Region Archives: US West

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]

A consortium of conservation groups have again sued the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies over a forest thinning and prescribed burn project planned in the Bitterroot National Forest they say disregards the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Missoula on behalf of Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Friends of the Bitterroot and WildEarth Guardians, challenges the Mud Creek Vegetation Management Project, which involves logging, thinning, and burning 48,486 acres within the Bitterroot National Forest southwest of Darby and was signed off  last January. The lawsuit contends that the USFS, Bitterroot National Forest managers, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are violating the two critical conservation acts by failing to tell the public where exactly within the plan area the logging and burning will take place…

KAMIAH, IDAHO – A project designed to improve forest health and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire in the Elk City area has been approved by Forest Supervisor, Cheryl Probert on December 15, 2023. The Limber Elk project is located approximately seven miles north of Elk City, Idaho, and is situated within firesheds with a more than 90 percent “high” or “very high” risk of wildfire. All resulting project activities are designed to reduce fuels and improve forest health by increasing resiliency to insect and disease infestations. …The Limber Elk decision approves commercial timber harvest on up to 2,657 acres and includes post-harvest fuel treatments and site preparation for planting. Additional protection for nearby communities is achieved through hand thinning and pruning of the understory adjacent to private property. All treatments will reduce hazardous fuels in this area. …Post harvest, forest openings will be planted with new, healthy trees resistant to the diseases found in the project area.

Coast redwoods – enormous, spectacular trees, some reaching nearly 400 feet, the tallest plants on the planet – thrive mostly in a narrow strip of land in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. …They have grown by slowly responding to moisture and rich alluvial soil over millennia, combined with a genetic payload that pushes them to the upper limits of tree height. They are at risk – down to perhaps 70,000 individuals, falling from at least a half-million trees before humans arrived – but that’s not a new story, for we are all at risk. Redwoods, like all trees, are engineered marvels. …They are born to change, just as humans are born to change. …But redwoods also are adapting. …A 2018 survey of nine large redwood trees found a total of 137 species of lichen growing on the trees, including several that were new to science.

Though it’s hardly the most famous forest in the US, Alaska’s mighty Tongass National Forest happens to be the largest, stretching nearly 17 million acres or an area roughly the size of West Virginia. The Tongass is also a major American carbon sink, responsible for 44% of the carbon absorbed by the country’s national forests (which themselves absorb over 10% of US annual greenhouse gas emissions). …The current legal protections for the Tongass originated in the “Roadless Rule,” regulations established in 2001 by the Clinton administration to ban roadbuilding and logging on nearly 60 million acres of national forest lands. But in 2020, Trump repealed this rule to allow more acreage of forest—mostly old-growth timber—to be logged. Although there was widespread citizen opposition to the exemption, Alaska Republicans lobbied heavily for this change and its ability to boost the Alaskan economy, and the Trump administration proceeded with the repeal.

Timber companies appear to have played an influential role in a new legislative proposal to find sustainable funding for fighting wildfires. If passed, it could save the industry millions of dollars in fees they now pay to the state for fire protection and shift more of the cost to all Oregon property owners.  Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, D-Portland, will present the proposal on Wednesday morning to the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee for consideration during the session. It would impose a $10 fee on all property holders in Oregon to pay for fighting wildfires… The proposal would reduce the per-acre fees that private and public forest and range landowners now pay to the Oregon Department of Forestry for protection. …Critics say it shifts the costs of protecting billions of dollars in private timber assets away from the companies that own much of the land at risk to average Oregonians.

ASHLAND, Ore. — State Senator Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, wants to tax timber companies to acquire funding for wildfire prevention and response programs. Golden … said Oregon needs to make sure its communities have enough resources to protect its residents from wildfires. He said it’s much cheaper to prevent wildfires than it is to recover from them. …According to Golden, the proposal is similar to the timber severance tax that was eliminated decades ago. Golden said some parts of the timber industry help local economies but there are other parts of the industry that are solely focused on profit. …Golden said there are still some details to figure out but told NewsWatch 12 the tax would total a rough estimate of $75 million. …Ultimately, Golden wants his tax proposal to end up on the November 2024 ballot, so Oregonians can decide for themselves.

