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Forest Journalism for a Sustainable Future

Forest restoration project saved homes, but can it be duplicated across the West?

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This Aug. 28, 2017 photo from Inciweb shows a wildfire near Sisters, Ore. A few months before the fire, the U.S. Forest Service and local environmental, logging and recreational interests thinned part of the overgrown forest, creating a buffer zone around Sisters. Photo: Inciweb

Folks in Sisters, Oregon, are crediting an auspiciously timed collaborative forest-thinning project with saving homes – and some are even saying, their community – this summer when a wildfire marched their way.

And while experts near and far agree the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project slowed the fire and gave firefighters a chance at containment, they wonder how often and widespread the collaborative project can be replicated in Western forests that historically burned at regular intervals.

In the case of Sisters, the restoration work happened last spring and included thinning trees and brush as well as prescribed burns. The intent was to create a buffer zone around the tourist town, and it worked precisely as intended. [Read more…]

Scientists: Climate change, ‘flash drought’ ignited 2017 wildfire season

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Among the casualties of this summer’s extreme wildfires was Sperry Chalet, one of two remaining backcountry chalets in Glacier National Park. Photo: National Park Service

Wildfires continue to burn vast scars across the West, but the political blowback has already begun, with politicians from several states blaming environmentalists for the summer of 2017’s devastation.

But scientists at the National Weather Service and the U.S. Drought Monitor are clear about the conditions that sent this summer’s Western wildfire season into overdrive – even if they didn’t see it coming.

A “flash drought” seized Montana and the Dakotas in early summer, the experts say, brought on by sustained high temperatures and a dearth of rain.

They blame climate change, and warn that these type of events will only become more frequent as global warming deepens. [Read more…]

Beetles, mines threaten Montana capital’s forested watershed

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Almost five miles of wooden flumes and trestles, constructed by the Helena Water Works Company in the late 1800s, deliver drinking water from the Tenmile watershed to the city of Helena. Photo: U.S Forest Service

HELENA, Montana – Cooks crowd the kitchen to spice the pot known as the Tenmile Creek watershed on the Helena/Lewis and Clark National Forest.

The city of Helena, Montana’s capital, relies on the 53-square-mile Tenmile watershed as its main source of drinking water for about 30,000 people. The supply system includes almost five miles of wooden flumes and trestles, constructed by the Helena Water Works Company in the late 1800s and purchased by the city in 1911.  

Yet the 26,000-acre watershed has the dubious distinction of having the worst conditions of all the national forests and grasslands in Montana and portions of Idaho and the Dakotas, according to a 2011 report, based in part on historic mining and logging activity. [Read more…]

Skiers unexpected, but passionate advocates for climate protection

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Porter Fox
“Our planet’s climate is warming,” says author Porter Fox. “And when it gets hot, snow melts. That is the simple reality that cannot be avoided. As long as the climate is warming, you’ll see less and less snow around the world. And regardless of what your politics are or how many snow guns you’ve got, there is no way to stop what a 2- or 3-degree temperature increase will mean: less snow in the backyard and in the mountains, less runoff, diminished streamflows, degraded river habitat.” Photo: Courtesy Porter Fox

 

Porter Fox is not a fortune teller. He has no crystal ball.

Rather, he is a skier turned ski writer – the most prolific in the industry, known for his meticulous research and fierce love of winter and snow and the lifestyle they support.

So when Fox’s attention turned to the Earth’s elevating temperature, and its potentially devastating impact on winter, he was driven to share that story everywhere he could find a listening or reading audience. [Read more…]