Like bankruptcy, the death of the Northwest Forest Plan has proceeded slowly and might end quickly.

Many bitter lemons can make quite fine lemonade, but only if the conservation community reinvents itself.

Big Timber’s and Addicted Counties’ supreme gambits to gut the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument have failed, but the monument is still in mortal peril from the Bureau of Land Management.

The Forest Service’s announcement that it is going to amend all national forest land management plans to “conserve and steward” old-growth forests is a start, although it’s a third of a century late and the proposed amendment is as light on conservation as it is loose on stewardship. As now proposed, the amendment leaves out mature forests, and the agency would leave loopholes large enough for log trucks loaded with old-growth logs to drive through.

This is the first installment of a two-part series on the Forest Service seeking to amend the Northwest Forest Plan. Part 1 examines the motivation of Forest Service bureaucrats to release themselves from the shackles of the plan, all the while playing up happy talk about ecosystems and sustainability and downplaying the sad truth of more roading and logging. Part 2 will examine how to strengthen the Northwest Forest Plan for the benefit of this and future generations.

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.

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said it of pornography, but he could have applied the thought to old-growth forests as well: “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it.”

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

This is the second of two Public Lands Blog posts on the president’s executive order (EO) on forests, which, among other things, unambiguously directs the federal forest agencies to conserve the remaining mature and old-growth forests. Part 1 dissected the order. Part 2 places it in the current political context and makes recommendations to various key interests on how best to ensure that the potential of the EO is fulfilled.

This is the first of two Public Lands Blog posts on the president’s executive order (EO) on forests, which, among other things, unambiguously directs the federal forest agencies to conserve the remaining mature and old-growth forests. Part 1 dissects the order. Part 2 will place it in the current political context and make recommendations to various key interests on how best to ensure that the potential of the EO is fulfilled.

The president could use authority granted long ago by Congress to significantly elevate the conservation status of large areas within the National Forest System.

This is the second of three Public Lands Blog posts on 30x30, President Biden’s commitment to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030. In Part 1, we examined the pace and scale necessary to attain 30x30. In this Part 2, we consider what constitutes protected areas actually being “conserved.” In Part 3, we will offer up specific conservation recommendations that, if implemented, will result in the United States achieving 30 percent by 2030.

This is the third of three Public Lands Blog posts on 30x30, President Biden’s commitment to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030. In Part 1, we examined the pace and scale necessary to attain 30x30. In Part 2, we considered what constitutes protected areas actually being “conserved.” In this Part 3, we offer up specific conservation recommendations that, if implemented, will result in the United States achieving 30 percent by 2030.

This is the first of three Public Lands Blog posts on 30x30, President Biden’s commitment to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030. In Part 1, we examine the pace and scale necessary to attain 30x30. In Part 2, we will consider what constitutes protected areas actually being “conserved.” In Part 3, we will offer up specific conservation recommendations that, if implemented, will result in the United States achieving 30 percent by 2030.

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

Perhaps it’s just my crankiness index rising alongside my age, but I don’t think our democracy works as well as it used to. Not that it ever worked well enough, but I believe that all three branches of our national government are more dysfunctional than they used to be.

A preliminary report to the National Climate Task Force recommending a ten-year, locally led campaign to conserve and restore the lands and waters upon which we all depend, and that bind us together as Americans.

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.

We live in a polarized nation divided between rural and urban with the suburbs and exurbs swinging toward the Democrats, allowing that party to retake the House.

In August 2017, President Trump announced his intent to “enhance and modernize” the NEPA regulations, and CEQ responded with a list of actions the following month