Region Archives: US West

The Daily Herald again ruined my day with its recent coverage (“To speak for trees, Snohomish County activists arm themselves with data”). I cannot imagine why the paper wasted so much column space about a few anti-logging zealots. They were reportedly “collecting data” on plant species composition in areas of planned Department of Natural Resources timber sales. In an amazing display of hubris the League of Women Voters, the Center for Responsible Forestry, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition and even high schoolers with their Climate Action Club feel qualified to “advise” the Snohomish County Council and the DNR on issues of professional timberland management. Apparently giving a tree a hug with a tape measure is all it takes to acquire the necessary credentials. …The U.S. Forest Service stopped its sustainable timber sale program 30 years ago, and as a result our national forests have never been in worse condition. We should not choose the same for state managed lands.

Last spring, state legislators set aside $70 million of revenue from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act to conserve mature forests that are slated for logging. The money is to be used to purchase state lands from the Department of Natural Resources, as well as replacement tracts to keep timber revenue flowing to beneficiaries that rely on it. However, the new funding is only enough to cover about 2,000 acres statewide. Community activists estimate there are about 6,000 acres of unprotected mature forests on state lands in Snohomish County alone. They say many of these forests … don’t meet DNR’s narrow definition of old growth. About 1,000 of those acres in Snohomish County will likely be logged in the next two years. …The League of Women voters and the Sierra Club’s Sno-Isle Group joined forces with the statewide Center for Responsible Forestry to launch a campaign, to protect all legacy forests in Snohomish County.

The fire has damaged a diverse ecosystem and killed an unknown number of Joshua trees, which also gained international fame from the U2 album “The Joshua Tree” released in 1987.  The fire has scorched the Mojave National Preserve but has not entered the better-known Joshua Tree National Park, which is about 60 miles (100 km) away and receives about 3 million visitors a year. The Mojave National Preserve receives less than a third that many visitors. “There is obviously tremendous damage to the landscape,” said Mike Gauthier, superintendent of the Mojave National Preserve. “Some of the Joshua trees will completely be ravaged. Joshua Tree isn’t the most durable species, so it’ll die.” The National Park Service said the York fire was the largest in the area since records began. …Many observers have remarked on their resemblance to the fictional Truffula trees in the 1971 Dr. Seuss book “The Lorax.”

350 whitebark pines are growing at the Little Bear Orchard, managed by U.S. Forest Service employees in the Custer Gallatin National Forest. …The Forest Service hosted a tour of the orchard on Monday to teach people about the threatened tree and share details on efforts to restore the keystone species. A combination of blister rust, mountain pine beetle, environmental shifts and changing fire patterns have decimated the whitebark pine across the West. A 2018 study by the Forest Service found that 51% of all standing whitebark pine trees in the United States are dead. The tree was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in December. But sometimes, in an area that’s been decimated by blister rust, there’s one or two trees that appear healthy. Experts believe those lone resistant trees could be the key to restoring the species.

Green Diamond Resource Company, the Seattle-based forest landowner and manager released its first Sustainability Report. The report offers a look into its 2.2 million acres of working forests, natural climate solutions, dedicated employees, and community engagement. …Douglas Reed, President… “Last year, we conducted a sustainability materiality assessment, compiled high-quality metrics and explored the role our timberlands play in addressing a changing climate, all of which align with our guiding principles and long-term goals.” Highlights include: 1.5 million acres managed under federal state fish and wildlife conservation agreements; More than 751,000 acres are in active listed carbon projects. Today, 100% of the land owned and managed by Green Diamond is certified by the voluntary, Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) or Sustainable Forest Initiative® (SFI®) standards.

PORTLAND, Oregon — The Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) announces the fourth independent report on the status of Indian forests and forestry, which found that these forests continue to receive only a fraction of the funding provided to public and private forests. The Indian Forest Management Assessment Team Report (IFMAT) is required by Congress and the White House every 10 years under the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act. “The continuing failure of the United States to meet its fiduciary trust responsibilities for stewardship of these renewable resources is placing Tribal forests in jeopardy with the risk of catastrophic loss from insects, disease, and wildfire,” said Cody Desautel, President of the Intertribal Timber Council. …Tribal forests are part of a national network of forests that provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat, climate change solutions, and rural jobs.

Along with the tourist crowds that are flocking to Denali National Park and Preserve is another arrival: Masses of beetles have burrowed into the park’s spruce trees and begun killing them off.  The aggressive infestation that took hold in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in 2016 has now spread north, covering hillsides in the communities outside the park with rust-red dead trees and reaching into park boundaries.  The ferocity and northward spread of that “epic” Mat-Su infestation surprised Glen Holt, a forester with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Cooperative Extension Service.  …But while the beetles are considered to play a role in the boreal forest lifecycle, outbreaks in the modern era have been different than those in the past.  …The infestation spreading into the Denali area is of a scope rarely observed that far north in the past, according to park scientists.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sees the Biden administration’s climate agenda as a boon for rural economies, he said Monday during a visit to Portland’s World Forestry Center. The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, will begin accepting applications for a second round of grants from its Community Wildfire Defense Grant program for at-risk communities to help prepare for wildfires, Vilsack said. That program is part of a wider objective set by President Joe Biden to strengthen the middle class. …But Vilsack emphasized how climate programs can create economic opportunities in rural areas. He highlighted the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities that pays farmers and foresters for reducing carbon emissions and other climate-focused priorities. …Vilsack also promoted using forest byproducts to create building materials like mass timber as a way to both reduce fire risk and enhance economic opportunity.

