Region Archives: US West

More states and private landowners recognize the importance of prescribed burns to improve forest health and reduce the severity of wildfires, but the lack of firefighters trained to ignite and manage the blazes has slowed progress. In July 2021, the massive Bootleg fire in southern Oregon burned 650 square miles and left vast swaths of forest littered with dead trees.  But when the smoke cleared, scientists discovered that forests treated with prescribed burns had largely survived because fewer woody fuels were available to stoke the megafire. Evidence like this is fueling a renaissance of prescribed burning in the U.S. West. Nationally, the U.S. Forest Service has resolved to thin and burn 50 million acres and officials are increasingly recognizing myriad Indigenous uses of fire that improved the health of forest ecosystems and made explosive wildfires less likely to burn in them. Now, states are joining the movement to return what proponents call “good fire” to landscapes.

In an effort to save two subspecies of spotted owls from extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released its Draft Barred Owl Management Strategy and accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Statement in November 2023. …In the past two decades, some spotted owl populations have declined by over 75 percent, in large part due to competition for territory and food from the barred owl… Lethal control of the barred owl is essential to preserving the spotted owl, according to the USFWS strategy. It contains six proposed management alternatives: five are varied approaches to lethal control of barred owls, and one is to take no action. Lethal control means targeted shooting by experienced removal specialists who meet the strict criteria of the Service. “This is not public hunting,” says Robin Bown, the barred owl management strategy lead for USFWS. “This is not allowing people to go out hunting these birds.”

California officials have agreed to invest about $3 million in public funds on 7,500 acres located on the forested northeastern slopes of Mt. Shasta. But don’t expect the area to change much in the coming years. There aren’t plans for any new developments, ski resorts, mining or clear-cut logging on the property. The money is being used to set up a conservation easement that ensures the area is protected from development. The nonprofit Pacific Forest Trust, which will manage the property, says the aim of the project is to improve wildlife habitat, provide for public recreation and local jobs, improve forest health and reduce wildland fire danger. …Some 2,700 acres of the project will be managed solely to benefit wildlife habitat, including 250 “imperiled” species, including gray wolf, Pacific fisher and Pacific marten.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday that it is devoting more resources to processing outstanding claims filed by victims of the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history. The 2022 blaze was caused by a pair of prescribed fires that were set by the U.S. Forest Service in an attempt to clear out vegetation to reduce the threat of a catastrophic wildfire. Officials have acknowledged that they underestimated the dry conditions that had been plaguing the region for years. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and mountains were charred, leaving behind damage that experts say will have environmental effects for decades to come. …The agency has received $518 million in claims and has approved $330 million in payments so far for people with losses. The federal government set aside nearly $4 billion last year to pay claims related to the wildfire. Lawsuits have been filed by residents who say FEMA has been slow to pay their claims.

A Portland jury on Tuesday awarded nine survivors of Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day fires a total of $85 million in the latest court case against utility PacifiCorp. The award came after a “mini-trial” that lasted a little more than two weeks and was the first in a series to determine compensation for roughly 5,000 fire victims impacted by four megafires that burned thousands of homes and wrought widespread damage. …In June of 2023, a Multnomah County jury found PacifiCorp at fault for the ignition and spread of the Santiam-Beachie, Echo Mountain, South Obenchain and 242 fires. In that first case, the jury awarded $90 million to 17 wildfire survivors. …The next mini-trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 26 and seeks compensation for another nine survivors of the fires, along with the Upward Bound Camp for Individuals with Special Needs in Gates. …The third damages trial is set for April 22 and would include timber companies whose land was burned in the fires.

Heaps of ladybugs recently turned branches, leaves and patches of trees along a Santa Monica Mountains trail into a moving jumble of red wings and tiny black dots. A cold spell may be the reason for the pileup, said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “They don’t produce their own body heat,” she said. “So, they group together to try to stay warm. Also, it helps in finding mates.” Anderson, based in Los Angeles, said the phenomenon isn’t unusual. People spot the masses of ladybugs – called aggregations – often during cold times of the year.

