Region Archives: US West

The Armstrong Redwood State Natural Reserve in Guerneville, a popular destination for locals and out-of-town visitors alike, has been incorporated into the nationwide Old-Growth Forest Network, a project aimed at protecting and promoting old growth forests around the country. The 805-acre reserve was dedicated Friday, becoming one of more than 185 forests in 32 states, primarily in the northeast and east, to receive the designation from the 11-year-old nonprofit network thus far. There are now 16 in California. …The hope eventually is to identify an old-growth landscape in every U.S. county that has one and can sustain it to ensure they are acknowledged and treasured for their rare longevity, complex beauty and ecological benefits, said Noelle Collins, southwest regional manager for the network.

Oregon State University research into the ability of a wildfire to improve the health of a forest uncovered a Goldilocks effect—unless a blaze falls in a narrow severity range, neither too hot nor too cold, it isn’t very good at helping forest landscapes return to their historical, more fire-tolerant conditions. The study led by Skye Greenler, at the OSU College of Forestry, and Chris Dunn, an assistant professor, has important implications for land managers charged with restoring ecosystems and reducing fire hazard in dry forests such as those east of the Cascade Range. The findings, published in PLOS One, shed light on the situations in which managed wildfires, as well as postfire efforts such as thinning and planting, are likely to be most effective at achieving restoration goals. …Our study lets managers and researchers link forest restoration goals with maps of predicted post-fire conditions.”

DAVIS, California — The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is accepting applications for special conservation priorities through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) – two popular USDA programs. While NRCS accepts applications for these programs year-round, interested applicants should apply no later than April 3 for EQIP Priorities and April 14 for CSP. Through EQIP, there is millions available for conservation practices and initiatives, including… the Joint Chiefs initiative for fire hazard reduction, vegetation management, and post wildfire forest restoration projects that improve wildfire forest resilience in California. …EQIP provides financial assistance to agricultural producers to address natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits. These include improved water and air quality, improved irrigation efficiency, reduced soil erosion and sedimentation, forest restoration, and creating or enhancing wildlife habitat.

A bill introduced in Congress this week by Colorado Democrats would allocate $60 billion in federal funding for efforts to protect vulnerable forests and watersheds and mitigate wildfire risk throughout the West. “As wildfires intensify, Colorado’s residents, economy and fundamental way of life are in jeopardy,” U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Centennial, the legislation’s House sponsor, said in a statement. “It’s time to act now to fight the worsening effects of climate change and protect our families and communities.” The Protect the West Act, modeled on similar legislation previously proposed by Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, was introduced in both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. It would provide $40 billion to be administered by the Department of Agriculture for “restoration and resilience” projects in forests, grasslands and rangelands, and another $20 billion in grants to local governments for similar efforts.

Forest management activities are a major part of life in Northwest Montana; they create valuable products like lumber and employ many across the region. Timber harvests generate woody waste that has little economic value. Burning slash piles releases most of the wood’s beneficial carbon into the air through thick smoke and particulate matter; what’s left is ash. That’s where the CharBoss comes in, and it just came to Montana. The Forest Service, working with a private company in Naples, Florida – Air Burner, Inc. – created the mobile machine that converts the woody waste into biochar, a nutrient-rich product with restoration and enhancement potential, specifically in the soil. Debbie Page-Dumroese, a researcher with the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, is a leading expert in soil enrichment and the use of biochar. She helped develop and patent the CharBoss technology.

OREGON — The legal fight over Oregon forests and endangered species continued Thursday, where attorneys for Cascadia Wildland and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management met with U.S. Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai on the feds’ motion to dismiss. In September 2022, Cascadia Wildland and Oregon Wild sued the bureau for approving a landscape plan… authorized for commercial timber harvest …“The agency gave no in-depth consideration to the project’s effects on, inter alia, protected fish and wildlife species, invasive species infestations, detrimental soil disturbance, or carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions,” Cascadia says in its complaint, adding the agency then failed to disclose the project’s site-specific impacts. …The government argued Cascadia needed to establish and point to a particular tract of land in the forest as the source of injury. “Nobody knows where exactly the timber sale will occur.” …Kasubhai adjourned the hearing with no indication of how he might rule.

…the climate crisis is causing a rise in conflicts that lead to injury or death for humans and wildlife, new research shows. The climate crisis is making food, water and healthy habitats harder to come by, forcing animals and human populations into new ranges or previously uninhabited places. It is also changing the way they behave. This means a rise in human-wildlife conflicts, as well as damage to personal property and loss of livelihoods for people, according to a review paper led by the University of Washington. The team looked at 30 years of research and found that the number of studies linking climate breakdown to conflict had quadrupled in the past 10 years compared with the previous two decades. They warn of an “extraordinary breadth” of places already affected. Published in Nature Climate Change, they looked at cases of human-wildlife conflict on every continent except Antarctica, and in all five oceans.

