George Wuerthner
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Low severity blazes burn up fine fuels like grass and seldom kill mature trees. Photo George Wuerthner This morning, Columbia University released a press release that proclaimed, “Low-intensity fires reduce wildfire risk by 60%, study finds.? Fuel treatments may slow fire spread at strategic locations and facilitate fire suppression. However, like many of these studies,…
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Tribal bison carnage near Yellowstone NP border last winter. Last week, 11 tribes gathered in Fort Hall, Idaho, to discuss “stewardship” of Yellowstone bison. Representative tribes included Shoshone, Ute, Crow, Arapahoe, Northern Cheyenne, Cree, Nez Perce, and Lakota/Dakota. According to the Buffalo Field Campaign announcement, the tribes all supported the “sacredness” of Yellowstone’s bison and…
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Tracy Arm and Ford’s Terror Wilderness, Tongass NF, Alaska. Photo George Wuerthner A new paper, Southern Alaska’s Forest Landscape Integrity, Habitat, and Carbon Are Critical for Meeting Climate and Conservation Goals, published in AGU Advances, outlines the reasons why Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach National Forests should be given protection as carbon reserves. Both…
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Author’s note. I wrote this piece several decades ago, but never published. Although some of the references may be outdated, the general theme of the article is still valid today. The main conclusion is that Agriculture is the biggest source of biological impoverishment and your food choices can do more for the environment than just…
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Wildness in bison is maintained by evolutionary agents like harsh weather, native predators, competition for forage and mating. Photo George Wuerthner Many bison advocates assert that bison have been “saved” from extinction because approximately half a million animals are now found in zoos, ranches, tribal reservations, state parks, national parks, and other public lands. Bison…
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The idea that frequent low-severity blazes as practiced by Native American removes litter but does not kill trees and thus can preclude large blazes is widely promoted by media, the Forest Service and others. Photo George Wuerthner The idea that frequent low severity blazes as was practiced by some tribal people can reduce large conflagrations…
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The Deschutes River upriver from Bend before irrigators have removed water. Photo George Wuerthner The Bend Bulletin published a piece “Fish by the hundreds rescued in isolated Deschutes River channel.” The basic message is that volunteers “saved” several thousand fish from death as the water levels in the Deschutes River dropped. I am glad some…
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The notion that fire suppression is the reason for large mega fires ignores the influence of climate/weather on blazes and thus leads to poor public policy. We are continuously bombarded with the message that 100 years of fire suppression and lack of logging drive large blazes. The fire suppression myth is a convenient excuse for…