McClane Moody came across a wildland firefighter training program specifically for women in Alpine, Arizona where she got a taste of the physical and mental challenges that come with being a wildland firefighter. And learned that she could do it. “I am definitely going to apply for a job in the field,” Moody said after completing the week-long intensive program that introduces wildland firefighting to women. With under 15% of wildland fire employees identifying as women, the Women in Wildfire Training Program aims to overcome barriers to equity that are still very much present in the industry. For participants, the intentional inclusion of women signals a “safe space” to learn and be among peers, encouraging people to explore a career in wildland fire management. In fact, many program participants would not have applied for the program if it was not geared specifically towards women.

HANFORD, CALIFORNIA — The City of Hanford is preparing to undertake a new urban and community forestry initiative in partnership with the GreenLatinos, which invests $1 million in the city. In September 2023, the City received the $1 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service as part of their investment of $1 billion to provide competitive grants that fund nearly 400 projects throughout the country. According to a USDA news release, community and urban forestry investment demonstrates the commitment to improving physical and mental health, lowering average temperatures during extreme heat, increasing food security, and creating new economic opportunities. …This project will include planting trees and empowering individuals from disadvantaged communities through specialized training in tree care and maintenance, equipping these individuals with urban forestry skills and job pathways.

Coast redwoods – enormous, spectacular trees, some reaching nearly 400 feet, the tallest plants on the planet – thrive mostly in a narrow strip of land in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. …They have grown by slowly responding to moisture and rich alluvial soil over millennia, combined with a genetic payload that pushes them to the upper limits of tree height. They are at risk – down to perhaps 70,000 individuals, falling from at least a half-million trees before humans arrived – but that’s not a new story, for we are all at risk. …Redwoods have come into their own through the inexorably turning wheels of natural selection and evolution, responding to environmental pressures, genetic drift and mutation. …New fire dangers put them at risk, and more frequent floods erode the big trees’ footing. But redwoods also are adapting. …As I write in my forthcoming book, “Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future.”

Columbia Land Trust met with commissioners from Wahkiakum County and Pacific County to talk about an opportunity that might benefit local communities in a variety of ways: a community forest. …Ian Sinks, the Stewardship Director for CLT discussed conversations their organization has had with community leadership and landowners, regarding issues being faced in this watershed, brought on by heavy logging, soil type, rain, and sedimentation issues, along with concerns about fishery resources and recreational access. “It led us to a conversation about a community forest, where maybe there are things we can jointly work on together to provide access, to provide economic benefit, and change the land cover and land practices in the watershed,” Sinks said. “My goal is to keep these lands in timber,” Wahkiakum County Commissioner Dan Cothren said. “I don’t want to see this place turned into real estate, where you have houses everywhere.”

…To say we are disappointed in this draft decision is a huge understatement. Our concerns are specific to the proposed management of the Hoodoo Roadless Area; commonly known as the Great Burn. …It is only a matter of time before the Great Burn will be permanently designated wilderness, unless a USFS decision jeopardizes its future. Sadly, we’re afraid that time has come. …The decision proposes snowmobiling and mountain biking in some of the wildest parts of the Great Burn as well as in areas where it will be next to impossible to keep snowmobilers from trespassing onto the LNF where snowmobiling is prohibited. …To appease a handful of elite high-mark snowmobilers and snowbikers who have been illegally snowmobiling in areas of the Great Burn that have been closed to snowmobiling and snowbiking since 1986.

The Oregon Department of Forestry needs more and consistent funding to fight wildfires. That much was clear following the 2020 Labor Day fires that burned nearly 850,000 acres of forests and became the state’s most expensive disaster in history. But lawmakers are split on how to pay for it. Two Democratic senators recently unveiled competing proposals to address long-term wildfire funding. Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, wants a tax on the value of industrial timber harvests to pay for protection that he says disproportionately benefits private forest owners. “There is a segment of the timber industry that’s more than able to shoulder more of the load, and when we think about the protection that they get from ODF, they should be picking up more of the baggage here,” Golden said. Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, D-Portland, wants to charge every property owner in the state an annual fee to pay for what she sees as a statewide issue.

