Region Archives: US West

SAWTOOTH NATIONAL FOREST NEAR KETCHUM — Rich Bauer still remembers the moment he first set eyes on the Beaver Creek Fire, a mega wildfire that aggressively torched close to 115,000 acres west of Hailey and Ketchum 10 years ago. While local crews responded quickly to the Beaver Creek Fire, federal resources were stretched thin by two other major wildfires in the state — the Pony and Elk complexes — and were slow to arrive. …Driven by heavy, hot, erratic winds out of the south and west, the fire exploded on Aug. 16, when it made aggressive runs into several drainages that spill into the Wood River Valley, like Deer Creek and Greenhorn Gulch. …In the end, firefighters pulled off a veritable miracle, saving all but one home located at the base of Imperial Gulch in the Greenhorn subdivision. “To lose only one home with such an intense fire was unbelievable — it really speaks to the passion of our local crews,” Bauer said. 

PORTLAND Oregon — The World Forestry Center is using art to spark conversations about wildfire and forests with their newest exhibit “Obscurity: Life Inside the Smoke.” FOX 12′s Ayo Elise gives an inside look at the exhibit that’s now on display through December.

Forest thinning is improving the robustness of older trees and enhancing native biodiversity on federal lands in eastern Oregon, evidence that collaborative efforts to restore forests are working, research by Oregon State University shows. The study led by James Johnston of the OSU College of Forestry involved long-term monitoring and research partnerships between OSU, the U.S. Forest Service and local groups in Oregon’s Blue Mountains. Published in Forest Ecology and Management, the findings illustrate the collaboration’s success in “securing federal investment and delivering science products that measure forest treatments’ effectiveness,” Johnston said. …The scientists found that tree radial growth was greater in thinned stands beginning three years after thinning, and the abundance of glucose and fructose was lower in treated stands, suggesting trees were using carbon reserves for leaf and wood production.

SAWTOOTH NATIONAL FOREST NEAR KETCHUM — Rich Bauer still remembers the moment he first set eyes on the Beaver Creek Fire, a mega wildfire that aggressively torched close to 115,000 acres west of Hailey and Ketchum 10 years ago.  …The wildfire, which would become the valley’s largest blaze in recorded history, had been sparked by lightning a few days prior, late in the evening of Aug. 7, about 13 miles southwest of Hailey in the Beaver Creek drainage. It would not be fully contained until Aug. 31. …While local crews responded quickly to the Beaver Creek Fire, federal resources were stretched thin by two other major wildfires in the state — the Pony and Elk complexes — and were slow to arrive. …A rural spur-canyon situated between Hailey and Ketchum on the west side of the Wood River Valley, Greenhorn Gulch became a scene of apocalyptic fire behavior and heroic firefighting efforts.

Washington’s Western gray squirrels are in trouble. So much so that state officials are considering uplisting the squirrels from threatened to endangered. The change comes after a periodic status review. It’s getting harder to find a Western gray squirrel in the state. Right now, they mostly live in a few spots: the Okanogan, in north-central Washington; Klickitat County, near the Columbia River; and in the South Sound area. Historically, these large, tree squirrels commonly roamed low- to mid-elevation forests, where they could find lots of oaks, pines and Douglas firs. Declining habitat is a big problem for the squirrels. …The squirrels like forests “on the edge,” forests with full canopies that transition from dry conifers to deciduous trees, Linders said. The squirrels also like open spaces where they’re safe from predators. …Squirrels help spread out truffle spores that attach to tree roots, which helps the trees take up water and nutrients for the soil.

A federal magistrate judge recommended on Thursday that the U.S. Forest Service stop cutting larger, mature-growth trees East of the Cascades.  The recommendations are a potential victory for six conservation groups that filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service last year, a response to a change made in the final days of the Trump Administration to allow the removal of trees larger than 21 inches in diameter.  A U.S. District Court judge will get final approval, and the Forest Service could potentially appeal the decision.  In 2020, the Forest Service changed a plan protecting Eastside Screens — a plan for managing about 8 million acres of land in Eastern Oregon and Southeast Washington — which had prohibited the removal of trees larger than 21 inches in diameter.  The Forest Service has said it needed to cut certain larger trees in order to prevent the spreading of wildfires.

CALIFORNIA — When ferocious wildfires tore through California’s prized giant sequoia forests, they killed towering trees that have lived there for thousands of years — and perhaps changed the nature of the groves forever. Now the US National Park Service (NPS) wants to give Mother Nature a helping hand, planting lab-grown seedlings it says will kick-start the return of these magnificent stands. “The goal is to reestablish enough sequoias in the first few years after fire so that we have trees 60, 100, 400 years from now,” says Christy Brigham, chief of resources management and science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. …Andrew Bishop, a restoration ecologist at the NPS, says two or three years on from the fires there are some self-seeded plants, but nowhere near enough. …”There are serious downsides and risks to planting,” says Chad Hanson, a research ecologist and the director of the John Muir Project.

