The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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An update on the 4 Forests Restoration Initiative. Press release below includes mention of The Campbell Group’s project manager, Steve Horner. It will be interesting to see how well Good Earth Power and The Campbell Group manage this huge project. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 12, 2013 Good Earth Power AZ Begins Forest Restoration … Read more
I think having the Campbell Group as the subcontrator on the Four Forests Initiative stewardship contract is a very good thing, and answers critics who noted that Good Earth Power has no experience with forestry in the US (it had focused, so far, on Africa. Article from Greenwire: Major forest-thinning project switched to billion-dollar international … Read more
The latest news out of Arizona’s 4FRI project, which seeks to thin several hundred thousand acres of worthless trees on four national forests, has left rational observers scratching their heads. First, the Forest Service has transferred the contract from one fly-by-night company with no track record or discernible assets to another fly-by-night company with … Read more
Forest Service announces transfer of forest restoration contract FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Forest Service announced today the nation’s largest stewardship contract to treat 300,000 acres over a 10-year period as part of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) has been transferred from Pioneer Forest Products to Good Earth Power AZ LLC (Good Earth). Good Earth … Read more
This blog has had numerous posts, debates and discussions about the Four Forest Restoration (4FRI) in Arizona, including this article, “Is the US Forest Service killing the last best chance to save the Southwest’s forests?” Well, the latest development via the in-depth reporting of Pete Aleshire with the Payson Roundup in an article yesterday titled, … Read more
Here’s an article in the Payson Roundup from Saturday. Below is an excerpt. Gila County Supervisor Tommie Martin — one of the driving forces in the 4FRI movement — was among those openly questioning whether Pioneer had the financing or expertise to undertake the massive thinning project, which depend on the contractor building bio-fuel plants … Read more
I thought it was interesting that High Country News published this piece, by Charles Wilkinson, a law professor at University of Colorado. Here’s a link to his bio. Historical note: yes, the same person who was on the Committee of “Scientists” for the 2000 Planning Rule, so he’s been following these issues for some time. … Read more
Yesterday, Arizona Forest Restoration Products Inc. released this statement regarding the Forest Service’s decision to award a massive 300,000 acre timber harvesting contract as part of the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI) in Arizona to an under-the-radar Montana timber corporation represented by a retired Forest Service official. A collection of all the posts and comments … Read more
This statement was release yesterday: The Center for Biological Diversity is a founding member of the Four Forests Restoration Initiative. The Center co-founded, participates in and supports the Initiative as a vehicle for corrective ecological restoration treatments that lead to the re-establishment of climate-entrained fire regimes and native biological diversity across landscapes dominated by ponderosa … Read more
We’ll probably all be interested in following as 4FRI unfolds. This is the most detailed story I’ve seen..nice work, Pete Aleshire! T he threat prompted timber interests and environmentalists together with forest researchers from Northern Arizona University to forge an agreement on the need to use a reinvented timber industry to thin some 2.4 million … Read more