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One of the things we do on this blog is help journalists find information.. I had a request..

Here’s an article from Outside Magazine:

But firefighting is still a men’s club, and for many women in the trenches, little has changed. Women make up 39 percent of the Forest Service’s workforce, but hold just 11 percent of permanent wildfire jobs. In other agencies that fight fire—the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—the figure is as low as 6 percent. Even the U.S. military has done a better job of recruiting and retaining women.

What is a current source for data from the Interior Agencies number of women in firefighting? Answers can be posted here or sent to my email. As an aside, I wonder what are similar numbers with state agencies, including CalFire?
Also, are there figures on temporary employees compared to permanent employees?

Thanks, all!

Just received a press release from the Forest Resources Association:

Omnibus Legislative Overview- (Passed House awaiting a Senate vote and the Presidents signature)

H-2B Cap Relief

 We have succeeded in attaining nearly the same language as last year related to raising the cap of the H-2B program.

·         The bill allows the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, the authority to raise the H-2B cap when he determines that there is an economic need. 

·         It limits the total number of H-2B workers to that may enter the U.S. during fiscal 2018 to 129,547, the number of new and returning H-2B workers admitted to the U.S. in fiscal 2007(the highest year).

·         Once the bill becomes law, we must work with the Administration to encourage the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement this provision more quickly than last year and to consider authorizing a much larger number of visas than they did last year. 

Fire Funding/Federal Forest Management Reform

 ·         The $1.3 billion FY 18 omnibus spending deal includes provisions that would establish a fund of more than $2 billion a year, which would increase modestly over a 10-year period. The fund could be tapped when the cost of wildfires exceeds the 10-year average cost of wildfires, which would be set at the 2015 level — an approach pushed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).

·         That arrangement wouldn’t take effect until 2020, however, meaning current law would remain in effect through 2019.

·         On the forest management side, the deal includes categorical exclusions from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for hazardous fuels reduction on areas up to 3,000 acres. Lawmakers also opened the way to more 20-year stewardship contracts, in which the Forest Service collaborates with states on forest management projects.

·         Timber companies would also see an easier process for repairing and rebuilding access roads in some areas of national forests.

·         The agreement also includes language to limit the effect of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2015 ruling in Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v. Forest Service. That case forced the agency to consult more closely with the Fish and Wildlife Service on forest projects that might affect endangered species.

Biomass Carbon Neutrality

The wording maintaining the definition of forest biomass as carbon neutral was approved and extended through September 30, 2018.   This is good, but we continue to seek language that will preserve the concept of biomass carbon neutrality in perpetuity.  

Last summer, I suggested that cross-laminated timber was unlikely to make a dent in small wood supply. Even at full build-out, the market niche for this engineered wood product is just too small.

It may have just gotten smaller. Oregon State University’s School of Forestry (I’m a proud alum) suffered an “oops” moment in the construction of its new flagship replacement for the venerable Peavy Hall: “A large section of subflooring made of cross-laminated timber gave way between the second and third stories.” The panel “delaminated,” a catastrophic form of collapse not suffered by steel.

What in an “object”?

Greenwire reports on controversy over a ~5,000 square-mile marine monument designated by the Obama admin: “Judge restarts lawsuit over Atlantic monument.”

Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jonathan Wood: “Fishermen have waited a year for the government to respond to their lawsuit challenging a clear case of Antiquities Act abuse — locking fishermen out of an area of ocean as large as Connecticut.”

The 2016 proclamation states that “it is in the public interest to preserve the marine environment, including the waters and submerged lands, in the area to be known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, for the care and management of the objects of historic and scientific interest therein;”

Is this monument an “object”?

The proclamation cites the Antiquities Act, which “authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected;”

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” We’re all familiar with this thought experiment in observation and perception.

So what if an investigation by the Washington Office (WO) of the US Forest Service visits the Petersburg, and Thorne Bay Ranger Districts reviewing the Tonka and Big Thorne timber sales, and they conclude in a report never intended to be made public, that thousands of trees fell in our public forest illegally? Does it make a sound in local newsprint when finally revealed? Not a peep was heard from the Petersburg Pilot on what would surely merit the highest level of local, and regional if not national newsworthiness.

Does the loss of millions of dollars in revenues to the communities of Petersburg and Thorne Bay make a sound on local public radio? Well, no. Although there were two CoastAlaska news reports, the first one misleadingly claimed the agency findings of fact were merely accusations by an environmental group regarding “mishandled timber sales.” The title of the second news report would have us believe the Big Thorne timber Sale was “short on timber,” and simply “a mistake.” At no time was the Tonka timber sale out of Petersburg ever mentioned in either of these stories.

A timber sale requires a contract which once signed, is a binding legal agreement enforceable by law. The WO investigation team determined the contract was neither enforced, nor could a valid copy be provided upon request. But that’s not all. Many more records necessary to assure proper oversight of millions of dollars in public resources were also found— to not exist.

