Andy Kerr

Conservationist, Writer, Analyst, Operative, Agitator, Strategist, Tactitian, Schmoozer, Raconteur

Bureau of Land Management

It’s About Dam Time

It’s About Dam Time

Congress told the Bureau of Land Management to remove a small, but fish-damaging, dam on the Donner und Blitzen Wild and Scenic River and the Steens Mountain Wilderness. The BLM may finally get around to it.

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The Forest Service Proposal to Save Its Old Growth: A Start, Though Inadequate

The Forest Service Proposal to Save Its Old Growth: A Start, Though Inadequate

If President Biden wants to be remembered in history for saving the nation’s remaining mature and old-growth forests and trees for the benefit of this and future generations, the Forest Service is going to have to do significantly more than what it has proposed so far.

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The Unmaking of the Northwest Forest Plan, Part 1: Out with Enforceable Substance and in with Performative Process

The Unmaking of the Northwest Forest Plan, Part 1: Out with Enforceable Substance and in with Performative Process

The world’s largest ecosystem management plan is under existential threat.

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Retiring Grazing Permits, Part 3: Future of the Voluntary Retirement Option  

Retiring Grazing Permits, Part 3: Future of the Voluntary Retirement Option   

The future of the voluntary federal land grazing permit retirement option.

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Retiring Grazing Permits, Part 2: History of the Voluntary Retirement Option

Retiring Grazing Permits, Part 2: History of the Voluntary Retirement Option

The history of congressional and other actions to facilitate retirement of federal grazing permits

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Retiring Grazing Permits, Part 1: Context and Case for the Voluntary Retirement Option

Retiring Grazing Permits, Part 1: Context and Case for the Voluntary Retirement Option

The option to voluntarily retire federal grazing permits is progressing, albeit in fits and starts.

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Malheur County Federal Land Legislation Take 4, Part 2: The Ugly, the Missing, and the Alternative

Malheur County Federal Land Legislation Take 4, Part 2: The Ugly, the Missing, and the Alternative

If the recommended critical tweaks are made to remove the ugly parts (grazing “rights” and further exaltation of livestock grazing in wilderness areas) of S.1890, the Senate and the House of Representatives should pass the bill and the president should sign it into law.

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Malheur County Federal Land Legislation Take 4, Part 1: The Good, the Whatever, and the Bad

Malheur County Federal Land Legislation Take 4, Part 1: The Good, the Whatever, and the Bad

With a few critical tweaks, Senator Wyden’s legislation could be a net gain for the conservation of nature for the benefit of this and future generations. Without those tweaks, the bill as drafted is an existential threat to the conservation of federal public lands and should not be enacted into law.

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How Much Mature and Old-Growth Forest Does the US Have Left?

How Much Mature and Old-Growth Forest Does the US Have Left?

Any inventory reveals that most of the nation’s mature and old-growth forests have fallen to the saw. Not only must all that remains remain, but degraded forests should also be allowed to become mature and old-growth forests once again.

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The BLM’s Proposed “Conservation” Rule: Open for Comments

The BLM’s Proposed “Conservation” Rule: Open for Comments

The nation’s largest land manager is proposing a new “conservation” rule that might result in improved land management but more likely will serve as a shield for the agency to continue to degrade public lands at the expense of this and future generations.

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Book Review: Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands

Book Review: Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands

Understanding the history of public lands is useful if one is to be the best advocate for the conservation of public lands.

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Senator Wyden’s Owyhee Wilderness, and More, Legislation

Senator Wyden’s Owyhee Wilderness, and More, Legislation

third try may be the charm in Senator Wyden’s long effort to enact public lands legislation to conserve wildlands in the Owyhee and lower Malheur Basins in Oregon.

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30x30: Biden Needs to Up His Game

30x30: Biden Needs to Up His Game

For President Biden to ensure that 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters are conserved by 2030, as he promised, the pace and scale of protections needs to increase dramatically.

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Biden’s Executive Order on Forests, Part 1: A Great Opportunity

Biden’s Executive Order on Forests, Part 1: A Great Opportunity

President Biden is poised to enter the pantheon of forest-protecting American presidents.

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Senator Ron Wyden and National Recreation Areas: How Large a Legacy?

Senator Ron Wyden and National Recreation Areas: How Large a Legacy?

Top Line: Oregon’s senior senator is poised to leave a legacy of national recreation areas. Just how many and how good that legacy will be is up to him.

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Social Cost of Fossil Fuels from US Public Lands 

Social Cost of Fossil Fuels from US Public Lands 

A fee based on the social cost of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide should be imposed on fossil-fuel mining leases on federal public lands.

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The Proposed Sutton Mountain National “Monument”

The Proposed Sutton Mountain National “Monument”

Legislation has been introduced to conserve and restore one of the most colorful natural landscapes in Oregon for the benefit of this and future generations.

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Clinton and Obama Giveth, Trump Taketh, and Biden Restoreth: Two National Monuments in the State of Utah

Clinton and Obama Giveth, Trump Taketh, and Biden Restoreth: Two National Monuments in the State of Utah

Two national monuments in Utah have been restored, but it isn’t over.

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