ForestryNews

Forestry

News & Views

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20120815 Oregon: A broad coalition of interests has filed suit to overturn the Forest Service Planning Rule adopted last April. "...the statutory direction is to manage our national forests for multiple use, sustained yield and a diversity of species habitats, not to manage exclusively towards benefiting one or two species at the cost of all else."

20120720 Oregon: Wallowa-Whitman National Forest will hold public meetings regarding the controversial "travel plan" to seal off vast areas of the forest.

20120613 Colorado. Historically large blaze now just miles from Fort Collins. Colorado forest fire rages towards State’s fourth-largest city.

20120203 Oregon: Without timber money, Curry County faces a financial crisis.

20111205 Team of scientists proposes thinning Sierra Forests to enhance water runoff. These scientists confirm that in addition to the risk of towering infernos that scorch everything in their path, the unhealthy densification of our forests also consumes water that would otherwise be available to the rivers. Their solution: thin the forests to historical conditions. ► Here is the report.

20111121 Idaho: Ranchers warn forest policies threaten livestock grazing. “if the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) proposed forest planning rule goes into effect, thousands of ranching families could be forced off the land. ... This has come to pass because of a very specific wildlife provision of the current planning rule, which calls for management for ‘species viability.’ The term ‘viability’ is a vague, ill-defined term that appears nowhere in statute ... the viability provision goes beyond the current vertebrate standard and applies to all types of species, even moss and fungus.”

20111119 Federal judge orders U.S. Forest Service to revise an environmental impact statement.

20111119 California: Ecological restoration is key priority for Northern California forests. “The goal is to retain and restore ecological resilience of the National Forest lands to achieve sustainable ecosystems ... rich in biodiversity ... The Forest Service recognizes that it cannot achieve its goals alone. The emphasis will be placed on expanding and developing partnerships to increase organizational capacity and the use of large-scale stewardship contracts operating at the landscape level to achieve restoration goals ...” [emphasis added] In other words, residents of these communities and their representative governments will be bypassed in order to spend billions to deconstruct all the progress made over the past 100+ years.

20111119 Tennessee: Nonprofits, agencies craft plan for South Cumberland Plateau. “The Land Trust for Tennessee has put together a vision ... They hope to persuade South Cumberland residents to work with them on a conservation agenda that leans on sustainable forestry ...” [emphasis added]

20111119 Australia: Australia will use satellite imaging of its lands “to detect change in natural features, such as forests and grasslands, and man-made features, such as agricultural crops.”

20111119 United Nations: The UN General Assembly has proclaimed the year 2011 as the International Year of Forests. The themes are familiar to anyone that has studied the UN Agenda for the 21st Century: global community, sustainable solutions, world’s development challenges, stakeholders, collective search, biodiversity, climate change, etc.

20111118 Indonesia: Is Greenpeace part of a green racket? Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore “argues that Greenpeace may be endangering forest conservation in Indonesia by trying to convince public and private entities that the Forest Stewardship Council is the sole acceptable certification standard for sustainable forestry.”

20111116 Indonesia: Greenpeace accused of making false allegations against paper supplier.

20111116 Arizona: The U.S. Forest Service plans to “restore” the Pinaleno Mountains to a “pre-settlement” condition.

20111116 Forestry can create rural jobs. Ireland gets it. Why can’t we?

20111115 Federal forests are becoming a substantial liability. “Counties across the west are left begging for a federal welfare check in lieu of revenues from sustainable economic activities on federal forests ...”

20111115 Forest Service to form a committee to implement a new planning rule that “would focus on adaptive management to allow more frequent updates in the future.”

20111115 Wyoming: Four environmental groups file another in a long line of lawsuits over timber management in the Black Hills National Forest.

20111112 Shoshone National Forest supervisor bans participation by a research group hired by Park County commissioners to dispute the Forest Service’s false science.

20111112 Our forest resources: How not to be a colony.

20111107 Oregon: Governor John Kitzhaber calls for a forest management strategy.

20111025 Court ruling puts 50 million forest acres backwards to old rules.

20110702 Oregon: Sheriff Gil Gilbertson stands up to the U.S. Forest Service.

20110601 The Forest Service, pressured by environmental groups, is to blame for catastrophic wildfires and uncontrollable devastation.

► 20090603 Congressional Hearing to Review the Future of our Nation’s Forests.

undated The science supports timber products for construction.

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