PENDLETON — A group of scientists and university professors is disputing claims made by environmental activists in a lawsuit over logging certain trees on six national forests in Eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The issue centers on a series of land management standards known as the Eastside Screens, adopted in 1995 to protect wildlife habitat and water quality on approximately 10 million acres of national forests. One of the rules included a ban on cutting down any trees larger than 21 inches in diameter at breast height.The U.S. Forest Service axed the 21-inch rule in January 2021 — five days before President Donald Trump exited the White House. …Six environmental groups are suing the Forest Service in the U.S. District Court in Pendleton alleging the agency’s decision was rushed and lacked a full environmental analysis, violating several federal laws including the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and National Forest Management Act.

Bruce Vincent

Environmental opportunists hijacked the timber industry’s environmental movement, ultimately harming the industry and the forests it was trying to save. Bruce Vincent, a former logger turned forestry activist spoke at the 2023 Colorado Conference on Agriculture saying they need find common ground with environmentalists so they can help guide discussions that affect their industries. Vincent, who grew up in a logging family in northwestern Montana and had his own successful logging business, said the initial work by environmentalists to save the forests of the Pacific Northwest was crucial to making changes in the logging industry. Instead of clear-cutting – cutting down every tree in a tract – loggers had to learn how to be selective and to develop new machinery to surgically remove trees. The result, he said, was better-managed forests and more efficient logging. But some in the environmental movement saw money to be made, Vincent said, and “started saving America to death.”

JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. — Several dozen people protested at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Medford on Monday to make their voices heard about a proposed commercial logging project in their area. The site in question is a roughly 830-acre plot of land in both the Williams and Murphy areas. “They’re taking away a huge chunk of our recreational land… It’s the old-growth trees that are the most important,” said protester Cheryl Bruner. The group is concerned about its impact on the environment there, both for the people living in the area as well as the habitat of the endangered spotted owl. …The group is frustrated and says the move would go against a directive from Pres. Biden to preserve old-growth forests like the one in Josephine County. They are optimistic they can have an impact on the project.

Fungal pathogens that cause die-back in grape, avocado, citrus, nut and other crops has found a new host and is infecting conifer trees causing Pine Ghost Canker in urban forest areas of Southern California. The canker can be deadly to trees. Scientists from University of California, Davis, first spotted evidence that the pathogens had moved to pines during a routine examination of trees in Orange County in 2018. Over four years, they found that more than 30 mature pines had been infected in an area of nearly 100 acres, according to a report in the journal Plant Disease. …The pathogens infect a tree by entering through wounds caused by either insects, such as red-haired pine bark beetles, or pruning – meaning trees in managed or landscaped areas could be at risk. …The lab has posted a brochure about how to best manage wood canker diseases. 

According to a study conducted by the Safford Lab at the University of California, Davis and its partners, there has been a significant rise in high-severity wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade forests. These fires have been burning at rates that surpass any seen prior to Euro-American settlement and have particularly skyrocketed over the past ten years. The study involved scientists who analyzed fire severity data from the U.S. Forest Service and Google Earth Engine. The analysis was conducted across seven major forest types. They found that in low- and middle-elevation forest types, the average annual area that burned at low-to-moderate severity has decreased from more than 90 percent before 1850 to 60-70 percent today. At the same time, the area burned annually at high severity has nearly quintupled, rising from less than 10% to 43% today. (High-severity burns are those where more than 95% of aboveground tree biomass is killed by fire.)

How much manipulation of a system is permissible to help a species return? …The spotted owl is one of thirteen hundred species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. …Two decades later, despite the reduction in logging, the northern spotted owl is again in trouble. The biggest threat to their survival this time is a bigger, more aggressive owl from America’s East Coast that has moved into their territory. …It was a difficult management dilemma, one that brought the human role in the survival of wild animals into focus. A vulnerable species needed a hand if it were to stand any chance of recovering from a precarious position. …Barred owls may be cute, but they are ruinous in the wrong environment. …A former employee at Montana’s Owl Research Institute I spoke with was also dubious about lethal management.

The conifer tree native to lower elevations of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range finds itself in an unrecognizable climate. A new Stanford-led study reveals that about a fifth of all Sierra Nevada conifer forests are a “mismatch” for their regions’ warming weather. The paper highlights how such “zombie forests” are temporarily cheating death, likely to be replaced with tree species better adapted to the climate after one of California’s increasingly frequent catastrophic wildfires. “Forest and fire managers need to know where their limited resources can have the most impact,” said lead author Avery Hill. “This study provides a strong foundation for understanding where forest transitions are likely to occur, and how that will affect future ecosystem processes like wildfire regimes.” …The study’s first-of-its-kind maps paint a picture of rapidly changing landscapes that will require more adaptive wildfire management.

