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Misunderstanding the complexity of forests and wildfires: Calling them ‘complex’ shouldn’t be an excuse to manage them; it should be a reminder to listen. In Part 1, we unpacked some of the most common myths we see repeated about wildfire and forests; the ones that crop up under nearly every post about fire ecology. Part…

The Misinformation Machine and the Myths that Keep it Running Our recent series on the so-called “Fix Our Forests Act” (FOFA) drew in a gaggle of comments, many thoughtful and supportive, some misinformed, and some outright dismissive. Others repeated long-debunked talking points or revealed just how deep logging industry messaging runs. It was, in many…

Observations from the road, the forest, and the resilience of life. I’ve been struggling lately, with work and with words. Writing takes me hours, even full weekends, as I try to articulate the strife I feel and propose solutions rather than just complain. Yet I always end up tangenting — after all, it’s all connected.…

Shutdown season may freeze federal employees’ pay, but it does nothing to stop logging agendas and forest destruction as both remain on the fast track, exposing where the true priorities lie. Many federal employees are furloughed, offices sit empty, and essential government functions grind to a halt. Security and stability for ordinary Americans hang in…

 A walk through fall colors reminds us of resilience, the wisdom of trees and their networks, and what is still possible. I headed out to Golden Gate Canyon State Park this week to catch some of the local Colorado fall colors. The trail was paved in yellow, a soft carpet of fallen leaves that guided…

Preserving the Sanctuaries That Ground and Uplift Us All When I first arrived in Washington D.C., over a decade ago, I noticed how the first question after “What’s your name?” is often “Where do you work?” It reminded me of my time in Uganda, where the question was always “What’s your name?” and “Where do…

Edited Out of Context: A Millennial in the Media Machine I recently participated in my first on-camera interview, for a segment on Stossel TV that had been pitched to me as a conversation about whether public lands should be sold for housing. In the interview, I explained that this is a manufactured crisis, and if…

Tomorrow, the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing titled The State of Our Nation’s Federal Forests. The title alone sets the tone: as if our forests are in crisis, waiting for Congress and industry to swoop in with chainsaws and prescriptions. This isn’t the fault of a single administration or party. For decades, political…

When abstract reasoning ignores the science: how lofty ideas about wilderness mislead wildfire policy. Last week, the Los Angeles Times’ Noah Haggerty published a Boiling Point newsletter piece titled, “To solve the wildfire crisis, we have to let the myth of ‘the wild’ die.” It argues that John Muir’s belief in protecting wilderness as “untouched”…

Washington’s Climate Plan: A Step Forward on Forest Protection, but a Step Back on Fire and Bioenergy. Washington state is often a leader in climate policy, so it was encouraging to see its new Draft Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) recognize the crucial role our forests play in fighting climate change. The plan correctly identifies…

Across the globe, people hold countless ways of seeing the natural world. Some draw meaning from scientific understandings of evolution, others from religious or spiritual creation lore, and still others from cultural traditions that see land, water, and all living beings as kin. What unites these varied worldviews is an understanding that the natural world…

The Science, the Stakes, and the Urgent Call to Defend Roadless Wildlands By John Muir Project, Western Watersheds Project, and Eco-Integrity Alliance Our National Forest system contains over 58 million acres of roadless wild lands. These areas, rich in biodiversity, are among the last strongholds of wilderness in the lower 48 states. But today, these…

Each year, the dominant narrative around wildfire focuses on trying to control wildfire “out there” in the backcountry. Logging and vegetation removal are touted as the solution, rooted in the misbelief that if we can just remove “fuels,” aka the trees and shrubs that create forest habitat, with these extractive activities, we can keep fire…

Breaking the myth of “wildfire” and facing our roles in the flames. The word wildfire sounds dramatic — raw, “natural,” something beyond our control. But there’s nothing natural about fires sparked by fireworks, power lines, or abandoned campfires. These aren’t wilderness events. They are human-triggered disasters, made worse by failing infrastructure, reckless development, and negligence.…

