August 2023
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The word Kobuk means “Big River” in the local native language. Photo George Wuerthner I just returned from floating the Kobuk River in Alaska’s Brooks Range. The Kobuk headwaters are north of the Arctic Circle in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and flow west to the Bering Sea near Kotzebue, Alaska. The…
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Logging roads are a major negative impact on ecosystems. Photo George Wuerthner The latest attempt by the Forest Service to make timber cutting palatable is using the terms “temporary” and “closed” to describe logging roads. The implied message is that road impacts are magically eliminated if they are temporary or closed. Roads, temporary, “closed,” or…
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Wildfire ravaged the community of Lahaina on the Hawaiian Island of Maui, and the death toll mounts. Are there any lessons to be learned from this tragedy? The Lahaina fire offers some insights into why the current Forest Service policy of focusing on fuel reduction is misguided. The wildfire began in grasslands and, driven by…