(National) Forests Need Friends (Too)!

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In case your inbox hasn’t been flooded with requests for donations, it is that time of the year that we all think about giving back. Certainly this blog would appreciate any contributions (!) but that’s not what this post is about.

I’ve been looking at the gap between what the Forest Service needs to do in terms of recreation, and what it is funded to do. There are two very important ways to contribute- time and treasure. We’ll talk about time in the next post (volunteering).

Financial help to the Forests, as well as education, volunteering and other helpful actions can be part of a Friends group. Today I’ll highlight three of these.

First, Friends of Dillon Ranger District. They have a terrific website and range of activities, and even coordinate with the seasonal Colorado Gives. Scroll down on their main weblink to see all the things they’re doing. Here’s their mission:

Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD) leverages the power of volunteers to make sure the National Forest lands enjoyed by millions of people each year are not negatively impacted by their popularity. By volunteering with FDRD, or supporting us by becoming a member or making a financial contribution, you benefit the lands that make Summit County a world-class destination.

Second, the San Juan Mountains Association. People can have strong opinions about combining the BLM and the Forest Service, but these folks are working so that it’s seamless to visitors who want to experience the Forest/BLM without getting bogged down with two sets of maps, rules, etc.

The San Juan Mountains Association is a grassroots organization whose members share values and passion for our public lands and cultural treasures. We are based in Durango, Colorado and are the non-profit support partner for the San Juan National Forest and BLM Tres Rios Field Office.

How do these groups keep a positive attitude and away from divisive issues when, as we know, there are always at least a few circulating?

Here are the SJMA values:

In pursuit of our mission, the Board, Staff and Volunteers of SJMA commit to embracing these organizational values:

  • Promote a Strong Land Ethic: We instill in people an appreciation for the integrity of the land and how their actions impact the ecosystem.>
  • Connect People to the Land: We provide opportunities for personal experience and enjoyment in our natural surroundings.
  • Respect People and Ideas: We support responsible behavior, and by being fair-minded, we seek a balance among differing land-use interests.

  • Care for Heritage Resources: We foster protection of the region’s irreplaceable cultural treasures.

  • Inspire Enthusiasm and Commitment in Our Supporters: We build passion for SJMA’s goals and ideals through positive interaction with the public.
  • Educate through Involvement: We teach volunteers and other supporters through hands-on participation.

 
Does the Forest or District near you have a Friends group? Please considering donating to them, or if your Forest doesn’t have one, please consider helping establish one. For today, though, consider donating to the National Forest Foundation.

Also, I’m curious about how many Friends groups there are and where, so if you have one on your Forest or District please post the link in the comments below and tell us what you like (or don’t like) about them.

Speaking of European forestry …

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Take a little break from the Forest Service …. sort of (actually sounds kind of familiar).

Poland says compliant with EU court order against ancient forest logging

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice on Monday warned Poland’s right-wing government to “immediately” stop logging in the Bialowieza Forest or face fines of up to 100,000 euros ($118,000) a day.

Bialowieza includes one of the largest surviving parts of the primeval forest that covered the European plain 10 thousand years ago.

Activists, scientists and other critics allege Poland is engaged in commercial logging but the government insists it is only felling trees for public safety reasons in accordance with the EU injunction.

The EU court did allow for exceptions, saying: “Poland must immediately cease its active forest management operations in the Bialowieza Forest, except in exceptional cases where they are strictly necessary to ensure public safety.”

The problem lies in the word “necessary,” which Poland has interpreted more broadly than the EU court.

On Tuesday a Greenpeace Poland activist, Kasia Jagiello, said that the group was calling for the creation of a commission that would include representatives of the environment ministry, as well as independent scientists and NGO representatives.

