The 99-Year Old Grandmother Argument–The Bias of Forestry Advocates

On March 30, 2021 By

 

To many foresters and others who advocate for “active forest management,” a fire that results in high tree mortality is considered evidence of an “unhealthy” forest. Photo George Wuerthner 

This past week I was invited to present my views on forest health and fire ecology to a group of Washington State […]

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Domestic Sheep Threaten Wild Bighorns

On March 29, 2021 By

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Ram. Photo George Wuerthner

Bighorn sheep acquired their name for the large circular horns of the mature rams. They are strongly associated with mountain terrain, particularly steep hills and cliffs, which protect them against predators. They graze upon grasses and other plants. In general, bighorns are associated with […]

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California Coastal Commission Bans ORVs

On March 22, 2021 By

Dust and air pollution from particulates is a threat to the health of nearby residents. Photo George Wuerthner 

 

On March 18th, the California Coastal Commission appeared to settle a long-simmering dispute over Thrillcraft use of the Oceano Dunes Vehicular Recreation Area near Pismo Beach, California.

For forty years, the Coastal Commission […]

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Another dead Mexican wolf in Arizona; Can we release adults now?

On March 19, 2021 By

You might not have seen the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release this week that announced the illegal killing of another Mexican wolf in Arizona. Authorities are looking for information on “a vehicle that was stopped or driving slowly near the Saffel Canyon Trailhead on the evening of February 18, 2021,” or anything […]

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Point Reyes National Something-or-Other

On March 18, 2021 By

“What’s in a name?  That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

What should we call the diverse, wild, inspiring but scarred peninsula sliding very slowly past us, jurisdictionally in West Marin County, California, but geologically across the San Andreas Fault, on the Pacific Plate, going steadily its own […]

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Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act Introduced

On March 10, 2021 By

The Gallatin Range south of Bozeman is one of the many wildlands that would receive wilderness designation in NREPA. Photo George Wuerthner

On March 10th, Representative Maloney of New York reintroduced the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) legislation into Congress. NREPA is visionary. The legislation is big—it would protect 23 million […]

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Institutional Bias of Forestry School Research

On March 10, 2021 By

 

Foresters want to remove large old-growth fir trees greater than 21 inches from the Blue Mountain Ecosystems in the name of forest restoration. Photo George Wuerthner 

Institutional bias doesn’t just exist in race relationships. The Forest Service and Forestry Schools have been the handmaiden of the timber industry for so long […]

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Livestock and deforestation in the American West

On March 9, 2021 By

The dawn breaks each morning on a hundred different mountain ranges in the Great Basin, with few human eyes to see it. Many of these mountain chains will be unfamiliar to most – the Toquimas, the Wah Wahs, the Goshutes, the Sheeprocks, the Fox Range – but the one thing they all have in common […]

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The Active Forest Management Scam

On March 8, 2021 By

Previously logged and thinned forest that burned at high severity in the Jocko Lakes Fire, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner

There are daily news stories about the recent large wildfires in 2020. In nearly all of these media accounts, the large blazes are almost always attributed to a lack of active forest management. […]

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Wolves will be wolves, so manage the humans

On March 8, 2021 By

Let’s start with some facts:

The majority of New Mexicans want to see Mexican wolves recovered. Public lands livestock are a leading source of conflict for the wolf recovery program. Livestock on public lands displace native wildlife through competition for food and driving them out of preferred habitats. Public lands livestock permittees […]

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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