Monthly Archives: January 2018

Bill Walker

There have been numerous attempts recently to sidestep U.S. Forest Service management of the Tongass National Forest. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has a few plans in the works. And now the State of Alaska is petitioning for more attention to be given to a very old debate. The Roadless Rule was created to protect wilder areas on federal lands. But critics say it limits access to timber and mining in Southeast — putting jobs at risk. If you listened to Gov. Bill Walker’s State of the State speech last week, you might have caught it. Peppered among tidbits about a natural gas pipeline and budget concerns, there was this: “Today, my administration filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to undertake a rule making process to restore the Roadless Rule exemption to the region,” the Governor said.

Pat McKelvey

Jan. 25, 2018, was declared “Pat McKelvey Day” in Lewis and Clark County. But it was McKelvey’s work across three counties that earned him a 2018 National Wildfire Mitigation Award sponsored by the National Association of State Foresters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Forest Service. McKelvey, who has worked in wildfire mitigation for three decades and is a driving force in Tri-County FireSafe Working Group, was one of nine to receive the award nationwide.

Old-growth forests can provide a refuge for heat-sensitive birds as temperatures rise across the Pacific Northwest, according to new research. Ancient forests tend to provide moderate temperatures compared with their surroundings, potentially buffering some of the sharpest impacts of climate change, said Matthew Betts, a professor at Oregon State University. With that knowledge, Betts and a team of researchers set off to see if the birds that breed in the canopies of these old groves benefit from their surroundings. …They already have some theories. One reason old-growth forests might be cooler could be tied to tree size. Many of the ancient giants boast trunk sizes of 6-8 feet in diameter, and they may suck up lots of heat and keep it trapped. Another reason could be that verdant old-growth forests have more layers of canopy, which intercepts sunlight.

A new task force of scientists and forestry experts will “review thoroughly the way our forests are managed and suggest ways to reduce the threat of devastating fires,” Gov. Jerry Brown announced in his State of the State speech Thursday. Brown cited California’s growing severity of wildfires — eight of the state’s most destructive have occurred in the last five years — and the effects of climate change as driving the need to develop new forestry policies. The governor said the task force also will examine how the state can increase resiliency and carbon storage capacity in forests. “Trees in California should absorb CO2, not generate huge amounts of black carbon and greenhouse gas as they do today when forest fires rage across the land,” Brown said in his speech.

ALAMOSA – The Colorado State Forest Service announced today that the San Luis Valley has been selected as one of eight new “communities” from across the country that will receive technical assistance in 2018 under a national program that helps reduce the impacts from wildfires. As more cities and counties across the country experience devastating wildfires, the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW) program offers much-needed support at the local level. Through CPAW, communities in the SLV will collaborate with the Colorado State Forest Service and a team of consultants, including land use planners and risk mapping experts, to help communities identify and implement local planning measures, such as improved policies to reduce wildfire risk to future development.

Chris Wood

The Forest Service is an easy target. It is a big sprawling agency with more than 30,000 employees. …Some members of Congress glee in blaming the Forest Service for declines in timber cutting, and the proliferation of wildfires in the West. Outside the glare of Washington, D.C., however, good things are happening on our national forests — starting in Idaho. Idaho maintains the strongest roadless area protection on its national forests of any state because of a process led by then-Gov. Jim Risch that brought together sportsmen and women, county commissioners, timber interests and others. …Congress needs to fix the budget issues… What they should not do is overlook the significant progress the Forest Service has made in bringing people together to apply common sense to common problems for the common good.