Ground Truth Blog
‘Timber Wars’ podcast goes live
"Timber Wars," a podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting, is now available online. The new podcast tells the story of how a small group of activists and scientists turned the fight over old-growth trees and the northern spotted owl into one of the biggest...
Opinion: Look to wildfires history to better prepare for next one
By Guest Columnist Tom Spies in The Oregonian — Spies is an emeritus scientist with the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station. He lives in Corvallis. The devastating wildfires in western Oregon have caused tragic losses of life, homes and forests....
‘Nothing left in the bucket’: Wildfire resources run thin
By James Anderson and Matthew Brown — Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a...
The Water Tap: Waging the war against wildfire with water
By Joan Meiners in The Spectrum — If you’ve spent any time in the west this summer, you’ve seen the skies fill with smoke from wildfires, prompting thousands of firefighters to be called to the front lines to fight the flames. One of the tools in their arsenal is...
All California National Forests closed due to fire risk
By Mary Forgione, Christopher Reynolds — With California menaced by fires and shrouded in smoke, state and federal officials have now closed 30 state parks, Highway 1 south of Big Sur and all of the state’s national forests. State parks officials posted most recent...
Stewardship pact gives Wyoming more say on national forests
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr. — Gov. Mark Gordon signed an agreement Aug. 25 with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that gives the state more say in “active management” of national forests in Wyoming including logging, firefighting and invasive weed control. Critics...
Forest Service Authorizes One of Largest Timber Sales in Wyoming History
“The Forest Service’s decision today authorizes one of the largest timber sales in Wyoming’s history by allowing timber cutting and other actions on up to 288,000 acres of the Medicine Bow National Forest over the next 15 years,” said Adam Rissien, ReWilding Advocate...
One Trillion Trees
In February 2019, ecologist Thomas Crowther declared that planting 1.2 trillion trees would cancel out the last 10 years of carbon dioxide emissions and help mitigate climate change. Crowther based his statement on the results of a study produced at the Swiss research...
Retardant use spikes as crews fight blazes — and COVID-19
By Marc Heller — This wildfire season could be a banner year for chemical fire retardants. The COVID-19 pandemic is part of the reason. With the Forest Service under pressure to stop wildfires before they become big enough to require big fire crews on the ground,...
New Forest Service Rules Aim to Prevent Wildfires Sparked by Power Lines
By Monica Samayoa — The U.S. Forest Service is adopting a new rule meant to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires on public lands like California’s deadly, destructive 2018 Camp Fire. The Forest Service’s new rule is intended to reduce the risk of future...
Hundreds of comments submitted over Holy Cross Wilderness water export proposal
By Jerd Smith — Forty years after the Holy Cross Wilderness Area was created, an early effort to explore tapping its water supplies has generated more than 500 comments to the U.S. Forest Service. Aurora and Colorado Springs, which own and operate the only reservoir...
Relict Dace Endangered Species Act Decision Expected by End of September
By Scott King Although it’s small in size, Nevada’s relict dace has become a big name in recent conservation efforts, as a petition and a lawsuit have been put forth to protect the fish under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The process began in 2014 when Forest...