The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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The Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group has released data and rankings for their annual “Best Places to Work” report on the federal government.
US Forest Service: 406th out of 432 agencies and divisions. USDA: 12th out of 17 major agencies.
BLM: 348th. Interior: 9th of 17 major agencies.
EPA: 7 out of 27 midsize agencies.
Vail Mountain wants to Live Más
Vail Mountain, the largest ski area in Colorado and one of the most-visited in America, signed a 10-year, $100 million agreement with Taco Bell that will touch nearly every part of the resort.
What’s next? The Microsoft Old Faithful Inn?
This will take a deep dive, but it’ll be an interesting one. In “Countering Omitted Evidence of Variable Historical Forests and Fire Regime in Western USA Dry Forests: The Low-Severity-Fire Model Rejected,” by William L. Baker, Chad T. Hanson, Mark A. Williams, and Dominick A. DellaSala. In the journal Fire, April 3, 2023 (open access), the authors critique a 2021 study, “Evidence for widespread changes in the structure, composition, and fire regimes of western North American forests,” by a handful of noted scientists, such as Paul F. Hessburg, Susan J. Prichard, Scott Stephens, and several others, in Ecological Applications, August 2021 (open access).
Abstract of the first paper (emphasis added):
I’d like to hear the response of Hessburg et al to the charge of “falsification,” something some scientists have accused Hanson of.
From The Western News. Excerpt:
The new Lolo Forest Plan revision speaks to diversity, inclusion, social justice, wilderness and wild and scenic rivers, but not a peep about the economic importance of the Montana and Idaho timber industries or the wildfire/ forest health pandemic that grips national forests in both states.
I’ll skip the economic and social stuff because I know others won’t. But I refuse to whistle past the graveyard the Lolo is becoming. You can drive in any direction from Missoula and find visual proof of the power of science- based forestry: The late Steve Arno’s silvicultural research at Lick Creek, near Hamilton; the beautiful groves of ponderosa and larch on the back side of Seeley Lake; the park-like stands on ponderosa on both sides of Highway 135 north of St. Regis; and the thinnings my friend, Tim Hancock is doing on private land near Ravalli.
Far more trees are dying on the Lolo Forest today than when Leiberg saw it in 1898 because there are too many for the carrying capacity of the land.
The solution to this environmental injustice is simple: thinning and prescribed fire, thinning and prescribed fire. Repeat in perpetuity.
Why on earth is the Lolo staff ignoring this? Has anyone on the Planning Team read the Montana Forest Action Plan that the Forest Service helped develop and signed? It doesn’t look like it.
PR from the BLM today:
WASHINGTON — Today the Department of the Interior published a proposal to guide the balanced management of America’s public lands for the benefit of current and future generations. The proposed Public Lands Rule provides tools for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to improve the resilience of public lands in the face of a changing climate; conserve important wildlife habitat and intact landscapes; plan for development; and better recognize unique cultural and natural resources on public lands.
The proposed rule directly responds to the growing need to better manage public lands, waters, and wildlife in the face of devastating wildfires, historic droughts, and severe storms that communities are experiencing across the West, as well as to deepen BLM’s collaborative work with communities, states and Tribes to support responsible development of critical minerals, energy and other resources. The proposal is consistent with strategies used by other state and federal land management agencies to ensure the federal government has tools and direction to identify areas in need of restoration or conservation, as well as the ability to encourage investments in public lands to help balance the impacts of development. It will increase access to outdoor recreation by putting conservation on equal footing with other uses, consistent with the BLM’s multiple use and sustained yield mission.
“As the nation continues to face unprecedented drought, increasing wildfires and the declining health of our landscapes, our public lands are under growing pressure. It is our responsibility to use the best tools available to restore wildlife habitat, plan for smart development, and conserve the most important places for the benefit of the generations to come,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “As we welcome millions of visitors to hunt, fish and recreate on our public lands each year, now is the time to improve the health and management of special places.”
“Our public lands provide so many benefits – clean water, wildlife habitat, food, energy and lifetime memories, to name just a few– and it’s our job to ensure the same for future generations,” said Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “As pressure on our public lands continues to grow, the proposed Public Lands Rule provides a path for the BLM to better focus on the health of the landscape, ensuring that our decisions leave our public lands as good or better off than we found them. We look forward to feedback from the public on how this proposal will help us best uphold the BLM’s important mission.”
The proposed rule would build on the historic investments in public lands, waters and clean energy deployment provided by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act by directing land managers to identify and prioritize lands and waters through the land management process that require habitat restoration work, such as removing invasive species or restoring streambanks. BLM lands are an economic driver across the West, and the proposed rule will ensure those lands and the resources they produce continue to be available for future generations.
It also proposes conservation leasing, a tool authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), to facilitate restoration work on public lands in cooperation with community partners. A conservation lease is a time-limited lease of public land that allows interested organizations to conduct specific restoration or mitigation activities and would generate revenue for the American taxpayer. This tool has the potential to expand opportunities to accelerate restoration of big game migration corridors or establish carbon markets, for example, and directly responds to comments from state and industry partners on the need for a reliable path on public lands by which to pursue compensatory mitigation to facilitate development projects.
