Posts by Rachel Fazio
Feinstein, Brown Promote Misinformed and Destructive Logging Programs
March 8, 2016
By Chad Hanson, Ph.D.
Earth Island Journal Online
Dead trees in our forests do not increase fire risk, they create rare and extremely biodiverse habitat necessary for the health of our forests and California wildlife. While politicians such as Senator Feinstein and Governor Brown are using natural processes such as fire and increases in native bark beetle populations to propose tax payer funded increases in logging across State and Federal lands, the science is telling us this is the wrong way to go.
Read MoreWildfires: A ‘Nuked’ Landscape and Burned Tree Seeds
By Brittany Patterson
E&E Reporter
The Rim Fire blazed through the alpine forest of California’s Sierra Nevada in 2013, growing into one of the largest and most expensive wildfires in the state’s history. Today, many researchers are racing to discover how this new fire regime is affecting California’s diverse landscapes, from the highest subalpine forests to shrubby chaparral.
Read MoreForest Ecology with Chad Hanson, Ph.D.
Ecology Hour on KZYX | Conversation about the importance of low, moderate and high intensity fire for forest ecosystem health in California. Rarer than old-growth forest and just as biodiverse, let’s let science guide management rather than fear.
Read MoreExperts: Fight Fire with Fire
By Joshua Emerson Smith
San Diego Union Tribune
California’s forests could benefit from more fires, according to scientists and state officials tasked with protecting people and property from high-intensity blazes. The state’s ongoing epidemic of dead or dying trees has stoked fears about increased wildfires, but scientists and state officials agreed the dead wood may not be the threat many believe. Rather, they expressed the need for longer-term strategies to protect backcountry homes and businesses.
Read MoreLast Chance to Tell the Forest Service: Preserve Remaining Snag Forest Habitat in the Rim Fire Area! Please Take Action by July 27, 2016.
Wildflowers in Rim Fire Snag Forest: Stanislaus National Forest, June 2016. Photo Credit: Chad Hanson. The Stanislaus National Forest is in the process of finalizing their Rim fire “Reforestation” decision which will determine whether they will maintain the unlogged high intensity burned areas which still exist in the National Forest portion of the Rim Fire…
Read MoreFocus: Do Dead or Dying Trees Raise WildFire Risk?
By Joshua Emerson Smith
San Diego Union Tribune
As a record number of trees stand dead or dying in California’s forests due to drought and beetle infestations, concerns are mounting that the die-off is creating an abundance of fuel likely to trigger wildfires that could threaten homes and lives. However, an emerging body of science finds little evidence to support these fears.
Read MoreState, San Diego County Grapple with Historic Tree Die-Off
By Joshua Emerson Smith
San Diego Union Tribune
As wildfires burn in Southern California, a debate is smoldering about what to do with millions of dead and dying trees — which have been ravaged by drought and beetle species up and down the state.
Read MoreDead Trees Aren’t a Wildfire Threat, but Overlogging Them Will Ruin our Forest Ecosystems
June 27, 2016
By Chad Hanson, Ph.D.
Los Angeles Times Op-Ed
There are now 66 million dead trees in California’s forests due to several years of drought and native bark beetles. Stirring up fear to promote increased logging and funding from Congress, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack claims that these trees create a “catastrophic” wildfire threat. The science disagrees.
Read MoreChristmas In June? Yes, “Clearcuts for Christmas” Legislation is back, and its as bad as ever!
We need your help to put this draft legislation on the right track. Comments are due to the Committee by Monday, June 13, 2016, please send in yours today!
Read MoreHelp Save Spotted Owls, Black-backed Woodpeckers, and Shrub-Nesting Birds in the Rim Fire!
Don’t let the remaining biodiverse snag forest habitat in the Rim Fire . . . turn into another sterilized clearcut to subsidize the biomass industry at taxpayer expense! The Stanislaus National Forest has already heavily logged, and clearcut, over 8,000 acres of wildlife-rich “snag forest habitat” on national forest lands in the Rim fire area,…
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