As native trees in the Pacific Northwest die off due to climate changes, the U.S. Forest Service, Portland, Oregon and citizen groups around Puget Sound are turning to a deceptively simple climate adaptation strategy called “assisted migration.” As the world’s climate warms, tree growing ranges in the Northern Hemisphere are predicted to move farther north and higher in elevation. Trees, of course, can’t get up and walk to their new climatic homes. This is where assisted migration is supposed to lend a hand. The idea is that humans can help trees keep up with climate change by moving them to more favorable ecosystems faster than the trees could migrate on their own. Yet not everyone agrees on what type of assisted migration the region needs — or that it’s always a good thing.

From June 25 to July 2, 2021, the Pacific Northwest experienced a record-breaking heat wave that sent the normally temperate region into Death Valley-like extremes that took a heavy toll on trees as well as people. … In a matter of a few days, the 2021 heat dome turned many of the green leaves and needles on the region’s trees to orange, red and brown. …Still is part of a growing number of scientists investigating what they say is a new, woefully underestimated threat to the world’s plants: climate change-driven extreme heat. …Driven by above-normal temperatures, hot droughts can be far more damaging to trees than droughts that result simply from a lack of moisture. Hot droughts not only dry out soil; they also dry out the air. This stresses trees, and can cause water-carrying tissues inside them to collapse — a process called “hydraulic failure.”

WYOMING — Vegetation ecologists monitoring the latest mountain pine beetle epidemic fear for the survival of the Teton Range’s remaining ancient whitebark pine stands. A keystone species that gained Endangered Species Act protections early this year, whitebark pines were hit hard by a plague of mountain pine beetles that spanned from 2004 to 2012. A cold snap ended that wave, giving the region’s embattled whitebark pine a temporary reprieve. Four years ago, however, scientists monitoring the gnarled high-elevation conifers started to see a larger concentration of “brood trees” harboring increasing numbers of the bark-boring insects. “It’s just another beetle epidemic happening because they are not being slowed down by cold falls and springs — like they naturally were before,” said Nancy Bockino, a Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative whitebark pine field ecologist. “And it’s getting worse.”

The fight over the future of the last old and mature forests in America intensified Tuesday when the Biden administration called for preservation of old-growth trees. The administration, after creating an inventory of the nation’s old growth, wants to amend 128 forest land-management plans to conserve and steward 25 million acres of old-growth forests and 68 million acres of mature forest across the national forest system. For the Pacific Northwest …an effort is already underway to overhaul and update key old-growth protections in the Northwest Forest Plan of 1994… More than 1 million acres of old and mature forest in Washington, Oregon and Northern California that were explicitly set aside for logging within the boundaries of the plan are under scrutiny. …The American Forest Resource Council, panned the old-growth initiative as unnecessary and burdensome. “Existing federal environmental laws and forest plans provide direction on managing and protecting old growth,” council President Travis Joseph said

Prescribed burns are part of the cycle to keep the forest thriving, as odd as that may sound. And one fire this year proved especially beneficial. “The Sequoia National Forest is at risk of wildfire due to heavy fuels buildup, drought, beetle outbreaks, climate change, and other forest stresses,” rangers said. In 2023, the Sequoia National Forest fire-management crews burned more than 5,695 acres of fuel – approximately 10,125 piles were burned across the forest. This resulted in a reduction of over 100 tons/ per acre of hazardous fuels. …The 2023 lightning-caused Rabbit Fire was managed to promote natural fire effects, like those mimicked in prescribed burns. Operations were conducted to bring the fire to healthy parts of the forest. That operation ended on Oct. 22, reducing nearly 3,000 acres of excess fuel that risked the potential for much bigger fires. The footprint around The Rabbit Fire had not seen fire for almost 100 years, officials said.