The proposed rule includes a roadmap to align the BLM with other land management agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, in ensuring the agency is inventorying and assessing the health of public lands, including watersheds, forests and wildlife habitat. In light of the rapidly changing climate and increasing demands on public lands, the additional information will be used to identify trends, implement adaptive management strategies, and ensure decisions are informed by the best available science and on-the-ground monitoring. It will also be utilized during the existing land management planning processes to identify public lands in need of restoration work or intact landscapes that may be best managed for their contributions to healthy, functioning ecosystems or water quality.
The proposed rule also provides a framework for land managers to apply provisions of FLPMA that direct the BLM to prioritize the identification, evaluation and designation of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) through land use planning. ACECs are the primary BLM designation for public lands where special management is required to protect important natural, historic, cultural and scenic resources, systems or processes, or to protect life and safety from natural hazards.
The publication of the proposed Public Lands Rule in the Federal Register in the coming days initiates a 75-day public comment period. In addition, the BLM will host five information forums to discuss the details of the rule.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
Here’s an interesting blog post by Alice Palmer focusing on BC, but applies elsewhere.
Speaking at a recent forestry conference in BC, futurist Nikolas Badminton enthused about recent forestry innovations, such as mass timber high-rises, wood-based windows, and electricity-generating floors. Indeed, one has only to open their daily newspaper to be inspired about the promise of a “bioeconomy” replacing carbon-intensive materials such as cement or plastic with bio-based ones such as wood fibre.
Unfortunately, while wood is increasingly viewed as a climate-friendly building solution, the logging activities that provide this wood are not viewed in the same positive light. Indeed, many people believe industrial forestry to be environmentally damaging in terms of both carbon emissions and biodiversity conservation. These beliefs frequently carry over to the media and various levels of government.
In short, we want to “eat our cake and have it too” – use the wood, but preserve the forest. However, if we want to both take advantage of the multiple carbon benefits of building with wood and conserve 30% of the earth’s surface (as per the UN Convention on Biological Diversity), we’ll need to make some tough decisions.
The author continues with four hypothetical scenarios…. All worthy of discussion.
With climate change threatening biodiversity, conservation groups and the forest industry call a truce. Some forests are set aside for conservation purposes and others are designated for industrial wood production. Previously degraded forests are actively restored and intensive silviculture in the industrial forests reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires and enables high-quality wood production. These industrial forests rapidly sequester carbon, contributing to global net zero emissions.
Interesting article on the latest research. I would note that western redcedar may have done well and expanded its range during and after the Little Ice Age, and the species now grows (and is dying) in areas it in no longer adapted to. A researcher “found young Western red cedars growing alongside drought-hardy Oregon white oaks.” What’s more, the cessation of Indian burning in the Willamette Valley let cedars “invade” areas where previously they would have succumbed to fire. The same in true for Doug-fir — it’s not doing well in sites it wasn’t well adapted to.
Research links cedar death to climate, details which trees are dying, which are surviving and shows how the species might be saved
A raft of webinars…. Something for everyone on Smokey Wire….
SCIENCEx ASSESSMENTS WEEK, MAR. 27 – 31, 2023
2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ESTE
The Forest Service Research and Development SCIENCEx webinar series unites scientists and land management experts from across the US Forest Service and beyond.
SCIENCEx Assessments week will explore the data, tools, and approaches helping land managers with forest planning efforts — whether on National Forest System lands or state, Tribal, or privately-owned forestlands.
For more on the SCIENCEx webinar series or to view the archives, visit the SCIENCEx webinar page.
Monday, Mar. 27
Science for Forest Planning
Tuesday, Mar. 28
Research to Inform Recreation Management and Activities
Wednesday, Mar. 29
Research to Inform Silviculture and Management Activities
Thursday, Mar. 30
Ecosystem Services, Risks, and Benefits
Friday, Mar. 31
Forest Inventory and Analysis in Forest Management
At the risk of stirring up another debate over Ebikes on the woods, I saw an ad for this Ubco 2×2 Electric Bike. AWD, 30 mph top speed, 75-mille range, no pedals. This is more of a motorcycle than a bike — the company calls it both an Ebike and a motorbike, which it is. “Whether you’re cruising up the Rocky Mountains or down into red rock canyons, you’ll never forget what you see from the seat of your electric motorbike.”
I have NO problem with such bikes on roads and trails where motorized vehicles are allowed. But they do not belong on other trails. Conflicts ahead as such Ebikes become faster and more powerful?
I’ve studied and written about US wildfires for many years. InciWeb, the US government wildfire information system, is a great resource for current fires, but not past fires. Until a few years ago, information about fires over the years was available by searching the site — very helpful for researching past fires. That archive is no longer available, at least not via InciWeb — oly current or very recent fires are listed. I’ve been looking into the 2020 Riverside Fires in Oregon, specifically trying to find out if the cause was determined to be arcing or downed power lines. Can’t seem to find that information anywhere. Only speculation.
Anyone know if that InciWeb archive, or something like it, is available online?
And does anyone know about the Riverside fire? Google tells me that the fire was deemed caused by human activity, but whether or not it was down power lines is unclear. Odd. I’d expect that this information would be easily available.