Science, Advocacy and Keeping to the Dominant Disciplinary Narrative: A Peek into Peer Review

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From Digital Science Doodle by Dana Cairns

Every time I think public lands issues are contentious, I just look at my climate science newsfeeds and thank Gaia for our community! But I think for those of us who haven’t been up close and personal with the science biz,it’s important to to understand some of the debates about advocacy vs. objectivity and how that plays out. It’s kind of funny sometimes being an Old Person. I remember when I was a “Population Geneticist”. Somewhere along the lines, after I graduated with my Ph.D., some of my colleagues started calling themselves “Conservation Geneticists.” During a discussion, one of these colleagues called me an “Exploitation Geneticist” ;). If you didn’t live through this yourselves, trust me that there was a time when scientists were supposed to be objective and fair as possible. That ship has sailed. I will leave it to you to decide whether that is a good thing or not. As for me, I think you have to “pick a lane” either scientific information tries to be objective, or it is a tool in support of advocacy. Anyway, enough history from this Older Person. Here’s a link to a piece by Keith Kloor in Issues in Science and Technology.

In 2013, Canadian ecologist Mark Vellend submitted a paper to the journal Nature that made the first peer reviewer uneasy. “I can appreciate counter-intuitive findings that are contrary to common assumption,” the comment began. But the “large policy implications” of the paper and how it might be interpreted in the media raised the bar for acceptance, the reviewer argued.

Vellend’s finding, drawn from a large meta-analysis, challenged a core tenet of conservation biology. For decades, ecologists have held that the accelerated global rate of species extinctions—known as the biodiversity crisis—filtered down to local and regional landscapes. This belief was reinforced by dozens of experimental studies that showed ecosystem function diminished when plant diversity declined. Thus a “common assumption” was baked into a larger, widely accepted conservation biology narrative: urbanization and agriculture, among other aspects of modern society, severely fragmented wild habitat, which, in turn, reduced ecological diversity and eroded ecosystem health.

And it happens to be a true story—just not the whole story, according to the analysis Vellend and his collaborators submitted to Nature. In actuality, plant diversity at localized levels had not declined, they found. To be sure, in landscapes people had exploited (for example, for agriculture or logging), habitat became fragmented and nonnative species invaded. But there was no net loss of diversity in these remnant habitats, according to the study. Why? Because as some native species dropped out, newer ones arrived. In fact, in many places, species richness had increased.

The peer reviewer did not hide his dismay:

Unfortunately, while the authors are careful to state that they are discussing biodiversity changes at local scales, and to explain why this is relevant to the scientific community, clearly media reporting on these results are going to skim right over that and report that biological diversity is not declining if this paper were to be published in Nature. I do not think this conclusion would be justified, and I think it is important not to pave the way for that conclusion to be reached by the public.

Nature rejected the paper.

Although it was published soon after by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—without triggering media fanfare, much less public confusion—the episode unsettled Vellend, who is an ecology professor at the University of Sherbrooke, in Quebec. His uneasiness was reinforced when he presented the paper at an ecology conference and several colleagues voiced the same objections as the Nature reviewer.

Vellend discusses all this in an essay that is part of a collection titled Effective Conservation Science: Data Not Dogma, to be published by Oxford University Press in late 2017. His experiences have left him wondering if other ecology studies are being similarly judged on “how the results align with conventional wisdom or political priorities.”

The short answer appears to be yes.

Warning: the rest of the article includes climate science drama.

Comments on Federal Projects: Values vs. Technical Info

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This article from The Conversation isn’t aimed at the USFS, but at federal agencies in general: “Want to change federal policies? Here’s how.”

An excerpt:

“Federal agencies need the expert information that scientists and professionals can provide. An analysis by the U.S. Forest Service found that the majority of public input was value-based. While these comments provided agency employees with critical information on public opinion, value-based comments were not as helpful to the planning staff as detailed comments that provided technical feedback. Only 9 percent of the comments sampled were classified as having a high level of detail.”

 

Local plans for federal lands – the latest

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This is a continuation of the “sagebrush rebellion” in the form of local government plans that purport to exert local control over federal land management.  They are being peddled to rural counties by Karen Budd-Falen, an attorney with a history of promoting private property rights (who some expect to be the new director of the BLM).  Since she certainly knows what she is talking about, she must also know that there is no legal basis for some of the expectations she is generating.  It’s just another way of stirring up local sentiment against federal land management.

A new local plan was just adopted in Oregon:

Earlier this month, Crook County leaders passed a plan designed to give county residents more say in how local public lands are managed by the federal government. However, discussions over how the plan will be implemented and what it will mean for the county’s oft-contentious relationship with its local public land managers are just getting started.