OREGON and CALIFORNIA — The American Forest Resource Council announced Monday that 29 members of Congress are showing support for another look at an Obama-era expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was created to protect forest and grasslands at the junction of the Cascade Range and the Siskiyou Mountains, in southwest Oregon and northwest California. The American Forest Resource Council and the Association of O&C Counties are petitioning the Supreme Court of the United States to review the alleged “overreach” of the executive branch. The Congressional members include three senators and 26 representatives, including Cliff Bentz, R-Oregon, who represents Douglas County constituents as part of district two. …This expansion encroaches on O&C land. By expanding into O&C lands, the objectives for those lands will deviate from timber harvest, the main objective of the Association of O&C Counties.

From June 25 to July 2, 2021, the Pacific Northwest experienced a record-breaking heat wave that sent the normally temperate region into Death Valley-like extremes that took a heavy toll on trees as well as people. Seattle and Portland, Ore., recorded their hottest-ever temperatures, reaching 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 Celsius) and 116 Fahrenheit (46.6 Celsius), respectively. …But, as recent research suggests, tree foliage didn’t simply dry out in the heat dome. Instead, it underwent “widespread scorching.” “A lot this reddening and browning of leaves was just that the leaves cooked. It really wasn’t a drought story,” said Chris Still, professor at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and a leading researcher on the effects of heat on trees. …“Plants can control their temperature to some degree, but if the heat is extreme enough, some plants won’t be able to get through it even if they have a ton of water,” he said.

More Northwest Christmas trees have fallen victim to disease in the last couple years and scientists are trying to find out why. “There’s a variety of diseases, many of them are caused by fungi,” said Gary Chastagner, a plant pathologist at Washington State University and longtime Christmas tree expert. To Northwest growers, he’s known as “Dr. Christmas Tree.” Two organisms have been causing problems for Northwest Christmas trees, Chastagner said. One is a fungus called Armillaria. …“The other is a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora.” …In addition, high temperatures in the summer have been stressing Northwest fir species leaving them more susceptible to disease. …Among the most affected trees are Pacific Northwest Noble Firs, Douglas Firs and Fraser Firs, the most popular varieties for Christmas trees, Chastagner said. …Eurasian tree species such as Turkish Fir might be more resistant to the pathogens and changing weather conditions in the Northwest, Chastagner said.

Environmental groups filed a new lawsuit to stop the South Plateau Landscape Area Treatment Project that would expand logging and clearcutting near West Yellowstone — arguing the project would negatively impact habitat for endangered grizzly bears. The Forest Service approved the project in August, saying it’s important for forest resilience, timber harvest and fuel reduction to mitigate wildfires. The agency’s environmental analysis found “no significant impacts” to the ecosystem. The project sets aside some 16,500 acres in the Custer Gallatin National Forest for treatment, including 5,500 acres of mature forest for clearcutting and 6,600 acres for logging over the next 15 years. The Gallatin Wildlife Association, Native Ecosystems Council and WildEarth Guardians filed the lawsuit on Monday. The Western Environmental Law Center is representing the conservation groups. A similar lawsuit was filed in the same court on Sept. 20 by the Center for Biological Diversity, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and the Council on Wildlife and Fish.

SEATTLE — The Washington Department of Natural Resources is coordinating a program to expose more students to outdoor learning experiences, in hopes they’ll consider careers in fields like forestry, geology, habitat restoration and trail design. The agency’s Youth Education and Outreach Program (YEOP) currently provides field trips to state lands to hear from subject matter experts, works with educators to help them highlight opportunities, and coordinates educational opportunities wherever possible. “We’re trying to be really nimble and flexible, with community events that people can come to with their kids, guest speakers, summer programs and camps, working with teachers,” WADNR YEOP Manager Clare Sobetski said. …The agency is hopeful work can be expanded with more funding, in order to reach more students across the state.

Washington’s natural resources agency and a nonprofit group have finalized a $121 million purchase of about 20,000 acres of logging lands in the southwest corner of the state. The deal, which closed last Friday, is the state’s largest land acquisition in more than a decade, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The department revealed last month that it planned to buy about 9,115 acres of forestland in Wahkiakum County for $55 million that would be managed to generate revenue from timber harvests. …The deal is linked to an announcement Franz made on Monday, where she proposed that 2,000 acres of land in five counties be shifted out of the state’s timber portfolio and into conservation. With that change in status, the land would be protected and no longer open to industrial logging to generate revenue for the state.