Trees Forests
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Rocky Barker’s blog today fleshes out what a lot of people are talking about right now in Idaho, Nevada, Montana, and Utah — the coming forest fire season. The winter had below normal precipitation and the spring was generally dry. Dry springs actually reduce the range fire potential because the flammable seasonal grasses don’t grow…
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Despite the headline, the article says isn’t clear what the huge pine die-off in Alberta (and, not mentioned in the article, nearby B.C.) will have on the grizzly bear. Scientists using bears to battle bugs. By Jeff Holubitsky, CanWest News Service post 1116
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The Salt Lake Tribune published a welcome editorial about a federal court decision regarding forest plans. The editorial also boldy illustrates the importance of wildness and its uplifting affect. Value of a forest: Federal ruling is a victory for conservation Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
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Various pine beetles are attacking pines all over North America with an extraordinary vengeance. In Yellowstone the high valued whitebark pine, which grows, and grows but slowly, at high elevations continues under attack. This pine is especially valuable to grizzly bears who eat its fat rich nuts in the fall to fatten up. In years…
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Perhaps the most important environmental decisions the Forest Service makes is the 15-year (on the average) forest plans for each of national forests. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has always been at the core of the forest plans. NFMA, the National Forest Management Act, requires the forest plans and their updating, but it’s NEPA…
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This is a story about beaver being reintroduced to places in southeast Idaho where they have been wiped out. Because of the natural abundance of aspen and willows in Eastern Idaho, the area is naturally better beaver habitat than points north, such as central Idaho and Yellowstone. In the past, many beaver dams were deliberately…
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After almost every forest fire, there is a push for salvage logging based on the idea that the forest is destroyed, so some of its former value needs to be captured. Folks who have watched salvage logging know that instead, the practice often introduces weed seeds, actually sets back forest regrowth and loses money too.…
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Potlatch has joined a growing trend toward access fees. It is the largest private land owner in Idaho, with almost all of its land in the Idaho Panhandle and in North Central Idaho. There is also a continuing battle over US Forest Service, BLM, and other public land management agencies charging access fees. Story in…