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When one read papers about the effectiveness of fuel reductions to limit or control wildfires, there are several points to keep in mind. Many papers suggest that fuel treatments are effective–but under what conditions is critical. See comments below. First, keep in mind that most researchers are looking for success. So they tend to focus…
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The Forest Service solution to large wildfires is more logging, but this prescription ignores the growing body of scientific research that suggests that logging/thinning/prescribed burning does not work under severe fire conditions. Why is this important? Because the vast majority of all fires self-extinguish whether we do anything or not. However, all large fires —…
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I wish to respond to the self-serving opinion piece in the March 16 Missoulian by Gordy Sanders and Loren Rose of Pyramid Lumber Company in Seeley Lake titled “Work together to pass Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project.” The Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project is a good example of “PPSC” socialism: privatize the profits, socialize the costs. Nearly every…
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Point Reyes National Seashore, a national park unit, is one of the most iconic sections of the California coast. Lying just north of San Francisco, Point Reyes is a dynamic slice of the California landmass moving northwards along the San Andres Fault relative to the mainland. The National Seashore includes isolated beaches, cliffs, flowery…
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Conservation Groups seek to restore science-based habitat protections on public lands BOISE, Idaho— Conservation groups today filed a lawsuit over more than a dozen greater sage- grouse plans produced by federal agencies that fail to protect this iconic western bird from a series of threats, including fossil fuel development, grazing and mining. The plans cover about 70 million…
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House Natural Resources Committee to take up nasty legislation from Idaho’s Raul Labrador and Alaska’s Don Young- News release Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, the House Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on Federal Lands will discuss a handful of bills that promote the idea of transferring America’s public lands to individual…
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Casual readers of news coverage of the recent armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge might reasonably assume that the Refuge is strictly protected from livestock grazing. After all, that’s one of the things the vigilantes were protesting, right? The big, bad federal government locked up the lands from grazing and they were there…
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Please read the news article I have pasted below. Then come back and read my commentary. There are some great quotes from Chad Hanson and a few others that counter the industrial forestry perspective that we can and need to log our way out of large fires. However, the idea that most historic fires were small…
Author
George Wuerthner is an ecologist and writer who has published 38 books on various topics related to environmental and natural history. He has visited over 400 designated wilderness areas and over 200 national park units.