On the crest of a small hill in the Big Creek Unit near Valley Creek Lane in Knappa, Oregon, an even age timber harvest (clearcut) is in its fourth year of regrowth. …And on the ground, below the sounds of man and nature and the green and brown of the trees and landscape grow small patches of wildflowers. But on this plot of land, owned by Hampton Lumber Mills, these flowers did not spring up on their own. The flowers growing on this plot are part of a Hampton-driven research project centered on pollinator habitat improvement using wildflower plantings in clearcuts. Hampton Lumber is a partner with OSU, the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in forest pollinator research. This collaborative group conducts studies on how native pollinators, including bees and butterflies, use young seral habitat.

In a stunning display of nature’s force, officials at Yosemite National Park said Thursday that a powerful wind storm that ripped through the park last week caused 15 giant sequoia trees to fall in Mariposa Grove, a landmark forest visited by millions of people over the past 150 years. Originally, officials thought that just two of the massive trees had fallen. But as they have inspected the area on the park’s southern edges in recent days, they discovered wider destruction in the awe-inspiring grove, which was first set aside for protection in 1864 by President Abraham Lincoln. “We have extensive damage in the park,” said Scott Gediman, a Yosemite park spokesman. “Millions and millions of dollars. There could be more giant sequoias down. We are continuing the damage assessment.” The grove’s sequoias are among the largest living things on earth, reaching up to 285 feet tall, and dating back 2,000 years.

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly will consider opposing a lawsuit seeking to reinstate the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest. The Trump administration’s Tongass exemption opens up approximately 9.4 million acres of federal forest land to potential road building and other development. A legal challenge seeking to overturn the exemption was filed by Southeast Alaska tribes and conservation groups late last year. The Ketchikan City Council recently voted 6-1 to spend up to $5,000 to intervene on the federal government’s behalf. Elected officials in Wrangell recently considered a similar request but decided not to intervene.

We who live in the West benefit from public ownership of 47% of the land across 11 states, most of it managed by federal agencies. It’s our wild backyard — mountains, forests and seashores available to all for free or for a nominal entrance charge. But only 4% of the land in the rest of the country is publicly owned, and even in the West, much of our “commons” is remote, far from cities where people may need it most. …Despite our divisions, many Americans agree that safeguarding more land for public use and conservation is how we improve America. …We now have an opportunity to do for coming generations what insightful predecessors did for us when they set aside the parks, forests and vistas that we use and admire today. 

Year-round wildfire seasons are expected as a changing climate makes New Mexico’s forests drier and more prone to blazes, prompting adjustments in fire management, forest officials say. However, the changes, at least for now, won’t be drastic. The U.S. Forest Service will stick with what it considers proven methods to curb wildfire risks, such as thinning trees, lighting controlled burns and imposing temporary restrictions on campfires when conditions are too dry. But the agency doesn’t plan to increase its hiring or training of personnel, even though it’s likely crews will be deployed more often, including to assist other states in battling blazes as they did last year, officials say. The agency, however, is stepping up efforts to ensure homeowners who live near forests are better prepared for wildfires. Heightened wildfire risks in New Mexico have already begun due to drought conditions in 2020. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed listing the whitebark pine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. For the last 24 years, Glacier National Park has been quietly working to conserve the species over its 1 million acres of wildlands. It is no small task. The Park first began collecting cones from “plus” trees in 1997. Plus trees are adult, cone-bearing trees that have shown resistance to blister rust, noted Park vegetation biologist Dawn LaFleur. …But the surviving trees have shown a resistance to the rust. Once their seeds are collected, they are propagated in a Forest Service nursery, then eventually shipped back to Glacier to be planted. The first trees were planted on Grinnell Point in the Many Glacier Valley in 2000 in a small area that had been burned by a previous wildfire. Today, Park biologists and technicians plant about 500 rust resistant seedlings annually.

Dead trees don’t usually make compelling roadside attractions, but the giant stump at Klootchy Creek is an exception.  Once measuring 200 feet tall with a 17-foot diameter and a circumference of 56 feet, the Sitka spruce between Seaside and Cannon Beach was officially the largest tree in Oregon, and one of the largest trees of its species in the country, before a windstorm finally destroyed it in 2007.   The tree sprouted from the earth some 750 years ago, when only the Clatsop tribe of the Chinookan peoples lived along that stretch of coastline, long before European fur trappers and settler colonizers arrived.  By the time the land it stood on was called Oregon, the tree had long since reached maturity. It eventually topped out at 216 feet tall – though its crown at some point was cut short to 200. The tree withstood centuries of windstorms, lightning strikes and fires.