Monthly Archives: June 2012

Court upholds $28.8 million penalty in Angeles National Forest fire

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Los Angeles Times 6/29/2012
Excerpt:   ” A federal appeals court upheld a $28.8 million jury verdict Friday against a construction firm blamed for causing a 2002 wildfire that burned roughly 18,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the award was “not grossly excessive” and based on sufficient evidence of environmental damage from the blaze that was ignited by a welder’s sparks.   …..”
Read entire article at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/court-upholds-judgment-in-angeles-national-forest-fire.html?dlvrit=649324

Is Acid Rain a Thing of the Past?

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Science Now 6/28/2012
Excerpt:  ” The story of acid rain from the 1970s is preserved in newspaper headlines, textbooks, and, it turns out, the soils of the northeastern United States. Forty years after humans first began tackling the problem, the impact of acid rain still lingers in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, according to a new study. But the research also shows the first signs of recovery.     …”
Read entire article at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/06/is-acid-rain-a-thing-of-the-past.html?rss=1

Conservation groups outline how to boost timber cut without harming environment

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Portland Tribune 6/9/2012
Excerpt:   “Regional forest conservation groups have released a new study showing how logging volume on federal lands in the Northwest could grow 44 percent if certain ecological criteria are followed.

The report, Ecologically Appropriate Restoration Thinning in the Northwest Forest Plan Area, projects that annual timber cutting could grow from the recent 537 million board feet up to 774 million board feet, via thinning of mostly small-diameter trees. If followed, the plan could increase logging and related jobs by 2,700, backers estimate.      ……..”
Read entire article with links to study at http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=134101273923423300

Wilderness groups sue U.S. Forest Service over plan to use helicopter

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Missoulian 6/29/2012
Excerpt:   ” HAMILTON – Two wilderness groups have sued the U.S. Forest Service over its decision to allow an irrigation company to use a helicopter to fly in materials needed to repair a dam in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater filed suit in U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s court in Missoula last week.

The groups say the agency’s decision to allow the irrigation company up to two helicopter flights to the Fred Burr Dam site violates the Wilderness Act and other environmental laws. …”
Read entire article at http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/wilderness-groups-sue-u-s-forest-service-over-plan-to/article_db1feee0-c195-11e1-8085-001a4bcf887a.html?comment_form=true

Forest Service defends wind project

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Bennington Banner 6/29/2012
Excerpt:    ” SEARSBURG — The Green Mountain National Forest filed a response earlier this week to a lawsuit from a non-profit group opposing the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a wind power project on federal forestland in the towns of Searsburg and Readsboro.

If completed, the Deerfield Wind Project would be the first of its kind on National Forest land.     …”
Read entire story at http://www.benningtonbanner.com/ci_20968243/forest-service-defends-wind-project

Congress set to extend Secure Rural Schools

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Plumas County News 6/28/2012
Excerpt:   ” Congress is expected to vote Friday, June 29, on a bill that includes an extension of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. The extension moved one step closer to reauthorization Wednesday when House and Senate conference committee members reached a compromise on the nation’s transportation bill. The SRS extension is part of the transportation bill.    ….”
Read entire story at http://plumasnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9666:congress-set-to-extend-secure-rural-schools&catid=69:-headline-news&Itemid=6

Harmful wild sheep measure removed from House bill

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Spokesman Review 6/27/2012
Excerpt:   “WILDLIFE — A coalition of sportsmen-conservationists today applauded the elimination of a controversial amendment from a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations bill that would have prohibited implementation of a science-based management plan for bighorn sheep populations in a national forest in Idaho.

The Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies and Wild Sheep Foundation roundly praised Rep. Mike Simpson’s decision to withdraw his rider to the House appropriations bill for interior, environment and related agencies.  …”
Read entire article at http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/jun/27/harmful-wild-sheep-measure-removed-house-bill/

Are we replacing one hazard with another?

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Durango Herald 6/28/2012
Excerpt:   “When it comes to preventing catastrophic wildfires like the 2002 Missionary Ridge Fire, forest managers feel hopelessly outmatched.

A 2008 Statewide Forest Resource Assessment shows more than 24 million acres of Colorado’s forested lands are now overgrown and unhealthy because of fire suppression or other land-management practices, with 6.8 million acres desperately in need of treatment to improve their resiliency to fire, insects and disease.  ….”
Read entire article at http://durangoherald.com/article/20120627/NEWS01/706279894/0/NEWS/Are-we-replacing-one-hazard-with-another

A Timber Harvest without a Legal Battle?

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Public News Service 6/28/2012
Excerpt:   ” MAPLETON, Ore. – On Wednesday, a group of Oregon loggers and conservationists got a firsthand look at a federal forest where timber is harvested without legal battles, and the environment is thriving, too. They toured sites in the Siuslaw National Forest, where what is now known as “restorative” forest management began as an experiment 20 years ago.

Jim Furnish, who led the field trip, was the Siuslaw Forest supervisor at the time. He says there were plenty of skeptics when they started selectively thinning areas that had been clear-cut and replanted, with a goal of producing old-growth trees for the future, as well as a reliable timber harvest. …”
Read entire article at http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27133-1

Project could have lessened fire damage

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Ruidoso News 6/26/2012
Excerpt:   “ Damage from the Little Bear Fire could have been reduced if a proposed Forest Service thinning project had not been delayed by an appeal from two environmental groups, a Forest Service official said Tuesday.

“Any type of treatment we could have done would have reduced the severity of the fire,” said Chad Stewart, fire and timber officer for the Lincoln National Forest. While the fire as a whole could not have been stopped by thinning efforts, especially in the face of 40 mph wind gusts, damage to the Bonito watershed likely would have been greatly reduced, he said.  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-ruidoso_news/ci_20945451/project-could-have-lessened-fire-damage?source=rss