The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
Community Sourced, Shared and Supported
I realize that groups of scientists can, and do, write that “fuel treatments don’t work.” But this is pretty much a hard sell around many communities in Colorado. Basically, the argument seems to be that you should believe this subset of scientists over your own experience (even if you aren’t familiar with the scientific literature … Read more
FYI, folks. I just received this announcement from the USFS…. Forest Service Seeks Applicants For Forest Restoration Program Panel The Southwestern Region of the Forest Service is seeking applicants for membership on the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Technical Advisory Panel. This 12 to15 member panel will evaluate proposals for federal grant funding to … Read more
I was planning to post each region’s findings and compare them, and I apologize as one of my other volunteer gigs took a time-consuming turn (Aside, HOA, need I say more? I’m going to submit an idea for a reality show “HOA Rescue” like “Bar Rescue”. Anyone know anyone in the entertainment industry?) So NFF … Read more
FYI, folks…. Forest Service Seeks Applicants For Forest Restoration Program Panel The Southwestern Region of the Forest Service is seeking applicants for membership on the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Technical Advisory Panel. This 12 to15 member panel will evaluate proposals for federal grant funding to conduct forest restoration treatments on public land and … Read more
New study from Oregon State. From the press release: Researchers in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University used satellite imagery and local data to analyze the factors driving differences of severity in the fire, which burned about 50,000 acres north of Grants Pass. Located in the Klamath Mountains ecoregion, the area is dominated … Read more
I’m going to start going through the write-ups for each Regional EADM Workshop and see what we can find in terms of issues and ideas for improvement. I started with Region 9, linked here, and noticed that our own Tony Erba was involved. Hopefully, he will weigh in with his own thoughts. For the purpose … Read more
As the Forest Service pursues improvements in Environmental Analysis and Decision Making through the EADM effort, it would be helpful to take a look at successful landscape scale projects and see if we can discern what they have in common. Certainly there is also shared learning on this topic going on within the agency, but … Read more
Andy Stahl reminded me of the Forest Service’s previous work on Process Predicament. It’s a 40 page paper, and it is interesting to reflect on what has changed and what hasn’t in the last 16 years. Here’s what they said in 2002: Unfortunately, the Forest Service operates within a statutory, regulatory, and administrative framework that … Read more
This article from the Spokane Spokesman-Review, “Colville National Forest poised to set records as both timber harvest, restoration increase,” notes that “The forest is expected to yield 120 million board feet of forest products in 2018, compared to 70 million board feet in 2017, said Colville forest supervisor Rodney Smoldon.” “Compare that to the two … Read more
The Forest Service funded a study (2 page summary here) of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership. Of note (to me any way): Findings: “Strong majorities said they had increased the pace and scale of restoration, improved ecological conditions, and reduced the threat of fire to communities.” “61% said … Read more