The western slope of the Cascades contains some of the greatest concentrations of old-growth Douglas Fir forests in the United States. Photo George Wuerthner
Some of the most spectacular forests of Douglas fir in the West are found on the west slope of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. Though heavily logged by […]
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Bighorn sheep petroglyph Bridge Canyon Wilderness within the new Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Photo George Wuerthner
Today President Biden used his authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to create two new national monuments. The larger of the two, Avi Kwa Ame, in southern Nevada, encompasses 506,814 acres, while the […]
Continue Reading →The Biden administration just approved the Willow Project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.
Analysis by the Bureau of Land Management suggests this project will release annually the equivalent of 2 million gas powered cars.
Map of the National Petroleum Reserve.
The 23 million acre reserve is the largest undeveloped and […]
Continue Reading →Many foresters want to be able to cut large grand fir like the one in this photo. Photo George Wuerthner
Recently Jim Petersen expressed in a March 1, 2023 Chieftain commentary that the Blue Mountains region needs more “active” forest management in the form of logging to preclude tree mortality due […]
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Yellowstone bison are a globally unique animal. Harsh winters can drive bison out of the park where they are often killed. Photo George Wuerthner
Yellowstone’s bison are unique, essentially influenced by natural evolutionary processes since the Park’s early days. Today the herd has grown to approximately 6,000 animals. Still, the ability […]
Continue Reading →Update: The aerial reduction was held. Only 19 feral cows were shot and killed. They were left where they fell so to return to the land they had been extracting nutrients from. As many as 150 feral cattle were said to live illegally in the Gila Wilderness. The Forest Service said all the […]
Continue Reading →The wild beauty of the Little Missouri badlands within Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. Photo George Wuerthner
Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) has proposed eliminating feral horses and domestic livestock from the Park. Unlike the fiasco at Point Reyes National Seashore, where the NPS appears to support maintaining domestic […]
Continue Reading →Pondoersa pine forests dominate the lower elevations of the Blue Mountain Ecoregion. Photo George Wuerthner
The Blue Mountains Complex of Oregon stretches east to west from the Snake River to the Cascades. The Blue Mountain Complex is made up of sub-ranges, including the Wallowa, Elkhorns, Strawberries, Aldrich, and Ochoco.
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UPDATE: Since I wrote this piece, the number of bison killed near Gardiner and elsewhere from all sources has exceeded 1024 animals. You can read the report here.
Yellowstone bison are used to being photographed not shot. Photo […]
Continue Reading →The Gallatin Range south of Bozeman deserves to be preserved as wilderness. Photo George Wuerthner
Recently I skied into a Forest Service cabin in the Gallatin Range. Looking out on a meadow with glaciated peaks beyond gave me a chance to reflect on how lucky I was to have public lands available […]
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