Currently viewing the tag: "drought"

Why Fewer Acres burned in the California 2022 Fire Season

On December 21, 2022 By

 

The Dixie Fire charred 900,000 acre plus acres in 2021. The fire burned through numerous portions of the forest that had been thinned or even clearcut as seen in this photo. Photo George Wuerthner 

A December 20th article in the New York Times declared California had a quiet fire season. […]

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Hermit Peak Blaze, New Mexico’s Largest Wildfire, Goes Out With A Whimper

On July 8, 2022 By

Fuel reductions are a major part of the Forest Service’s wildfire reduction plan. Photo George Wuerthner

Recently the Federal government released its Confronting Wildfire Crisis plan to control wildfires in the West. As with all previous programs, it focuses on removing “fuels” as its solution and calls for escalating fuel reductions […]

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Montana’s Bitterroot Front Project More FS Snake Oil

On April 23, 2022 By

The Bitterroot Mountains rise up above the Bitterroot Valley in western Montana. Photo George Wuerthner 

Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest is proposing the Bitterroot Front Project (BFP), encompassing 144,000 acres. This action will impact an area more than four times the size of the 34,000-acre Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula.

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Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Proposes to Sell Out Wildlife During Drought

On August 3, 2021 By

Fleecer Mountain Wildlife Management Area is one of the places MDFWP proposes “emergency livestock grazing.” 

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) announced that due to the extreme drought conditions across Montana, it would open up some wildlife management areas (WMA) to livestock grazing and haying. And it will keep […]

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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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Despite the big Western drought, cattle continue to take majority of West’s water

On February 4, 2015 By

Biggest water user is most definitely not the cities of the West-

When we look at biggest use of water in the Western United States, livestock, meaning cattle, stands alone.

It’s February 2015 and most of the West remains locked in a great drought. It covers all of the West except Montana, Wyoming and about […]

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Drought: Some Utah ranchers want elk dead for cows

On May 19, 2014 By

Group asks increase in elk permits so public land cows can continue during drought-

Even though cattle graze for just $1.35 an animal unit month (an AUM) on Forest Service land, a group of central Utah livestock operators has asked the Utah Wildlife Board for an increase in elk permits because there isn’t enough forage […]

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Wildfire season well underway in the West

On June 19, 2013 By

Black Forest Colorado fire destroys almost 400 homes-

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Update: On June 20 the Black Forest fire was contained after 500 houses had burned. RM

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The first day of summer is just about here, and wildfires are breaking out across much of the Western […]

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Wyoming ranchers asked to leave water for wildlife

On August 15, 2012 By

They now have access to fragile CRP lands, but will they help wildlife in return-

Farmers and ranchers have been allowed into the Conservation Reserve Program lands (CRP) because of the drought.  This unfortunate decision is hardly unique. As George Wuerthner wrote today in The Wildlife News, […]

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Livestock partially responsible for drought conditions

On August 15, 2012 By

With severe drought gripping much of the Mid-West and West, the federal government is promising relief from this “natural disaster” for agricultural producers.  Soon federal funds will be flowing for “disaster relief” in the farm belt.  Already farmers are permitted to graze and hay Conservation Reserve Program lands which are supposed to be, among other […]

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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