WALNUT CREEK, California — CSAA Insurance Group announced a $25M commitment to the California Wildfire Innovation Fund, a climate-solutions strategy that aims to decrease the severity and frequency of catastrophic wildfire by supporting forest restoration-related economic development. The California Wildfire Innovation Fund was developed by CSAA Insurance Group in partnership with Blue Forest, the non-profit behind the Forest Resilience Bond, which deploys private capital to finance forest restoration projects for wildfire prevention. CSAA Insurance Group was one of the Forest Resilience Bond’s first investors. …Alongside a financial return, the California Wildfire Innovation Fund is expected to deliver numerous environmental, economic and social benefits, including: climate and ecological resilience… community safety… job creation… and positive health outcomes. For more information about the California Wildfire Innovation Fund and Blue Forest Asset Management, visit Blue Forest.

Nearly $3 million is being invested into projects intended to lessen wildfire risk across Oregon. The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s office says $2.7 million are going towards what’s called community wildfire protection plans. There are over two dozen ready-to-go in 25 counties. They include fuel mitigation programs, defensible space projects, and home assessments. Alison Green, the public affairs director said this is a new initiative. …The funds are part of the OSFM’s Fire Adapted Oregon initiative, created by Senate Bill 762. Oregon had its worst wildfire season in 2020. Meanwhile, Green said the wildfire outlook for 2023 looks more typical than some of the more severe seasons. She added while it’s still early… “we’re hoping that it’s a more traditional fire season, a little bit later into the summer, versus some of the ones that we’ve seen in the past that were starting in May.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal wildlife officials announced a proposal to classify one of two dwindling California spotted owl populations as endangered after a lawsuit by conservation groups required the government to reassess a decision not to protect the brown and white birds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed that California spotted owls that have their habitats in coastal and Southern California be protected under the Endangered Species Act. That population “does not have a strong ability to withstand normal variations in environmental conditions,” which led the agency to propose listing it as endangered, wildlife officials said. The other California spotted owl population, which lives in Sierra Nevada forests in California and western Nevada, would be classified as threatened, the agency said. The habitat of the medium-sized brown owl… is under serious threat from current logging practices and climate change, including increased drought, disease and more extreme wildfires.

Freshwater California — On Sunday, an anti-logging activist suspended himself via nets and rope in a contraption called a sky pod in a thicket of trees located in Freshwater in an effort to prevent Humboldt Redwood Company from cutting down the trees.  The activist, Aristotle, also began a hunger strike in order to protest the planned logging and said via a news release from Lost Coast Forest Action that he was taking supplements that would allow him to live without food for months. His location ground the planned logging to a halt, and a spokesperson for Humboldt Redwood Company said they were evaluating how to respond. …John Andersen, a spokesperson for Humboldt Redwood Company, said that he did not know how much money his company was losing per day, but he said the harvest plan covers approximately 1% of the Freshwater watershed and would not affect nearby threatened species, such as the northern spotted owl.

A controversial forest management project in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley recently gained approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.  Called the Late Mungers project, the BLM says it’s designed to make forests more resistant to extreme wildfire.  That’s accomplished through 830 acres of commercial logging and 7,500 acres of prescribed fire and smaller tree thinning. It’s the first example of the BLM’s Integrated Vegetation Management plan, which speeds up community review in order to do those things faster.  BLM District Manager Elizabeth Burghard said since releasing a draft of the project proposal almost a year ago, they’ve been integrating more site-specific analysis, and trying to get as many eyes on the project as possible.  …But the project continues to face backlash from environmentalists, including the Applegate Siskiyou Alliance and the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.

The federal government is providing $37 million to Colorado to safeguard the environment and reduce the likelihood of wildfires. The Biden Administration revealed on Thursday that it is increasing spending for wildfire prevention. This year, the Forest Service intends to concentrate on 16,000 acres. Investment assistance is provided via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. “We’ve known what we wanted to do for a very long time, but we haven’t had the money to achieve it. This money is generational. And we are aware that in order to lower the community’s danger of wildfire, we must collaborate with partners to determine the best locations and times to carry out this activity “said Frank Beum, a regional forester for the Forest Service. The Forest Service’s 10-year wildfire catastrophe strategy includes all of this. The initiative received more than $18 million and looked after 11,000 acres last year.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Nevada — Rumor has it that outdoor recreation and species conservation are at odds. …However, a collaboration between the Forest Service and a destination ski resort is turning that stereotype on its head to protect a keystone tree — the whitebark pine. Heavenly Mountain Resort spans the California-Nevada border in South Lake Tahoe. With 7,050 acres of national forest land on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and the Humboldt –Toiyabe National Forest, it operates under a special use permit. In many ways, this permit fosters a unique relationship between the Forest Service and the resort, one which also has significant benefits for the local economy. …“Although there is high visitation in this concentrated area, the Forest Service and Heavenly work together to protect sensitive species,” said Cecilia Reed, Mountain Resorts Manager. The ongoing, collaborative efforts to protect the whitebark pine illustrate the symbiosis of those two goals.

