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Forest degradation is one of the major factors contributing to a loss of global biodveristy and ecosystem integrity. Like many other forests in the West, the Deschutes National Forest is degrading public land in the name of restoration. One destructive activity they are currently implementing is the mystification of shrubs in the understory of trees.

Longtime habitat management techniques don’t stimulate vegetation growth in one sagebrush subspecies and may have detrimental effects on sage grouse and sagebrush-reliant songbirds, several studies show. The subtitle could be “No Sh#t Sherlock”. ts always nice when science is heard. For decades virtually all sage grouse experts were against killing sagebrush for sage grouse. The

One of the common myths perpetuated by the livestock industry is that fire supression has allowed juniper to increase across the West, though under natural conditions juniper has long fire rotations of hundreds of years, so not significantly impacted by fire supression. Some studies suggest juniper expansion may be a natural consequence of climate change.

The Forest Service is proposing to amend the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP). The NWFP was created to protect old-growth forests and wildlife.The new plan proposals would weaken the protection of public forests. The NWFP was implemented in response to excessive logging ravaging many acres of public patrimony with massive clearcuts that turned public forests

A recent commentary in the Addison Independent supported logging a portion of the Worcester Range in Vermont, arguing that it would “improve” the forest“health” and “resilience.” As a former Vermont resident and an ecologist, I suggest the commentary’s signatories are promoting an anthropocentric, not a biocentric perspective. Ironically, the title of their commentary is “Science-based”