The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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I ran across this opinion piece from October in EOS (the science news journal of the American Geophysical Union or AGU). It’s called “Does our Vision of Diversity Include Social Conservatives?” and is authored by three professors at Brigham Young University. The original controversy deal with whether professional science societies should handle ads for private … Read more
PR from Rep. Russ Fulcher is Idaho…. Fulcher, Risch Introduce Bicameral Legislation to Extend Forest Restoration Program Eligibility to Tribes, Counties July 1, 2020 Contacts: Marty Cozza (Risch), 202-224-2752 Alexah Rogge (Fulcher), 202-225-6611 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Russ Fulcher (ID-01) and U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) introduced the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good … Read more
The following piece was written Veronica Warnock, conservation director for Greater Hells Canyon Council and Rob Klavins, Northeast Oregon field coordinator for Oregon Wild. Both of them are based in Wallowa County, Oregon. It was published here. Emphasis was added below. – mk On Tuesday, June 23, our organizations made the difficult decision to withdraw … Read more
“Before retiring, James Burchfield worked as a field forester for the Forest Service and served as dean of the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana.” Where our careers overlapped, he was known for his support of and expertise in collaboration in national forest management. We have argued on this … Read more
PR from UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources below. The article referenced, “Fire and climate change: conserving seasonally dry forests is still possible,” is behind a pay wall. I agree with the authors, but have they gone a step too far in stating that their findings ought to translate into actions that “should be a … Read more
Three letters in the Helena Independent Record, presented in order of publication. Thanks to Nick Smith for pointing them out. In Garrity’s letter, he says, “Last year the Forest Service [Region 1] received no bids on 17.5% of the timber offered, up from 15.6% that received no bids in 2018. That’s 615 million board feet … Read more
I was reading Sharon’s post about good and bad businesses and realized the same polarization is now occurring with recreation., and it seems the Bitterroot National Forest is ground zero for this new conflict. The BNF was the only Region One forest to ban bikes in both Recommended Wilderness and now it is instituting a … Read more
Thanks to the Carolina Public Press for hosting the Newsmakers Forum on the Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Plan and making it available as a live broadcast with questions from those online. They deserve a shout-out, as does reporter Jack Igelman, for following the tedious (to many) twists and turns of the planning process. He has really dug … Read more
Tomorrow afternoon is a live stream on the “Future of Pisgah-Nantahala National Forests in North Carolina” Newsmakers Forum, from Asheville, North Carolina. It’s free and might be interesting to sit in on. We’ve previously discussed this forest planning effort. Jack Igelman of Carolina Public Press has been following it (and doing a great job IMHO) … Read more
The “urban-rural divide” has been discussed for years, especially in the western US. Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions has a new report on the issue. Here’s a press release…. Dividing Lines — and Common Ground — Between Rural and Urban Voters on Environmental Policy DURHAM, N.C. — Rural and urban Americans are … Read more