Latest news with #wildfiremanagement
E&E News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Trump admin to ink deals with states for forest management
The Forest Service has launched an ambitious goal of handing states more responsibility for federal land, agency Chief Tom Schultz said Wednesday. Speaking to a national forest policy conference in Washington, Schultz outlined the Trump administration's vision of a Forest Service with a narrower public mission that relies more heavily on state governments to keep the 193-million-acre system healthy and less at risk of out-of-control wildfires. 'I see a different role for the states, maybe, going forward,' Schultz said, pointing to the administration's recent 20-year agreement with Montana to allow the state to manage 200,000 acres of national forest for timber, wildfire and other priorities. Advertisement Gone are the days, Schultz said, when states with limited budgets were viewed as subservient to the federal government.
The Verge
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Verge
The US is stripping its forests of decades-old protections
The Trump administration wants to open up tens of millions of acres of national forest to development. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced yesterday that it's rescinding a landmark rule that prevents road construction and timber harvesting in the last unfragmented stretches of national forest. The USDA says the move will boost timber production, while helping officials manage wildfire-prone lands. Conservation groups say this is simply an industry-led land grab that could level pristine forests and increase the risk of wildfire. 'Make no mistake: this administration will do whatever it takes to sell off the places where we hunt, fish, recreate, and partake in long-standing traditions,' Andy Moderow, senior policy director at Alaska Wilderness League, said in a press statement. 'Today's announcement is a clear attempt to sell off public land for industrial-scale clear-cut logging.' 'A clear attempt to sell off public land for industrial-scale clear-cut logging' In a move that's likely to face legal challenges, the USDA is tossing out the 'Roadless Rule' that Bill Clinton enacted back in 2001 and that Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins called 'overly restrictive' in a press release. It follows an executive order signed by President Trump in March to expand timber production. Getting rid of the roadless rule will remove protections from nearly 59 million acres of forest, or roughly 30 percent of National Forest System lands, according to the USDA. Some forests will be more affected than others. The rule impacts 92 percent of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the largest old growth forest still standing in the US. It's been one of the most contested areas since Trump first rolled back roadless rule protections there in 2020 before the Biden administration restored them a few years later. The USDA also claims that 28 million acres of the land previously protected under the roadless rule are 'at high or very high risk of wildfire.' But allowing new roads and logging there won't lessen wildfire risk — it'll do the opposite by raising the risk of forest mismanagement, environmental groups contend. 'When they say we will open [forests] up for responsible management. I almost laughed out loud when I saw that … It's the height of irresponsible management to open them up to roads and logging,' says Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Wildfires are likely to start near roads, she explains — perhaps from a stray cigarette butt or campfire. Loggers also target mature trees that tend to be more resilient to fires rather than smaller saplings that are more likely to burn. 'It's also a very nuanced topic, and it's completely being exploited by the timber industry and the current administration,' Spivak tells The Verge. There's an old-school mentality to firefighting that the logging industry has advocated for historically to preserve areas where they harvest timber. The old strategy has been to suppress any kind of forest fire, which has inadvertently exacerbated blazes in certain forests by allowing dry vegetation to build up into loads of tinder. In parts of the western US, fires are a natural part of the landscape that clear out debris that might otherwise turn into fuel for larger infernos. The timber industry has also promoted the idea that thinning forests will lessen fire risk. 'Thin is just a euphemism for log, it sounds nicer, but there's no difference on the ground,' Spivak says. More modern fire-busting tactics emphasize making communities less likely to burn. Climate change has led to more widespread wildfires in the western US, but tackling that problem is another protective measure that the Trump administration has thrown by the wayside. Trees and plants naturally store carbon dioxide, keeping the greenhouse gas from heating our planet. Forests in the US sequester more than 800 million metric tons of carbon each year. But they can only keep doing that if they stay intact.
CBS News
18-05-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Prescribed burn underway southwest of Boulder to mitigate wildfire risks
Crews have finished day one of the Forsythe II Prescribed Burn, which is located seven miles southwest of Boulder and five miles east of Nederland. On Saturday, crews treated 125 acres of the project area, which includes lands, roads, and trails in the Boulder Ranger District, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland. U.S. Forest Service The U.S. Forest Service said the area will remain closed to the public while operations are ongoing. They advised residents and visitors to watch for warning signs along roads and trails near the prescribed fire areas. While work is ongoing, smoke may continue to be visible on the Front Range. The forest service said smoke will most likely be visible in these areas: Lakeshore Subdivision Crescent Village Crescent Meadows Gross Reservoir Walker Mountain Ranch Park Miramonte Wondervu Eldorado State Park additional areas in Boulder County Fire managers said they're working to minimize the impacts of the smoke and monitoring air quality during the prescribed burn. Officials estimate the project will be completed by May 21.
CTV News
14-05-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
‘Yesterday was a terrible day': Lac du Bonnet wildfire leaves cottages, homes destroyed
Reeve Loren Schinkel joins us to talk about the latest on wildfire conditions and emergency efforts in the RM of Lac du Bonnet.
