Blog
Fighting Back — and Dreaming Forward — at PIELC 2026
PIELC, The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference held at the University of Oregon, is a worthy experience, and I would recommend attending to any environmental attorney or activist.
Read MoreNew Science Is Changing How We Protect Giant Sequoias—Policy Should Catch Up
Today, as public concern grows over their future in a changing climate, new science is confirming what these trees have been showing us all along: that high-intensity fire is essential to their survival story. These forests, shaped by varied natural disturbance processes over evolutionary timescales, carry within them a remarkable ability not just to persist, but to thrive after intense wildfire.
Read MoreLosing Sight of Forest Ecology
Across North America, forests evolved with natural disturbance processes such as wildfire and cycles of native insects like bark beetles. The scale and intensity of these processes varied widely in a dynamic dance of constant change, shaping forest structure and the life within it.
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 MoreThe “Fix Our Forests Act” is a Wasteful, Destructive Con: Part 1
Fire is natural and ecologically essential in U.S. forests. There is no scientific disagreement about this. But a political narrative has been circulating in recent years, asserting that it is infeasible to simply manage public forests with fire because many are too dense, or have not burned in many decades.
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 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 MoreA Solstice Salute: Gratitude, Nature, and a Reminder to Keep Speaking Up
As the year winds down, it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate the wild, wonderful forces of nature that shape our landscapes—from fire to flood to beetle outbreaks. These natural disturbances, often demonized in mainstream narratives, are actually the rhythms that sustain resilient forests and ecosystems. We’re also grateful for a little legislative good fortune:…
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