From the monthly archives: December 2022

Changes in the riparian vegetation along the San Pedro River before and after livestock removal from the main river corridor. 

The Bureau of Land Management released its Environmental Assessment for livestock grazing in the San Pedro National Conservation Area (SPNCA) in Arizona.

The BLM has decided that the […]

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The Dixie Fire charred 900,000 acre plus acres in 2021. The fire burned through numerous portions of the forest that had been thinned or even clearcut as seen in this photo. Photo George Wuerthner 

A December 20th article in the New York Times declared California had a quiet fire season. […]

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Cattle grazing is the greatest threat to the Greater Gila Ecosystem in New Mexico. Photo George Wuerthner 

Livestock grazing is the biggest scourge to Southwestern ecosystems. No matter where they are found, domestic livestock poses a significant threat to wildlife and ecosystem function.

Feral livestock currently roams the 558,065 Gila Wilderness, and […]

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Old growth forests of Oregon store some of the greatest amounts of carbon in the United States. Photo George Wuerthner 

A new study, Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change, reported in Frontiers in Forests and Global Climate Change, proposes setting […]

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Ponderosa pine in New Mexico Blue Range Wilderness. Photo George Wuerthner  A  new paper, Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE,  was recently published. Based on solid scientific research, it makes the important point that indigenous fire management was local rather than landscape […]

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The Rewilding the West proposal calls for the restoration of wolves across federal lands. Photo George Wuerthner 

The current Farm Bill, which Congress passed in 2018, is set to expire in 2023. Congress will undoubtedly enact a new Farm Bill.

The Farm Bill provides an opportunity to incorporate the provisions of the […]

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The granite summit of Spirit Mountain in the proposed Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, Nevada. Photo George Wuerthner 

President Biden appears ready to designate the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in southern Nevada.

The monument will protect almost a half million acres of the Mohave Desert between the California border and the […]

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The Deschutes River in Bend during the summer is downstream from irrigation removal of the water is little more than a creek.  Photo George Wuerthner 

In October, irrigators began the annual drawing down of the Deschutes River to the point where fish and other […]

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Quote

‎"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour."

~ Edward Abbey