Logging

  • “Conservation” Groups Cheer Recreation over Wilderness Protection

    George Wuerthner

    The Custer Gallatin NF plan that so-called big green groups are cheering reduces wilderness protection for the Gallatin Range. The Forest plan recommended wilderness consists of high alpine terrain while promoting less protection for the best lower elevation wildlife habitat. Photo George Wuerthner  The following link to an editorial by Winter Wildlands appeared in the…

  • Follow The Money

    George Wuerthner

      Biologist radio tracking wolves in Montana. Photo George Wuerthner  Years ago, I was in a graduate wildlife biology seminar where we discussed major issues of the day. At one of the meetings, the topic was finding work in wildlife research. There were three wildlife biology professors presenting that day. After they each gave a…

  • Logging Contributes to Climate Warming

    George Wuerthner

    Thinning/logging at Newberry Crater National Monument, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner  One of the arguments alleged by proponents of thinning or logging forests is that it will reduce the size of wildfires and hence carbon emissions from blazes. Proponents argue that more trees survive a fire if there has been “active forest management.”…

  • Before and After Photos of Dixie Fire

    George Wuerthner

    In May, 2021 I happened to be traveling through northern California on my way to Lassen National Park. When I drove out of Chester, California, I encountered a number of forest thinning projects along the highway. So I photographed some of them, in part, because in many cases large fire-resistant trees were being removed. Then…

  • Fire Suppression Myths

    George Wuerthner

    Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear in the media and from the Forest Service that fire suppression is responsible for the intensity and size of wildfires. According to proponents, a “hundred years of fire suppression” has permitted the build-up of fuels, and by their assertion, more fuel results in larger conflagrations. However,…

  • LA Times Fire Article Lacks Context

    George Wuerthner

      This site by Chester, California was treated by thinning and even clearcutting (seen in the background) and later burned in the Dixie Fire. Photo George Wuerthner  A recent article in the Los Angeles Times on November 8th  (Prescribed burns are crucial to reducing wildfire risks) Los Angeles Times highlights a California study that advocates…

  • Infrastructure Bill Promotes Subsidized Logging

    George Wuerthner

      Subsidized logging in the name of fuel reductions on the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon. Logging accounts for 35% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner  Congress just passed the big infrastructure bill, and I expect President Biden will sign it—maybe before you read this commentary. Funding is for numerous projects including…

  • Industrial Forestry Paradigm Threat to North Bridger Range

    George Wuerthner

    The North Bridger Timber Sale is removing old growth forests to “promote” forest health. Photo George Wuerthner  After reading the article in the October 7th Bozeman Daily Chronicle titled “Timber Treatment” about the North Bridger logging project on the Custer Gallatin National Forest of Montana one gets the idea that until the Forest Service and…

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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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