It was disappointing to read that the Power Plant timber sale has been canceled and that a portion of the sale area was nominated for the Natural Climate Solutions program. This cancellation occurred after thorough vetting by DNR staff and the dismissal of two lawsuits against the sale. Now the DNR must find an equivalent amount of volume elsewhere to replace timber already sold. If the Clallam County commissioners concur with the nomination, one end result will be a reduction of working lands in Clallam County. Climate change is a global problem and removing lands from production in our state will do little to solve the climate crisis. …If timber production is reduced in Washington, others will supply our world’s wood products at a greater cost to the climate and at a loss to our local economy. …County commissioners should reject the climate solutions nomination and support local businesses and districts that rely on timber sales.

Two controversial timber sales in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley were postponed for a third time by the federal Bureau of Land Management on Monday. The proposed Late Mungers and Penn Butte timber sales would open up over 800 acres of forest in the Applegate Valley to commercial logging. The auctions were scheduled to take place Jan. 25, but were abruptly rescheduled for April 25. These sales, that include old-growth forest, have been fought since at least 2022 by environmental groups that argue commercial logging will increase wildfire risk and that the plan has gone ahead without proper environmental review. …According to the BLM, the project will reduce forest density which will help slow the spread of wildfires. Sullivan said the agency has been getting more requests from logging companies to delay timber sales until closer to when logging would begin in May.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service are soliciting comments and feedback on the creation of new management policies for old-growth forests across the county. …Andrew Sánchez Meador, executive director of the Ecological Restoration Institute based out of Northern Arizona University, said he believes the effort represents a positive shift in how old-growth forests are managed. …Within the national forest southwestern region, which includes the Coconino and Kaibab national forests as well as several others across Arizona and New Mexico, nearly 14% of forested areas fit the definition for old growth. The primary threat to that remaining old-growth forest was identified by federal officials as catastrophic wildfire. …The Ecological Restoration Institute assisted the initial effort back in 2022, and Sánchez Meador said they hoped to emphasize differences in necessary management strategies based on the type of forest.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Ecologists have long known that standing dead trees, commonly referred to as snags, are an important habitat element for forest dwellers and act as a driver of biodiversity. They’re so important that in some managed forests, snag creation is part of the conservation tool kit – i.e., crews sometimes convert a percentage of live trees into dead ones through techniques ranging from sawing off their tops to wounding their trunks to injecting them with disease-causing fungi. …How well do any of those techniques actually work over the long term? And which ones are cost-effective for land managers seeking to enhance habitat? Jim Rivers of the Oregon State University College of Forestry looked at nearly 800 large-diameter Douglas-fir trees that had been subjected to snag creation treatment in southwestern Oregon in the early 2000s. 

DENVER, CO – The House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee today passed legislation to expand wildfire prevention efforts through community education. HB24-1024, sponsored by Representatives Tammy Story and Elizabeth Velasco, passed by a vote of 10-2. “When it comes to reducing wildfire risk, we need every Coloradan, whether they live in the foothills, forested areas or rural areas, to know how they can protect their homes and businesses,” said Rep. Tammy Story, D-Conifer. “This legislation ensures communities receive information on effective wildfire mitigation strategies, such as reducing vegetation and fire fuels within 5 feet of our homes. Combating wildfires begins with good mitigation, and this bill also continues the Colorado State Forest Service’s efforts to educate Coloradans about these effective strategies.”

MONTANA — Concerns that public lands proposed for trade to landowners along the east side of the Crazy Mountains will be developed were raised during an objection resolution meeting hosted by the Forest Service. Sweet Grass Creek zigs and zags through a valley that’s now difficult for the public to access because of the checkerboard private land ownership in the Crazy Mountains. Twelve individuals, half of which represented state or regional conservation groups, aired their grievances regarding the land exchange tentatively approved last year. In an attempt to consolidate public and private lands in the mountain range and near Big Sky, the exchange offers 3,855 acres of federal land for 6,110 acres of private property owned by six different parties. …Although the Forest Service did add restrictions to protect some of its exchanged parcels following public concerns, objectors said the agency didn’t go far enough.