In addition to articulating county priorities for how federal land should be managed with regard to mining, agriculture and recreation, the plan states that the county expects state and federal agencies to meet with county officials on an ongoing basis.

Still, Michael Blumm, professor of law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, said federal agencies don’t have any obligation to follow the county priorities set out in the plan, which range from mandating no reduction to grazing allotments on federal land, to ensuring that roads providing access to public lands stay open year-round.  “It’s a political move,” he said. “It’s not legally enforceable.”

And another is being discussed in Montana:

A controversial land-use attorney drew more than 100 protesters and as many supporters to Hamilton Middle School Saturday, but the topic of her talk with county residents was interpreted differently by people attending the event.

Budd-Falen’s talk centered around having a more detailed county land-use plan that would be used to strengthen its own management desires carried out by federal agencies, including the Forest Service. She said that federal policymakers in Washington, D.C., were out of touch, and local governments could help guide more micro-level policies.

While Budd-Falen never spoke about public land transfer, state Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, gave a presentation about her efforts to support federal land transfer to states. 

Actually Ravalli County has already has a “natural resource use plan” it developed in 2012, and Commissioners changed their minds about asking Budd-Fallon to speak about adding “teeth” to it (she was invited instead by a local state representative).  Maybe their experience with that plan has helped them understand that its greatest value is probably in helping them articulate their interests rather than as something to beat up the Forest Service with.

Litigation Weekly November 17

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Litigation Weekly Nov 17

Temporary restraining order denied for the North and South Pioneer projects on the Boise N. F. approved under an emergency situation determination, and involving bull trout, Canada lynx and forest plan soil condition standards.  (D. Idaho)  (previous summary 10/6 here)

The lawsuit involves publication of over-snow vehicle use maps on the Bridger-Teton N. F., and an amended complaint adds claims regarding failure to consult under ESA.  (D. Idaho) (previous summaries here and 9/1 and 9/15 here)

Environmental plaintiffs claim a violation of section 7(a)(1) of ESA, which requires that agencies carry out programs to conserve listed species, as applied to the Rosemont Copper Project on the Coronado N. F. (previous summaries on this project 9/29 here and 8/11 here and discussion here)

Chief Tooke’s Five National Priorities

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Chief Tony Tooke

Here’s a link:

Five Priorities for Our Work

These five national priorities do three things: They give urgency and focus to critical needs; help foster the work environment we want for our employees; and set expectations for the manner in which we accomplish our work with citizens, partners, volunteers, and each other.

1. Uplifting and empowering our employees through a respectful, safe working environment.

I have enormous respect and admiration for the work every employee does. I am committed to ensuring our work environment is safe, rewarding, respectful, free of harassment, and resilient—that every one of you works in an environment where you are recognized and valued for your contributions. I want every employee to be empowered to continuously improve our work.

2. Being good neighbors and providing excellent customer service.

We will work with efficiency and integrity with a focus on the people we serve. I envision a broad, diverse coalition for conservation, working across boundaries and using all authorities available to us. We have a backlog of special use permits, range allotment work and deferred maintenance and other needs to address. To increase customer service, we must understand customer requirements, expand our use of best practices, apply innovative tools, and address barriers that get in the way of doing good work. Each and every visitor, forest or grassland user, contractor, partner, cooperator, permittee, volunteer, and citizen deserves our very best service.

3. Promoting shared stewardship by increasing partnerships and volunteerism.

We can’t do this alone and only on National Forest System lands. It takes others to help us make a difference on the whole landscape. We will work with all citizens—from rural and urban communities—as we pursue the work in front of us. Strengthening and expanding partner and volunteer programs around shared values is critical for a sustainable future.

4. Improving the condition of forests and grasslands.

About 80 million acres of the National Forest System are at risk from insect disease and wildfire. About one-third of these lands are at very high risk. Drinking water, homes, communities, wildlife habitat, historic places, sacred sites, recreation opportunities, and scenic vistas are among many of the values at risk of loss. Having sustainable, healthy, resilient forests and grasslands in the future depends on our ability to increase work on the ground and get increased outcomes. We will use all management tools and authorities available to us to improve the condition of our forests and rangelands. Improving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental analysis and decision-making processes will help us increase our capacity and ability to improve the condition of forests and rangelands. This work will also restore ecosystem function, deliver dependable energy, provide jobs and economic benefits for rural communities, and be responsive to the American taxpayer.

