Ground Truth
Objections Filed to Alaska Logging Plans
Conservation groups have filed extensive objections to a plan to log thousands of acres of the Tongass National Forest over a 15-year period. An 85-page objection letter prepared by Earthjustice on behalf of nine conservation organizations describes the plan for...
West Virginia Hydro Project Draws Criticism
A proposed $1.2 billion hydroelectric facility in the mountains of West Virginia is years from generating electricity, even if the company proposing it secures the necessary permits. But it is already generating criticism from conservationists, local residents and...
Trump Signs Executive Order for More Logging
Late last week, shortly before a partial government shutdown took effect, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to ramp up logging on public lands. “For decades, dense trees and undergrowth have...
Job Satisfaction Drops Among Forest Service Employees
The Forest Service is among the least popular agencies to work for in the federal government, according to an annual survey of public employees. Just under 53 percent of Forest Service employees are satisfied with their jobs, according to the 2018 “Best Places to Work...
Zinke Shown the Door
He rode in on a horse named Tonto. He leaves with something less of a flourish. Ryan Zinke’s tenure as Secretary of Interior lasted less than two years. He leaves behind a legacy of slashed national monuments, freewheeling fracking and a slew of scandals that promise...
A Farm Bill Win
Sometimes a little bit of arm-twisting can yield big results. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a version of the 2018 Farm Bill that would have opened wide swaths of national forests to clearcutting with little or no environmental review....
Fishers Released in North Cascades
With a little help, fishers are returning to the Pacific Northwest. Last week, six of the carnivorous, cat-sized weasels were released in the North Cascades of Washington state, where they are listed as an endangered species. The animals, including five females and...
Legislation Considered to Allow Pipeline in Appalachian Mountains
Backers of a 600-mile natural gas pipeline are attempting a legislative end run around a court ruling last summer that prohibited the pipeline from crossing beneath the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. In August, a three-judge panel invalidated two permits for the...
Space Project To Measure Planet’s Forests
The world’s forests are about to get a close-up. Tomorrow, a laser-shooting instrument is scheduled to blast into space for a rendezvous with the International Space Station, with the goal of taking precise measurements of the height, mass and structure of forests...
Court Strikes Down Four Tongass Logging Projects
Conservationists yesterday scored a major victory for preserving old growth in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, as a federal appeals court ruled that the Forest Service must scrap plans for four logging projects. The ruling comes after a 10-year legal battle staged...
A Few Trails in Columbia River Gorge Reopen
The Forest Service has reopened a six-mile stretch of road and several hiking trails in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Oregon, a year after the Eagle Creek Fire burned 50,000 acres. However, several popular trails, including in a designated...
Bill Removing Protections for Wolves Passes House
On a largely party-line vote, the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation that would remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves, with the exception of Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest. Republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin...
House Democrats Pledge Vigilance on Environmental Issues
Vows from Democrats in the House of Representatives to provide robust oversight of Trump administration policies will extend to environmental issues, key lawmakers said after their party took back control of the chamber on Tuesday. In a press conference yesterday,...
Old-Growth Logging Proposed for Tongass
Forest Service officials today released a draft decision that calls for carrying out large-scale old-growth logging on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest over the next 15 years. As much as 235 million board feet of timber could be cut on Prince of Wales Island....
Utah Seeks Roadless Rule Exemption
Utah is joining Alaska in seeking a state-specific exemption from the Trump administration to the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. With the backing of the state’s Republican governor, Gary Herbert, Utah officials plan to submit a petition to the Department of...
Feds Shelve Oil and Gas Leases—For Now
Faced with criticism from top Colorado officials, the Trump administration last week backed away from plans to open nearly 150,000 acres of public land in the state to oil and gas drilling. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Michael Bennet, both Democrats, had...
Facts on Fire
Do facts matter at all? Last week, during a cabinet meeting, President Trump lambasted California officials for leaving the state’s forest “a mess.” He said that “California ought to get its act together and clean up their forests.” He accused them of leaving “old...
FSEEE Featured in Magazine Article on “Backpack Tax”
Faced with a growing backlog of maintenance projects on public lands, support may be growing for a “backpack tax” as a way to generate funds for cash-strapped public agencies. The idea is to place excise taxes on gear such as climbing equipment, outdoor wear, and,...
Visitation Limits Announced for Hanging Lake
One of the primary attractions on the most visited national forest in the country will be subjected to a quota system beginning next spring, Forest Service officials announced earlier this month. Hanging Lake, turquoise-tinted and fed by waterfalls, is accessed by a...
Christiansen Named Forest Service Chief
The word “interim” can be removed from her title. Vicki Christiansen, who has served as interim chief of the Forest Service since March, was sworn in as the agency’s permanent chief during a ceremony this morning in Washington, D.C. Christiansen, who served as state...
Whither Roadless in Alaska?
They are wilderness areas without a capital “W.” They are “inventoried roadless areas,” governed by a rule adopted in the waning days of the Clinton administration designed to preserve the last remaining stretches of national forests that roads had not yet pierced....