Nick Smith

In December, Biden announced policy to conserve old growth forests on federal lands. The policy caps a nearly two-year process … including defining, inventorying and assessing the greatest threats to the nation’s old growth. … The threat of commercial logging was determined to be negligible. …This assessment could have provided momentum to implement a 10-year wildfire strategy… Instead, the Forest Service was directed to amend all 128 forest land management plans to “conserve and steward” old-growth forest conditions nationwide. The agency will attempt to amend these disparate plans through a single Environmental Impact Statement before Biden’s first term is over. …Rather than giving our public lands managers the policy tools and support they need to sustain our forests and all the values they provide, such “paperwork protection” of old growth forests forces public lands managers to focus on more government bureaucracy that does little to address the real risks on the ground. 

Land managers in northwest Montana this week approved a salvage timber project near Olney in hopes of recovering some economic value from timber stands that burned in last summer’s East Fork Fire, which torched more than 5,000 forested acres. According to a decision memo submitted by the Flathead National Forest’s Tally Lake District Ranger Bill Mulholland, who has jurisdiction over about 1,080 acres of the wildfire’s footprint, the East Fork Salvage Project will help recover valuable fire-killed species before they depreciate, as well as promote forest health and create new jobs. It is located in the Martin Creek and Blessed Pass areas, approximately six miles west of Olney.

Karl Brauneis

Mountain pine beetles are always in the forest ecosystem in an endemic state. The key that triggers an epidemic build up is the age of the surrounding trees. When lodgepole pine reach on or about the year 100 they send out the message to “kill me.” It’s time to regenerate. This is their life cycle. Mountain pine beetle require a “robust” timber industry to control. This is because the pine beetle is on a one year life cycle. As a forester I have had great success in controlling both pine and spruce beetle when we had a “robust” timber industry and multiple use timber management of the National Forests. Both of those attributes are seriously lacking today. …Environmentalists used federal acts, attorneys and judges to shut down forest management on the National Forests and the US Congress simply stood by as an absentee landlord and watched the destruction from afar.

Maui County Arborist Committee chairman and Treecovery founder Duane Sparkman said Thursday that about 50% of the tree is not expected to survive, which is up from the 40% estimate that was made in Dec. 2023. There is good news; Sparkman said small sections of the tree that are still alive can be transplanted into the areas where dead sections need to be cut out.

When the temperature drops and an extended freeze comes to our Webster Forest Nursery, we actually welcome the ice (by saying “ice to see you“). By irrigating our planted seedlings (also known as forbidden popsicles), we can protect them from the bitter cold. Our nursery staff gently showers the seedlings with a mist of water, and – after multiple applications – several layers of light ice build up to protect the seedlings from a freeze. These little seedlings play a big role in our sustainable forestry practices. During winter and spring, DNR crews replant state trust lands where timber has been harvested… There are 2.1 million acres of state trust forests statewide, so it takes millions of seedlings each year — with 14 species custom-grown for numerous different growing zones across the state. Hey, you winterize your pipes. We winterize our lil precious baby trees.

Log rolling, uphill: That could sum up the efforts to use a struggling, rebuilt timber industry to protect watersheds, reduce wildfire risks and stimulate rural economies, all at the same time. Case in point: The discussions of expiring state incentives for thinning projects and the long, vital struggle to thin the watershed of the C.C. Cragin Reservoir at the last meeting of the Natural Resources Working Group. The gathering of local officials, loggers and Forest Service timber administrators illustrated the economic and bureaucratic complications as well as the high stakes. Start with the long-suffering effort to thin the 64,000-acre watershed of the C.C. Cragin Reservoir. The 15,000 acre-foot reservoir holds the key to Payson’s long-term water future. …In the meantime, the group of local officials and loggers is focused on convincing the state to extend vital tax credits for forest industries, despite the forthcoming state budget crisis.

