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Forest Journalism for a Sustainable Future

Why the inevitable wildfire doesn’t mean inevitable home losses

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Colorado’s Hayman fire burned 138,000 acres and 133 homes in 2002. U.S. Forest Service photo.

One hundred million Americans live in or near fire-prone forests and grasslands. Every summer, some of those forests erupt in flames that quickly ignite homes, some leaping ahead miles in a few minutes.

The CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” recently devoted an episode to the nation’s wildfire problem – why the fires are growing larger and more difficult to fight, and what homeowners can do to protect their property from the inevitable flames.

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The report includes an interview with a former firefighter and with the former deputy secretary of Agriculture who oversaw the U.S. Forest Service, an agency that now spends more than half of its annual budget on firefighting. They provided the background. [Read more…]

Forest partnership website off to rocky start

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The North American Forest Partnership wants to establish Walk in the Woods as a reliable source of information about forestry. Photo: Bethany Atkins.

A coalition of timber companies, government agencies, universities and conservation groups launched a website, Walk in the Woods, earlier this month to share stories about sustainable forestry.

The North American Forest Partnership said its research showed that Americans are tired of hearing from policy makers and industry spokesmen, so the new site will provide personal stories from people who work in forestry and conservation.

But the website’s debut was marred when several inauthentic stories were published, and subsequently removed while the coalition’s leadership establishes publication guidelines and procedures for the site.

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Treesource board chair advocates stronger connections between foresters, journalists

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One of the reasons we launched Treesource.org was to help foster a new, stronger relationship between professional journalists and foresters. It’s a mission that demands a genuine commitment to face-to-face communication, a good measure of risk-taking, and the willingness to trust one another.

Recently, our board chairman had an opportunity to talk about the need for a stronger connection between foresters and the journalists who cover their life’s work. The occasion was the annual meeting of the Montana Chapter of the Society of American Foresters. Frank Edward Allen was the keynote speaker.

We present his talk here, so you too might have the opportunity to hear what he’s learned after 50 years in journalism – and after interviewing a host of Montana foresters and journalists about how their relationships could be improved. [Read more…]

Western communities create partnerships to restore forests, protect watersheds

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Smoke from the Schultz Fire rises as the sun sets for the day. Taken 6/20/10 by Brady Smith. Credit: USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest.
Smoke from the Schultz Fire rises as the sun sets for the day. Taken 6/20/10 by Brady Smith. Credit: USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest.

It was risky, Paul Summerfelt concedes, to ask voters for an unprecedented $10 million bond issue for forest and watershed restoration.

But the greater risk was to do nothing – to wait for the inevitable wildfire that damaged, or destroyed, the city of Flagstaff’s drinking water supply.

So Summerfelt, the city’s wildland fire program manager, took a deep breath and joined his colleagues in local government and the firefighting community and made the request. [Read more…]

Restoration renaissance: A new paradigm in John Day

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The Corner Cup Coffee House, John Day, Oregon. (Marcus Kauffman/Oregon Department of Forestry)

The remote rural community of John Day, Oregon, is enjoying a restoration renaissance. The only mill left in the county, Malheur Lumber Co., is humming along with 104 employees working extended hours processing a steady supply of logs from federal forest restoration projects. Restoration work has become an economic engine for the community: Careful thinning of smaller trees increases forest resilience while providing additional material for local industry. And the results are real: Local school enrollment has grown from 570 to 615 students, the highest it’s been in fifteen years. Unemployment has fallen from a high of 14 percent in 2012 to 8.9 percent in 2015. Community leaders hope that more jobs will give the younger generation a reason to stay in, or come back to, the community.

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