Eco-Integrity Alliance

Green Root Podcast #91: IS DEFENDING THE ROADLESS RULE ENOUGH? (w/ Gary Macfarlane, Friends of the Clearwater)

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”

Green Root Podcast #90: HOW THE PUBLIC LANDS MOVEMENT FAILED (w/ Denise Boggs, Conservation Congress)

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).

FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE: Emails Expose Government Coverup of Science and Intentional Deception of Public & Media on “Wildfire Fuel Reduction” Logging

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.

25 Coloradans Hike to Stop the Biggest Logging Scheme of the Century

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.

Green Root Podcast #89: WORST PUBLIC LANDS SCHEME OF THE CENTURY?

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

Green Root Podcast #88: LOCAL GOVERNMENT AXES FORESTS & DEMOCRACY

On episode 88 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we unearth an alarming level of public forest destruction, science denial, and sidestepping of participatory democracy in Jefferson County, Colorado with citizen advocate Mike Rawluk.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Mike about how he went from being an unwitting supporter of “wildfire fuel reduction” to speaking out about the unprecedented level of aggressive and scientifically-contested logging in Jefferson County Open Space (including clearcutting and removal of mature and old-growth trees up to 211 years old); his concerns with opening forests to wind that can spread fires quicker to communities, cut off escape routes, and endanger firefighters; and what he believes we should do about local, state, and federal government increasingly cutting the public out of decision making on crucial issues that impact our environment, safety, and lives.

Green Root Podcast #87: PUBLIC FORESTS AS CLIMATE REFUGES

On episode 87 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we celebrate the campaign to protect public forests as climate refuges with Rick Bass, Executive Director of the Yaak Valley Forest Council.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Rick Bass about his organization’s work defending the uniquely biodiverse Yaak Valley in northwestern Montana; their success in stopping (for now) the U.S. Forest Service’s “Black Ram” old-growth logging project; their strategy to turn the eco-region into a Climate Refuge connected to a globe-spanning “Curtain of Green”; the creation of an acoustic guitar from an ancient spruce (damaged by Forest Service roadbuilding) as an advocacy tool; and the role of music and storytelling in fostering a culture of nature lovers.

Learn more about Yaak Valley Forest Council https://yaakvalley.org/

Green Root Podcast #86: MINING SACRED LANDS

On episode 86 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we delve deep into the ecological, physical, cultural, and spiritual harm caused by mining public lands with Dov Korff-Korn, legal director of the Sacred Defense Fund.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Dov Korff-Korn about his work as an attorney with the Lakota People’s Law Project to defend Indigenous lands and sacred sites from extractive industry; the impacts of a graphite mine proposed for the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, a sacred site known as Pe’Sla to the Lakota People; and how our movements might bring people of all backgrounds together to protect public lands from extraction.

Green Root Podcast #85: WHY CAN’T ACTIVISM BE MORE FUN?

On episode 85 of the Green Root Podcast, we question whether anger is always the best fuel for activism, while pondering some ways we might make our campaigns more enjoyable, welcoming, and effective.

Green Root Podcast #84: Trump’s First 100 Days on Public Lands

On episode 84 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we take another trip to Capitol Hill with Jennifer Mamola, Policy and Advocacy Director for John Muir Project, who fills us in on the nasty details of the havoc President Trump has wreaked on public lands in the first 100 days of his second term.