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Traditional logging dwindled on the Bridger-Teton, Caribou-Targhee and Shoshone National Forests because it brought in only pennies on the dollar spent. Stimulus may be used to renew logging at a loss- The stimulus bill has money for forests, parks, wildlife that can be used in a beneficial or negative way. It appears the supervisors for…
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The following “guest essay” in New West is by Dr. Chad Hanson, a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis. My view is that the logging industry has always used forest fires to try to stampede people into supporting policies that are bad for the forests, the environment, and most people except…
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While Bush and Cheney (it seems especially Cheney) are gearing up for war with Iran, folks in this lame duck Administration are trying gin up the timber wars of the early to mid-1990s. This should be a settled matter, especially because the whole thing was not really about the spotted owl but the conservation of…
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As Logging Fades, Rich Carve Up Open Land in West. New York Times. By Kirk Johnson. This is something that needs to be slowed or stopped if possible. Hardly any existing residents seem to like this trend, but hardly anyone suggests anything effective in stopping it. Repealing regulations protecting the environment from logging and grazing…
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This is great news for fisheries and clean water. Abandoned logging roads often don’t heal. In fact, they can generate more and more erosion as the years go by, the culverts wash out, and small disturbances turn into gullies. In addition, there are many “use” ways — roads never constructed that were made simply by…
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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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I just received a notice from the Custer Gallatin National Forest CGNF) that they plan to do a Fuels and Forest Health Project in Cooke City, Montana. The Forest Service says the project aims to mitigate wildland fire risks and enhance forest conditions surrounding Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana. Among the usual claims, the…
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A national chainsaw epidemic exists in America’s woodlands. A recent article in the New York Times titled “Plans for an Ailing Forest Include Logging” exemplifies this trend. In the article, officials in Oregon say that we must cut down the forests—including green trees to arrest the forest health crisis. Conveniently, precisely what constitutes a forest…
Author
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.