Andy Kerr

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

Blumenauer’s REC Act of 2022: A Wreck for Conservation

September 05, 2022 in Congress, Federal Lands, Forest Service, Forests, Legislation, National Forest System, National Trails System, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, Wildfire

Blumenauer’s bill would open up Mount Hood National Forest to new logging loopholes.

Figure 1. *Goodbye, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).* Source: Wikipedia.

46, the 117th, and the New Math: 50 + 1 > 50

January 08, 2021 in Congress, Administration, Climate Change, Ecological Reserves, Ecosystems, Elections, Keep it in the Ground, Legislation, Wildfire

Fortunately, the Trump administration was generally so grossly incompetent at governing that most of the Trumpian rollbacks were, are being, or can be overturned through a combination of executive, judicial, and congressional actions.

Oregon State Forest Lands, Part 1: A New Day?

October 02, 2020 in Endangered Species, Forestry, Forests, State Lands, Wildfire

The seven-member Oregon Board of Forestry will decide next Tuesday, October 6, whether to proceed in seeking a habitat management plan and concurrent incidental take permit for sixteen imperiled species that inhabit western Oregon state forests.

Figure 1. There is lots of money to be spent by taxpayers and made by the fire-industrial complex. Fires boost the local economy. Source: National Interagency Fire Center. — Figure 1. *There is lots of money to be spent by taxpayers and made by the fire-industrial complex. Fires boost the local economy.* Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

Speaking Truth to the Fire-Industrial Complex

August 23, 2019 in Forest Fires, Forest Service, Forestry, Forests, Grasslands, National Forest System, National Park Service, Wildfire

The fire-industrial complex needs to be redirected to only set fires on wildlands and only put out fires on buildings.

Public Lands Blog

Blog Posts by Category

A ~1,000-word weekly exposition on some aspect of federal or state public lands in the United States. Some blog posts goes rather deep and serve as a useful (I hope) backgrounders on particular public land areas, matters or issues. Other weeks, you’ll find a topical piece addressing a public lands controversy of the moment. This blog not only defends, but also extols, public lands.

Andy Kerr of The Larch Company (www.andykerr.net) splits his time between Ashland, OR and Washington, DC. He has been significantly involved in the enactment of more than 25 pieces of federal and state legislation and in copious litigation pertaining to public lands. Dedicated to the conservation and restoration of nature, The Larch Company is a non-membership for-profit organization that represents species that cannot talk and humans not yet born. A deciduous conifer, the western larch has a contrary nature.

If you wish to contact me, I will probably be glad you did.