Forests and grasslands are smoldering across vast areas of Oregon and Washington, scorching homes and habitat in what may turn out to be a particularly gnarly fire season. Although nationally the season has been quieter than usual, intense fires have been burning in the Pacific Northwest and parts of California, and the West Coast is […]
U.S. Forest Service
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
Reflections on the Wilderness Act at 50
The concept may need some rethinking, but it’s still an important way to preserve some of our most treasured land.
Posted inArticles
The privatization of public campground management
All the info you need to decide whether you love or hate that the Forest Service uses concessionaires.
Posted inArticles
Concessionaire Campgrounds: An Explainer
The Privatization of public campgrounds | Create Infographics
Posted inJune 9, 2014: Border Out of Control
Snowmobiling for science in Idaho
Scientists and snowmobilers team up for smarter wolverine management.
Posted inMay 12, 2014: Parks for All?
Learning Forestry 101 in the Cascades
A novice logger helps thin the forest in Washington.
Posted inMay 12, 2014: Parks for All?
This is our land – until it’s privatized
It’s 6 a.m. on April 8 as I head out for a hike on Mount Lemmon, in Arizona’s Coronado National Forest. Today, the temperature in Tucson will break 90 degrees, so I’m looking forward to the cooler, higher elevations. Passing Rose Canyon, I notice that the campground is still closed. Making a quick decision, I […]
Posted inGoat
The biggest wildlife crossing you’ve never heard of
Nestled in the Cascade Mountains of central Washington, winding along a 15-mile stretch of interstate is the largest wildlife connectivity project you’ve never heard of. Deer, elk, mountain goats, bobcats, black bears, foxes, mink, otters, cougars and wild turkeys roam the region’s old growth forests, mountain meadows, streams and glacier-covered peaks. But all too often, […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2012: Pallids in Purgatory
Fire scientists fight over what Western forests should look like
Mark Williams and Bill Baker stand amid ponderosa pines in the mountains west of Fort Collins, Colo., holding a copy of a 19th century land survey. They’re looking for a small pile of rocks with three notches on the east side, indicating that a General Land Office surveyor stopped here to describe the forest. Surveyors […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
Smokey Bear: From cute to buff, and in between
The icon’s many images changed over the years alongside the Forest Service’s changing attitudes toward wildfire.
Posted inWotr
Go take it off the mountain
When they emerge from the trees while cruising down a popular run at Montana’s Whitefish Mountain Resort, skiers suddenly encounter the back of a life-size statue of Jesus Christ. Clad in a flowing blue robe, the statue’s arms stretch toward the Flathead Valley below. It has been here for over half a century — a […]
Posted inApril 12, 2010: The Butterfly Sting
Saving the U.S. Forest Service
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved AmericaTimothy Egan336 pages, hardcover: $27. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. The United States of America leaped into the 20th century with a surfeit of natural resources and a flamboyant leader. Early in his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt proposed a radical idea: Set aside and protect certain parts […]
Posted inArticles
The Appeal Deal
The West’s national forests remain in legal limbo. For four years, the U.S. Forest Service has been trying to overhaul the rules that govern the creation of forest plans, the “blueprints” that describe how each forest will be managed and protected. And for the past two years, the process has been locked in federal court. […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
Follow-up
Keep your eyes peeled for yellow snow on the ski slopes: The Coconino National Forest supervisor has approved the use of treated wastewater for snowmaking at the Arizona Snowbowl ski area (HCN, 2/21/05: Snowmaking on sacred slopes stirs controversy). Resort owners hope to boost profits by keeping the slopes open during dry times. Leaders of […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
Cut to the past: logging wars resume
Less than three years after the Clinton administration devised a plan to protect most of the remaining ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest, the big trees have started to fall again. Taking advantage of an obscure provision in a salvage logging bill recently signed by the president, loggers have begun cutting healthy old-growth forests west […]
Posted inApril 8, 1991: Overgrazing: Feds move to end it
Forest Service spends wilderness money on logging
Government Accounting Office (GAO) findings that the Forest Service spent nearly 40 percent of money allocated for wilderness in other areas — including recreation and timber — have led environmentalists and a key congressman to call for sweeping changes in the agency’s structure. Over the last four years Congress has increased appropriations for wilderness by […]