OREGON — In 2016 the Association of O&C Counties filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management challenging its Resource Management Plans (RMPs) for the O&C lands in Western Oregon. The Bureau’s RMPs violated the statutory mandate of the 1937 O&C Act by withdrawing over 80% of the land base from long term timber production. The O&C Act ended the practice of over harvesting the Federal Forest lands by mandating that “all land classified as timberland shall be managed under the principle of sustained yield.” …In 2019 Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Association of O&C Counties. …In 2021, the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia granted the governments appeal. …The Association of O&C Counties is committed to a final decision by the Supreme Court and is confident it will confirm what Congress clearly intended… under the principle of sustained yield. 

For years, beavers have been treated as an annoyance for chewing down trees and shrubs and blocking up streams, leading to flooding in neighborhoods and farms. But the animal is increasingly being seen as nature’s helper. California recently changed its tune and is embracing the animals that can create lush habitats that lure species back into now-urban areas, enhance groundwater supplies and buffer against the threat of wildfires. A new policy that went into effect last month encourages landowners and agencies dealing with beaver damage to seek solutions such as putting flow devices in streams or protective wrap on trees before seeking permission from the state to kill the animals. The state is also running pilot projects to relocate beavers to places where they can be more beneficial.

Summer is only halfway over and wildfires in Canada have already burned roughly 12 million hectares of forest (about 30 million acres). ….But for many plants and animals, from birds to beetles, fire is not such a potent, existential threat. Creatures in Canada and beyond have evolved along with wildfire over many millennia, acquiring clever adaptations to survive. Some species are actually worse off without it.  “Fire is a natural process,” Gavin Jones, a fire ecologist at the US Forest Service, told Vox. “It’s an important and critical piece of the health of our planet.”  In a new review paper, Jones and a handful of other researchers revealed just how much fire has shaped ecosystems and the biology of animals. Some woodpeckers, for example, have evolved to pick grubs only out of freshly burned trees. A tiny mouse-like marsupial, meanwhile, has adapted to shelter in place in a sleeplike state called torpor as flames pass overhead.

GRIZZLY FLATS – Caldor Fire victims are filing claims against the U.S. Forest Service which they say failed to protect Grizzly Flats.  The fire ripped through the town in less than 15 minutes in August 2021 destroying more than 400 of the roughly 600 homes that stood in the Gold Rush town.  Nearly two years later, burnt-out tree stumps resemble gravestones, reminding those who live in Grizzly Flats what home once looked like.  “We had lush trees everywhere,” said Tabatha Walker who lost her home in the Caldor Fire. “I could not see the mountains over there.”  Walker now has mountain views and endless skies from her newly built back porch. The change in scenery is requiring her to have a change in mindset.  …People living in Grizzly Flats said the Forest Service failed to save the town from the flames, even though the federal agency said it did everything it could.

An injunction to halt a timber sale was filed last week in the Superior Court of the State of Washington on July 14. Earth Law Research, Center for Whale Research and Keystone Species Alliance are the plaintiffs suing the Washington Department of Natural Resources et. al. for a planned timber sale because the logging site is within the recovering Elwha River Watershed. The timber sale, known as “Power Plant” had been approved and is scheduled for July 26 but Earth Law Center filed this appeal. The plaintiffs allege that the approved plan “contains incomplete and contradictory information regarding the scope of the harvest.” And that contrary to the original plan, the final auction packet describes, “a virtual clear cut of all trees …” The plaintiffs also allege the presence of a protected species, “the Marbled Murrelet, in the vicinity of the proposed sale.” …The Power Plant sale consists of approximately 126 acres of forest all in proximity to the river.

An effort to stop the U.S. Forest Service from taking chainsaws to a section of Los Padres National Forest that is home to old-growth pines and a multitude of native plants and wildlife has hit a dead end. A lawsuit filed last year by the county of Ventura, the city of Ojai, the Patagonia clothing company and other environmental groups aimed at blocking the Forest Service plan to thin the trees on Pine Mountain was dismissed last week by a federal judge. The lawsuit hoped to halt the Reyes Peak Forest Health and Fuels Reduction Project, which affects more than 750 acres of forestland north of Ojai. “We had hoped the court would rule in favor of the planet, biodiversity and the community,” Hans Cole, head of environmental activism at Patagonia, said in a news release. “We’re disappointed, but the work to protect Pine Mountain will continue.”