5. Enhancing recreation opportunities, improving access, and sustaining infrastructure.

Most Americans experience the national forests and grasslands through recreation activities. Although these lands offer some of the most valued outdoor recreation settings in this country, the settings and visitor experiences are increasingly at risk. Deteriorating recreation facilities and roads, eroding trails, and increasing user conflicts pose numerous challenges and a decline in the quality of the visitor experience. Currently, we can only maintain to standard half of our roads, trails, facilities, and other components of our infrastructure. Access to the National Forest System is more limited. We will take steps to address these challenges and create more enhanced, sustainable recreation opportunities, access, and infrastructure to better meet the needs of visitors, citizens, and users.

NEPA environmental analysis and decision-making improvements can help us achieve goals and objectives for enhanced recreation, improved access, and a more sustainable infrastructure.

The Chief also asks:

My questions for you are: What do you see standing in your way? What are you experiencing that we can collectively learn from?

I’d be interested in how folks on the blog might answer this question, just substitute “they” for “we” if you’re not an employee.

Friday Feel-Good Story: Glenn Ryan and the Rocky Mountain Packstring

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Here’s a human interest/ Forest Service history story for Friday. It’s about employee Glenn Ryan and the Region 2 Packstring, from the Colorado Springs Gazette.

SHAWNEE – In the late 1960s, freshly removed from college for what he says were false accusations of “mouthing off,” Glenn Ryan did not go home. He hit the road and slept where he could, under trees or in chicken coops.

“Spent about three years being a bum,” he says, “which was actually training for this job.”

Now he’s spent 13 years living in Colorado forests, working as an Old West packer, leading a string of mules that make up one of the last two hooved trains across the U.S. Forest Service.

“If it involves getting dirty, bloody and blistered, then we’ll work with ya,” says Ryan, 67, a Forest Service employee who rides horseback while commanding the Rocky Mountain Specialty Pack String.

The Rocky Mountain Field Institute, a Colorado Springs nonprofit, has called upon Ryan’s string yearly to deliver thousands of pounds of equipment to a base camp deep in the wilderness surrounding Kit Carson Peak.

Other frequent requests come from the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, which also employs trail builders on the state’s highest mountains and counts on the mules to move heavy necessities such as tools and stoves.

“The amount of work and the type of work he does is just mind-blowing,” says Ryan’s boss, Brian Banks, head of the South Platte Ranger District. “There really are very few professions left in the world like that, and his is not only one of the most unique positions, but also one of the most dangerous. It’s one of the most difficult positions in the Forest Service.”

Ryan spends summer days driving a trailer around the state and beyond; missions are also in Wyoming’s Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, South Dakota’s Black Hills and Nebraska’s grasslands. Often his team of 11 mules starts before sunrise and finishes after sunset, performing as their ancestors did.

Here’s the link to the packstring site itself.

Forest Service Litigation-Behind the Scenes III: Bringing Knitting to a Knife Fight?

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Long time readers are familiar with this post from 2011 which links to an interview with Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity. I have appreciated his directness and honesty about what the Center’s lawsuits are really about. The interview was by Ray Ring of the High Country News, and Gina is a friend of his who is a marriage counselor.

“(Lawsuits) are one tool in a larger campaign, but we use lawsuits to help shift the balance of power from industry and government agencies, toward protecting endangered species,” Suckling told HCN in 2009. “By obtaining an injunction to shut down logging or prevent the filling of a dam … we are in the position of being able to powerfully negotiate the terms. …”
Suckling’s group often wins in court. But instead of helping various parties come to an agreement, as Gina does, Suckling wants to steamroll opponents: “New species listings and new bad press take a terrible toll on agency morale. When we stop the same timber sale three or four times running, the timber planners … feel like their careers are being mocked and destroyed — and they are. So they become much more willing to play by our rules. … Psychological warfare is a very underappreciated aspect of environmental campaigning.”