There’s one of two possibilities here. Either public records exist, records necessary to assure the public that laws were followed — including the prevention of timber theft — or those records were destroyed to protect the perpetrators.

These systematic failures to comply with law on two different ranger districts in two separate timber sales can hardly be a “mistake.” The WO findings of monetary losses to municipalities were raised during a recent open house on the central Tongass planning to Tongass Forest supervisor, Earl Stewart. Stewart tried to dodge the question, was heckled, but still feigned ignorance of the WO findings of fact. This exchange was omitted from CoastAlaska’s news coverage of the meeting. Large-scale timber theft on the Tongass has been well documented in a white paper published in 1996. 20 years later, all the carefully designed agency methods to assure that this doesn’t happen again were systematically ignored in the Petersburg and Thorne Bay Ranger districts.

So either there is a system of gross maladministration, mismanagement and incompetence on the Petersburg and Thorne Bay Ranger Districts, or there exists a conspiracy of willful disregard of agency protocols, public trust, and public laws.

As Ani Difranco has noted, freedom of the press is meaningless if the press refuses to ask questions. News production is often referred to as the first draft of history, and this astonishing investigation revealing millions of dollars of taxpayer losses to the Petersburg borough and the community of Thorne Bay never made the local news roundup of 2017.

This April 4th will mark a full year since the public was first alerted to this Washington Office investigation, and it is time to hold accountable, not only the agency perpetrators, but the gatekeepers of local news.

A forensic accounting of this matter is essential.

David Beebe has been a Southeast Alaska resident and commercial fisherman for over 3 decades, During that time, he has closely followed issues related to environmental, social and economic policy, and has served on several non-profit boards, and council seats.

Our discussion of past landscapes reminds me of a very neat thing to do which would have been impossible before digitized manuscripts. In the early part of the 20th century, a fellow named John Leiburg surveyed many of our western forests (as did others in the East) and gave detailed descriptions of what the forests of the time were like. Because it was 1897-1905 or so (publication dates), Leiburg could see the contrast between what he called “Indian” and “white man” occupancy.

You can go to this very cool site, find the area you are currently living (if it’s one he covered) and look through the document. You can also make it word searchable and search on what you are interested and download the reports. Here is one of the hits I got for the Little Belt Mountains in Montana when I searched on “fire.”

BURNS.
The areas burned over since the advent of the white man comprise in the aggregate 111,600 acres. The devastation has been wrought during the last thirty-five or forty years, chiefly since the location of Neihart and Barker mining camps. However, during the Indian occupancy there were many fires, as shown by the age of the forest and the composition of the stands.
No large area of the reserve has remained untouched by fire during the last one hundred and fifty years. The most extensive unburned tracts are at the head of Middle Fork of Judith River and contain 3,000 or 4,000 acres. They have not been touched by fires during the last three hundred and fifty years. Since the advent of white men fires have been most severe and widespread in the two northern tiers and the most southern tier of townships, and during the last century and a half of Indian occupancy the most extensive burns were at the head of South Fork of Judith River, extending across the main divide of the Little Belt Mountains and including most of the lower slopes of the Musselshell drainage. The age and composition of the forest show that relatively more ground has been burned over during the occupancy of the region by the white man than during the last three generations of Indians, as during the forty years of the white man’s occupancy 22 per cent of the reserve was laid waste, and during the preceding one hundred and ten years 58 per cent was burned over.

IMHO there are also really good descriptions of how trees grew back then.. here’s one from the Absarokas..

When a tract of forest situated below the upper subalpine areas between the 8,000 and 6,500 foot levels is destroyed by fire lodgepole pine almost always follows as the primary restockage in at least 98 per cent of the cases. It is always set exceedingly close, having 10 to 20 seedlings to a square foot of ground in favorable situations. The close-set trees develop long, slender shafts, and as the stand becomes older the natural process of thinning begins. The final result is that when the stand reaches 80 to 100 years in age it is filled with long, slender dead trees, and is a veritable tinder box. Most of the stands of the ages mentioned are choked with such accumulations of dead and fallen timber. Further additions to the inflammable material are furnished by the wreckage of the former forest, as often in a forest through which fire has run there is left standing a mass of seasoning timber, although every tree may be killed. Gradually the fire-killed trees are thrown down by the wind, forming great tangled masses of kindling wood for future fires to feed on. All of the destructive fires of recent years appear to have originated, or at least to have gained headway, in the debris that litters the close-set lodgepole-pine stands, and as these constitute the great mass and hence the most valuable portions of the forest, they need to be particularly guarded.

I encourage you to check out your local Forest Conditions report and share any interesting insights here.

