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

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

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.

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.

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

A huge amount of federal land is dedicated to domestic livestock grazing to produce a very small amount of feed and forage for the nation’s beef and lamb supply.

The FSC is back with a new document signaling its continuing quest to certify wood products that come from federal public lands (including units of the National Park System) as being “environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous.” The standards FSC is proposing to apply to federal forestlands are little more than what is required of federal land management agencies now, if that. It’s called greenwashing.

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?

The old forests of the Pacific Northwest are in far better condition today than they would be if not for Professors Jerry F. (for Forest!) Franklin and K. Norman Johnson. “Norm and Jerry,” as they are affectionately (or, depending upon your point of view, derisively) known, have had a greater positive impact on federal forest policy in the Pacific Northwest than any other individuals.

Soon after the first attacks on the roadless rule, legislation was introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to “codify” the roadless rule into a statute, making it part of the United States Code. The first roadless area bills were introduced in 2002 in the 107th Congress. The bills have been reintroduced in most, but not all, Congresses since 2002 and are due to be introduced again.

The proposed River Democracy Act (RDA) would expand 42 existing wild and scenic rivers (WSRs) and establish 81 new wild and scenic rivers. All the proposed new and expanded components are listed at the end of this post.

This preremembrance is the first of an Oregon conservationist who never held elected office (though Brock tried once) or was the environmental soul of one who did. I’d had it in the back of my mind to preremember Brock, but other Public Lands Blog topics kept taking priority. Now the publication of Brock’s autobiography makes this preremembrance rise to the top.

The Elliott State Forest (ESF) was about to be sold to a timber syndicate that would promptly liquidate almost all of its remaining old trees. Reaction to the State Land Board’s 2016 plan to sell the Elliott State Forest to a timber syndicate. Source: Francis Eatherington.

If not for the Cold War (1945–1991), there might well have been a national park in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. In his brief time among us, Simons was instrumental in the establishment of North Cascades National Park in Washington and was just turning his focus to the establishment of a Cascade Volcanic National Park in Oregon.

This is the second of two Public Lands Blog posts on the public value of state trust lands and how such lands might be brought into public ownership. Part 1 was a national overview, while Part 2 focuses on state trust lands in Oregon.

This is the third of three Public Lands Blog posts that consider the desire of the Forest Service to amend a provision of the “Eastside Screens,” standards designed to protect public forests east of the Cascade Range. Part 1 examined the history, science, and politics leading up to the adoption of the Eastside Screens and their implementation since then. Part 2 explored issues both of management and of the science behind the management. Part 3 suggests what the Forest Service could do to improve the Eastside Screens, in both the short and long term.

This is the second of what were to be two but now are three Public Lands Blog posts that consider the desire of the Forest Service to amend a provision of the “Eastside Screens,” standards designed to protect public forests east of the Cascade Range. Part 1 examined the history, science, and politics leading up to the adoption of the Eastside Screens and their implementation since then. Part 2 explores issues both of management and of the science behind the management. Part 3 will suggest what the Forest Service could do to improve the Eastside Screens, in both the short and long term.

This is the first of two Public Lands Blog posts that consider the desire of the Forest Service to amend a provision of the “Eastside Screens,” standards designed to protect public forests east of the Cascade Range. Part 1 examines the history, science, and politics leading up to the adoption of the Eastside Screens and their implementation since then. Part 2 will suggest what the Forest Service could do to improve the Eastside Screens, in both the short and long term.

Legislation introduced by New Mexico’s two Democratic US senators would severely undermine the integrity of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (NWSRS). Yes, S.3670 has some good provisions, but it also has some bad and downright ugly provisions.