Forests in the News©
NATIONAL NEWS
NEPA is Not the Problem, Forest Policy - Forest Practice

Read the Report, Pinchot Institute for Conservation [pdf]
Old trees, new plan: The fight over old growth may resume with the latest BLM logging proposal - NW Forest Plan: "They said, 'Here's the plan, the owl continues to take it in the shorts for 50 years. The critter may go extinct, but we're hopeful it won't.'", Register Guard
A Landscape Born to Burn, Los Angeles Times
In the Ashes, Californians Ask How to Defeat the Santa Anas - Hubris leaves debris, New York Times

Opportunities for 'Clean' Biomass Production in Every State - Burning wood will release massive amounts of CO2 and "sustainably reduce greenhouse gas emissions!", Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)

Oppose Forest Service Proposal to Weaken Forest Protections, Comments due October 22, American Lands Alliance
The clock ticks for Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center - The U.S. Forest Service is planning to permanently close the facility, Columbian
Moss poachers strip forest, Wall Street Journal at Arizona Republic
Final Rule for Sale and Disposal of National Forest System Timber; Modification of Timber Sale Contracts in Extraordinary Conditions; Noncompetitive Sale of Timber, Federal Register

Wide ranging suit against US Forest Service heats up in Missoula - Watch the video, KPAX - Montana's News Station
The Forest Service hopes to charge new user fees for recreation within five years to pay for infrastructure and maintenance, rather than ask Congress to allocate more of its budget to recreation, San Francisco Chronicle [scroll down]
SOURCED! - NEPA Next in Line, Forest Policy - Forest Practice
US Forest Carbon and Climate Change: A Report on Controversies and Win-Win Policy Approaches, The Wilderness Society [pdf]
Wilderness and wildfires, Queen City News
Firefighting gel may help protect forest residences - Firefighters say it's effective, but also messy, Arizona Daily Star
Scientists Estimate Mercury Emissions from U.S. Fires, Environmental Science and Technology

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, High Country News
UW scientists create pollution-sucking trees - Rabbit gene helps poplars neutralize chemicals quickly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Mapping Maverick, PopSci's 6th Annual 'Brilliant Ten'
Department of Defense Approves $1.7 million to Measure the Impacts of Controlled Burns - UC Riverside partners with research scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, UCR News
Park Ranger Sentenced To Five Years' Probation For Fatal Shooting at Elephant Butte - Man who didn't pay fee shot twice in the back of the head, Albuquerque Journal
WORLD NEWS


Pulpwood Plantations: All roads lead to Rome, World Rainforest Movement Bulletin
Moving targets a challenge, The London Free Press (Canada)
Last sawmill in Terrace shuts down - West Fraser blames U.S. housing slump, strong Canadian dollar, Vancouver Sun

Conservationists need to work with, not against, rural poor - An Interview with Marie-Louise Felix of WWF Guianas, Mongabay News
Honduras: The reasons for defending the forest, World Rainforest Movement Bulletin
Forestry probe completed.. Government slaps $96M penalty on Barama - three other companies sanctioned; GFC staffers sacked, Kaieteur News


Are the economic benefits of palm oil exaggerated? - Does palm oil alleviate rural poverty in Malaysia?, Mongabay News
Indonesia asks for conservation funds, International Herald Tribune
Papua New Guinea: Women and Oil Palm, World Rainforest Movement Bulletin
Land Clearing Triggers Hotter Droughts, Australian Research Shows

Costs Of Sustainable Forest Management To Rise, Bernama: Malaysian National News Agency

Forest-land fiasco betrays taxpayers, Times Colonist editorial
British Columbia protects forests to save caribou - Province declares nearly 400,000 hectares off-limits to logging to boost dwindling population of mountain animals, Globe and Mail
Deal reached to end forestry strike - Out for 3 months, workers could be back on the job as soon as next week, CanWest News
Local opposes forestry deal - The proposed settlement doesn't resolve a key issue in the coastal strike, union official says, Vancouver Sun


Moldova's Green Journalists Mobilize Public to Save Forest, Resources for Environmental Activists
Changa Manga Forest Railway, All Things Pakistani

Firebreaks pretty useless: green groups, Sydney Morning Herald AAP

Strike not stopping timber harvest, according to statistics - September's harvest volume on the coast was 45 per cent of last year's volume, Vancouver Sun
Lumber industry gets $35-million boost , Halifax, The Daily News
Betty Krawczyk's New Battles, The Tyee (Vancouver)

Mozambique: Hundreds of Containers of Illegal Logs Seized, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
CONGRESS & WASHINGTON
ARC gets its man - Laverty, Wild Wilderness
Kempthorne Applauds Confirmation of Lyle Laverty As Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks - As a Regional Forester, Laverty oversaw more than 24 million acres of National Forests and National Grasslands in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska, U.S. Department of the Interior

A landscape born to burn, Los Angeles Times




Hard-rock mining boom compels reform - Gross royalties, bonding and public oversight should be implemented, The Ft. Collins Coloradoan editorial
Rahall rehab of mining law, Mount Blogmore: Rapid City Journal

