Tag Archives: restoration

Environment: Can forest health be legislated?

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Summit County Voice 4/18/2013
Excerpt:      “SUMMIT COUNTY — Federal land managers could get wider authority for more backcountry logging under a new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate by three western senators: Mark Udall (D-CO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Max Baucus (D-MT).

The National Forest Insect and Disease Treatment Act is being pitched as a way to   help Forest Service treat insect and disease epidemics and promote overall forest health. As drafted, it directs the agency to treat threatened watersheds while prioritizing preservation of old-growth and large trees when possible.   …”
Read entire article at http://summitcountyvoice.com/2013/04/18/environment-can-forest-health-be-legislated/

4FRI environmental analysis available for public comment

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Williams News 4/9/2013
Excerpt:      “The U.S. Forest Service has published an environmental analysis for the first phase of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) project, and is now seeking public comment about the document.

The draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) published March 29 proposes habitat enhancement, thinning and prescribed burning on one million acres of the Kaibab and Coconino national forests in the next 20 years. The DEIS will now undergo a 60-day public comment period.

The 4FRI project is the largest forest restoration project in the country, spanning 2.4 million acres within the Kaibab, Coconino, Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves national forests. The project proposes restoration for 189,255 acres surrounding Williams.  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.williamsnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubsectionID=1&ArticleID=13305

USFS vs. your ability to sue them

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High Country News 3/21/2013
Excerpt:        “In 2001, a week before George W. Bush took the oath of office, the Forest Service dropped a bombshell. It released the 1,800 page Sierra Nevada Framework, a plan for how to manage 11.5 million acres of Sierra Nevada forests to protect the California spotted owl, reduce wildfires and protect habitat. Unlike previous plans, which prioritized timber harvests, restoring the health of the Sierra Nevada was the primary goal of the plan………”
“…….. it’s ironic that the U.S. government is now arguing that the Framework is simply a planning document with no real impacts on the ground, meaning environmental groups do not have legal grounds to challenge it……”
Read entire article at http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/usfs-vs-your-ability-to-sue-them

U.S. Forest Service Collaboration Process: Solution or Sham?

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Forest Industry Network 3/25/2013
Excerpt:       “For those of you who have been following Forest Service land management issues, the term “collaboration” should be familiar.

For approximately 10 years now, since the Forest Service began the Healthy Forests Initiative and Congress passed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act in 2003, the agency has been promoting the collaborative process in the hopes that it would reduce analysis paralysis, reduce appeals and litigation and increase fuels reduction and forest restoration work on the National Forests.
Read entire article at http://forestindustry.com/feature-article/200/us-forest-service-collaboration-process-solution-or-sham

U.S. Starts Massive Forest-Thinning Project

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Scientific American 3/22/2013
Excerpt:          “FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The smell of wood-burning stoves seems to permeate this gateway to the Grand Canyon and pit stop on the legendary Route 66.

In this corner of the state, trees, wood and fire have an ever-evolving relationship. Surrounded by the Coconino National Forest, this northern Arizona town sat at the edge of the 2010 Schultz fire, which burned 15,000 acres.   While the Schultz fire visibly marked the landscape, the damage was relatively benign compared with the floods that came a month later.    ….”
Read entire article at  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-starts-massive-forest-thinning-project

Firing away over forests

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Medford Mail Tribune Editorial 3/22/2013
Excerpt:     “A timber sale has ignited rhetoric on both sides; its not the end of the world.   Environmental groups say the proposed Bybee timber sale on the edge of Crater Lake National Park is a return to the bad old days of rapacious logging. We’re not convinced of that, but it’s clear the proposal has prompted a return to the bad old days of overheated rhetoric — on both sides. ….”
Read entire editorial (free registration required) at http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130322/OPINION/303220312/-1/OPINION02

Crater Lake logging plan opposed

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Statesman Journal 3/17/2013
Excerpt:        “Democracy is not the driver when it comes to making the final decision on the proposed Bybee management project in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.  “This is not about how many votes’ we receive,” stressed forest supervisor Rob MacWhorter. “I’m not looking at sheer numbers but at substantive, thoughtful comments about the document we put out there.

“Simply saying, I don’t like this’ doesn’t give me a lot of space to try to figure out how to resolve that particular issue,” he added. “But we will respond to substantive comments and may incorporate some of them into whatever decision we do make.”  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20130317/GREEN/303170057/Crater-Lake-logging-plan-opposed?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|p

Helping To Protect “America’s Backyard”

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News Examiner 3/17/2013
Excerpt:      “(NAPSI)—From Alaska to Florida, millions of people visit America’s National Forests each year, and with two-thirds of Americans living within 100 miles of a National Forest, these lands truly are “America’s Backyard.”

However, due to damage from wildfire, insects, disease and natural disasters, nearly one-third of the 193 million acres of the National Forest System urgently need restoration.

To maintain and strengthen these vital natural resources, the National Forest Foundation (NFF) has launched a national conservation campaign called Treasured Landscapes to build support for America’s National Forests from coast to coast.  …”
Note: Evidently this was an old news release that got temporarily re-posted .  Another recent post of this news release can be found at http://www.postbulletin.com/online_features/green_living/helping-to-protect-america-s-backyard/article_44b2e624-9245-5f10-a36a-e54180202e14.html

Forest Service Chief: Management Protects Rural Economies and Communities

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Fire Engineering 3/13/2013
Excerpt:     “U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell testified before a House subcommittee today on the economic value generated by the nation’s forests during a time of increased fire activity, encroaching development, pests, and disease.

Talking to the House Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy and Forestry, Tidwell noted that forest restoration work, water, wildfire suppression, research, recreation, minerals, special uses and support of state and private forests all contribute tremendous value to rural America.   …
Read entire FS News Release at http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2013/03/forest-service-chief–management-protects-rural-economies-and-co.html

Blue Mountain timber: Top forester backs ambitious program of tree thinning and restoration

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Oregonian 3/13/2013
Excerpt:      “LA GRANDE — Trucks gathering logs for the Boise Cascade sawmill here roll out at 2 a.m. to begin their daylong, 480-mile round trips to the Mount Hood National Forest, Washington’s Okanogan National Forest and other federal woodlands in Idaho.

“It is crazy to have to go that far for logs, totally,” said Jim Princehouse of La Grande, who owns a fleet of 11 log trucks.   “This is a hard life,” said Princehouse, 67. “It really is.”  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/03/blue_mountain_timber_top_fores.html