Posts by Jennifer Mamola
Wildfire, Active Management, and Community Safety: PIELC 2026
At the 2026 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, Dr. Chad Hanson shares new research about the influence of dense forests on fire intensity. Unsurprisingly, the study found no meaningful link between how long a forest has gone without fire and how severely it burns.
Read MoreIf the giant sequoia is dying out, why are there tens of thousands of seedlings and saplings?
Los Angeles Times
By Doug Smith
Recalling my experience with Hanson, I suggested we go off-trail up the brushy slope. As we pushed our way through, saplings appeared on all sides, hidden until we came within a few feet.
Read MoreMy Turn – What you’re not being told about forest ‘thinning’
March 12, 2026
By Chad Hanson
Methow Valley News
Recently, a guest column in the Methow Valley News by Susan Prichard, a well-known promoter of logging on our national forests, took aim at me in the course of attempting to advocate for a series of large logging projects being proposed and implemented right now on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (“Setting the record straight about forest restoration,” Nov. 13, 2025).
Read MoreFilm Documentary | The Great Big Giant Sequoia Scam
In 2020 and 2021, the Castle and KNP Complex fires burned through Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park and Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, igniting a government and media firestorm. In June 2025, a team of researchers visited Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park and found something remarkable. Watch our film, The Great Big Giant Sequoia Scam!
Read MoreCut Food Aid, Log the Forests: The Farm Bill’s Cruel Bargain
This is not about protecting communities from wildfire. This is a blank check for the logging-industrial complex, written in the language of crisis.
Read MoreProtecting Homes, Not Policing Forests
The real wildfire disasters occur when communities are impacted, and the real driver of community wildfire disasters is exposure: ember-driven, structure-to-structure ignition, a reality that the FOFA logging bill largely ignores.
Read MoreWildfire Urgency Unites Congress. The ‘Fix Our Forests’ Act Does Not.
Inside Climate News
By Katie Surma
The Fix Our Forests Act is a logging bill cynically masquerading as a community wildfire protection measure, and the bitter irony is that the bill would likely exacerbate wildfires and put communities at even greater risk.
Read MoreThey Voted While the Ashes Were Still Falling
Americans deserve wildfire legislation that defends people, not smoke-filled headlines. While tragedies like the LA fires rightly drew attention, the political narrative used them to push policy rather than reflect the broader reality.
Read MoreFire Works. FOFA Logs. Don’t Be Fooled.
Public lands and taxpayers deserve solutions grounded in demonstrated outcomes – not a logging-first narrative repeatedly contradicted by the very fires used to justify it.
Read MoreBack From the Road, Back to the Fight
The early contours of “Reconciliation 2.0” are deeply concerning: punitive fees on environmental litigation, expanded categorical exclusions for forest management, and broader efforts to dilute procedural environmental protections under the banner of efficiency. These moves are not about resilience. They are about shifting power from communities and public accountability back toward concentrated interests.
Read More