Ground Truth Blog
Cheatgrass
'One of the most significant ecological crises facing land managers in the arid West' A report published in January, Cheatgrass Invasions: History, Causes, Consequences, and Solutions, by Western Watershed Projects is the source of the above quote. Authored by Erik...
Burned Redwoods Recover From 2020 Fire
In August 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex fire burned through Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz, California, consuming all of the foliage on some of the oldest redwoods. “It was shocking.... It really seemed like most of the trees were going to die,” Drew...
Why Federal Tax Dollars are Funding the National Wild Turkey Federation
March 13, the National Wild Turkey Federation crowed about its “new Participating Agreement with the USDA Forest Service, marking a significant step in bolstering efforts to continue the great work that is being accomplished.” The press release gushed about the...
Reforestation Contributes to Cooling Temperatures
Researchers have shown that reforestation in the southeastern U.S. has had a cooling effect on the region. The findings of Mallory Barnes and her associates are documented in a Feb. 13 research article in Earth’s Future, published by the American Geophysical Union....
asSAuLTing a Unique Forest on the Toiyabe
Reaching 11,918 feet above sea level, Mt. Charleston is the highest peak in the Spring Mountains, a forested oasis on the Toiyabe National Forest west of Las Vegas. Because of its high elevation and drastically different ecosystem than the surrounding Mojave Desert,...
Encourage Elected Officials to Protect Vital Salmon Strongholds
Please call and urge your senators and representatives to support Senate Bill 440, the Oregon Recreation Enhancement Act, and Senate Bill 162, the Smith River National Recreation Area Expansion Act. Together, these bills will protect vital salmon strongholds and...
Protecting Salmon Strongholds in the Klamath Mountains
by Grant Werschkull The Smith River watershed in northern California and southern Oregon is a land of superlatives. Ancient redwood forests stand along the lower river as it flows through Redwood National and State parks. The Smith is the only major undammed river in...
The Northwest Forest Plan Amendment
The Northwest Forest Plan — the world’s largest ecosystem management plan — was adopted in 1994 after President Bill Clinton essentially imposed the Plan on the Forest Service and other reluctant federal agencies. Of the Washington, Oregon, and California lands...
Don’t Offer up our National Forests for Industrial Carbon Waste Dumping
by Jim Furnish In my 34-year career at the U.S. Forest Service, the agency worked to support American industry while also maintaining public lands and the renewable resources they foster. That’s why I am shocked to learn that the agency plans to make a fundamental...
You’re not the Boss in Wilderness
by John Clayton, Writers on the Range When my friends and I encountered the fresh grizzly bear scat, we were deep in Wyoming’s Teton Wilderness, 20 miles from a trailhead. I’d seen grizzlies before—from the car. But this experience was on a whole other level. I felt...
Old-Growth Forests
Can the Forest Service Kick its 100-year Addiction to Logging? President Biden was widely praised for Executive Order 14072, which ordered the first-ever national inventory of old-growth and mature forests on federal lands. Issued April 22, 2022 (Earth Day), the order...
Researchers Sequence Whitebark Pine Genome
Among efforts to stave off the rapid decline of whitebark pine trees, researchers have recently sequenced the genome of this keystone species and are publishing their findings. Conifer genomes can be challenging to sequence as they are 3-10 times larger than the human...