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Weekly Forest News Digest from Greg Giuisti
Forest Owners Thank Congressional Leaders for Bipartisan Bill Preserving EPA Forest Roads Policy, Jobs, National Alliance of Forest Owners, May 16, 2013
The National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) today thanked Congressional leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for introducing the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act, preserving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 37 years of success regulating forest roads as nonpoint sources under the Clean Water Act (CWA)....
Endangered Species Act: On 40th anniversary, time to rethink how we protect wildlife, By Laura E. Huggins and David Currie Special to the Mercury News San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, May 15, 2013
Many organizations are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. One group of equity investors that will not be honoring the occasion is Google, NRG Solar and BrightSource. This trio has spent millions to keep a large solar thermal power plant from going dark before ever lighting a single home -- and all because of a tortoise listed as threatened under the species act.....
Brown taps cap-and-trade money, By John Howard, Capitol Weekly | 05/14/13
Gov. Brown’s rewritten budget borrows $500 million from California’s cap-and-trade auctions and diverts the money for use in other state programs – a move that drew immediate fire from clean-air advocates. The administration said the $500 million represents a one-time loan and will be paid back, with interest. Tapping the money was proper, the administration said, because the state needs more time to set up programs to coordinate the investments of the auction proceeds and nobody can predict how much the auctions will raise in the future......
Federal omission in closing oyster farm broke law, court told, The firm's attorneys say U.S. did not do an environmental review. The closing of the farm would lead to the first marine wilderness area on the West Coast. By Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Interior Department violated federal law by failing to conduct an environmental review before ordering a Northern California oyster farmer to shutter his operation, attorneys for the farmer told a federal appeals court panel here Tuesday. In a case that has become a cause celebre across the political spectrum, oysterman Kevin Lunny had been ordered to close the farm late last year when his lease to operate within Point Reyes National Seashore expired.....
House farm bill has plenty for California growers, Michael Doyle, Sacramento Bee, MAY. 14, 2013
WASHINGTON -- California lawmakers will now help plant another farm bill, hoping it will bear fruit for the state’s frustrated growers. The last farm bill died on the vine. But on Wednesday, House Agriculture Committee members are scheduled to start trying again, with a draft 576-page package that would change rice and cotton subsidies, potentially shake up California’s dairy industry and open an olive oil debate, among other provisions.....
Wildfire risk runs high, but budget cuts mean fewer firefighters, The U.S. Forest Service will hire 500 fewer this year, officials say, although the cuts are expected to affect Eastern states rather than the drought-stricken West, By Wes Venteicher, Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2013
WASHINGTON — The drought that caused record wildfires in California and other Western states last year is expected to persist through the summer, but fewer firefighters will battle this year's blazes in other regions because of federal budget cuts, top federal officials said Monday.....
Environmental group's cable TV ad hits Jerry Brown on logging, Sacramento Bee, May 13, 2013
A Northern California environmental group has begun airing advertisements on cable TV stations criticizing Gov. Jerry Brown for allowing clear-cut logging on thousands of acres of forest land. Marily Woodhouse, co-founder of the Manton-based Battle Creek Alliance, said today her organization paid $3,000 to air spots this month on CNN, MSNBC and other cable networks in Sacramento.......
Wildfires 2013: A government-sponsored disaster, By Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, represents California’s 1st Assembly District. Redding Record Searchlight, May 10, 2013
When severe wildfires blazed through Southern California a decade ago some people started rethinking our forest management practices. So far there has been too much thinking and not enough action. Every year since 2003 we have seen millions of dollars wasted as Cal Fire responds to the annual ritual of trying to save people and property from out-of-control catastrophic wildfires. In the next 60 to 90 days we will again see millions of dollars spent on California wildfires. Unlike earthquakes and tsunamis, wildfires are a disaster that we can see coming well before they happen......
Fire ecology - a 'hot' career to attract students to science
Re-posted from the UCANR Green Blog
Ask most youth what they think about wildfires in forests and they will usually respond with "they kill trees and animals" or "it’s bad – they burn down homes and put out lots of smoke." They are partially right.
Ask youth about considering a career studying the history of fire from a tree cookie, a slice of tree branch that shows the rings, or lake bed sedimentation. Or ask them what role wind plays in how a fire jumps from treetop to treetop or how wildfire can help open pine cones and produce a huge flower show. Then they might respond with, "No way, is that a real job?"
