Region Archives: US West

Chad Stewart, supervisor of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, has described the recently released revised land management plan for the forests as one that strikes “the best balance between conservation, which entails active forestry management and sustainable uses, and preservation, which restricts human impact and supports natural processes.”  …”It fell short in a lot of areas,” he said. By contrast, Mesa County commissioners in a letter sent this week to Stewart called the plan both “well-balanced” and “forward-thinking.” …The current plan dates back 40 years, and the Forest Service has been working for years on updating it. …The plan “appears to have increased timber production as a goal, even though trees are much more valuable standing, as they provide for biological diversity and carbon storage,” a number of conservation and citizen groups told the Forest Service in an objection letter.

DELTA, Colo.— Conservation groups filed objections this week to the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed final management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests in western Colorado. The plan would allow commercial logging on more than 772,000 acres of public lands, including mature and old-growth trees — a 66% increase from the current forest plan. “A sizeable area of our beloved forests could be sacrificed to commercial logging at the expense of our already dwindling wilderness areas, wildlife habitat and recreation,” said Chad Reich with High Country Conservation Advocates. …Under the proposed plan mature and old-growth forests, which store massive amounts of carbon, could be commercially logged. Forest managers would not be required to identify and protect old-growth and mature trees. Steep slopes across the forests, including Upper Taylor Canyon and Slate River Valley, could also be logged despite the high risk of severe erosion and threats to water quality.

ARIZONA — The Kendrick Prescribed Fire Project was one of the first of many prescribed burns this fall and winter throughout Arizona with the goal of protecting forest lands and surrounding communities from the threat of potentially catastrophic wildfires. The prescribed burns in Kaibab National Forest are part of the U.S. Forest Service’s 10-year wildfire crisis strategy, which aims to combat wildfires in high-risk forest landscapes. The strategy began in January 2022 as a response to the growing threat of wildfires in the West over the past 20 years due to climate change, accumulating fuels, and development. It emphasizes the restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems, which rely on regular fire exposure to stay healthy. In other words, the Forest Service aims to fight fire with fire.

Last summer, logging crews working on the Bull Springs timber sale, cut down the biggest pine trees in sections surrounding Round Mountain. With that forest overstory gone, what remains are dense clusters of small ponderosa pine that look more like bushes. …In the 2000’s, the U.S. Forest Service thinned dense ponderosa stands to get ahead of the pine beetle epidemic. The transformation allowed young, understory trees, often called ‘doghair’ to become very dense. …retired forester David Mertz questioned the project. “The only thing I can come up with is they provided saw timber to the sawmills,” Mertz said, adding the understory that remains will eventually create a problem. Thick, dense tree stands will compete for sunlight, water and nutrients. Eventually, if they aren’t thinned, they’ll become more susceptible to infestation or fire in the future. Forester Carl Fiedler said if the remaining doghair stands are thinned, …the effects of overstory removal can diminish in a few years.

Logging, fishing and farming are the pilings on which most Pacific Northwest settlers built their lives. These occupations remain acutely important to many rural residents — cultural bedrock with enduring economic importance. Disrespect and neglect of these foundations go some way to explaining the much-discussed urban-rural divide. …“Strong Winds & Widow Makers,” an award-winning book by University of Oregon assistant professor of history Steven C. Beda, is an illuminating trek into the forests alongside highclimbers and other logging specialists. More importantly, it’s an examination of how politics, corporate boardrooms and changing social attitudes and technology left many timber workers on the short end of the stick — and where things stand now. …“Strong Winds” is a fact-filled guidebook, with something interesting on every page. …Wilderness areas can and should coexist with forests dedicated to industrial forestry, Beda concludes.

New state building codes in Washington state aim to protect properties on the edge between urban and wooded areas – a fast growing type of space known as the wildland urban interface – from wildfire. But the code changes have sparked backlash from builders, cities and environmentalists who say the rules are confusing, will drive up housing costs and could result in an excessive number of trees getting cut down. The codes at the center of the controversy are already approved and will take effect March 15. The guidelines, which apply to new construction or remodels, call for roofs, siding, decks, doors, windows and other parts of homes to be made out of fire resistant materials. They also include requirements for “defensible space” around buildings ranging from 30 to 100 feet… “There’s just so many questions that are still unanswered,” said Andrea Smith, policy and research manager at the Building Industry Association of Washington.