Bruce Wilcox is helping his community, known locally as Blake Ranch, become the county’s first to join Firewise USA. He said the national program could be the key to protecting nearby homes from the next catastrophic fire. Firewise is sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association, with the Oregon Department of Forestry managing it at the state level. Through training and local fire prevention projects, Firewise aims to encourage property owners to take proactive measures to prevent fires from destroying their homes and businesses. Many of Oregon’s smallest and most isolated communities have become Firewise sites. Blake Ranch isn’t the first in Eastern Oregon: small communities in Baker, Grant and Wallowa counties have already secured the designation.

Additional coverage in Baker City Herald: Heppner area ranch becomes first Firewise community in Morrow County

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday signed to use zero-interest loans to help local governments in the arid, Southwest state repair or replace public infrastructure damaged by wildfires or subsequent flooding. The law follows last year’s historic Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon blaze that exploded into the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history. Begun in early April as a prescribed burn by the U.S. government, it grew into a monstrous blaze that blackened more than 530 square miles (1,370 square kilometers). Hundreds of homes in northern New Mexico were lost. A subsequent report by the U.S. Forest Service said its employees made multiple miscalculations, used inaccurate models and underestimated how dry conditions were. Experts say the resulting environmental harms will endure for decades.

In a divided 4-3 vote on Wednesday, the Oregon Board of Forestry decided to stay the course on a draft habitat conservation plan amid growing pressure from counties and the timber industry to start over. The special virtual meeting was called late last week after county and timber industry leaders raised alarm over new data on timber harvests released by the state Department of Forestry. The 70-year plan would designate no-logging areas across nearly 640,000 acres of state forests, mostly in Clatsop and Tillamook counties. The protected areas are intended to keep species under the federal Endangered Species Act safe and keep the state in compliance with federal law. However, some county and timber industry leaders say the plan goes further than it needs to protect habitat. They also say reductions in timber harvests will have major ramifications on jobs and the 15 counties that depend on revenue from logging state forests.

Legislators in Washington state are joining more than a dozen other states that are considering whether to restrict or ban foreign entities from buying farmland. The initial hearing on Olympia’s version of the foreign ownership restrictions drew more criticism than support. The bill sponsor, state Rep. Clyde Shavers, asserted that foreign ownership of agricultural land threatens water supplies and the state’s food security. …As drafted, the legislation would bar foreign companies, governments and foreign-controlled American subsidiaries from purchasing land in Washington used for farming, ranching or timber production. …Tom Davis of the Washington Forest Protection Association, questioned the broad sweep of the restrictions and whether it addressed a real problem. “I know that a lot of people are concerned about China owning ag lands in the United States,” Davis said, before noting that Canadians were actually by far the top foreign investors in rural American counties, followed by a group of European entities…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Dozens of traditional irrigation systems that supply community farms, gardens and orchards in northern New Mexico won’t flow with water this spring, forcing many families to decide whether to risk planting crops this year with no guarantee of water. Rural officials testified Tuesday before a state Senate committee, saying the damage done to the acequia system is a devastating consequence of a historic wildfire that the U.S. Forest Service sparked last year during a prescribed burn operation that went awry. Portions of the earthen canals have been wrecked by post-fire flooding and are choked with debris. Paula Garcia, who heads the New Mexico Acequia Association testified in support of legislation that would double the amount of money earmarked annually to fund community ditch infrastructure and construction projects. …Supporters estimate that there’s at least an $8 billion need for water infrastructure improvements statewide.

A long-term Pacific Northwest study of landslides, clear-cutting timber and building roads shows that forest management history has a greater impact on how often landslides occur and how severe they are compared to how much water is coursing through a watershed. Findings of the U.S. National Science Foundation-supported research, led by Catalina Segura and Arianna Goodman of Oregon State University, were published in the journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. “The study highlights the importance of land-use dynamics on natural processes such as landslides,” said Justin Lawrence, a program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences. …Probing the factors behind landslide frequency and magnitude is crucial because slides occur in all 50 states, causing an average of more than 25 deaths per year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS puts the total annual average economic damage resulting from landslides at greater than $1 billion.