OREGON — Forests are an essential part of Earth’s operating system. They reduce the buildup of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and land degradation by 30% each year. This slows global temperature increases and the resulting changes to the climate. …As scientists who have spent decades studying forest ecosystems and the effects of climate change, we believe that it is essential to start protecting carbon storage in these forests. In our view, there is ample scientific evidence to justify an immediate moratorium on logging mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. … Conserving forests is one of the most effective and lowest-cost options for managing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and mature and old-growth forests do this job most effectively. Allowing mature and old-growth forests to continue growing will remove from the air and store the largest amount of atmospheric carbon in the critical decades ahead.

Nature effectively “managed” forests through millennia of major climate changes and episodes of natural disturbances (e.g., wildfires, droughts, bark-beetle outbreaks), so why would nature not now be best able to restore and adapt forests to climate change? We focused on this question while investigating lower-elevation dry forests of the western U.S. dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) or similar pines and dry mixed-conifer forests, in addition to other trees. Dry forests cover 25.5 million ha (63 million acres) of the western U.S. These forests have altered structure (e.g., tree density) from extensive logging, livestock grazing, and fire suppression. Dry forests are also recently experiencing more natural disturbances. Wildfires have at times become almost unstoppable, overwhelming firefighters and spilling over into the built environment. These trends continue in spite of billions of dollars spent annually to reduce fuels (e.g., thinning) and suppress fires and other disturbances in federal forests.

A wildfire funding proposal that would charge Oregon property owners $10 a year to offset rising fees that timber and ranch landowners pay to the state for fire protection has gone through major changes in recent days. The draft proposal …no longer includes the $10 fee on Oregon’s 2 million property holders. Such a fee would have raised an estimated $20 million a year, about 15% of the projected total cost for wildfire protection in 2024. The shift came two days after reporting by the Capital Chronicle on the proposal… The draft proposal still includes cuts to the per-acre fees that timber and ranch landowners pay to the Oregon Department of Forestry for fire protection, potentially saving them up to $12 million per year. The proposal would create a new State Forestry Department Large Wildfire Fund, but does not include details about where money for that would come from, only that it would be appropriated by the Legislature.

A Chinese billionaire and a California timber family have become among the largest private landowners in the U.S. following major purchases of Oregon forests, according to The Land Report, a magazine that details the top 100 private landowners in the U.S. The researchers found that Sierra Pacific Industries’ 2021 acquisition of 175,000 acres of forestland …in Douglas County, made the Redding, California based Emmerson Family the largest private landowner in the U.S. The family has 2.4 million acres of forests logged for timber in Oregon, California and Washington.  A Chinese billionaire, Tianqiao Chen, became the second largest foreign owner of U.S. land following the purchase of nearly 200,000 acres in Klamath and Deschutes counties nearly a decade ago. The Irving family of Canada is the largest foreign landowner, with more than 1.2 million acres of timberland in Maine. …Chen’s stake in Oregon has drawn the ire of U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer over Chen’s membership in the Chinese Communist Party. 

Michael Hoyt

According to its website, the Montana Forest Collaboration Network (MFCN) has twenty-six participating groups. Their website states that this network was formed in “August 2016, to assist collaborative groups across Montana in forest and grassland restoration, conservation, and resource utilization for the benefit of all.” Does that claim hold up? Are the Network and individual collaboratives actually helping restore and conserve forests and grasslands or improve resource utilization for everyone’s benefit? …The lists of members of MFCN and individual collaboratives reveal many are, or were, closely associated with the timber industry. In short, members of MFCN and individual collaboratives represent activities the Forest Service is supposed to regulate and constrain. That is unreasonable. …The fact that people representing activities the Forest Service is expected to regulate are not only allowed but asked to participate in collaboratives, is an indication the agency is a victim of regulatory capture.