Old-growth trees in Oregon State University’s research forests are highly valued for providing ecological benefits to the forests, as well as spiritual and recreational significance. “Old-growth forests provide many important ecological and environmental functions, including preserving biodiversity and wildlife habitat, greatly reducing the risk of wildfire, storing and filtering water (and) cooling and humidifying the air,” said concerned Corvallis resident Doug Pollock. After OSU cleared nearly 16 acres of centuries-old trees in the McDonald Research Forest in 2019, Pollock started a group called Friends of OSU Old Growth. The group advocates for positive change in the OSU College of Forestry, and aims to protect old trees and stands. …According to Dean of OSU College of Forestry Tom DeLuca, the College is working on a new management plan for the McDonald-Dunn forests that will be implemented in 2024, which will include an additional mature forest stand in the reserve network.

I read your article “Stimson Lumber Owner Expresses Criticism of U.S. Forest Service” (CEO Andrew Miller) with great interest. After being in the logging/sawmill/forestry business for about 50 years I appreciated his comments. It’s about time! Thank You. At my age, I see no reason to worry about “stepping on toes” so to speak. For the last few years I’ve been introducing myself as “a washed up gypo logger, half retired and half working, and not doing either very well.” It disgusts me how dysfunctional the USFS has become. I’ve always been a strong supporter of the timber industry and forest management. …So here we are in Lincoln County in the middle of probably the most productive forest in the Inland Northwest. No timber sales, Idaho Forest Group sweating bullets over log supply, Stimson reducing shifts, all while a wildfire threat looms in the actual Urban Interface which would generate useful wood fiber…

The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management announces a nearly $8 million investment into the state with grants that aid in invasive plant eradication and support hazardous fuels reduction work to promote safer communities. The Department released award notifications for its Invasive Plant Grants that assist with the reduction and removal of invasive species across Arizona’s landscapes. Invasive plants, such as tamarisk and stink net, increase the threat of wildfire, change the natural fire regime, alter watersheds, and choke out native species. In total, the Department earmarked more than $1 million in IPG grants to nine organizations. …In addition, the Department awarded 33 agencies approximately $7 million in grants under the Healthy Forest Initiative program to reduce wildfire risk, safeguard communities, and improve forest health. 

 “It’s highly likely that many of the giant sequoias in their current groves may not make it for the next century,” Park Williams, a climate scientist at the University of California, said. He notes that the soil is becoming drier in the southern Sierra Nevada, and snowpack is disappearing earlier in the year, ushering in a longer dry season. …The question is what, if anything, can be done to prevent a raft of extinctions driven by our remaking of the earth’s climate. For Milarch, the answer was clear. He ascribed to something called “assisted migration”: moving species to more hospitable areas. …Redwoods may be a perfect candidate for assisted migration. They are relatively slow to colonize new territory and, thanks to their size, very conspicuous. …The concept of assisted migration, even if no panacea, at least acknowledges the increasing fluidity of the world. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]

KYBURZ, Calif. — On a steep mountainside where walls of flames torched the forest on their way toward Lake Tahoe in 2021, blackened trees stand in silhouette against a gray sky. “If you can find a live tree, point to it,” Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of California, Davis, said touring damage from the Caldor Fire, one of the past decade’s many massive blazes. Fire burned so hot that soil was still barren in places more than a year later. Granite boulders were charred and flaked from the inferno. Long, narrow indentations marked the graves of fallen logs that vanished in smoke. Damage in this area of Eldorado National Forest could be permanent — part of a troubling pattern that threatens a defining characteristic of the Sierra Nevada range John Muir once called a “waving sea of evergreens.”

CALIFORNIA — Each year, California wildfires threaten the safety of our neighbors, the protection of property and the preservation of scenic lands we all value. These devastating wildfires destroy communities and property and cause tragic losses of life, as well as inflicting great harm on the environment. This year alone, there have been over 5,000 wildfires and over 300,000 acres burned in California. While fire is an important part of life for these ecosystems, years of mismanagement of our forests has created tinderboxes across the state. For years, biomass and brush have built up in our forests, creating the perfect environment for catastrophic wildfires. …Also contributing to this is changing climate conditions, including higher temperatures, and California’s sharp decline in logging. While clear cutting practices of the past were wrong, we have over-corrected and made it too difficult for logging companies to operate cost effectively.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Relatives of three people who died last year in a flash flood stemming from the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history are suing the U.S. Forest Service. The wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges the Forest Service was negligent in the management of the prescribed burn and also failed to close roads and prevent access to areas at risk for flooding that followed the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. The three West Texas residents were staying at a family cabin in northern New Mexico in July 2022 when monsoon rains hit the burn scar near Tecolote Creek. That created a flash flood that swept the three victims to their deaths. According to the Albuquerque Journal, the lawsuit also contends that the Forest Service failed to provide adequate warnings to the victims about the dangers caused by the wildfire and the dangers of potential flooding in the area.

