BAKERSFIELD, CA: The Forest Service this week will be holding two public meetings on new management plans for the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests. The forest management plans govern how the forests will be used and protected-- setting priorities for wilderness areas, rivers and streams, fire management, recreation, wildlife protection, and more.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change today issued a special report detailing climate impacts already being seen on lands, and the importance of improving land management and land protection and restoration to address the climate crisis. Among the key findings of the report is the essential role for lands in drawing down and storing carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere. The report also drives home the urgency of action-- stressing that delay in greenhouse gas emissions reductions is closing the window to combat the effects of the climate crisis on lands, creating lasting harm to wild places, wildlife, food and water supplies.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Energy and Natural Resources Committee Member Senator Maria Cantwell and House Natural Resources Committee Member Representative Ruben Gallego today introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act. The bill would permanently codify the Roadless Rule and strengthen protections for 58.5 million acres of pristine National Forest System lands across 39 states from logging and road building. Despite the Roadless Rule’s many successes and the millions of taxpayer dollars it saves, there have been multiple Congressional attempts to strip Roadless Rule protections from millions of acres of public lands. This effort by Representative Gallego and Senator Cantwell will ensure pristine National Forests for generations to come.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the US Forest Service’s federal approval for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross two national forests and the Appalachian Trail.
A Wyoming federal court issued a ruling invalidating long-term approval for a state-run elk feedground on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Gros Ventre River valley, east of Jackson Hole. With the deadly and highly contagious chronic wasting disease (CWD) already within the Yellowstone ecosystem, conservation groups had challenged approval of the Alkali Creek Elk Feedground, which concentrates herds of elk in unhealthy conditions for the winter months.
arlier this week the U.S. Forest Service announced it would be proposing changes to rules that govern how the agency handles oil and gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management in National Forests. Also announced were changes to rules governing hardrock mineral locations. Unsurprisingly, given the Trump administration’s dirty-fuels first agenda, these rule changes are designed to “reduce the burden on industry” and speed leasing on public lands.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today more than a dozen leading forest scientists and experts submitted a letter to Congress warning Farm Bill conferees of dangers inherent in logging provisions included in the House version of the bill.
Today, the Trump administration announced a plan to work with the state of Alaska on a special rule that would undermine protections for millions of acres of pristine, old-growth forest in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Maria Cantwell today introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2018. The Act would permanently codify the Roadless Rule, which safeguards 58.5 million acres of pristine National Forest System lands across 39 states from logging and road building. Despite the Roadless Rule’s many successes and the millions of taxpayer dollars it saves, there have been multiple Congressional attempts to strip Roadless Rule protections from millions of acres of public lands.
The House today failed to pass the 2018 farm bill, though Republicans are vowing to pick the highly partisan legislation up again next week under a motion to reconsider. The bill includes a host of troubling provisions, including weakening the SNAP anti-hunger program, and undermining bedrock environmental safeguards for clean water, wildlife and forests. More than a half dozen measures target millions of acres of pristine national forests for logging. There is also yet another attempt to repeal the Clean Water Rule, which provides certainty and protects waterways feeding the drinking water of 117 million people.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Republicans today released the FY2019 farm bill. The bill weakens the SNAP anti-hunger program and includes provisions undermining bedrock environmental safeguards for clean water, wildlife and forests.
OAKLAND, CA -- At least 21 people have died as wildfires continue to burn across northern California.