September 23, 2019
Today a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that halts, for now, the initial phase of the largest timber sale approved by the U.S. Forest Service in 30 years.
August 27, 2019
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today marks the end of the public comment period for a U.S. Forest Service proposal to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Act ensures environmental analysis of projects affecting public lands and forests. The proposed changes clear the way for increased logging, mining and other destructive development in our forests, even as world scientists stress the urgency of protecting and restoring forests to combat the climate crisis.
August 19, 2019
BAKERSFIELD, CA: The Forest Service this week will be holding two public meetings on new management plans for the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests. The forest management plans govern how the forests will be used and protected-- setting priorities for wilderness areas, rivers and streams, fire management, recreation, wildlife protection, and more.
August 7, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change today issued a special report detailing climate impacts already being seen on lands, and the importance of improving land management and land protection and restoration to address the climate crisis. Among the key findings of the report is the essential role for lands in drawing down and storing carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere. The report also drives home the urgency of action-- stressing that delay in greenhouse gas emissions reductions is closing the window to combat the effects of the climate crisis on lands,…
May 2, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Energy and Natural Resources Committee Member Senator Maria Cantwell and House Natural Resources Committee Member Representative Ruben Gallego today introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act. The bill would permanently codify the Roadless Rule and strengthen protections for 58.5 million acres of pristine National Forest System lands across 39 states from logging and road building. Despite the Roadless Rule’s many successes and the millions of taxpayer dollars it saves, there have been multiple Congressional attempts to strip Roadless Rule protections from millions of…
December 13, 2018
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the US Forest Service’s federal approval for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross two national forests and the Appalachian Trail.
September 17, 2018
A Wyoming federal court issued a ruling invalidating long-term approval for a state-run elk feedground on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Gros Ventre River valley, east of Jackson Hole. With the deadly and highly contagious chronic wasting disease (CWD) already within the Yellowstone ecosystem, conservation groups had challenged approval of the Alkali Creek Elk Feedground, which concentrates herds of elk in unhealthy conditions for the winter months.
September 14, 2018
arlier this week the U.S. Forest Service announced it would be proposing changes to rules that govern how the agency handles oil and gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management in National Forests. Also announced were changes to rules governing hardrock mineral locations. Unsurprisingly, given the Trump administration’s dirty-fuels first agenda, these rule changes are designed to “reduce the burden on industry” and speed leasing on public lands.
August 28, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today more than a dozen leading forest scientists and experts submitted a letter to Congress warning Farm Bill conferees of dangers inherent in logging provisions included in the House version of the bill.
August 2, 2018
Today, the Trump administration announced a plan to work with the state of Alaska on a special rule that would undermine protections for millions of acres of pristine, old-growth forest in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.