Of course, “psychological warfare” is too strong a term, but Mr. Suckling’s natural public language seems to be Hyperbolic. In my language, it would be.. “unnecessarily unpleasant experiences” and perhaps sometimes a “hostile work environment.” But let’s check in with the BBER study..

Other ripple effects mentioned by the FS and FWS personnel involved with the SBR case included reduced morale and feelings of frustration among personnel involved from repeatedly having the quality, completeness, and/or validity of their work called into question by litigants, by the press when these cases make it into the news, and by their professional peers and community neighbors.”

What I remember being frustrating about this was the feeling of bringing knitting to a knife fight. We were carefully trained to be collaborative and respectful of other opinions, and yet working in an area in which other people were disrespectful and snarky. One of my employees quit because a certain group she was dealing with were so nasty to her. For me, it wasn’t so much the part between us and the appellants/plaintiffs (although that does wear on you, others can be snarky and inaccurate but we have to be respectful and accurate), but the part about what gets to the neighbors and in the press. Note that in this case, it’s not just the FS but the FWS folks involved. It can feel like being beaten over and over again, but being unable to fight back. It’s not a good feeling.

The reasons I’ve heard to not reply to inaccurate statements included: 1. if we tell our story/ attempt to correct what is stated, it will sound defensive. 2. It’s in litigation, we can’t tell our story, the cone of silence has descended. I’d be interested in other reasons that folks have heard. The feeling I got is something along the lines of “it’s a contentious world but we can’t get involved, it will only make it worse.” Solution-wise, we could imagine an “Adopt-a-Project” Program in which we get folks (perhaps retirees?), train them to “fight back” and give them the appropriate tools. This could be scary for the Agency, because of losing control, but it seems to me that you need to balance someone “assuming the best” with folks who are “assuming and promulgating” the worst if the public is to get an accurate view of what is happening on their National Forests. Other ideas to help those on the front lines?

Forest Service Litigation-Behind the Scenes II: Should Secretary of Agriculture Adopt EPA Transparency Guidelines?

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It turns out that other folks have noticed the problem of lack of transparency in government settlements, and also the idea that other people should have time to weigh in to these settlements. These include more powerful entities (compared to FS employees and retirees) like States, specifically in dealing with EPA settlements and the problem of “Sue and Settle”. I definitely think that the transparency approach would be worth considering for Forest Service cases. It would help take care of the previously identified problems of “who is in the room”, “good solutions may not have been on the table” and “understanding broader impacts of a settlement.” Here’s the link to the directive:

To promote transparency and public participation in the consent decree and settlement agreement process involving lawsuits against EPA, the Agency shall follow the procedures set forth below:

(there are more but the below are the key ones for the FS)

8. EPA shall post online for review and comment by the public any proposed consent decree lodged in federal court or draft settlement agreement to resolve claims against the Agency. EPA shall also publish a notice of the lodging of the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement in the Federal Register.

a. When posting the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement on EPA’s website, the Agency shall explain: (1) the statutory basis for the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement; (2) the terms of the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement, including any award of attorney’s fees or costs and the basis for such an award; and (3) where applicable, the Agency’s plans to meet deadlines in the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement, including the identification of necessary milestones and a demonstration that the Agency has afforded sufficient time to modify its proposed rule if necessary, provide notice and comment on the modified proposal, and conduct meaningful Agency consideration of the comments received on the modified proposal.

b. EPA shall provide a public comment period of at least thirty days, unless a different period of time is required by law.

c. EPA may hold a public hearing on whether to enter into the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement.

d. Based on the timely public comments received, EPA may seek to withdraw, modify, or proceed with the proposed consent decree or draft settlement agreement. If the terms of a consent decree or draft settlement agreement are modified, EPA shall follow the process set forth above.

9. Where appropriate, I reserve the right to exercise my discretion and permit EPA to deviate from the procedures set forth in this directive. In no circumstance, however, will I permit the agency to violate its statutory authority or to upset the constitutional separation of powers.

10. This directive is intended to improve the internal management of EPA and does not create a right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, EPA, its officers or employees, or any other person.

What do you think? Would you sign this or tweak it if you were the Secretary? I haven’t seen too much in the press that is against this idea substantively.