Ground Truth Blog
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...
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...