Ground Truth Blog
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...
Agency to Allow Chainsaws in Wilderness Areas
The Forest Service will allow chainsaws to be used in two wilderness areas in Colorado this summer to clear beetle-killed trees that have fallen over trails. Critics say the move would violate the Wilderness Act, which prohibits motorized equipment in wilderness areas...
Lawsuit Challenges Oregon Grazing Permits
Conservationists filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging the renewal of grazing permits for two Oregon ranchers who had previously been imprisoned after being found guilty of setting fire to public lands. Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven, were convicted of arson in...
Former Forest Service Employees: Don’t Build Mine Next to Boundary Waters
Nearly three dozen former Forest Service employees have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to back away from plans for a major open-pit mine next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota. Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the Chilean firm...
BLM Headquarters Moving West, Interior Official Says
The Bureau of Land Management’s Washington, D.C. headquarters will move west, a top Department of the Interior official told a congressional subcommittee this week, drawing criticism from Democrats on the panel. Scott Cameron, the department’s principal deputy...
Trump Seeks to Open Wide Stretches of California to Fracking
The Trump administration last week released plans to open more than 1 million acres in California to fracking, which would end a five-year moratorium on leasing public land in the state for oil and gas development. On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management released a...
More Trouble for Trump’s Interior Department
A half dozen officials in President Trump’s Department of the Interior are under investigation for possible ethics violations, according to a Washington Post article published this week. All are accused of engaging with former employers or clients in their official...
Endangered Species Act Protections Sought for Salamander
A rare salamander that occupies a unique niche in the Pacific Northwest will likely have its day in court to decide whether it merits protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Siskiyou Mountains salamander depends on damp, deep-forest talus slopes. It survives...
Photo Retake Project Documents Long-Term Changes
Sometimes a great deal of insight about how landscapes change over time can be gained through relatively low-tech approaches. A “repeat photography” project on Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest offers a case in point. Half a century ago, George Gruell, a...
Ex-Lobbyist Bernhardt New Interior Department Chief
David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry who has drawn intense criticism for alleged conflicts of interest during his stint as a top official in the Trump administration’s Department of the Interior, was confirmed as permanent Secretary of the...
Group Sues Over Drilling Near Mount St. Helens
A conservation group is suing the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management for approving a Canadian company’s request to explore for gold and other minerals just outside the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. In...