Arizona and the Western United States have struggled with big wildfires in recent years. Mexico’s ecosystem is similar to Arizona’s, but a Northern Arizona University researcher says it has not had a problem with large blazes in its ponderosa forests. Although the regions have similar forests, they have different histories. The U.S. has managed its timber on a federal level, to turn a profit. Mexican communities cared for their forests on a local level and took a longer view, said Chris Boyer, a history professor at NAU. He said that the approach to logging south of the border was to cut some trees but let others remain. …”Which is, essentially, what we now recognize as the best way of maintaining forest health, in ponderosa forests and indeed in coniferous forests everywhere,” Boyer said.

…But the fire also nearly wiped out another set of trees, one with a much longer history in Lahaina and a greater significance in Hawaiian culture: breadfruit, or ulu, which had given sustenance since Polynesian voyagers introduced it to the islands many centuries ago. Before colonialism, commercial agriculture and tourism, thousands of breadfruit trees dotted Lahaina; the fire charred all but two of the dozen or so that remained. …Now, as Maui recovers from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, one that left at least 98 people dead, a band of arborists, farmers and landscapers has set about trying to save Lahaina’s ulu, kukui nut and other culturally important trees, in some cases digging down to the roots of badly burned specimens to find live tissue that could be used to propagate new shoots. …A staple in some tropical countries, the fruit looks like an oversized, scaly lime. 

OREGON — By the numbers, the 2023 wildfire season in Oregon was a quiet one — with the smallest number of acres burned since 2019 and well below average for the past decade. A total of 190,500 acres were blackened in Oregon this season compared to 1.1 million acres burned in 2020, 800,000 in 2021 and 400,000 in 2022. Yet for firefighters and residents in Oregon communities, this year certainly didn’t feel quiet. Evacuations were common, even in urban areas like south Salem. Forty-nine homes and 78 structures burned around the state. …Air quality was poor in Central Oregon, and fire crews spent $484 million fighting fires in one of the most expensive seasons in modern history. …It might have been a smaller season for acres burned, but it wasn’t a small year for the cost of fighting wildfires. So far, state and federal agencies have spent $484 million on the 2023 wildfires. It’s the third-most expensive season since 2015.

Thought-experiment time: You’re the U.S. Forest Service and you desperately need to revive the Arizona logging industry to save businesses, stimulate green energy production and help protect forested towns and endangered watersheds from megafires. However, the industry is hanging on by its fingernails for lack of wood, thanks to the slow Forest Service processing time and the cost of getting rid of the low-value biomass. What do you do? How about offering a big logging company a huge subsidy to cut just the big tree … and haul them to Wyoming. “That’s crazy,” said Eastern Arizona Counties Association Executive Director Pascal Berlioux at last week’s meeting of the Natural Resources Working Group. “This feels deeply ironic,” said Novo BioPower president Brad Worsley, who has been struggling to find enough wood to keep the state’s only wood-burning power plant in operation.

According to University of British Columbia researchers, the mountain pine beetle damaged 45 million acres of pine forests across western Canada and the northwest United States in the last 40 years. Jeffrey Hicke, a University of Idaho scientist, calculated by the time the enormity of beetle outbreak came to the forefront in 2012, the creepy-crawler outbreaks affected 30 million acres and killed 6 billion trees. Throughout North America, forests are experiencing some of the worst wildfires in recent history. Correspondingly, insect and diseases epidemics starting 40 years ago were the worst ever. Beetle-killed trees only waited for the right conditions to ignite. Beetles pack the forests by the billions. Hicke quipped: “I’d rather be a beetle than a tree.”

As the nation looks for heat mitigation strategies, governments have increasingly turned to expanding tree coverage because of its cooling effects. …But as tree planting efforts get underway with support from historic funding opportunities like the urban and community forestry grants, forestry managers are working to ensure trees are resilient to the same climate risks they’re meant to protect community residents against, said Alyssa O’Brien, urban and community forestry program manager at New Mexico’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, or EMNRD. …In a bid to build tree resilience, EMNRD recently launched the Climate Ready Trees Program in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. The program aims to help officials identify which tree types will most likely withstand New Mexico’s changing climate so they can be incorporated into future urban landscapes. …The program used climate modeling to determine current and future climate conditions based on the USDA’s plant hardiness zones. 

DENVER, Colorado — Firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service Sulphur Ranger District plan on burning slash piles this fall, winter and spring, as weather and conditions allow. The burns are part of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests fuel reduction program and operations include hand and mechanical tree cutting. Using these methods allows for the Forest Service to remove larger logs that can be taken to market, while smaller limbs, saplings and brush are dried for burning. …When weather and conditions permit, firefighters will burn piles that have been left to cure for thinning projets, according to a recent news release from the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. “Piles are only ignited under certain conditions, including favorable smoke dispersal and adequate snow cover,” the release stated. “These conditions direct firefighters on where within project areas burning can occur.”