The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
Community Sourced, Shared and Supported
So what’s the value of a forest? In a previous post, I described the shift away from the Forest Service’s multiple-use mission to a sustainable ecosystem mission. Many public stakeholders are confused by this shift, including those that rely on forest uses and services. The same is true for Forest Service employees trained in multiple-use … Read more
Now for some nitty-gritty. Here’s language that fleshes out the first task of plan revision: “(1) Decide the vegetation management and timber harvest program, including the proportion of probable methods of tree removal.” Most of the proposed rule is taken verbatim from the NFMA itself. The biggest change from the status quo is that vegetation … Read more
Yesterday morning we visited the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to listen to the appeal of Judge Brimmer’s decision on the 2001 Rule. There were three judges presiding,Anderson, Murphy and Holmes. Since this is Women’s History Month, I have to point out that all the lead counsels, and all the judges were male. The ratio of female to … Read more
Contributed by Jim Burchfield, Interim Dean, College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana Beyond rulemaking, environmental analyses, and the myriad of necessary procedural steps, land management planning on National Forests will be well-served to adhere to fundamental principles. Planning strives to meet two interlocking objectives: (1) To create a more desirable future; and (2) … Read more
I agree with Jack Ward Thomas when he talked about “walking around the field of battle bayoneting the wounded” in, I think, this still relevant testimony from 2000. There are also some other relevant observations from this testimony for this planning rule discussion. 21st century planning is obviously tied to NFMA, but a challenge is … Read more
Contributed entries to this blog are welcome and encouraged. Please contact Sharon at [email protected] with your entry. Current Regular Contributors include: Sharon Friedman I came to the planning world relatively late in my career. Although I worked on forests that were planning in the late 70’s and early 80’s (as the Area Geneticist for the Winema, … Read more