PENDLETON, Oregon — A federal judge has found that a Trump-era rule change that allowed for the logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest violates several laws. Judge Andrew Hallman found that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act and the Endangered Species Act. The findings came in response to a lawsuit filed by multiple environmental groups over the change. Hallman recommended that the Forest Service’s environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact should be vacated. …The protection changed banned the harvesting of trees 21 inches or greater in diameter and instead emphasized maintaining a mix of trees, with trees at least 150 years old prioritized for protection and favoring fire-tolerant species. …The lawsuit, however, said the government’s environmental assessment didn’t adequately address scientific uncertainty surrounding the effectiveness of thinning, especially large trees, for reducing fire risk.

Nick Smith

The Camp Creek Fire, currently burning perilously close to Oregon’s Bull Run watershed, underscores the need for proactive forest management. As the flames threaten Portland’s drinking water source, it becomes evident that policies prioritizing preservation over proactive mitigation may be putting the watershed at severe risk. The looming threat of wildfires in the Bull Run watershed is well-documented. The Portland Water Bureau’s 2014 Fire Management Plan suggested that given the natural fire rotation, the watershed has been due for a large scale fire. Yet the city government and its voters have doubled down on policies that make managing the watershed even more prohibitive. One such policy, Measure 26-204, introduced in 2019 imposed additional “protections” for the watershed’s old-growth forests and vulnerable species like the Northern spotted owl. The measure requires voter approval for certain forest management activities and hamstrings efforts to undertake crucial fuels reduction and commercial thinning to curb wildfire risks.

CALIFORNIA — Gov. Gavin Newsom has touted the billions of dollars he’s poured into wildfire prevention over the past three years as a sign he’s serious about reducing damage and emissions from catastrophic wildfires. The problem is that the state (and its partners) are still far from achieving their goals. A new dashboard released today by the Newsom administration shows that just over 545,000 acres saw some kind of wildfire preparedness work in 2022, mostly mechanically cutting down brush and trees but also controlled fire and grazing. That’s far from the target — at least one million acres a year by 2025 — that California and the federal government jointly set in 2020. …Private timber companies account for nearly half of the entire footprint of wildfire prevention efforts in the state. While Cal Fire has already met its part of the goal, the U.S. Forest Service must still roughly quadruple its efforts by 2025 to reach its target.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has denied a petition to put Southeast Alaska wolves on the endangered species list. It’s a blow for the environmental groups seeking the designation, but the decision vindicates widespread testimony of hunters and wildlife managers in the region.  Southeast Alaska’s wolf population could decline in the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. One part of the population, located on and around Prince of Wales Island, could even die off completely – called a local extinction or extirpation.   But that doesn’t mean the wolves warrant a place on the federal endangered species list.  … In late August (August 22), Fish & Wildlife denied a petition to list Alexander Archipelago wolves as endangered or threatened. …Knoll says Fish & Wildlife’s ruling is notable because it’s one of the first times the agency has relied heavily on Indigenous species knowledge to help inform a decision. 

A federal judge has stopped a large logging project near Red Lodge because the United States Forest Service ignored that new maps it used to help determine the scope of the timber plan potentially cut out thousands of acres of the threatened Canada lynx habitat.  The project would span more than 21,000 acres in the Beartooth Ranger District of the Custer Gallatin National Forest. …However, it also encompasses areas in the Rock Creek and Rosebud lynx zones. …Federal Judge Dana Christensen said that because the U.S. Forest Service adopted its new logging project with new maps and databases, that should have triggered more consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife department because the new technology eliminated much of the area as lynx habitat – something that is not permissible without a more robust analysis and public engagement process.

SALEM, Ore. — The Forestry Program for Oregon Subcommittee met over Zoom on Tuesday to discuss its intentions and goals for forest management.  The subcommittee is listed under the Oregon Board of Forestry, who works to implement sustainable policies and programs to Oregon’s public and private forests.  During Tuesday’s meeting, the subcommittee reviewed and revised its list ofintentions.  “My instinct is that this is really important for us to check in and again, have a full discussion of this and make sure that there’s alignment in concept here,” said Robin Harkless with Oregon Consensus.  While climate change is a major contributing factor to the ongoing issues Oregon’s forests are facing, the subcommittee agreed to focus more on the forests themselves and Oregon’s urban and rural communities. 

