Trees Forests
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This is a story about beaver being reintroduced to places in southeast Idaho where they have been wiped out. Because of the natural abundance of aspen and willows in Eastern Idaho, the area is naturally better beaver habitat than points north, such as central Idaho and Yellowstone. In the past, many beaver dams were deliberately…
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After almost every forest fire, there is a push for salvage logging based on the idea that the forest is destroyed, so some of its former value needs to be captured. Folks who have watched salvage logging know that instead, the practice often introduces weed seeds, actually sets back forest regrowth and loses money too.…
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Potlatch has joined a growing trend toward access fees. It is the largest private land owner in Idaho, with almost all of its land in the Idaho Panhandle and in North Central Idaho. There is also a continuing battle over US Forest Service, BLM, and other public land management agencies charging access fees. Story in…
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There was a gathering of climate experts this week in Helena, MT. The effects of global warming in Montana were described with more and greater wildfires being just one of the most obvious. There has been a furious debate in recent years whether the increase in forest fires is due to bad forest practices, not…
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Warm winters harm conifers in many ways leaving them open to insect attack. Presently insects are killing millions of acres of trees in Alaska. See article by Dan Joling, Associated Press. What the article doesn’t say it, this is not just happening in Alaska. It is happening throughout the West. British Columbia has an even…