wildfire-commission-report/
Kelly did a fantastic job describing the results of the Wildfire Commission and engaging with questioning and skeptical TSW-ites in this video. You participated in the webinar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWIf-sWDJmY
Here’s a link to the report, which is apparently on the USDA website https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/wfmmc-final-report-09-2023.pdf
But not linked to from this page which has other stuff about the Commission. https://www.usda.gov/forestry/disaster-resource-center/wildland-fire/wildland-fire-mitigation-and-management-commission
Thanks Sharon: Yow! My memory is definitely not improving with age. I don’t recall the name of this Commission, but do recall the discussions on “wildlands” and anonymous trolls. My memory for human names has always been bad, but I should have clicked on more than one Google link. I was even in a Zoom conference that didn’t come to mind! Thanks for bringing this to my attention — my doctor probably won’t be too pleased, though.
Hi Sharon: Part 2. I just sat through the video and it was a little scary — or at least a little embarrassing. You, Michael Rains, Tim Ingalsbee, Jon, and Sue Britting all participated and I have zero recall of the event — maybe because we were all saying the same things we always say! I even had a direct discussion with Kelly on “beneficial fire” and vocabulary that was very close to what each of us have written on this blog the past few days — but we both strongly agreed on the need to recruit and train a younger generation of forest workers.
Thanks also to Kelly for a brief overview of the report, and to everyone for clearly presenting their opinions and thoughts. I was only the 34th viewer of the video in the 18 months since it was created, but that is pretty normal for this type of recording, and it is great to have a public document to refer to — especially for those of us with occasional memory blocks!