Ground Truth

Conservationists are challenging a proposed old-growth timber sale on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, saying it would harm wildlife, curtail tourism and cost taxpayers millions. The project calls for logging more than 500 acres of old-growth forest on North Kuiu...

A new survey shows that voters in Montana increasingly favor protecting public lands and are largely opposed to efforts by their congressional representatives to rescind protections for wild stretches in the state. The survey of 500 registered voters, commissioned by...

Non-native mountain goats in Washington state’s Olympic National Park may soon get one-way tickets across Puget Sound to the Cascade Mountains. The National Park Service, in coordination with the Forest Service and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife,...

Five congressionally designated wilderness areas in Oregon’s central Cascades could be subject to a permitting system and visitor limitations under a draft plan released by the Forest Service last week. The environmental assessment, called the Central Cascades...

A former Colorado state forester with an extensive background in wildland firefighting is Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the Forest Service as Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment. James Hubbard served as Colorado’s top forester from 1984 to 2004. He...

Here’s an Endangered Species Act success story. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it intends to remove the Kirtland’s warbler from the threatened and endangered species list. The small songbird was one of the first species to be protected under...

Opponents of a $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline have taken to the trees in an effort to stop the controversial project, which would transect the Appalachian Mountains. Since late February, protesters have stationed themselves in trees in the Jefferson National Forest...

A subspecies of martens that lives along the Pacific Coast in California and Oregon will likely go extinct if nothing is done to help the animals, according to a study released this week. Pacific martens once lived in coastal forests throughout Oregon and northern...

A Forest Service manager with a background in wildfire management was tapped yesterday to lead the agency after the resignation of Chief Tony Tooke earlier this week. Vicki Christiansen has worked with the Forest Service since 2010, most recently as Deputy Chief for...

A recently established national monument in Southern California is being overrun—not by people, necessarily, but by feral cattle and pit bulls. President Obama created the Sand to Snow National Monument outside of Palm Springs in February 2016. Since then, visitors...

A Forest Service proposal released today calls for rerouting a trail in Montana that crosses private land. That trail and others in the Crazy Mountains have been the focus of long-simmering disputes between the agency and local landowners. The plan calls for building...

Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced last week that a wild stretch of mountains in southwestern Oregon will remain protected from strip mining, handing conservationists a rare public-lands victory under the Trump administration. Panama-based Red...

Does a bear poop in the woods? You bet—and that has a profound impact on the surrounding forest. A study by researchers at Oregon State University shows that brown and black bears in Southeast Alaska are the primary seed dispersers of devil’s club, a dominant shrub in...

Forest Service officials will allow exploratory drilling for copper and gold next to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, including in an inventoried roadless area. The decision, announced last week, drew swift rebuke from conservationists who say...