Hundreds of emails from a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request show indisputable evidence of Jefferson County Commissioners and Open Space staff colluding with 23 government officials, land management agencies, logging industry trade groups, NGOs, a university, a fire department, and a government-funded “collaborative” on an orchestrated disinformation campaign to push through thousands of acres of controversial “fuel reduction” logging (including clearcutting and removal of trees up to 211 years old) in Colorado public forests.
The report, Forest Fire Malfeasance (https://forestfiremalfeasance.org), reveals dozens of excerpted quotes and email screenshots organized in the following categories: Disinformation, Deceiving Media, Targeting Ecological Advocates, and Defamation.
Forest Fire Malfeasance uncovers how the unprecedented scale and scope of degradation of biodiverse, carbon-storing forests in Colorado is the result of a concerted effort to intentionally mislead and deceive citizens, elected officials, and media through the bad faith denial, misrepresentation, and/or dismissal of peer-reviewed science and community concerns—evidence they themselves privately admit to the validity of—while publicly smearing and defaming scientists, science writers, and citizen advocates as disreputable for publishing or quoting from such studies.
One such email from federally-funded Colorado Forest Restoration Institute (CFRI) at Colorado State University to U.S. Forest Service’s Pike & San Isabel National Forest (currently proposing the largest logging project in Colorado history), and forwarded through Jefferson County Open Space (pushing some of the most aggressive “fuel reduction” in the state), privately acknowledges that abundant science contests the efficacy of “wildfire fuel reduction,” and that the agencies “overpromise” results from such cutting, while advising to never admit this to the media or public, thereby eroding the credibility of independent scientists, ecological advocates, and concerned citizens.
One quote reads, “There are numerous studies demonstrating both effectiveness and lack of effectiveness of forest density reduction (“forest thinning”) projects on altering fire behavior and effects. Engaging in toe-to-toe trench warfare with competing science papers would result in stalemate – and win for the opponents.”
Other emails show land management agencies and logging industry trade groups providing provably false information and defaming ecological advocates to reporters to (often successfully) convince outlets NOT to report on scientifically-contested and controversial “fuel reduction” on public lands—while blacklisting critics—or to only do so from the logging industry/agency perspective.
Another email reveals Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper directing the chief of a local fire department to investigate the funding of a small grassroots nonprofit critical of public lands logging.
Colluding entities in Forest Fire Malfeasance include: U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State Representative Lisa Cutter, Colorado State Forest Service, Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper, Jefferson County Open Space, Jefferson County Sheriff Department, Denver Mountain Parks, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University, Federal Timber Purchasers Committee (FTPC), Colorado Timber Industry Association, Society of American Foresters, Intermountain Forest Association, Conifer Area Council, The Nature Conservancy, and many more.
The consequences of this government malfeasance are not simply harm to forest ecosystems, watersheds, wildlife populations including endangered species, carbon-storage and sequestration, and recreational opportunities. Ironically, the outcome is a likely increase in community vulnerability to wildfire through widespread tree removal—which dries out and heats up the forest microclimate and opens stands to wind which can rapidly spread flames, potentially overwhelming evacuees and firefighters—while commandeering taxpayer dollars and attention away from the ONLY actions scientifically proven to protect communities: home hardening and defensible space pruning up to 100 feet around structures.
Eco-Integrity Alliance 