G. Wuerthner

The national forests’ wildfire policies are misdirected toward logging while ignoring the real threats that could lead to blazes. Human-started wildfires accounted for 84% of all wildfires between 1988 and 2012, tripled the length of the fire season, dominated an area seven times greater than that affected by lightning fires, and were responsible for nearly half of all areas burned. …The problem is that humans … expand the fire season and multiply fire starts over natural conditions. Of these human-caused wildfires, 95% occurred within a half-mile of a road. Roads put more people in the forest matrix where everything from an untended campfire to grass fires from hot exhaust pipes can ignite the woods. Roads favor the establishment of flammable weeds. Since canopy cover is removed along road corridors, they also act as heat conveyors to adjacent forested areas. Thus, one of the most effective ways to reduce the threat of wildfire is to close roads.

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced it will conduct a forest thinning project to restore prairie habitat on the West Rocky Prairie Unit of the Scatter Creek Wildlife Area near Tenino. The 119-acre forest thinning project …will improve forest health by managing the densities of Oregon white oak, Douglas fir, and other tree species in the area to align closer to healthy, historical habitat conditions. This project will preserve some of south Puget Sound’s most impressive oak trees and select Douglas fir in areas to support old-growth forest conditions. “Oak trees on the prairie die without adequate sunlight and are currently being outcompeted by over-abundant tree species such as Douglas fir, maple, and Oregon ash,” explained Bill Kronland, Scatter Creek Wildlife Area manager. …Puget Sound prairies are one of the country’s rarest ecosystems and Oregon white oak is Washington’s only native oak.

UKIAH, California — In partnership with the US Forest Service and WoodWorks, the Mendocino Companies hosted a tour of its Ukiah, California timberlands and sawmill facilities on May 12, 2023. The 30 tour participants included architects, engineers, and other specifiers. Most were Bay Area-based, with a few traveling from farther afield to attend the day-long tour. The tour included stops on the timberland property to highlight how long-term management aims to restore the lands to a natural, conifer-dominant landscape, and to create a wildfire resilient forest. …The next tour stop focused on forest management activities that reduce fuels to prevent catastrophic wildfire events. Lastly, participants were guided through the Ukiah Sawmill where redwood and Douglas fir logs are processed into solid-sawn lumber. 

SANTA FE, New Mexico — The U.S. Forest Service’s own prescribed burn started a sprawling 2022 wildfire that nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, the agency acknowledged Monday after a lengthy investigation. The Cerro Pelado fire burned in dry, windy conditions across more than 60 square miles and crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion U.S. national security lab. …Investigators traced the wildfire to a burn of piles of forest debris commissioned by the Forest Service. The burn became a holdover fire, smoldering undetected under wet snow, with no signs of smoke or heat for months, said Southwestern Regional Forester Michiko Martin. …The federal government already has acknowledged that it started the largest wildfire in state history. …The Forest Service last spring halted all prescribed burn operations for 90 days while it conducted a review of procedures and policies.

A Seattle tree ordinance passed earlier this year has frustrated some tree advocates in the city. Onlookers say developers played too big a role in helping craft the policy. The city’s own Urban Forestry Commission, a panel that provides expertise on tree policy and regulation, says it didn’t have enough time to review the proposal. Still some tree experts say that the ordinance provides better protection than what was in place before. …Builders can cut them down and pay to have replacements planted elsewhere in the city. Those who keep big trees earn big reductions in how much space they must consign to setbacks, walkways and amenities. …If these changes work as promised, the net effect will be not to raze Seattle’s tree canopy, as some tree and equity advocates warn, but to shift the burden of preserving it from developers to homeowners and City Hall.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch, Mike Crapo and Steve Daines with U.S. Representatives Matt Rosendale, Russ Fulcher, and Ryan Zinke wrote U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore urging the agency to analyze and release standing sawtimber levels in high priority firesheds. This data is important to motivate and focus collaborative work between federal land management agencies and forest products companies as they work to remove hazardous fuels. Active forest management—such as thinning trees and removing underbrush—is the most effective means to preventing catastrophic wildfires, and utilizing public/private partnerships can simultaneously reduce fire risk and vitalize rural communities that rely on the timber industry. … “As the Forest Service looks to … reduce hazardous fuel loads, we encourage the agency to analyze how much standing sawtimber and other high value products there are within high priority firesheds and insect and disease treatment areas, as well as in wildland urban interface areas. 

An insect infestation responsible for defoliating thousands of acres of the Tongass National Forest is abating.  Scientists with the Forest Service believe that the blackheaded budworm, whose numbers surged over the past three years, is now in decline.  And while it’s not clear how much lasting damage was done by the insect, there’s a good chance that some parts of the forest may emerge from the infestation better off.  I caught up with Gordy Williams by cell phone while he was riding the state ferry LeConte from his home on Killisnoo Island in Angoon to Juneau in mid-July.  …“There are some pretty big impacts on the east side of these islands.”  Those impacts are acre upon acre of defoliated hemlock trees, wide swaths of brown striping the otherwise endless green of Southeast Alaska. The trees’ needles consumed by tiny, voracious caterpillars who are fueling their eventual transformation into the budworm moth.