Ground Truth Blog
Dogs and Lizards
We all know this about dogs—they’re serious sniffers. Now, biologists are putting that olfactory prowess to work to help save an endangered lizard in California. Blunt-nosed leopard lizards used to be common in the San Joaquin Valley. But their populations have...
Fire Season Returns To “Old” Normal
The latest statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center show that 2019 has seen a decrease in the total amount of wildfire activity across the United States compared to the past decade. As of yesterday, there have been 40,263 wildfires across the nation,...
Lawsuit Challenges Minnesota Mine
Conservationists filed a lawsuit this week challenging a government ruling granting a water permit to a Canadian mining firm that wants to dig an open-pit copper and nickel mine in the Superior National Forest. The litigation claims the mine would threaten the...
Federal Land Critic Now in Charge of BLM
A man who argues that all lands owned by the federal government should be sold is now in charge of the nation’s largest system of federal lands. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed an order this week naming William Perry Pendley, a former Reagan Administration...
More Goats Removed from Olympics
Another 76 mountain goats have left the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state as wildlife managers continue their efforts to move the invasive ungulates to the North Cascade mountains. The animals were lifted by helicopter to staging areas on the peninsula, then...
FSEEE Opposes Natural Gas Pipeline in Oregon
FSEEE is weighing in on a controversial proposal to build a high-pressure natural gas pipeline that would span a wide stretch of southwest Oregon, including portions of three national forests. Our argument? It’s illegal, plain and simple. When Congress created our...
FSEEE Weighs In On Fire Retardant
In 2012, the Forest Service launched a study called “Aerial Firefighting Use and Effectiveness.” The purpose was to provide an objective analysis of whether using aircraft to fight wildfires actually works. Nearly eight years later, we’re still waiting for an answer....
Trump Administration Seeks to Cut Environmental Reviews
The Trump administration this week released a plan to roll back environmental reviews and opportunities for public input for a wide range of projects on national forests, including major logging operations. In a statement released on Wednesday, Secretary of...
Founding FSEEE Board Member Speaks Out Against Utah Roadless Plan
Dave Iverson, president of FSEEE's Board of Directors, wrote an op-ed that was published in the Salt Lake Tribune, making a compelling case against Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's controversial proposal to roll back protections for roadless areas of national forests in the...
ESA Protection Sought for Red Tree Voles
Conservationists filed a lawsuit last week accusing the Trump administration of failing to protect eight rare species under the Endangered Species Act, including a population of red tree voles along the Oregon coast. A 2016 Forest Service study found that populations...
Trump Administration to Close Job Corps Centers
More than 1,000 U.S. Forest Service employees could lose their jobs under a plan announced by the Trump administration today to shutter nine Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers and largely privatize those that remain open. The Forest Service has overseen the...
Study: Draining Reservoir Helps Salmon
For the past several years, the managers of a reservoir in Oregon have let all of the water out for a week or so, so that the stream that feeds it flows freely. The result? A boost for native salmon and the elimination of invasive, warm-water species of fish. Those...