With the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service all without permanent directors, who knows when the Forest Service can expect a new Chief to replace the retired Tony Tooke. Here are FSEEE’s office pool candidates:

1) Lenise Lago. Lago is currently acting Associate Chief, filling the seat normally occupied by Dan Jiron, who is acting Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment where he oversees the Forest Service. Lago’s permanent position is Deputy Chief for Business Operations, which includes Human Resources. In 2016, she testified that the Forest Service “has worked diligently over the last five years to make meaningful progress” on sexual harassment, citing as evidence that only three instances were reported that year. Whether her testimony is viewed as real progress or a cover-up in light of widely-reported news stories that paint a different picture may affect her chances of becoming the next chief.

2) Leslie Weldon. Weldon has been Deputy Chief for National Forest Systems since 2011. She’s punched her card as district ranger, forest supervisor and regional forester. A biologist by training, Weldon’s rise has been steady and without major controversy (okay, someone on this blog will disabuse me of that naïveté!). She would be the first African-American chief. Cutting against her chances may be a perception that she’s too closely linked to the policies of the Obama administration.

3) Vicki Christiansen. Christiansen is Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry. She’s been with the Forest Service for only 7 years and, thus, did not work her way up the ranks. Her pre-Forest Service career includes stints as Arizona’s and Washington’s state forester. If Trump learns she’s an expert in using explosives to blast firelines, she’s a shoe-in for the Chief’s job.

Question for the reader: Who should be added to the mix?

Breaking news from PBS Newshour:

The chief of the U.S. Forest Service is stepping down amid allegations of sexual misconduct and an investigation commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture into his own behavior.

Tony Tooke, who became chief in September after nearly four decades with the agency, wrote in an email to staff Wednesday that his retirement was effective immediately.

The news comes days after a PBS NewsHour investigation revealed a widespread culture of sexual harassment and assault within the agency, and retaliation against those who reported it.

That investigation also revealed claims of sexual misconduct against Tooke, including relationships with his subordinates before he became chief.

The United States Department of Agriculture confirmed last week it had “engaged an independent investigator” to look into claims about Tooke’s behavior.

In his email Wednesday, Tooke wrote: “I have been forthright during the review, but I cannot combat every inaccuracy that is reported in the news media. What I can control, however, are decisions I make today and the choice of a path for the future that is best for our employees, the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I must also think about what is best for my family. Therefore, I have decided that what is needed right now is for me to step down as Forest Service Chief and make way for a new leader that can ensure future success for all employees and the agency.”

“We are in a moment at the Forest Service when we have a tremendous opportunity to mold a bright and successful future in delivering our mission. To seize this moment, however, the right leadership must be in place to create an atmosphere in which employees can perform their very best work. Each employee deserves a leader who can maintain the proper moral authority to steer the Forest Service along this important and challenging course,” he also wrote.

PBS Newshour had a bunch of the background:

U.S. Forest Service chief under investigation after complaints of sexual misconduct (here)

They reported sexual harassment. Then the U.S. Forest Service retaliation began (here)

Interesting Greenwire article: “The green movement lacks diversity. She’s here to help.”

At the Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest environmental organization, the senior staff is around 92 percent white.

Nellis Kennedy-Howard is on a mission to improve diversity at the Sierra Club and across the mainstream environmental movement.

The 36-year-old is the organization’s first-ever director of equity, inclusion and justice. When she took the job in fall 2016, she was counting on the Sierra Club to take those issues seriously.

….

A must read from PBS NewsHour. Will U.S. Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke and President Donald Trump take these reports of sexual harassment and assault, bullying by U.S. Forest Service supervisors and crew members seriously?

Harassment of women in the Forest Service has been a problem for years. As far back as 1972, women have joined together to file class action complaints and lawsuits about gender discrimination and sexual harassment. More recently, in 2016, a congressional hearing was held to address the problem within the Forest Service’s California workforce, which had also been the focus of previous complaints. The PBS NewsHour investigated what’s happened since then, and found the problem goes much deeper.

In interviews with 34 current and former U.S. Forest Service women, spanning 13 states, the women described a workplace that remains hostile to female employees. They complained of a pattern of gender discrimination, bullying, sexual harassment and assault by crew members and supervisors. Three women said they were raped after-hours by co-workers or interagency firefighters while working for the Forest Service. Many women alleged retaliation after reporting these incidents….

Seven of the 34 women interviewed asked to remain anonymous for fear of further retaliation. Fear was a common theme in the interviews. One woman said she went to the hospital multiple times for “her nerves” after reporting harassment. Another asked the NewsHour to destroy her interview transcript, because she became too afraid of the consequences. A third, a firefighter who resigned from her position in 2016 after she reported to police that she was raped on assignment in Montana, said: “We all live in this fear … So if I have to speak up I will. But it’s frustrating because there’s so many more out there who are not talking.”

Read the entire article here.