Secretaries Order Consolidation of Federal Firefighting

Secretaries Order Consolidation of Federal Firefighting

The Forest Service and other federal agencies missed the deadline of Sept. 10 to implement President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14308 mandating consolidation of federal firefighting into a single agency in the Department of Interior. A week later, the Secretaries...
Fire Management Team Implicated in ICE Raid

Fire Management Team Implicated in ICE Raid

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials interfered with an active wildland firefighting campaign and arrested two men working to contain the Bear Gulch Fire in Washington. As reported by Reuters, the Aug. 27 raid resulted in two firefighters being detained at an...
Monongahela National Forest

Monongahela National Forest

Located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, Monongahela National Forest encompasses 921,000 acres, with elevations ranging from just under 1,000 to 4,863 feet above sea level. The Forest includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and major landform...
Intact Old-Growth Forests Show Climate Resilience

Intact Old-Growth Forests Show Climate Resilience

A recently published paper reveals old-growth resilience to climate shifts in the Amazon Basin. “Our results can be understood as a sign of the resilience of Amazonian forests, showing that any impacts of climate change on larger trees have been more than alleviated...
Caddo Lake — Wetland of International Importance

Caddo Lake — Wetland of International Importance

Forests cover much of the American South, but the region does not have an abundance of national forests. However, Caddo Lake in northeastern Texas boasts impressive bald cypress forests in its shallow, mysterious waters and is recognized as a wetland of international...
Agencies Miss Deadline for Firefighting Consolidation

Agencies Miss Deadline for Firefighting Consolidation

The Forest Service and other federal agencies have missed the deadline of Sept. 10, to implement President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14308 mandating consolidation of federal firefighting into a single agency in the Department of Interior. Citing...
Rescinding the Roadless Area Conservation Rule

Rescinding the Roadless Area Conservation Rule

During a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the Department of Agriculture is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule. “This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and...
Cheatgrass and Cattle

Cheatgrass and Cattle

Regarded as “one of the most significant ecological crises facing land managers in the arid West,” invasive cheatgrass has increased fire frequency in the Great Basin from once every 30-70 years to every 3-10 years. As Aldo Leopold observes in A Sand County Almanac,...
Revenue-Driven Wildlife Management

Revenue-Driven Wildlife Management

As reported by The Colorado Sun, wild turkeys are thriving in the eastern half of Colorado to the point of becoming a nuisance in towns and cities. Merriam’s turkeys are native to the foothills and mountains of Colorado, but the population explosion is occurring among...