From Galileo to Groundtruthers, history shows us what happens when evidence threatens empire. For more than a century, U.S. forest policy has treated wildlands as a malfunction to fix: too dense, too flammable, too untidy. Fire was cast as an enemy to be crushed, not a partner in the oldest ecological dance on Earth. This…

“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,…

A response to SEEC’s climate-and-parks report, and the pantomime of progress around it. Yesterday’s rollout of the new report, America’s Best Idea in Peril, by the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Institute (SEEC) and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks (CPANP), is a case study in political branding eclipsing ecological reality. But what it…

Fast-tracking destruction for the wealthy while defunding endangered species recovery. Section 60026 allows project sponsors (i.e., the developers themselves) to pay to accelerate their own environmental reviews. If they pay 125% of the estimated cost, they can: Have their Environmental Assessments completed in just 6 months. Push through Environmental Impact Statements in 12 months. In…

Inviting mega wind and solar to carve up wildlands, with tax breaks and revenue kickbacks to states and counties. These sections unleash a wave of massive wind and solar energy projects across public lands, including National Forests, by formalizing acreage-based rent formulas and annual capacity fees tied to gross electricity sales. They: Set low per-acre…

While some of the most extreme public sell-off provisions were stripped from H.R. 1, buried within the bill are provisions for a massive expansion of extractive and industry activity across public lands. Beneath the slogans and rhetoric is a suite of policies that would accelerate habitat destruction, strip public oversight, and weaken species protections at…

The John Muir Project just returned from our annual retreat, a time to reconnect with each other—and with the landscapes we are fighting to protect. This year, our time in Sequoia country aligned with the summer solstice, the longest day of the year when light stretches across the landscape and the rhythms of the natural world feel most alive.

An ounce of prevention? Try a pound of industry greenwash. On June 26, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Lands hosted a hearing titled “Advancing Innovative Technologies to Improve Forest Management and Prevent Wildfires.” But in reality, it was a blaze of slick marketing and false panaceas dressed up as innovation. Rep. Tom…

It’s #NationalForestWeek, a time that, on paper, celebrates the beauty and importance of our national forests. But when the week is framed by the very institutions enabling industrial extraction on public lands, the celebration rings hollow. The National Forest Foundation, closely tied to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and industry interests, paints a glossy picture…

Carole King shows her support for ecological nonprofit, John Muir Project, in defending our public lands throughout the Western United States.

What Glossy Campaigns Miss: The Forest’s Future Depends on Defending Its Wild, Messy Beginnings In the growing movement to protect Mature and Old-Growth (MOG) forests, one truth keeps getting left out of the room: The MOG we’re scrambling to defend today began as post-fire habitat. Yes, there’s very little MOG left, and protecting what remains…

The deceptively-named ‘Fix Our Forests‘ Act (FOFA) is picking up speed on Capitol Hill, with little scrutiny and major consequences for our public lands. Your voice, through a simple letter to your local paper, can help expose what’s at stake and slow its momentum. Why Your Voice Matters Right Now The ‘Fix Our Forests‘ Act…

The Same Old Logging Giveaway Threatens Public Lands—Now Riding the Budget Reconciliation Wave Once again, Congress is playing with fire—this time through a dangerous misuse of budget reconciliation. Designed to advance budget-related legislation with a simple majority, this process is being twisted to push through anti-environmental provisions that would shred safeguards, greenlight logging across public…

— ‘Fix Our Forests’ or Feed the Industry? A Reality Check on the May 15th, 2025 House Natural Resources Subcommittee Hearing This week’s House Natural Resources Committee Oversight Hearing — laughably titled Fix Our Forests: How Improved Land Management Can Protect Communities in the Wildland-Urban Interface — was yet another masterclass in business-as-usual greenwashing dressed up…

The Senate’s “Fix Our Forests” Act (FOFA) hearing on May 6, 2025, gave us a master class in how to mislead the public while pushing business-as-usual logging policies that worsen climate change and increase wildfire threats to communities. Despite claims from politicians and forestry officials that this bill is about curbing wildfire and saving towns,…