Short-Term Memory is Not Science: Rethinking Forest “Management” in the Age of Disinformation

“It’s human nature to assume that what we have today is what we’ll have tomorrow.” — Twelve Trees, Daniel Lewis

“Short-term memory is never a substitute for long-term evidence.” — Twelve Trees, Daniel Lewis

These two lines capture exactly how we’ve gone wrong with forests.

We assume today’s forest is normal and will persist. We assume wildfire, drought stress, and tree death signal unnatural failure, that more “management” — usually meaning logging — is the cure. We assume agencies act in the public interest and that citing “science” means the debate is settled.

But these assumptions are exploited.

But across the country, from national forests to state and county-managed public lands, these assumptions are being exploited. Forests are being logged under the banner of “resilience,” trees are being labeled “fuel,” and fire is being cast as the enemy–even as climate models and ecological evidence tell a much more complex story.

In Colorado, the investigation Forest Fire Malfeasance exposed how government officials, industry trade groups, and university affiliates colluded to suppress independent science to push large-scale logging under wildfire protection claims.

This was not just misinformation. It was disinformation — coordinated efforts to obscure inconvenient science, discredit critics, and manipulate public perception. Hundreds of internal emails revealed a campaign to hide research showing that “fuel reduction” logging often worsens wildfire effects, with one stating:

“Engaging in toe-to-toe trench warfare with competing science papers would result in stalemate — and win for the opponents.”

The “opponents” are scientists, ecological advocates, and communities asking: What evidence are you using? What are you ignoring? Why is this conversation behind closed doors?

This is a national problem — a dangerous erosion of public oversight on public lands.

In Twelve Trees, Daniel Lewis describes the “20th century curl,” a blank section in fire-scarred tree rings where centuries of fire vanish, replaced by an unnatural stillness. For eons, fire has moved through these landscapes–sometimes low-intensity, sometimes patchy and severe–shaping the natural rhythms of the ecosystem. Then came suppression, not just of fire but of the entire ecological process: snag creation, patchy regeneration, and nutrient cycling.

This long pause was not restoration. It was an unnatural disruption.

Our fact sheets show forests are not overstocked; they’re recovering. The real threat is aggressive removal of trees and the destruction of ecological functions. Industry science itself supports this, showing that “fuel reduction” logging can exacerbate wildfire effects and put communities at greater risk.

Fire-adapted ecosystems evolved over eons with fire–they know better than any human using LiDAR (laser imaging, detection, and ranging) or chainsaws. Our role should be to respect those systems, not to try to control or replace them.

At the same time, nearly 40% of Americans live in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where the greatest fire risk to homes exist. People in these areas must take responsibility, to prepare: through home hardening, creating defensible space, and smarter development. Redirecting funds to these measures, and granting nature the right to govern fire where it belongs, would improve safety and ecosystem integrity.

No logging project can replicate natural fire’s complexity. No thinning operation stands in for centuries of co-evolution. And no amount of PR can hide the fact that forests are not failing — we are.

If public land managers want trust, they must earn it. That means transparency, embracing peer-reviewed science even when it contradicts agency talking points, and rejecting short-term memory in favor of long-term evidence.

The future of forests won’t be shaped by what we say we believe, it will be shaped by whose evidence we choose to trust, and whose voices we allow in the room. Real resilience comes from honest evidence, not empty promises.

Watch this video from Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado, June 10 2024