NORTHERN REGION (Region 1):
Montana and Northern Idaho
Helena-area logging project proposed, Helena Independent Record
Fire costs keep on going up, Helena Independent Record editorial
Good travel plan, Great Falls Tribune

Need to harvest, Great Falls Tribune
Mill loses forceful forest advocate, Daily InterLake editorial
OHV safety and ethics, Ravalli Republic
Trek of a lifetime complete, Helena Independent Record

Front Travel Plan, Great Falls Tribune
Likes Travel Plan, Great Falls Tribune
Eastern politicians don't understand how we do things, Great Falls Tribune op-ed by Congressman Rehberg

Factions argue over wilderness bill - Wilderness bill debate boils down to East versus West, Billings Gazette
New 'Big Sky Coalition' urges forest management changes - Bitterroot group calls for giving wildfires less fuel, Missoulian
Helena NF: Twilight of the dam, Helena Independent Record
Mike Horse dam: A mini Milltown, Helena Independent Record

Applauds travel plan, Great Falls Tribune
Wilderness and wildfires, Queen City News
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION (Region 2):
Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

White River Forest travel plan delayed, Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Local mountain bikers step up - Summit Fat Tire Society to boost lobbying, stewardship efforts, Summit Daily News
Ranchers, government officials wrangle over Pawnee grassland management issues - Prairie dogs, prescribed burns and developing better relations, The Greeley Tribune



Cost of wildfires raises zoning issues, Rapid City Journal editorial
A gem with a fresh future - Park's original purpose was to protect the area from uncontrolled timbering, The Pueblo Chieftain
SOUTHWESTERN REGION (Region 3):
Arizona and New Mexico
Cholla Forest, Tohono Chul Park
Dust to dust, Arizona Daily Sun

Critics Say Too Many Fires Suppressed In Southwest - A look at fire suppression costs for Southwest forests, Arizona Republic AP
Mill workers laid off: Seventy Mescalero Forest Product laborers lose jobs without notice - Mescalero tribe under investigation after layoffs, Alamogordo Daily News

Forest Service Rubber-Stamps Grazing in Wolf Recovery Zone - Conservation Groups Sue to Protect Lobos and Other Species, Forest Guardians

When do I quit watering my pecans?, Carlsbad Current-Argus

Spraying Won't Begin in Lincoln Forest Until Next Month - Pest spraying delayed to protect endangered butterfly, Rocky Mountain News
Groups Urge Emergency Federal Protection for Rare Checkerspot Butterfly - Insecticide Spraying in Heart of Butterfly's Range Imminent, Forest Guardians
Trackways, wilderness must be protected, Las Cruces Sun-News editorial
Park Ranger Sentenced To Five Years' Probation For Fatal Shooting at Elephant Butte - Man who didn't pay fee shot twice in the back of the head, Albuquerque Journal
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, High Country News
INTERMOUNTAIN REGION (Region 4):
Southern Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and SW Wyoming
Valley's eyes are on mining reform bill - As the House prepares for a vote, some see bill as a chance to protect Idaho's water from toxins, Idaho Statesman




A monumental job comes to an end - Grand Staircase- Escalante manager looking forward to retirement this month, Salt Lake Tribune
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST (Region 5): California
Flaming the federal fire response, San Diego Union-Tribune at SF Chronicle
Effects of Fires on Environment Worry Experts - Fires are going to happen, Los Angeles Daily News

A Landscape Born to Burn, Los Angeles Times
Preparing for the next time, Los Angeles Times
Thirst for property values leaves Bay Area at risk of wildfires - "Shelter in place" neighborhoods did not lose a single house in the recent firestorm, San Francisco Chronicle

When the Hills Are Burning, Washington Post
A thin cloak of survival, Los Angeles Times

Plan cuts fuel for a Sierra fire - Logging project near Oakhurst aims to keep firestorms from blowing up, Fresno Bee
Logging giant auctions forest land - Nevada County land among 5,000 acres on the auction block, Sierra Sun
Kirkwood pushes master plan forward, awaiting El Dorado National Forest's completion of an Environmental Impact Statement, Tahoe Daily Tribune
Kirkwood Implements New Environmental Initiatives - NFF: Every lodging rental unit includes an extra $1 fee to be used for funding local projects within the El Dorado National Forest, Kirkwood Mountain Resort

California's age of megafires - Drought, housing expansion, and oversupply of tinder make for bigger, hotter fires, Christian Science Monitor


Department of Defense Approves $1.7 million to Measure the Impacts of Controlled Burns - UC Riverside partners with research scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, UCR News
PACIFIC NORTHWEST (Region 6):
Oregon and Washington
Mushroom mania, Oregonian

Old trees, new plan: The fight over old growth may resume with the latest BLM logging proposal - NW Forest Plan: "They said, 'Here's the plan, the owl continues to take it in the shorts for 50 years. The critter may go extinct, but we're hopeful it won't.'", Register Guard

BLM Timber Plan, Oregonian op-ed