Two eighth-grade students at Sutter Middle School in Sacramento got a chance to learn about fire ecology careers through a project in their science class requiring researching science careers. Students Maura Ingram and Jordan Johnston decided to explore fire ecology and learned that fire is a hot career choice.
Maura and Jordan interviewed Scott Stephens, professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley*, about fire ecology careers. They learned that fire ecology as a discipline focuses on the origins of wildland fire and its relationship to the environment, both living and non-living. Fire ecologists recognize that fire is a natural and important process in the forested ecosystem, one that both animals and plants depend on.
“Some fire ecologists will be fire managers working with the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service or private companies and will ignite and manage prescribed fires and manage wildfires,” Stephens said. “Other fire ecologists with jobs like mine will do research and write papers as teachers and university faculty. That will help guide fire managers in their work. More people are getting interested in fire ecology and the field has really grown in the last 15 years."
"Fire effects the forested landscape, by shaping the patterns of vegetation growth and mortality, recycles nutrients and changes the foraging and reproductive habitat for wildlife,” Stephens continued. “Fire is a critical part of most ecosystems in California and not allowing it to operate is causing great harm. We can do some operations with mechanical thinning and other methods to duplicate some aspects of fire, but not all of them.”
Anu Kramer and Kate Wilkin, UC Berkeley graduate students in the Stephens Fire Lab, showed Maura some of the tools they use in fire ecology research, such as lidar, computer fire models and the fire vortex used to demonstrate fire physics and extreme fire behavior.
“Extreme fire can create its own weather patterns including the creation and collapse of a fire column which can be very dangerous,” said Anu. “The fire vortex helps us visualize this on a small scale for our research.”
UC Berkeley students and researchers are working to understand how warming and precipitation changes due to climate change will affect fire frequency and behavior, and how fire disturbances affect plants by conducting scientific research and providing training in the fields of wildland fire science, ecology, and resource management. Students and researchers participate in interdisciplinary efforts when possible and share findings by publishing results in peer reviewed academic journals, posters for academic conferences, and conducting outreach to schools. Berkeley provides high quality scientific training and guidance for graduate students that will prepare them for careers in academia or professional fire science, policy or management.
“When you think about fire-related careers, most kids think that firefighters are the only ones that deal with fire directly,” said Maura. “But the career opportunities are endless. I have learned a lot about how important fire is. Fires can still cause a lot of damage to the forest and homes, but studying fire ecology is helpful because we can then use the data to apply fire in a more beneficial way – ways that help the forest, wildlife and the overall environment."
Stephens is one of the principle investigators of the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP). SNAMP is investigating how fuels thinning projects effects fire behavior and forest health, water quality and quantity, and wildlife.
Weekly Forest News Digest from Greg Giuisti
Here is the weekly news digest of news about California forestry from UCCE Natural Resources Advisor Greg Giusti.
LaMalfa praises bill to increase timber cutting in national forests, By LARRY MITCHELL, Chico Enterprise-Record, April 4, 2013
A bill to increase timber cutting on national forests has the strong support of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale. "I'm excited that the bill is moving forward," he said, speaking by phone Wednesday from his Oroville office. "It's something I look forward to helping on in committee." The bill, called the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, was introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. He chairs the House Natural Resources Committee......
'Fire tax' debate heats up, Cindy Baker, Capitol Weekly| 04/02/13
As the weather heats up, a Capitol debate is heating up, too -- on the hotly disputed 'fire tax.' The $150 annual charge on some 850,000 rural property owners is on the books, despite delays in collections, court action and tens of thousands of complaints from property owners. Republican lawmakers have seized the issue as a hot political topic......
Tree-sitter shot, 70 feet up, by CHP rubber bullet, Tim Redmond, San Francisco Bay Guardian, April 2, 2013
Tree-sitting is nothing new. It's happened all over California, going back decades. It's a dangerous, but often effective protest tool that stops logging in its tracks. Nobody with any official sanction is going to cut down a tree while there's a human perched in it -- and it's been notoriously difficult for the authorities to remove people from platforms high above the forest. And now, in Mendocino County, police response has entered a new phase......
