Ground Truth

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...