Ground Truth
Female Forest Service Employees Report Hostile Workplaces
A 2015 study commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service’s California region found that female employees in the agency were more likely to face hostile working conditions than their male colleagues. The McClatchy news organization reported the findings after obtaining the...
“Preserve the Best and Conserve the Rest”
The work of a Forest Service wildlife biologist is not that of your typical desk worker—just ask Hadley B. Roberts. Roberts, a longtime FSEEE member, was a Forest Service employee for nearly three decades. He spent much of that time traipsing through the wilds of New...
The Roundup for May 19, 2017
Go West, BLM? - FSEEE Two Republican lawmakers from Colorado have introduced legislation that calls for moving the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters from the nation’s capital to a western state. Timber! Loggers hope to fire up chain saws with help of Trump,...
Trouble for California Salmon
Salmon, trout and steelhead in California face a grim future if present trends continue, according to a study released this week, and climate change is the primary culprit. The report, titled “Fish in Hot Water,” estimates that 45 percent of the state’s salmonid...
Go West, BLM?
Two Republican lawmakers from Colorado have introduced legislation that calls for moving the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters from the nation’s capital to a western state. Sen. Cory Gardner and Rep. Scott Tipton introduced the legislation earlier this month....
The Roundup for May 12, 2017
Senate unexpectedly rejects bid to repeal a key Obama-era environmental regulation - The Washington Post The Senate on Wednesday narrowly blocked a resolution to repeal an Obama-era rule restricting methane emissions from drilling operations on public lands — with...
Senate Upholds Climate Change Rule
A rule designed to limit the amount of methane released from drilling for oil and natural gas on public land will remain in place—at least for now. The Senate voted 51-49 yesterday against rescinding the rule, one of many the Obama administration promulgated to fight...
Good Earth Power Sued Again
The company that holds the largest forest restoration contract ever issued by the Forest Service is being sued by two former executives who claim they are due more than $4 million in unpaid salary and damages. Good Earth Power AZ is tasked with thinning 300,000 acres...
The Roundup for May 5, 2017
Want to receive The Roundup each week in your inbox? Join our email list (signup in the right hand bar), and we'll be sure to keep you up to date on all the actions taking place on your public lands. Trump Attacks National Monuments - FSEEE President Donald Trump...
Trump Attacks National Monuments
President Donald Trump signed an executive order today that could open millions of acres of national monuments to industrial development or even rescind such designations altogether—a move no previous president has ever attempted. The order requires Secretary of...
Camping Restrictions Considered for Colorado Wilderness
Forest Service officials in Colorado are laying plans to limit camping in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area, which holds some of the most iconic mountain scenery in the nation. The number of visits to the most popular destinations in the wilderness area nearly...
2017 Wildfire Season Off to Fast Start—But Not on National Forests
Wildfire season in the West has barely begun, but across the nation it’s already been a busy year in terms of acres burned. Virtually all of those acres, however, are on state or private land. Nearly 2.2 million acres burned through the first three months of 2017,...
The Roundup for April 7, 2017
Objections to Olympic National Forest War Games Rejected - FSEEE Olympic National Forest officials have largely dismissed objections filed by more than 100 people opposed to a Navy plan to conduct electronic warfare drills on the forest. Interior Department repeals...
Objections to Olympic National Forest War Games Rejected
Olympic National Forest officials have largely dismissed objections filed by more than 100 people opposed to a Navy plan to conduct electronic warfare drills on the forest. In a letter dated March 29, forest supervisor Reta Laford wrote that the Forest Service’s draft...
The Roundup for March 31, 2017
The standoff between Trump and green groups just boiled into war - The Washington Post The first shots have been fired in what’s likely to be a long, bitter war over the environment between conservationists and President Trump. It started Wednesday when a broad...
Trump Rescinds Obama Environmental Protection Measures
Donald Trump’s assault on Obama administration environmental protection measures continued this week as the president signed an executive order to remove regulations governing coal, oil and gas production, including on public lands. One of the measures in the...
The Roundup for March 24, 2017
Forest Service Asks Public's Help with Train Maintenance - FSEEE Last year, Congress passed the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act, which calls for doubling the amount of trail work undertaken by volunteers by 2021. Forest Service officials are asking the...
Forest Service Asks Public’s Help with Trail Maintenance
How do you maintain 158,000 miles of trails on a shoestring budget? Ask for volunteers. The U.S. Forest Service manages more miles of trails than any other government agency. But with firefighting consuming an ever-growing share of the budget, agency officials are...
The Roundup for March 17, 2017
Trump Budget Would Slash Environmental Programs, Research — FSEEE Scientific research and environmental protection programs would suffer major cuts under a proposed budget outline released this week by the Trump administration. Trump to repeal Obama fracking...
Trump Budget Would Slash Environmental Programs, Research
Scientific research and environmental protection programs would suffer major cuts under a proposed budget outline released this morning by the Trump administration. By percentage, Trump’s budget calls for double-digit reductions in funding for the Environmental...
The Roundup for March 10, 2017
Federal Land Good for Local Economies—FSEEE The question of whether states should be given management responsibilities for federal lands raises impassioned arguments over the best use of wide swaths of the American West. Often lost in that debate is little-noticed...