Logging
-
Heavily logged lands failed to preclude the 2007 Jocko Lake Fire near Seeley Lake, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner Recently Senator Daines spoke at the Professional Fire Fighters conference in Bozeman. Daines advocated more management of our forests, believing that we can chainsaw our way to “forest health.” Senator Daines can be forgiven for his ill-advised…
-
The 1988 Fires burned approximately half of Yellowstone National Park and provided a significant natural laboratory to review the effects of wildfire on aquatic ecosystems. Photo George Wuerthner Most people assume that wildfire harms aquatic ecosystems and fisheries. But such assumptions are being challenged by new research. This narrative misleadingly portrays mixed-intensity forest fires as…
-
Much of the debate in fire science is about the historical fire regime in dry conifer forests such as these ponderosa pine in the Ochoco Mountains of Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner A critical paper discussing fire ecology and, by implication, fire policy was published in the Journal Fire. The paper’s title: “Countering Omitted Evidence of…
-
Many foresters want to be able to cut large grand fir like the one in this photo. Photo George Wuerthner Recently Jim Petersen expressed in a March 1, 2023 Chieftain commentary that the Blue Mountains region needs more “active” forest management in the form of logging to preclude tree mortality due to drought, insects, disease…
-
Pondoersa pine forests dominate the lower elevations of the Blue Mountain Ecoregion. Photo George Wuerthner The Blue Mountains Complex of Oregon stretches east to west from the Snake River to the Cascades. The Blue Mountain Complex is made up of sub-ranges, including the Wallowa, Elkhorns, Strawberries, Aldrich, and Ochoco. The Wallowa Mountains near Enterprise, Oregon.…
-
The Dixie Fire charred 900,000 acre plus acres in 2021. The fire burned through numerous portions of the forest that had been thinned or even clearcut as seen in this photo. Photo George Wuerthner A December 20th article in the New York Times declared California had a quiet fire season. The report explained why…
-
Old growth forests of Oregon store some of the greatest amounts of carbon in the United States. Photo George Wuerthner A new study, Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change, reported in Frontiers in Forests and Global Climate Change, proposes setting aside a strategic forest…
-
Protecting the Brooks Range of Alaska by giving some kind of permanent protection to the National Petroleum Reserve. Photo George Wuerthner The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently published a report on how President Biden could reach his goal of protecting 30 percent of America’s land and water by 2030. It is an ambitious goal…