Ground Truth Blog
BLM Delays Offering Oil and Gas Leases in Colorado
Officials with the Bureau of Land Management will consult with the Navajo Nation before moving forward with plans to open more than 18,000 acres to oil and gas drilling in Colorado. The agency had planned to offer the tracts, which are on the doorstep of Great Sand...
Trump Pardons Imprisoned Oregon Ranchers
President Trump today pardoned two Oregon ranchers whose imprisonment sparked the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven, were sentenced to a mandatory minimum prison term of five years after a 2012 arson...
Forest Service Reins in Target Shooting in Washington State
After years of complaints by residents of a small mountain community in Washington state, the Forest Service announced this week that it will close a nearby site to target shooting. The site, known as the “7013 pit,” is south of the community of Greenwater and...
Forest Service to Give Nestlé New Permit
The Forest Service yesterday agreed to issue a new permit to Nestlé, allowing the world’s largest water-bottling company to continue to remove millions of gallons each year from a creek on California’s San Bernardino National Forest. Joseph Rechsteiner, district...
Lawsuits Filed Over Minnesota Mining Proposal
In a trio of lawsuits, businesses and conservation groups are challenging a Trump administration decision to reinstate two expired mineral leases that could clear the way for industrial copper mining on the border of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Twin Metals...
House Passes Disastrous Farm Bill
It’s back, and worse than ever. The House of Representatives yesterday approved a 2018 Farm Bill that would gut environmental laws, hamstring citizen legal challenges and open now-protected stretches of Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach national forests to road-building...
Spotted Owl Decline Continues
The Northwest Forest Plan, the landmark 1994 compromise designed in large part to protect northern spotted owls, will not alone be sufficient to save the deep-forest bird, according to a new scientific report. Last week, the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research...
Agency Must Decide on Nestlé Permit
Forest Service officials in California must decide within a month whether to reissue a permit to Nestlé to withdraw water from the San Bernardino National Forest, according to a settlement agreement reached last week. Nestlé extracts millions of gallons of water from...
Trump Administration May Waive Roadless Rule on Tongass
The Trump administration is working with Alaska state government officials on plans to exempt the Tongass National Forest from a rule that forbids new road construction in wild areas. Forest Service interim Chief Vicki Christiansen said in congressional testimony...
Tahoe Snowmobile Proposal Sparks Hostile Response
A Forest Service plan to regulate snowmobile use on California’s Tahoe National Forest is generating heated responses from those who want free rein to ride the machines where they wish. Some of those who have voiced support for placing limits on where snowmobiles can...
Bill Would Allow Mountain Bikes in Wilderness Areas
Utah Sen. Mike Lee has introduced a bill that would open wilderness areas to mountain bikes, matching similar legislation making its way through the House of Representatives. Lee’s bill would give federal land managers a two-year window to determine whether mountain...
Shoot Somewhere Else
Every now and then, the Forest Service does the right thing when it comes to reining in irresponsible target shooting. Kudos to staff with the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon for listening to local residents and declaring recreational shooting off limits at a site...