SPOKANE, Washington — The number of acres burned so far in Washington’s wildfire season this year is on trend with what ecologists predicted. But the damage has been catastrophic, and it could be weeks before fire danger subsides. Dryer, hotter summers and changes to the state’s vegetation mean the fire season spans longer than it once did. “Over the last 10 years we have seen the fire season expand a bit on both edges — both the beginning and end of the season,” said Matthew Dehr, for the state Department of Natural Resources. …Across Washington, hundreds of firefighters and scientists this month worked to respond to a slew of destructive fires ignited in a heatwave. …It could take until October for the state to see rainfall substantial enough to end the fire season, Dehr added. ‘”We can’t really alter the weather…. But we can alter the fuel bed.”

Satellite data from across California’s landscapes reveal an increase in nitrogen dioxide levels in remote forest areas, and wildfire and soil emissions are likely the reasons why, according to a paper from University of California, Davis, published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Nitrogen dioxide is short-lived in the atmosphere but plays a central role in the formation of the pollutants ozone and particulate matter, which can lead to respiratory issues and asthma in humans, as well as harm plants and crop yields. The researchers looked at summertime surface and satellite concentrations of nitrogen dioxide between 2009 and 2020 and found that levels decreased by 2-4.5% per year in urban areas across California, while rural concentrations remained relatively constant, and remote forests experienced an increase of roughly 4.2% per year. …The findings could help inform future policy decisions as regulators seek additional decreases of the pollutant.

TUCSON, Ariz. – The peak of wildfire season in Arizona is usually in June and July, but experts believe the fire season is still going strong. This comes as we near the end of August when fire crews usually see wildfire season winding down. Due to the delay in the season, fire crews are still keeping their eye on the possibility of a wildfire sparking up. In normal years, fire activity in the state usually picks up around mid to late May. According to Tiffany Davila with AZ Forestry and Fire Management, because of this past winter’s above-average rainfall and snow, fire crews didn’t start responding to uncontrolled wildfires until June. Fire officials believe this helped this year’s wildfire season overall. …Davila advises Arizonans to be cautious when working outside with power tools or doing any fire-related activity because one little spark can ignite a wild blaze.

A 143,340-acre logging and burning project spanning the length of the Bitterroot Mountains has been fast-tracked by the federal government, meaning the public cannot formally object to the proposal before it’s approved. U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore has deemed the Bitterroot Front Project an “emergecy action”. The determination allows the Forest Service to skip a step of the project’s public approval process. …The project is a mixture of commercial logging and non-commercial logging, and prescribed burning along the length of the Bitterroots’ eastern face, on the west side of the Bitterroot Valley. Forest Service officials say the project will reduce wildfire risk on the landscape by reducing fuel loads across the timbered mountain face that looms above private property in the valley below. …Critics of the proposal argue that the significant removal of vegetation will actually promote wildfire spread.

Not all mature forests in Washington State are protected, but there is a movement afoot to change that. Environmental groups RE Sources and The Center for Responsible Forestry in Bellingham held a rally this week to show their support for protecting mature forests. Mature, or legacy, forests refers to sections of forest that are technically too young to be protected. Old growth forests are protected by the state and contain trees that have not been logged, allowing some to grow 100 years or longer, while mature forest have been logged sometime before 1945, then allowed to grow back naturally. …More than 100 people attended the rally Tuesday evening at the Maritime Heritage Park Amphitheater. The goal was to spread the message that these mature forests need to be protected, and will eventually turn into old growth forests if given the chance.

BOISE — The application period is open for logging contractors to sign up for Idaho Department of Lands‘ Delivered Products Sales Pilot Program. Delivered Products is new to Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) and allows the agency to contract directly with loggers for harvesting and delivering timber products to purchasers, according to an IDL news release. Timber harvesting contractors must apply to become eligible bidders for IDL‘s harvest and hauling contracts. Qualified contractors will then have the opportunity to bid on available sales. …Following the application period, qualified contractors will be contacted to bid on an upcoming delivered product sale this fall. 

OREGON – A long-delayed plan to protect threatened and endangered species from logging in Western state forests could face another setback, this time brought by the chair of the state Board of Forestry. Jim Kelly proposed Tuesday a resolution to revise the draft Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan, allowing logging in some areas currently earmarked for conservation. If the resolution is passed, it could further stall years of planning and negotiation among state and federal agencies, environmentalists, and timber companies and industry groups. The seven-member, governor-appointed board will vote on Kelly’s resolution Sept. 7. Kelly said he’s proposing changes after the Department of Forestry projected greater than expected cuts to timber harvests revenues due to the plan, which would protect 17 vulnerable fish and animal species for the next 70 years.