Advocacy

  • Wilderness and Economics

    George Wuerthner

    By Thomas M. Power and George Wuerthner “A national park will not save the area. Rather, the restrictions and red tape that come with federal control would inhibit growth. Survival requires economic development, but a national park will limit our options.” Kathy Gagnon editorial opposing a national park in Maine published in Bangor Daily News…

  • Montana governor allows Yellowstone Park bison to roam

    Ralph Maughan

    A Christmas present of year-round access- Although, it is just “an adjustment” under the adaptive management in the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP), Governor Steve Bullock’s decision could eliminate one of the most contentious parts of the 20-year battle over bison leaving Yellowstone Park. Governor Bullock  would allow bison to roam year round to the west and…

  • A Bird’s Eye View of the 2016 Budget: Sage-grouse and the Federal Spending Bill

    Ralph Maughan

    When President Obama signs the 2016 Omnibus budget bill as he’s expected to do later this week, he’ll be signing off on a lot more than hard-fought spending agreements. In what appears as a victory for conservation, he’ll be approving funding for the new west-wide management plans for sage-grouse habitat, approved by the Bureau of…

  • In Memoriam: Doug Tompkins, the John Muir of Patagonia

    George Wuerthner

    Once, years ago, I was hanging out with Doug Tompkins at his home in Chile, sipping tea and sitting by the fire, when Doug began telling me tales of his early climbing days with his first climbing partner, Johnny. I asked what became of Johnny, and Doug told me he had died in a climbing…

  • Threatened spotted owl in decline due to barred owl

    Ralph Maughan

    Northern spotted owl declines about 4% a year- Throughout its range in the United States, the northern spotted owl has declined at nearly 4% a year from 1985 to 2013, according to a paper published in the Condor. The findings came from eleven study areas in northern California, Oregon and Washington. The owl also lives…

  • WHY FIRE SUPPRESSION HAS HAD LITTLE INFLUENCE ON WILDFIRES

    George Wuerthner

    WHY FIRE SUPPRESSION HAS HAD LITTLE INFLUENCE ON WILDFIRES A common assertion, oft repeated by the timber industry, the Forest Service, and even far too many conservation groups (like The Nature Conservancy) is that a hundred years of fire suppression has contributed to the large wildfires we are seeing around the West. The logic goes like this.…

  • Incident Leaving Three Injured, Rancher Dead, and Wife in the Hospital After a Heart Attack, Highlights Need for Change in Idaho’s Open Range Laws.

    Ken Cole

    Adams County doesn’t have any so-called “herd districts” or areas where livestock are not allowed to simply roam free and Idaho’s open range laws don’t require livestock owners to keep their livestock off of highways. As described in several news articles published on November 2nd, a Subaru carrying two people struck a black bull on…

  • Why fuel reductions and thinning are poor forest strategy

    George Wuerthner

    One of the assumptions behind federal legislation like the Resilient Federal Forest Act is that more thinning of our forests will halt or significantly reduce large wildfires. Yet the scientific evidence for such a conclusion is ambiguous at best. Any number of studies have find that thinning usually fails under severe fire conditions. First, the…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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