In June the BLM released a draft EIS Programmatic EIS for Fuel Breaks in the Great Basin. The proposal would authorize the creation of 11,000 miles of fuel breaks primarily in sagebrush ecosystems across parts of Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/71149/175534/213852/FuelBreaksDraftPEIS_Bulletin.pdf
This plan is a government boondoggle that will cost […]
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Sometimes a “win” is the fight you don’t have to have. Instead of victories proclaimed from the steps of the courthouse, some wins are the quiet kind which involve not having to go back to court at all.
Western Watersheds Project and our allies recently had such a win, in a […]
Continue Reading →Monitoring project shows two weeks of cattle is decimating the understory
FISH LAKE, Utah – Conservationists today released a new report showing that cattle grazing in the world-famous Pando aspen clone and neighboring aspen groves exert more than four times as much grazing pressure over less than two weeks as do mule deer grazing over the […]
Continue Reading →The recent article on juniper mortality in central Oregon demonstrates how most forestry professors have little ecological understanding of ecosystem processes nor even the latest ecological science. https://www.registerguard.com/news/20190530/fire-suppression-drought-increasing-mortality-among-central-oregon-trees
In the RG article, an Oregon State University forestry professor suggests a lack of low severity fires is contributing to overly dense juniper stands which […]
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Western Watersheds Project (the organization that I am the Executive Director of), WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity are fighting the reinstatement of grazing on four allotments in eastern Oregon that are permitted to Hammond Ranches. In part, we argue that the Hammonds don’t have a great track record and are thus undeserving […]
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WHEN IT COMES TO SAFEGUARDING BEARS, SCIENTISTS SAY WILDERNESS-CALIBER LANDS, FREE OF RIDERS, ARE IMPORTANT TO BRUIN PERSISTENCE
Reposted from Mountain Journal with permission of the author, Todd Wilkinson (click at original link for photos)
— Does mountain biking impact wildlife, any more than hikers and horseback riders do? More specifically: could rapidly-growing […]
Continue Reading →Governor Bullock recently created the Montana Forest Action Advisory Council that is biased towards logging and is dominated by timber industry interests and supporters to “reduce wildfire risk.”
I don’t expect the Governor to be an expert on wildfire or forest ecology, but it is clear from the makeup of his council that its […]
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by DAVID MATTSON Reprinted from Counterpunch with permission of the author
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As a scholar and social scientist I get annoyed when concepts are deployed for partisan purposes without regard for intellectual integrity. Having said that, I suspect that most politicians would find my distress silly, which is to […]
Continue Reading →We live in an age of Orwellian Doublespeak. Such doublespeak is exemplified by the euphemistically named “Resilient Federal Forests Act” (RFFA) sponsored by Rep. Westerman. Like previous versions, Westerman asserts RFFA will reduce massive wildfires and smoke, and promote more “resilient” forests.
In the name of fire reduction, RFFA is a Trojan Horse designed to […]
Continue Reading →Point Reyes National Seashore was established in the 1960s by the purchase of private ranches. The public paid fair market value for these lands. Livestock operations were to be removed over a 25-grace period. But time and again the ranchers refused to leave OUR property.
Surprisingly Representative Jared Huffman, ordinarily good on environmental issues, has […]
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