As the spruce bark beetle continues to chew through forests in Southcentral Alaska, now affecting an estimated 1.6 million acres, the clock is ticking to salvage any marketable value out of that wood. On the Kenai Peninsula, at least 195,000 acres have been infected, and that number is still growing. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management Division is crafting a plan to address that destruction on 21,000 acres between Kenai and Cooper Landing in a way that is — best case — economically beneficial. But at a minimum, at least protects against wildfires and helps transition to a healthier, beetle-resistant biome. “Our primary objectives are to utilize the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s forest resources that are rapidly deteriorating,” land management agent Dakota Truitt said. “We want to reduce the economic and ecological costs to borough residents, improve the quality of the land, be a part of the sustainable industry development and reforest borough lands.”

Inside the basement of Oklahoma State University’s Insect Adventure, the room is stacked floor-to-ceiling with buzzing, flitting, scuttling life. But one insect in particular is getting special attention by OSU researchers: the American Burying Beetle (ABB). This rare beetle, colored in black with rich orange spots, could hold the key to new medical treatments and novel meat preservation methods. But these beetles are facing threats that could wipe them out of Oklahoma — and perhaps most of the country. …The ABB once lived in at least 35 states, but has since experienced about a 90% loss of its historical range. In 1989, the species was listed as endangered. …Hoback and the team of researchers see not only medicinal benefits from studying beetle secretions, but perhaps the work could spawn a renewed interest in conservation efforts for a storied beetle with a controversial protection status.

A state forest plan that aims to protect endangered species across 640,000 acres of forestland west of the Cascades while providing certainty for logging is moving toward its final stages. The proposed Western Oregon Habitat Conservation Plan would provide protections for 17 federally listed endangered species and ensure logging in other parts of the forests to limit the potential harm to those species. The species list includes the coastal marten, red tree voles, Northern spotted owl, and Oregon coast coho. The plan would protect the agency from potential lawsuits and ensure compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act for land management activities such as timber harvest, construction and maintenance in the state forests over a 70-year period. It would also improve forest conservation strategies and create a fund to help pay for habitat conservation and enhancement projects for protected species.

The use of prescribed fire has received increased attention in California and elsewhere. It is good that there is growing recognition that fire is a natural and necessary part of forests and other ecosystems, [but] current advocacy for large-scale prescribed fire across vast areas is often built on outdated assumptions and overstated claims, while downplaying problems stemming from how prescribed fire is actually being implemented. This factsheet identifies five key sets of myths regarding prescribed fire and shows how they can lead to misguided policies and missed opportunities to better accomplish public safety and ecological restoration goals. …Prescribed fire increases fire and smoke. Prescribed fire is inefficient for public safety compared to home retrofits. Prescribed fire is inefficient for ecological restoration compared to managed wildfire. Prescribed fire can be harmful. And prescribed fire and cultural burning are not the same.