BOISE, Idaho – Idaho has more than 103,000 acres of timberland enrolled in its Forest Legacy Program, mostly in the state’s northern counties. According to officials from the Idaho Department of Lands, in the past year the state received additional grant funds to enroll another 33,000 acres in the program. “Citizens who enjoy recreation in the forests, working families and Idaho communities benefit from the Forest Legacy Program because it keeps working forests working,” Idaho State Forester Craig Foss said. “Under this voluntary program private landowners can apply to sell the development rights to their timberland at a fair market value but retain ownership of the land.” More than 90% of the private land currently enrolled in Idaho’s Forest Legacy Program is open to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking and other recreational uses. It also preserves wildlife habitat, water quality and scenic landscapes.

Those hoping to join the California National Guard’s frontline wildland firefighting corps had no time to admire the morning sky as it collided with the golden hills of California’s Central Coast. The state was already weeks into its fire season when nearly 120 soldiers and airmen entered a 10-day academy hoping to serve on Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, 14 full-time military crews that embed with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. …The 72 soldiers and airmen who made it through might soon be put to the test in a real-world wildfire. “We emphasize how strenuous and arduous this job is,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brock Redding. …Formed in 2019 by the California National Guard as a response to the growing frequency and intensity of fires, supporting Cal Fire’s efforts to clear the dense, dry vegetation… Rattlesnake crews quickly proved themselves and now deploy alongside Cal Fire to the frontlines during fire season.

More than 2,000 signatures were collected on a petition calling for Sen. Steve Daines to meet publicly with his constituents regarding legislation he introduced to remove 100,000 acres in Montana from Wilderness Study Area protection. “It’s not asking much for the senator to meet with us before he introduces a bill that would change these places forever,” said Jennifer Buszka, a recreationist and public lands advocate from East Helena, in a press release from Wild Montana announcing the petition. Daines introduced his legislation in July, asking Congress to remove three WSAs: 81,000 acres in the Middle Fork Judith in the Little Belt Mountains managed by the Forest Service; 11,580 acres in the Wales Creek WSA; and 11,380 acres in the Hoodoo Mountain WSA. …The legislation also noted the Forest Service and BLM, in planning that involved public input, have recommended removing WSA designation from the lands.

Across the American West, managers of fire-prone landscapes are increasingly using a practice that seems counterintuitive: setting small fires to prevent larger, more destructive ones. … But smoke from prescribed burns also presents health risks. Today’s forest managers must ask themselves — how much prescribed burning is too much? …An international team led by researchers at the University of Washington built a framework to help land managers assess the air quality implications of land management scenarios with different levels of prescribed burning. To apply the framework, researchers linked together a series of models that estimate the smoke effects of various levels of prescribed burning on ecosystems and nearby communities. …All tested levels of prescribed fires led to less wildfire smoke overall. But greater amounts of prescribed fires could present notable health hazards of their own.

A Tonto National Forest project will use machinery to “chew” or “grind” woody vegetation on 5,351 acres across two of the Tonto’s ranger districts beginning Jan. 17. Entitled the Payson/Pleasant Valley Maintenance Mastication project, the contracted work will take place over the next year near the towns of Mesa Del Caballo, Kohl’s Ranch, Christopher Creek, and Young in central Arizona. The project will reduce shrub and small juniper regrowth in previously treated areas, improving watersheds in Christopher, Tonto and Cherry Creeks, with the goal of lowering the risk of large-scale wildland fires. Additionally, burned watersheds are prone to increased flooding and erosion, which can negatively affect water-supply reservoirs, water quality, and drinking-water treatment processes.

OREGON — Forest modeling research at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry shows a tract’s productivity is the top factor determining the rotation time that allows for the most above-ground carbon sequestration. Using OSU’s 11,000 acre McDonald-Dunn Research Forest as a study area, researchers inventoried more than 300 tracts known from past activities that varied widely in productivity levels. …Using a 240-year time frame, researchers found that the most highly productive stands have the greatest carbon storage with 60-year rotations that include low intensity thinning at 40 years. Less productive sites had their best carbon storage rates at rotations ranging from roughly 80 to 100 years. However, longer rotations require multiple thinning entries to maintain overstory Douglas fir growth rates. Researchers sought to shed some light on the debate on whether carbon sequestration is maximized with shorter rotations. [the findings were published in the journal Forests]