The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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Thanks to Jon for finding this story from the Payson Roundup by Peter Aleshire about difficulties in Forest Service hiring. It’s also interesting to compare with the BLM as they state they are 40% down in some places. The BLM and FS have different hiring centers.. it would be interesting to compare how they are … Read more
Why it 4FRI important? At our Region 2 Wildfire Strategy Roundtable, I heard “entrepreneurs need some guarantees for supply.” Which makes sense. But as we have seen, that and “having NEPA done” hasn’t necessarily worked out as well as expected for a variety of reasons that are important to understand. Since they are the main … Read more
Here’s a link to the press release: USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore today announced new funding and a redesigned strategy for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) during a visit with elected officials in Arizona. The agency will be committing $54 million dollars in fiscal year 2022 to accelerate the needs for implementing high-priority … Read more
There are two recent news stories by Adrian Skabelund of the Arizona Daily Sun. Here’s an excerpt: According to the Forest Service, the decision to cancel the contract was made after officials decided the current contract didn’t sufficiently meet the needs of industry partners, making it too risky to be successful. In its most recent … Read more
As we discuss topics on The Smokey Wire, sometimes there are echoes of the Timber Wars. The idea being that forest industry is bad and forests should be left alone. But that is not so true in dry forests, because there are millions of tons of wood to be removed fore restoration and/or … Read more
A news article, “U.S. Forest Service announces massive RFP to clear out Arizona forests,” describes the RFP here, which has this aim: “At full production, awarded contracts will seek to mechanically thin between 605,000 and 818,000 acres over 20 years within six separate sub-areas located in portions of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Coconino National Forest, … Read more
Thanks to Craig Rawlings of the Forest Business Network..here’s the link. The Oman-based Good Earth this week announced a partnership with Flagstaff-based Roots Composting to combine household waste from Williams with mountains of sawdust and wood chips from thinning projects to produce rich, organic soil suitable for gardens and farmland throughout the region. The partnership … Read more
Here’re the FS documents, below is a press release from 4FRI. The 4FRI Stakeholder Group is in the process of reviewing this draft decision. We have worked closely with the U.S. Forest Service in this planning effort, which began in 2012. It is the largest Environmental Impact Statement for forest restoration in the country,” stated … Read more
Thanks to Craig Rawlings and Forest Business Network for this one..Also thanks to Apache Sitgreaves for easy access to photos on Flickr. Check out their site here .. the albums are interestin, including a couple on fires and post-fire flooding. Here’s the link and below are some quotes. However, Horner said, “It’s a really monumental … Read more
Article from the Arizona Journal yesterday. I thought this line was interesting: “The problem boils down to a projected gap in the number of forest acres available to timber industries that are currently thinning forests in Northern Arizona between the end of the White Mountain Stewardship contract and the beginning of the 4FRI project. In … Read more