The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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For those who have been missing this (click links for more) … Atlantic Coast Pipeline Update: The energy companies wanting to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline across the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests are appealing a reversal of that decision to the U. S. Supreme Court. The 4th Circuit Court of appeals held that … Read more
This op-ed is nothing new from Chad Hanson, but here goes anyhow…. “The U.S. Forest Service recently proposed a sweeping effort to identify aspects of environmental analysis and public participation to be “reduced” or “eliminated” regarding commercial logging projects in our national forests, with initial public comments due Friday. The Trump administration is attempting to … Read more
The case of the Mount Graham red squirrel seems to be another example of where everyone agrees that fuel treatments make sense. According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, loss of habitat to fire is the primary threat to this species. The draft recovery plan was revised in 2011 largely due to unanticipated … Read more
Everybody wins? “So were Flagstaff officials prescient when they proposed what, at the time, was one of the first municipal partnerships with a national forest to have lands outside city boundaries thinned at city expense?” “Hindsight is 20-20, but it sure looks that way to us. Armed with a $10 million budget, the Forest Service … 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
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
The following article, written by Claudine LoMonaco, appeared in the Santa Fe Reporter recently. The article provides a number of details about a series of alleged lies, deceits and questionable business practices concerning Pioneer Forest Products, described as an “under-the-radar company from Montana” that “lied about its work history in its proposal to the federal … Read more
This blog has highlighted the Dixie National Forest, Utah, “Iron Springs Vegetation Reduction Project” before. Yesterday, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported: Wildlife conservation groups on Thursday praised a decision by Dixie National Forest withdrawing a plan to harvest 8,000 acres of old-growth forest near Escalante. “Conservationists are calling this a valentine for wildlife,” said … Read more
Terry Seyden also sent this link, to an article about a new report on climate change. Here’s a link to what I think is the report (note to media folks, if you write an article about a report, it would be helpful if you would provide a link). Here is a quote from the news … Read more
We have discussed many studies on this blog, but I don’t remember this one.. anyone have more info on it? Here’s a link to the (article?op-ed?couldn’t tell) in the Payson Roundup. The first study, published in Forest Ecology and Management, concluded that uncontrolled crown fires racing through thick stands of unthinned timber pose a grave … Read more