155 conservation organizations signed the letter co-written by Eco-Integrity Alliance, John Muir Project, Western Watersheds Project, and Eco Advocates NW urging Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to go beyond simply reinstating the weakened Roadless Rule official rescinded last week.
On episode 94 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we report breaking news on the destructive logging threatening the Bell Smith Springs National Natural Landmark in Illinois and the legal battle on which the future of the Shawnee National Forest depends, with Sam Stearns, founder of Friends of Bell Smith Springs & John Wallace, vice president of Shawnee Park and Climate Alliance)
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Sam and John about:
-The rare wonder that is the Bell Smith Springs National Natural Landmark
-Their lawsuit alleging that the Forest Service has “illegally withheld information from the public” to push through logging plans, including breaking news on its current status
-The crucial role eastern deciduous forests play in climate regulation and biodiversity
-The campaign to designate the eco-region as a Climate Preserve
On episode 93 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get political on the topic of whether elected officials in the Democratic party are walking their talk when it comes to protecting the natural world, with Karen Breslin, democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate from Colorado.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Karen about how:
-Most Republican politicians don’t hide their indifference towards nature
-Many Democratic politicians—including most of Colorado’s congressional delegation—are pushing legislation to spend huge sums of taxpayer dollars to log public forests
-Neither political party will acknowledge the root causes of the ecological crisis, much less address them
-The Democratic party might regain its identity—and conscience—by becoming actual champions of the natural world
(Disclaimer: Eco-Integrity Alliance and the Green Root Podcast do not endorse elected officials, however we are open to speaking with them about their stances on public lands and the natural world.)
We invite your organization to join us in urging Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to go beyond simply reinstating the weakened Roadless Rule rescinded this summer. Instead, we must push for stronger, loophole-free legislation that permanently protects inventoried roadless areas from logging, road construction, livestock grazing, and other extractive activities.
On episode 92 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get scorched by FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE (ForestFireMalfeasance.org), a new report exposing a government coverup of peer-reviewed science to promote logging on public lands, with Dr. Chad Hanson, research ecologist and director of John Muir Project.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Chad about:
-Eco-Integrity Alliance’s new report, FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE, revealing hundreds of emails from a public records request showing indisputable evidence of 25 government agencies, elected officials, logging industry trade groups, NGOs, a university, a fire department, and a government-funded “collaborative” colluding on a disinformation campaign to ramp up logging in public forests under the pretense of “wildfire fuel reduction”
-Proof that those carrying out this logging are privately aware of—yet have been advised to publicly deny—the vast body of science contesting its effectiveness at protecting communities from wildfire
-Why agencies such as U.S. Forest Service must stoop personal attacks and even defamation to silence critics
-How these colluding entities have intentionally deceived and/or strongarmed media into covering up the story
-What can be done by ecological advocates to protect forests and communities from wildfire disinformation
On episode 91 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get off the beaten path to discuss current threats to roll back the “Roadless Rule” and whether the decades-old conservation strategy of defending the status quo of weak public lands protections is working, with Gary Macfarlane, board member of Friends of the Clearwater.
(audio only this episode, but with photos of Roadless Areas!)
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Gary about:
-The history of the Roadless Rule
-The U.S. Forest Service’s efforts to roll it back
-The existing loopholes in the current rule that allow clearcutting and old-growth logging
-The even weaker state Roadless Rules in Idaho and Colorado
-How Colorado’s biggest logging project of the century (116,000 acres) is planned for 18,500 acres of Roadless areas under the guise of wildfire
-Whether advocating for stronger public lands protections would “undermine” the Roadless Rule
Gary Macfarlane and Katie Bilodeau’s “The Roadless Report: Analyzing the Impacts of Two Roadless Rules on Forested Wildlands”
On episode 90 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we peek behind the green curtain to uncover the REAL reasons why we keep losing our public lands to more logging, mining, drilling, and grazing, with Denise Boggs, director of Conservation Congress (conservationcongress-ca.org).
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.
On Saturday, June 14, Forest Management Analyst Rocky Smith, Wildlife Habitat Conservationist Andrew Rothman (formerly with WildEarth Guardians), mountain lion expert David Neils, and Eco-Integrity Alliance’s Josh Schlossberg led a hike to the biggest logging project in recent Colorado history.
On episode 89 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we shine a bright light through the media blackout of what may be the single most destructive public lands scheme of the century with Andrew Rothman, Wildlife Habitat Conservationist and founder of the Rainforest Biodiversity Group.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Andrew about:
-The fake “emergency” authorization that the Trump administration has made literally 100 times worse by sacrificing 112 million acres of public lands—59% of National Forests—to the chopping block
-The endangered species and Roadless Areas at risk in what may be the largest logging project in Colorado history
-Why it’s so hard to get media to cover such an unprecedented scope and scale of forest destruction and sidestepping of environmental law
Eco-Integrity Alliance 