Currently viewing the tag: "Climate Change"

Old growth forests of Oregon store some of the greatest amounts of carbon in the United States. Photo George Wuerthner 

A new study, Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change, reported in Frontiers in Forests and Global Climate Change, proposes setting […]

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Ponderosa pine in New Mexico Blue Range Wilderness. Photo George Wuerthner  A  new paper, Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE,  was recently published. Based on solid scientific research, it makes the important point that indigenous fire management was local rather than landscape […]

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Giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park. Photo George Wuerthner

I visited Yosemite National Park recently. I was dismayed to see the logging of large trees in the valley. According to the Park Superintendent, the justification for logging is “to use every tool at our disposal to save the forests […]

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Restoration of wolves in the Western Rewilding Network would help “heal” the West. Photo George Wuerthner 

A new study published in Bioscience proposes rewilding the West with a system of wildland reserves to restore the ecological integrity of the landscape. The proposal follows President Biden’s plan to manage 30 percent of […]

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The ecological impacts of livestock production is significant and there is seldom a full accounting of these costs. Photo George Wuerthner 

Livestock is responsible for more ecological damage to the western landscape than any other human activity. However, few accounting of these impacts is ever compiled. One source is my book Continue Reading

Prescribed burns are perceived to be a panacea for reducing wildfire, but there are many problems with implementation. George Wuerthner 

Many people in New Mexico are calling for an investigation of the practice of prescribed burning in light of the recent immense Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfires that began as […]

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Thinning/logging at Newberry Crater National Monument, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner 

One of the arguments alleged by proponents of thinning or logging forests is that it will reduce the size of wildfires and hence carbon emissions from blazes. Proponents argue that more trees survive a fire if there has […]

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Active forest management on private timberland just west of Chester, CA which was overrun by the Dixie Fire. Photo George Wuerthner

There has been a spate of pronouncements from politicians as different politically as Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines to California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsome arguing that we need more “active forest […]

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Thinned lodgepole pine forest on Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest. As often is the case, thinning puts more “fine” fuels on the ground which can promote fire spread. Photo George Wuerthner 

Montana Senator Daines announced that he intends to reintroduce wildfire legislation co-sponsored by California Senator Diane Feinstein that, among other things, would […]

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Cattle congregating in the riparian area, Chama, New Mexico. Photo George Wuerthner

SOIL CARBON AND LIVESTOCK

Rangelands make up a large proportion of the Earth’s surface, and the soils hold a significant amount of sequestered carbon (Schuman,G.E et al.  2001). Rangelands are estimated to contain more than one-third of the world’s above […]

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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