It is a mystery how each of us decides on a career or chooses the work we do. Sometimes an event clearly defines who we are and sometimes it takes decades to figure it out. In a new series called “The Truth About Timber,” we will introduce you to people who passionately work in the…
The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon is an alarming collection of recent photographs taken by Rachel Lee Hall, founder of Forest Under Stress (FUS). Accompanying her work are comments from varied forestry professionals and colleagues showcasing the forthcoming wildfire potential in and around Southern Oregon forests. Should wildfires prevail, the consequences are substantial, leaving the…
For over 40 years, the anti-forestry movement rallied around saving the “last of the old growth” on federal lands, as if entire national forests had been logged into moonscapes and only a few big trees remained. More recently, they cheered when President Joe Biden signed his executive order on Earth Day 2022, directing his agencies…
By Kyle Johnson Editors note: Kyle Johnson is a forester with the Bureau of Land Management’s Missoula Field Office. Mr. Johnson is not affiliated with Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities but gave us permission to share his Arbor Day message. For Arbor Day (this Saturday April 29th) I thought we’d tackle a question that’s been vexing…
The Forest Service has repeatedly told Congress that a very large portion of the National Forest System is in poor forest health and is highly vulnerable to severe wildfires. As many as 80 million acres, or 41 percent of the National Forest System, is at high risk. Congress responded by giving the agency billions of…
A few years ago, a group of scientists published a research paper that examined the role of agenda-driven science in conservation- including the chronic misinformation that is preventing our public land managers from improving the health and resiliency of our federal forests. The paper found that anti-forestry activists mixed science and litigation without disclosing potential…
In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden told Congress his administration would prioritize the use of American-made building materials in government-funded infrastructure projects. Even in the current political climate, this statement was met with rousing applause by Republicans and Democrats: “I’m announcing new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects…
The 2021 South Yaak Fire scorched portions of Montana’s Kootenai National Forest, underscoring the need for proactive and preventative active forest management to reduce future risks to local forests, nearby communities, indigenous resources, wildlife habitat, water resources and other values. The U.S. Forest Service responded by developing the Black Ram project, a carefully and responsibly-designed…
“Proforestation” is a relatively new term in the environmental community. The Sierra Club defines it as: “extending protections so as to allow areas of previously-logged forest to mature, removing vast amounts of atmospheric carbon and recovering their ecological and carbon storage potential.” Not only must we preserve untouched forests, proponents argue, but we must also…
There are many good reasons for public lands managers to take quick action to remove dead and dying trees after a wildfire. Salvaging scorched timber is not only important to supporting our local forest sector, it is critical to ensuring safe public access, mitigating and managing fuel loads to reduce the likelihood of future catastrophic…