Despite concerns from the majority of park users and peer-reviewed science demonstrating the counterproductive nature of “fuel reduction” for protecting communities from wildfire, Jefferson County Open Space plans to log in ten public parks over the next five years.
Since 2023, the U.S. Forest Service has approved or proposed 220,131 acres of controversial “emergency action” logging in Montana National Forests, despite a vast and growing body of peer reviewed science refuting agency assertions that such “fuel reduction” protects communities from wildfire.
The projects encompass the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Bitterroot, Flathead, Kootenai, and Lolo National Forests, and would involve construction or reconstruction of 580 miles of new logging roads.
On episode 73 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg goes to Capitol Hill with Jennifer Mamola, Policy and Advocacy Director for John Muir Project, who forecasts some environmental legislation to expect from Congress.
“Pole Creek Timber Treatments Imminent”
by Alex Hargrave, Buffalo Bulletin (Wyoming), December 13, 2024
Dear Wild Ones,
Thanks to everyone—particularly our members, allies, and funders—for making 2024 Eco-Integrity Alliance’s greatest year yet! While still slowly growing like a tree in a forest, we’ve made outstanding progress on our mission to unite the U.S. grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
A $358,000 grant from the office of U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) has funded the past and ongoing logging of treasured Jefferson County Open Space parks, Elk Meadow and Alderfer/Three Sisters, including mature and old-growth trees up to 211 years old (see photo from Denver Post).
A second $600,000 grant would finance the construction of a road, potentially through some of the most pristine old growth forest in Boulder County, Colorado.
Contact Rep. Neguse at https://neguse.house.gov/contact
On episode 72 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg proposes a tried-and-true strategy for an environmental movement that has literally been losing ground for decades in what is perhaps its darkest hour.
Evidence in a study funded by U.S. Forest Service, and co-authored by Colorado Forest Restoration Institute and the Colorado Field Office for The Nature Conservancy, shows that 122 acres of public forest outside Nederland “thinned” in 2015 in the name of “wildfire fuel reduction” burned at “high severity” during the 2016 Cold Springs Fire, destroying five homes, while the unlogged forest feet away didn’t burn at all.
Videos and photos taken in October within the Cold Springs Fire area in the Boulder Ranger District of Roosevelt National Forest show a sparsely treed landscape with blackened stumps directly behind a U.S. Forest Service sign, which, despite Forest Service replanting in 2018, has still not recovered. Meanwhile, the adjacent unlogged forest on private land, remains lush, green, and completely intact.
The U.S. Forest Service has opened its public comment period until December 4 for the largest logging operation in Colorado history, the “Lower North South Vegetation Management” in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest in the Front Range mountains of Jefferson and Douglas Counties.
The 116,000 acres of scientifically-contested “wildfire fuel reduction” logging includes 18,500 acres in protected Colorado Roadless Areas, with clearcuts up to 40 acres in size. Despite multiple press releases sent to every media outlet in the Front Range since February, not a single article has informed the public as to the existence of this project.
Fast moving fires are the most deadly, according to a new study out of University of Colorado Boulder, published in the journal Science.
These findings dovetail with other peer reviewed studies showing how “wildfire fuel reduction” logging opens forests to wind which can spread flames more rapidly to communities.
Eco-Integrity Alliance 