High court declines to hear challenge of EPA air standard for nitrogen dioxide, Greenwire, April 1, 2013
The Supreme Court today denied a call from industry to review U.S. EPA's air pollution standard for nitrogen dioxide pollution. In deciding against hearing the petition from the American Petroleum Institute, the court effectively upheld an appellate court ruling last year that said EPA had not acted arbitrarily or capriciously in setting a one-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard for nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, which is commonly emitted from smokestacks, auto tailpipes and oil rigs.....
Federal judge rejects plan to drop marbled murrelet habitat, The Oregonian, April 01, 2013
SEATTLE -- A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has rejected a proposal by the federal government that would have dropped nearly 4 million acres of designated "critical habitat" for the marbled murrelet.
Lumber markets improved sharply in the US during 2012 and early 2013, Forest Business Network, March 31, 2013
Lumber production in the US and Canada improved during 2012, with total output in 2012 being eight percent and five percent higher, respectively, than in 2011, according to WWPA. Sawmills in the Western region have been more fortunate than mills in other regions in North America since they have been able to ship lumber both to markets in the US and to Asia......
AB 245 would shine light on cap-and-trade auctions, Warren Duffy, Cal Watchdog, March 29, 2013
AB 245 is a bill that would reverse the secrecy that currently exists around the cap-and-trade auctions of the California Air Resources Board. As CalWatchdog.com reported last August, the Legislature “nixed” proposals to mandate accountability under Sections 11120-11132 of the California government code, which is the Bagley Keene Open Meeting Act......
Feds want $18 million back from timber counties, JEFF BARNARD AND BEN NEARY, Huffington Post | March 29, 2013
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The U.S. Forest Service's demands that rural timber counties pay back millions of dollars in federal subsidies under automatic budget cuts have outraged members of Congress from both parties and caused concern in those counties with struggling economies.....
Lawmakers blast White House over retroactive bill for rural schools payment, Phil Taylor, Greenwire, March 28, 2013
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers today urged the White House to halt its request for forest communities to repay a portion of $323 million in Secure Rural Schools and commodity payments they received earlier this year to satisfy the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester......
Logging season nearing, Sean Janssen, The Sonora Union Democrat, March 29, 2013
Rights to harvest enough saw logs from the Stanislaus National Forest to build almost 1,600 average-sized homes will be sold in an annual meeting of timber operators next month. The U.S. Forest Service will allow nearly 24 million board feet of timber to be harvested this year in the Stanislaus, down about 1 million board feet from last year......
Nobody is declaring a state of drought in California, but, Surveyors in the Sierra find only half the snowpack that is normal for the date. But it could have been worse, considering the last three months have been the driest January- March period on record, Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2013
When snow surveyors headed into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday for the most important measurement of the season, they found only about half the snowpack that is normal for the date. It could have been a lot worse — considering that the last three months in California have been the driest of any January-through- March period on record, going back to 1895......
PLF sues over three outdated ESA listings in California, Anthony Francois, Pacific Legal Foundation, March 27, 2013
Federal officials must take two California plant species off the Endangered Species Act (ESA) list, and “downlist” one other species, Pacific Legal Foundation claimed in a lawsuit filed today against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The complaint, filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleges that federal officials have known for more than five years that the three species should be reclassified, but have not acted......
Lawsuit Filed to Overturn Latest Spotted Owl Critical Habitat, Tom Partin, American Forest Resource Council, March 21, 2013
Today, the American Forest Resource Council joined the Carpenters Industrial Council, Siskiyou County, California, and a group of forest products manufacturers and private forest landowners in a lawsuit to overturn the latest Northern Spotted Owl critical habitat designation. The case was filed in federal District Court in Washington, D.C., against the Secretary of Interior and the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service......
Perils of Illegal Marijuana Crops
Rodenticides used on illegal marijuana farms have already been shown to pose serious harm to the fisher—a cat-sized carnivore found in forests across Canada and four regions in the U.S. (Previous news article.)
Mourad Gabriel, a doctoral candidate with the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, provides a more comprehensive look at the situation in the recent issue of The Wildlife Professional, put out by The Wildlife Society. (Article here.)
New information looks at risks to other species and to the ecologists and biologists conducting wildlife research on community and public lands where more of these crops are being cultivated.
