A new scientific review of many scientific papers suggests it is not necessary to thin before reintroducing fire into fire-dependent forests. Part 2 examines the new science and its implications for policy.

This is the second 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. Part 1 discussed why preforests are valuable, if undervalued. Part 2 addresses management of preforests to preserve their ecological value.

It turns out that state forests are not held in trust for the financial benefit of certain timber-addicted counties.

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

“It’s a home ignition problem, not a wildfire control problem.” —Jack Cohen, USDA Forest Service fire scientist

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.

Upon the election last November of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., as the 46th president of the United States, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief for the environment, the body politic, and the republic. Goodbye, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Total suppression was neverpossible. Large wildfires have always ended either because they ran out of fuel or, most often, because the weather changed. (How many times have I read a newspaper quote from a fire boss or the fire’s public relations flack to the effect: “We had the fire under control, but then the weather changed.”

The authors of Ecological Forest Managementhave thrown down the gauntlet. The battle between traditional production forestry (PF) and ecological forest management (EFM) for the hearts and minds of forestry students everywhere, for the profession of forestry itself, and for the acceptance of the public has been joined.

Soon after a wildfire, forests undergo a remarkable transformation. Large dead and remaining live trees, native plants, and seed sources act as “biological legacies” that “lifeboat” a forest from new growth to old growth over a period of decades to centuries. Biological legacies provide habitat for scores of pollinators, songbirds and woodpeckers, small mammals, and big game species that readily populate burn areas, including many species that thrive in them.

Part 2: Simply an Excuse and a Mandate to Clear-Cut

In 1986, Congress enacted the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act to, among other things, “establish a national scenic area to protect and provide for the enhancement of the scenic, cultural, recreational, and natural resources of the Columbia River Gorge.” In 2017, Representative Greg Walden (R-2nd-OR) proposes to throw it out the window.