Oregon

  • Holiday Farm Fire And Industrial Logging

    George Wuerthner

    Clearcuts along the McKenzie River corridor east of Eugene, Oregon did little to slow the Holiday Farm Fire. Photo George Wuerthner The Holiday Farm Fire began on September 7, 2020. The fire charred 173,000 acres along the McKenzie River Valley in western Oregon’s Cascade Range, possibly due to a fallen power line. The fire destroyed…

  • Wild Rogue Wilderness Legislation Introduced

    George Wuerthner

    The Rogue River cuts through the coastal Siskiyou Mountains. Photo George Wuerthner  Congressman Peter DeFazio (D) from Eugene, Oregon, has introduced into the House the Wild Rogue Conservation and Recreation Enhancement Act. It is a companion bill to earlier legislation in the Senator supported by Senators Wyden and Merkley. Rogue River. Photo George Wuerthner  The…

  • Thinning or Clearcut?

    George Wuerthner

    One hears continuously that the Forest Service doesn’t clearcut anymore. Of course, what constitutes a clearcut is subject to interpretation. The following photos are all taken on the Deschutes NF in Oregon. These are “forest thinning” projects designed to reduce wildfires and “improve” forest health. How many trees do you need to leave behind so…

  • Wildfire May Benefit Spotted Owls

    George Wuerthner

    Northern Spotted Owl Photo US FWS A couple of years ago, I attended a meeting of the Deschutes Collaborative. Spotted Owls and wildfire was the topic that day. The meeting was a classic example of how collaboratives selectively use science to justify more logging of our forests. The two-hour meeting featured a biologist with the…

  • Antidote For Rural Sprawl–Land Use Zoning

    George Wuerthner

    Rural subdivision in Gallatin County, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner Back when I was a student at the University of Montana in Missoula, I had a girlfriend who managed to rent a house adjacent to the Bitterroot Mountains near Hamilton. All of us were very jealous of her luck in obtaining a place to live so…

  • Critique of “Fire Suppression” Mythology

    George Wuerthner

      High elevation forests like the mountain hemlock seen here at Crater Lake have long intervals between fires. They only burn when there is the right combination of climate/weather. Fire suppression has had little influence on such forests. Photo George Wuerthner The recent piece published in the December 22 Guardian titled: Heat, wind, and a…

  • 30 by 30 and NREPA

    George Wuerthner

    With the election of Joe Biden, we have a leader who recognizes that we need to use science to effectively deal with the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. To address these twin threats to the planet’s stability and integrity, the president-elect supports the goal of using science-based decision-making to protect 30 percent of…

  • Misinformation Raging Like Wildfire

    George Wuerthner

    The influence of fire suppression is exaggerated. The idea that there was a “hundred years” of fire suppression ignores the fact that in the early 1920s and 1930s as much as 50 million acres burned annually. Furthermore, climate controls fires, as indicated by the cool, moist decades between the 1940s-1980s. Courtesy of Ralph Bloomer. With…

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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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