This is the fourth in a series of four Public Lands Blog posts regarding the infamous “O&C” lands, a variant of public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Part 4 recommends repeal of the O&C Lands Act of 1937 and transferring administration of all BLM lands in western Oregon to either the Forest Service or the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Scientists have identified seventeen areas in the eastern US suitable for the recolonization of Puma concolor. Will humans allow it?

In 2000, 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 in the Steens Mountain Wilderness. The BLM may finally get around to it.

This is the second of a three-part exploration of retiring permits for grazing on federal public lands. Part 1 examined the state of the public lands grazing industry and made the case for the equitable end to abusive livestock grazing on public lands. Part 2 reviews the history of congressional and other actions to facilitate retirement of federal grazing permits. Part 3 will speculate on the future of this conservation tool.

This is the first of a two-post exploration of the stage of forest succession that occurs after a stand-replacing event and before the canopy again closes and dominates the site. In Part 1, we discuss why preforests are valuable, if undervalued. In Part 2, we will address management of preforests to preserve their ecological value.

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

The Oregon Legislature is taking up a bill to establish the Elliott State Research Forest. It is vital that the legislation become law in early 2022.

The barred owl has invaded the range of the northern spotted owl and needs to be stopped before driving the latter to extinction.

The Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin Desert, and the Mojave Desert come together in Washington County, Utah, where the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (RCNCA) is generally centered. In this transition zone, unusual plant and animal species have evolved, including the dwarf bearclaw-poppy (Arctomecon humilis) and Shivwits milk-vetch (Astragalus ampullarioides), small native plants that grow nowhere else on earth.

After decades of dithering, the Fish and Wildlife Service has finally proposed listing the species as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). But a special rule appended to the proposed listing creates a conundrum: Does ESA protection take precedence over wilderness area protection?

Very high on my bucket list is to see a California condor in the wild (Figure 1), ideally over Oregon. If my timing is good and the condors cooperate, this could happen.

The protracted battle for the Izembek is now before a US District Court judge. At stake is whether the designations of national wildlife refuge and wilderness actually mean anything, at least in Alaska and/or under a Trump administration.

This is the second part of a two-part examination of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In Part 2, we examine the possibilities of protecting additional wild and scenic rivers with a focus on Oregon, and closing a notorious mining loophole in the original act.

This is the first part of a two-part examination of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In Part 1, we examine the history of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, the size of the system and how it works, and the outsized role Oregon has played in the development of the system.

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Grants of Clemency (Full Pardons) for Dwight Lincoln Hammond, Jr., and his son, Steven Hammond. The Hammonds are multi-generation cattle ranchers in Oregon imprisoned in connection with a fire that leaked onto a small portion of neighboring public grazing land. The evidence at trial regarding the Hammonds’ responsibility for the fire was conflicting, and the jury acquitted them on most of the charges.

This is the third installment of a three-part series on the National Wilderness Preservation System. Part 3 demands a rededication to wilderness for the benefit of this and future generations.

This is the second installment of a three-part series on the National Wilderness Preservation System. Part 2 chronicles past great progress and the current great stagnation.

If one is going to live in or near a forest, one assumes a higher risk of fire. The best way to minimize that risk is to seriously and continually create and maintain defensible space. It’s not cheap. If it were, it would have been done already.

This is the second of a two-part examination of proposed oil exploitation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This is the first of a two-part examination of proposed oil exploitation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.