Ground Truth
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....
Bitterroot National Forest Officials to Consider Allowing Bicycles in Wilderness Study Areas
Forest Service officials in Montana have opened a 45-day objection period regarding a proposal to close about 63 miles of trails in the Bitterroot National Forest to mountain bikes. The trails are located in two wilderness study areas—places being considered for...
Plan Would Limit Target Shooting in Colorado
A draft decision released yesterday would prohibit recreational target shooting on 225,574 acres on the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests in Colorado. The report follows a five-year process in which Forest Service officials worked with representatives from...
Judge: Forest Service Must Reconsider Elk-Feeding Program
Forest Service officials in Wyoming must reexamine their decision to let state wildlife officials feed elk on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the wintertime, according to a federal judge’s ruling. U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal ruled on Friday that...
Trump Administration Continues Efforts to Expand Drilling and Mining on Public Lands
Bureau of Land Management officials this week auctioned off 134,000 acres in Utah for potential oil and gas drilling, including tracts near Canyonlands National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, as the Trump administration continued its efforts to expand...
Operation Goat Lift Begins
An operation to remove non-native mountain goats from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state gets under way today. More than 700 goats live in the Olympic Mountains, descended from a handful released there by hunters nearly a century ago. Their numbers are...
Feds Clear Way for Mineral Exploration Near Boundary Waters
The Trump administration today rejected a proposed 20-year ban on mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, clearing the way for mineral exploration on the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota. The decision allows mining companies...
Forest Service Approves First Phase of Montana Mine
A plan to dig a copper and silver mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwest Montana took a step forward this week when Forest Service officials granted permission for the first phase of the project. On Monday, Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Chris...
FSEEE Featured on Public Radio Program
FSEEE Executive Director Andy Stahl was interviewed this morning on a public radio news program focusing on the use of fire retardant to fight wildfires. It’s a subject FSEEE knows quite a bit about. Several years ago, we won a pair of lawsuits that placed limits on...
Devil’s Staircase: A Place Like No Other
FSEEE has long championed protecting the spectacular Devil’s Staircase in Oregon’s Coast Range as a designated wilderness area. For a first-person account of a trip to the rugged region—and its signature feature, a naturally terraced waterfall surrounded by old-growth...
Major Expansion Planned for Nevada Ski Area
A major expansion of a ski area on national forest land just 50 miles outside of Las Vegas is now out for public review. The owners of the Lee Canyon ski area, on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, want to build a bevy of year-round recreational attractions,...
OR-7 a Dad—Again
A trailblazing wolf that has made the Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon his own is a father once again. Yesterday, federal wildlife biologists released a video showing a trio of pups cavorting on a remote forest road. OR-7 was the seventh wolf to be fitted with a...
Judges Revoke Atlantic Coast Pipeline Permits
Another week, another victory for opponents of pipelines in the Appalachian Mountains. On Monday, a three-judge panel invalidated two key permits for the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline on grounds that they would violate the Endangered Species Act and run afoul of...
FSEEE Featured in Public Radio Report on Wildfires
Former FSEEE board member Rich Fairbanks is quoted extensively in an in-depth Oregon Public Broadcasting report that examines the disconnect between politics and the best science regarding wildfires. Fairbanks, a retired Forest Service employee and firefighter, took...
Op-ed Slams Forestry Provisions in House Farm Bill
For a clear-eyed analysis of the threats to our national forests posed by disastrous provisions in the House version of the 2018 Farm Bill, check out this op-ed, published today on the news website, The Hill. The piece is penned by Jerry Franklin and Norm Christensen,...
Judges Rule Against Pipeline
Prospects for a new natural gas pipeline that would span a 3.6-mile stretch of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia are unclear after a three-judge panel ruled on Friday in favor of activists who hope to stop the project. Construction has begun on the 303-mile...
DeFazio Introduces Bill to Protect Devil’s Staircase
A big thumbs up to Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, who yesterday introduced legislation that would protect one of the most remote slices of the state’s coastal mountains from logging, mining and other development. DeFazio’s bill would designate more than 30,000 acres of...