The Wildlife News

California

  • California Coastal Commission On Point Reyes Ranching

    George Wuerthner

    Dairy and beef cattle are grazed at Point Reyes National Seashore sixty years after the properties were purchased by American citizens. Photo George Wuerthner  Fences. Everywhere I went during a recent trip to Point Reyes, I encountered fences. Why are there fences in a national park unit? They exist to facilitate the private use of…

  • The 99-Year Old Grandmother Argument–The Bias of Forestry Advocates

    George Wuerthner

      To many foresters and others who advocate for “active forest management,” a fire that results in high tree mortality is considered evidence of an “unhealthy” forest. Photo George Wuerthner  This past week I was invited to present my views on forest health and fire ecology to a group of Washington State residents and legislators…

  • California Coastal Commission Bans ORVs

    George Wuerthner

    Dust and air pollution from particulates is a threat to the health of nearby residents. Photo George Wuerthner    On March 18th, the California Coastal Commission appeared to settle a long-simmering dispute over Thrillcraft use of the Oceano Dunes Vehicular Recreation Area near Pismo Beach, California. For forty years, the Coastal Commission has been arguing…

  • Point Reyes National Something-or-Other

    Ken Bouley

    “What’s in a name?  That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” What should we call the diverse, wild, inspiring but scarred peninsula sliding very slowly past us, jurisdictionally in West Marin County, California, but geologically across the San Andreas Fault, on the Pacific Plate, going steadily its own…

  • The Active Forest Management Scam

    George Wuerthner

    Previously logged and thinned forest that burned at high severity in the Jocko Lakes Fire, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner There are daily news stories about the recent large wildfires in 2020. In nearly all of these media accounts, the large blazes are almost always attributed to a lack of active forest management. In other words,…

  • Fire Suppression Hyperbole

    George Wuerthner

      Ponderosa pine forest experiences a “light burn” or “low severity” fire that does not kill the mature trees but reduces “fuels”. Photo George Wuerthner In almost all media reports about the recent fire seasons, one of the chief explanations given for the larger blazes is “fire suppression” and “fuel build-up.” We hear that 100…

  • Critique of The West Is Burning Documentary

    George Wuerthner

    The wind-driven pattern of fire in the 1988 Yellowstone fires. Photo George Wuerthner A new documentary titled The West Is Burning continues to promote a flawed narrative that large blazes are a consequence of “fire suppression” and “fuel build-up.”  Starting from this perspective, it promotes policies like thinning the forest and prescribed burning to counter…

  • Putting Our Public Forests Into Carbon Reserves

    George Wuerthner

    Old-growth forest like this on Admiralty Island, Tongass National Forest should be protected as a carbon reserve. Photo by George Wuerthner  The Biden Administration supports protecting 30% of US lands by 2030 or what is termed the 30 x 30 proposal.  One of the best ways to meet that 30 by 30 goals would be…

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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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