Category: Public Lands
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What We Can Learn From The North Rim Grand Canyon Blaze
The Dragon Bravo Fire that recently destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge at Grand Canyon National Park has devolved into a “firestorm” of accusations of mismanagement of wildfires. The loss of the lodge and other structures ignores several important conclusions one can take away from the blaze. The first is that allowing natural ignitions from lightning…
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Should We Garden Our Forests?
A new study published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management “Significant mortality of old trees across a dry forest landscape, Oregon,” found that older larch and ponderosa pine are suffering increased death rates. The main author, James Johnston, formerly at Oregon State University Forestry School, now at the University of Oregon’s Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and…
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Flawed Study Minimizes Harm to Sage Grouse from Livestock Grazing
Numerous headlines on Ag network media are championing a new University of Idaho study that alleges that livestock grazing does not harm sage grouse, a proposed endangered species. Across the range of sage grouse, livestock grazing is the primary land use, so it’s not surprising that grazing might be a factor in sage grouse decline.…
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Roadless Rule and Wildfires
Brooke Rollins, US Secretary of Agriculture with the Trump administration, rescinded the Roadless Rule. The Roadless Rule was established during the Clinton Administration to protect nearly 59 million acres of undeveloped land from resource extraction. In general, these roadless lands were deemed uneconomical to develop or had other values. They are prone to erosion or…
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National Prescribed Fire Act Flawed
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is a co-sponsor of the National Prescribed Fire Act of 2025. The bill is ill-advised and based on flawed assumptions about the effectiveness and efficiency of prescribed burning. Prescribed burning is promoted as some magic bullet that can preclude large wildfires, but it has many disadvantages that are seldom discussed. The presumed…
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TNC Misinformation On Wildfire
The recent June 18th editorial in the Oregon Capital Chronicle by the Nature Conservancy representatives, “Oregonians deserve a smarter approach to wildfires: Both suppression and risk reduction are necessary,” was based upon flawed assumptions about wildfire. It is worth noting that TNC has a conflict of interest since it receives significant funding from the federal…
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Should One Remove Adjacent Vegetation By Homes?
Over the years, I’ve visited dozens of major wildfires to examine how they burned and what they didn’t burn. One noticeable pattern in urban settings is how houses burn to their foundation, while nearby trees and shrubs remain green. Global climate change is exacerbating urban wildfire risks. For instance, between 2003 and 2023, the global…
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Protect Communities Not Log The Forest
A recent article in the Daily Montanan State wildfire briefing indicates fire season ‘could be significant’ that promotes misguided information about wildfire. It starts with Montana Governor Greg Gianforte’s claim that the state firefighters have been able to keep “95% of wildfire starts to 10 acres or fewer since 2021.” What is missing from such…