In The News

By Noah Haggerty
Los Angeles Times

Some fire researchers say taking simple steps to clear yards, roofs and gutters of flammable vegetation and ensuring there is absolutely no opening for embers to get inside – whether a dog door, a vent or an open window – can virtually fireproof a home.

By Clayton Sandell
Scripps News

There is concern among scientists and conservation groups that the administration isn’t doing enough to preserve old growth and mature forests on public land.

KNX News

Hanson, author of Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate, said, “[CAL Fire and the US Forest Service] do some things that are really helpful and are very productive and effective and some things that are not. So it’s really kind of a mixed bag.”

By Ryner
Weather News Point

The US Forest Service, responsible for managing national forests and a significant portion of the country’s old growth, has not included mature trees in its new conservation strategy. Conservationists argue that the plan has loopholes that permit continued logging of centuries-old trees and that required reviews of logging projects are not being properly conducted, endangering the remaining old growth forests.

The Guardian

“The largest logging projects I’ve ever seen are targeting the last, best remaining old growth trees left in the country,” said Chad Hanson, a forest ecologist and co-founder of the John Muir Project. “We have a rogue agency in the Forest Service that is trying to benefit the logging industry before reforms take place,” he said. “The situation is rampant as far as I can tell and it risks squandering a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect these incredible forests.”

By Clark Mindock
Landmark

“The truth is the Chevron decision has been a mixed bag for the environment because deference to agency interpretations of environmental laws is only helpful if the agencies are trying to protect the environment,” said Chad Hanson, a forest ecologist with the Earth Island Institute’s John Muir Project.

By Vanessa Arredondo
Reckon

“These unchecked logging practices would lead to increased wildfire risk while also weakening environmental safeguards … that are crucial to maintaining these ecosystems and ensuring that these activities don’t harm endangered species or degrade the environment,” said Jennifer Mamola, the advocacy and policy director, for the John Muir Project.

By Grace Toohey
Los Angeles Times

California’s summer is off to a fiery start after an explosion of wildfire activity across the state this week, with blazes stretching firefighting resources thin, forcing evacuations and scorching several homes, businesses and bone-dry hillsides.

By Adam Popescu
NewScientist: Life

Recent years have seen some of the largest wildfires in California’s history, and one of the best approaches to limiting their damage is controlled burns that reduce natural fuel for the fires. But now, it seems these burns are destroying the state’s iconic sequoia trees.

By Samantha Hawkins
Bloomberg Law

The US Forest Service approved a logging project in the Plumas National Forest without adequately assessing its environmental effects, environmental groups said in a lawsuit filed Friday in California federal court. The $650 million Central/West Slope Project plans to log and burn 217,721 acres of mature and old-growth habitat in Plumas National Forest, located in the northern Sierra Nevadas, John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute and other groups said in the lawsuit.