December 26, 2020 — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service News Release New proposed conservation protections for the whitebark pine, an emblem of the American West, would aim to bolster new and ongoing conservation actions for the species’ recovery … More
Ground Truth
Trump officials rush to auction off rights to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Biden can block it
November 16, 2020 — By Juliet Eilperin — The Trump administration is asking oil and gas firms to pick spots where they want to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it races to open the pristine … More
Eleven Alaska Native tribes offer new way forward on managing the Tongass
October 10, 2020 — By Anna V. Smith — In the early fall of 2018, Marina Anderson sped down the rough road connecting one side of Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island to the other. She had only a few … More
Trump Administration Moves To Expand Development In Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
October 4, 2020 — By Laurel Wamsley and Scott Neuman — The Trump administration has cleared the way to open the country’s largest national forest to more development and logging. In a revised environmental impact study made public … More
Northern spotted owls vs. timber
September 28, 2020 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes eliminating about 205,000 acres in Oregon from the northern spotted owl critical habitat designation. The reduction would apply to Bureau of Land Management lands, where officials have … More
‘Timber Wars’ podcast goes live
September 25, 2020 — “Timber Wars,” a podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting, is now available online. The new podcast tells the story of how a small group of activists and scientists turned the fight over old-growth trees and … More
Opinion: Look to wildfires history to better prepare for next one
September 20, 2020 — By Guest Columnist Tom Spies — Spies is an emeritus scientist with the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station. He lives in Corvallis. The devastating wildfires in western Oregon have caused tragic losses … More
‘Nothing left in the bucket’: Wildfire resources run thin
September 18, 2020 — By James Anderson and Matthew Brown — Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, … More
The Water Tap: Waging the war against wildfire with water
September 14, 2020 — By Joan Meiners — If you’ve spent any time in the west this summer, you’ve seen the skies fill with smoke from wildfires, prompting thousands of firefighters to be called to the front lines … More
All California National Forests closed due to fire risk
September 10, 2020 — By Mary Forgione, Christopher Reynolds — With California menaced by fires and shrouded in smoke, state and federal officials have now closed 30 state parks, Highway 1 south of Big Sur and all of … More