Massive tree die offs in the Rockies are caused by global warming and Trump is making the problem much worse.
Category: National Forests
Western Governor’s Association Target of Massive Protest
On Monday, June 23, at least a thousand New Mexicans gathered outside the Western Governor’s Conference to protest public land policies championed by Trump cabinet secretaries inside the Eldorado Hotel …
Plans Afoot to Divest Most National Parks to Locals and Private Interests
Think about what happens to you when you finally pry yourself out of your routine, out of the comfort of home and stores and go outside. If you are lucky …
Jemez Pueblo and the Valles Caldera National Preserve
The Valles Caldera National Preserve is a ninety-thousand-acre experiment in democracy and self-governance. This beautiful and complicated high-country landscape has deep intrinsic value of its wildlife, plants and waters. When …
National Park Service in Crisis
The federal workforce costs taxpayers $350 billion per year. That’s about 5% of the $6.5 trillion budget. The US Department of Interior employs about 63,000 people nationwide. The bulk of the federal budget goes to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Defense.
Firefighter Shortage Threatens the West
According to the Forest Service, 45% of their permanent firefighting workforce has quit in the last three years.
John Wesley Powell Wanted to Denude the Rocky Mountains
In line with his singular focus on water for farms and towns, Powell opposed the creation of the forest reserves, the precursors to the national forests. He worried that a Forest Service would compete for money with his US Geologic Survey and didn’t want the Forest Reserve designation to prevent dams from being built to feed farms water.
Time for More Prescribed Fire
Despite recent prescribed fire escapes, we need to ramp up prescribed burning in northern New Mexico and treat many more acres before another dry windy spring causes problems.
Is Wildland Firefighting a Waste of Tax Dollars?
In 2023 when megafires erupt across North America, and our national forests seem trapped in an escalating yet faltering war on wildfire, it might be good to look back …
Biden Focuses on Western Fire Issues
The United States has a vast area of public forest that needs to burn. Wildfires chip away at these hundreds of millions of acres of decadent forest every year. …
