Ground Truth

National Whistleblower Day

National Whistleblower Day

In 1989, Forest Service timber sale planner Jeff DeBonis took the words of the Continental Congress to heart when he penned and distributed an open letter to Forest Service Chief F. Dale Robertson. Jeff called for an end to over-cutting our national forests. “We have...

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‘Redefining the Urban Wildfire Problem in the West’

‘Redefining the Urban Wildfire Problem in the West’

A recent report published by Headwaters Economics addresses the increasing risks to communities in wildfire-prone areas. The authors characterize current efforts to control wildfire as “ineffective” and “costly.” Fundamentally, the current paradigm is “inconsistent”...

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Save the Jellico Old-Growth Forest

Save the Jellico Old-Growth Forest

Using an outdated management plan, the Forest Service is set to approve a timber grab on the Daniel Boone National Forest. Please call USDA Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture Meryl Harrell and urge her to protect Kentucky’s Jellico Old-Growth Forest. Call...

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Daniel Boone National Forest

Daniel Boone National Forest

Encompassing a section of the Cumberland Mountains in eastern Kentucky, the 708,000-acre Daniel Boone National Forest features some of the most rugged terrain between the nearby Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains on the far side of the Great Plains....

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Gila National Forest

Gila National Forest

The Gila National Forest in New Mexico is home to Earth’s first wilderness area, established by the Forest Service 100 years ago today and 40 years before the Wilderness Act was signed into law. Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service supervisor working in New Mexico at the...

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Cheatgrass

Cheatgrass

'One of the most significant ecological crises facing land managers in the arid West' A report published in January, Cheatgrass Invasions: History, Causes, Consequences, and Solutions, by Western Watershed Projects is the source of the above quote. Authored by Erik...

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Burned Redwoods Recover From 2020 Fire

Burned Redwoods Recover From 2020 Fire

In August 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex fire burned through Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz, California, consuming all of the foliage on some of the oldest redwoods. “It was shocking.... It really seemed like most of the trees were going to die,” Drew...

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Reforestation Contributes to Cooling Temperatures

Reforestation Contributes to Cooling Temperatures

Researchers have shown that reforestation in the southeastern U.S. has had a cooling effect on the region. The findings of Mallory Barnes and her associates are documented in a Feb. 13 research article in Earth’s Future, published by the American Geophysical Union....

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asSAuLTing a Unique Forest on the Toiyabe

asSAuLTing a Unique Forest on the Toiyabe

Reaching 11,918 feet above sea level, Mt. Charleston is the highest peak in the Spring Mountains, a forested oasis on the Toiyabe National Forest west of Las Vegas. Because of its high elevation and drastically different ecosystem than the surrounding Mojave Desert,...

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The Northwest Forest Plan Amendment

The Northwest Forest Plan Amendment

The Northwest Forest Plan — the world’s largest ecosystem management plan — was adopted in 1994 after President Bill Clinton essentially imposed the Plan on the Forest Service and other reluctant federal agencies. Of the Washington, Oregon, and California lands...

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Old-Growth Forests

Old-Growth Forests

Can the Forest Service Kick its 100-year Addiction to Logging? President Biden was widely praised for Executive Order 14072, which ordered the first-ever national inventory of old-growth and mature forests on federal lands. Issued April 22, 2022 (Earth Day), the order...

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Researchers Sequence Whitebark Pine Genome

Researchers Sequence Whitebark Pine Genome

Among efforts to stave off the rapid decline of whitebark pine trees, researchers have recently sequenced the genome of this keystone species and are publishing their findings. Conifer genomes can be challenging to sequence as they are 3-10 times larger than the human...

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