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BIG BEAR CITY, California (18 Jan 2018)- Wildlife ecologists studying the rare spotted owl in the forests of California have discovered that large, intense wildfires are not responsible for abandonment of breeding territories. Instead, the researchers found that post-fire logging operations, which are common on both private and National Forest lands, most likely caused declines…

  The reduction of Bears Ears National Monument to 15% of the original size has been a controversial topic in the western states since the action was proposed in the early days of the Trump presidency, and rightly so. This vast geological wonderland was given Monument protection by President Obama under the Antiquities Act to…

No Anti-environmental Riders on Government Funding!   As Congress attempts to keep the government open as the year comes to a close , conservationists voice their concern over controversial provisions which would roll back environmental laws, weaken protections for endangered species and exacerbate climate change.  From Gray Wolves, to National Forests, to the Sage Grouse,…

Clark County Wetlands Park, Las Vegas Nevada. Photo from Vegas.com website.   When you think of wildfires, you may not immediately think of wetlands. But the seldom seen blazes in these ecosystems carry incredible ecological benefits! Wetlands are areas of land that are saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally. What makes wetlands so distinct…

As many of you know, neighborhoods in Southern California have been heavily and tragically impacted by fire over the past week.  One of the Myths that has been floating around for years, and gains traction whenever there is a fire which affects communities, is that increasing logging (or as they now like to call it…

December 4, 2017 In the West, we often have periods of drought.  With these periods of drought our native bark beetle populations have a tendency to increase.  This is a natural process, nature’s design for balancing our ecosystems in times of scarcity, which results in the least fit trees within our forests being killed.  Ecologists…

On June 22, 2017 the John Muir Project organized and participated in a panel briefing for Congressional offices to help inform them about the science related to Wildfires.  Over 39 Congressional and Senate offices as well as committee staff from both houses attended the briefing.  In addition, John Muir Project produced a live video feed…

About four years ago, the Rim Fire spread across and burned 257,000 acres near and in Yosemite National Park. In the immediate aftermath of that fire logging interests began pressing the U.S. Forest Service to open up burned forest lands to clearcutting. Environmentalists challenged the logging interests, in an effort to protect California Spotted Owls…

                                               Long range photo looking into King Fire Burn Area, March 2015. Photo Credit Chad Hanson  A recent study funded and housed by the Forest Service claimed that the 2014 King fire resulted…

Photo looking into beetle kill area, May 2016. Sierra National Forest. Photo Credit: Chad Hanson.   California Governor Jerry Brown invited the John Muir Project’s Dr. Chad Hanson to a discussion with several scientists affiliated with the U.S. Forest Service and the Governor’s administration at the Governor’s offices in Sacramento, CA in July 2016.  Despite the high…