The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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This job interview of a former Forest Service employee by Tuolumne County Supervisors didn’t go well. Supervisor Evan Royce noted he wanted to be explicit with Boroski, trying to make sure they are on the same page, by saying, “I think we have experienced a lot of extreme environmental influence on public lands policy and in … Read more
Homework assignment: Read “Is There a Place for Legislating Place-Based Collaborative Forestry Proposals?: Examining the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act Pilot Project,” Journal of Forestry, July 2016. Focuses on the Quincy Library Group. Was anyone on this blog involved with the group? I’d like to hear your comments on the paper. Here’s the abstract: In … Read more
Happy 4th of July, everyone! George Ochenski, the Monday morning columnist for the Missoulian (and a tremendous mountaineer, backcountry adventurer, hunter and fisherman), has this piece in today’s paper. There will be a lot of blustering about freedom by politicians today, but you can bet there won’t be any talking about one of the greatest … Read more
A new report from the Swan View Coalition in Montana gives a thorough rundown on how the Flathead National Forest in particular – and the Forest Service and Congress in general – are using the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) and other collaboration and “restoration” initiatives to keep its bloated road system and fool … Read more
Folks, I recently came across “WHITE PAPER: Understanding and Addressing Emerging Frustration Among Citizens’ Collaborative Groups Interacting with the USDA Forest Service.” The authors write that “the window of opportunity to accomplish meaningful restoration of large landscapes of our nation’s national forests through citizen collaboration may be closing, as evidenced by a recently published collective statement … Read more
The following piece was written by Jeff Juel, National Forest Chair of the Upper Columbia River Group of the Sierra Club, which successfully objected to the Mill Creek A-to-Z timber sale, and appeared this weekend in the Spokesman Review. What do folks on this blog think about the fact that the Forest Service contracted a private timber … Read more
From Mac McConnell “This chart may add perspective to the debate about collaboration, the evils of salvage, and the status of management on our western national forests. The problems lie not in what’s being done but in what’s not being done.”
As a Montanan I am blessed to live in a place of incomparable beauty and wealth of natural resources. In appreciation of that I find myself moved to make a plea to thoughtful citizens to resist the corrosive effects of growing threats to the quality of life we enjoy. The Wilderness law has delivered to … Read more
If anyone saw the Missoulian on November 16th it was hard not to notice an epic, off-the-rails rant from the Montana Wilderness Association’s ‘communications manager’ Ted Brewer (entirely propped up by strawman arguments) against longtime environmental and public lands champion George Ochenski. Here’s how Ted Brewer’s Montana Wilderness Association piece opened up: Recently the Missoulian published two columns on its Opinion … Read more
The following article is written by Keith Hammer, Chair of the Swan View Coalition in Montana. Hammer has shared his views on this blog before – including raising red flags about some types of ‘collaboration’ in Montana. – mk When there is wildfire smoke in the air, the timber industry and its cronies in Congress blame it … Read more