Highlights include:
- Newly documented fisher mortalities (necropsies done at UC Davis’ California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System)
- New data documenting just a glimpse of potential environmental degradation possibly occurring on our public lands
- First mention of toxicants like carbamates and organochlorides (DDT etc...) that are being found in California grow sites
- Provides readers with information on how some of these toxicants are placed at grow sites to maliciously poison wildlife
- New info and discussion points of "what are" the potential effects of ...such as damming water courses, putting toxic slurry of chemicals in dammed creeks, cutting riparian zones, human feces (affects salmon and many other species)
- First-hand accounts of ecologists and biologists conducting wildlife research being shot at, chased and threatened
- Quantifies the loss of project area access, and data from fisher projects in California public lands
There is also a link to a video that offers a first account visual representation of what a fisher looks like, the unfortunate visual effects of toxicosis and the realistic outcome to wildlife from these illicit activities on tribal and public lands.
For more information, contact Mourad Gabriel, mwgabriel@ucdavis.edu or Trina Wood, tjwood@ucdavis.edu
Weekly Forest News Digest from Greg Giuisti
Here is a digest of forestry news affecting California:
Justices uphold EPA's policy on logging road runoff, Jeremy P. Jacobs, Greenwire, Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Supreme Court today upheld U.S. EPA's policy for regulating stormwater runoff on logging roads in the Pacific Northwest. The 7-1 ruling in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center backed EPA's policy that logging roads are not industrial point-source pollution and consequently don't require Clean Water Act permits......
Chief calls for stewardship contracting, warns of sequester impacts, E&E Daily, March 14, 2013
Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell yesterday urged Congress to permanently authorize an expiring program that allows proceeds from timber sales to be used for forest restoration, arguing it enjoys broad bipartisan support. Tidwell said a recovering housing market has generated more demand for wood products, which could allow the agency to raise more revenues to fund forest restoration projects.....
Obama Admin to Retroactively Subject Secure Rural School Payments to Sequestration Cuts, Chairman Hastings questions legal authority of Forest Service to demand refunds of teacher and police salaries, House Natural Resources Committee, March 20, 2103
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the U.S. Forest Service announced that Secure Rural School (SRS) payments, which went out to counties in January, will be subjected to sequestration cuts.....
Senate CR boosts funds for watershed recovery, E&E Daily, March 21, 2013
The Senate yesterday passed a continuing resolution that includes $65.5 million for the Agriculture Department's Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program, which is designed to address watersheds damaged by wildfires and drought. The move drew praise from Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who said such funding is critical for Colorado communities affected by last summer's Waldo Canyon and High Park fires......
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources March 19 Hearing on Secure Rural Schools and Payment in Lieu of Taxes, Testimony of Ryan R. Yates, Associate Legislative Director National Association of Counties, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, March 19, 2013
Last week Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) made continued funding of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program and the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act a priority in the proposed committee budget for fiscal year 2014.....
U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review of Plan By Forest Service to Manage Sierra Nevada, Robert C. Cook, Daily Environment Report™, Bloomberg, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed March 18 to review a long-running battle over a 2004 management plan for 11 national forests in California's Sierra Nevada Range (U.S. Forest Service v. Pacific Rivers Council, U.S., No. 12-623, 3/18/13). The Forest Service had sought review of a February 2012 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that was reaffirmed by the court in June. The appeals court held that the Forest Service failed to adequately evaluate the management plan's impact on fish species.....
Outdoor recreation in California generates $85.4 billion, Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2013
Hiking, camping, hunting and fishing, among other outdoor activities, help generate $85.4 billion in annual spending in California, more than any other state in the country, according to a new study. Spending on outdoor recreation in the state also helps support 732,000 jobs and generates $6.7 billion in state and local taxes, according to the study by the Outdoor Industry Assn., the trade group for outdoor retailers, manufacturers and others......
Lumber finally rises from the forest floor, A stronger housing market and growing overseas demand have pushed prices to an 8-year high, ending the industry's long recession, Bruce Kennedy, MSN, March 18, 2013
Another sign that, knock wood, the economy is recovering. Lumber prices hit an eight-year high last week, thanks in large part to the U.S. housing market thawing out after a long deep freeze and rising overseas demand. "The last few years have been a slow recovery from the recession for wood products," Phil Tedder, a forestry consultant at Resource Economics, told the Los Angeles Times. "The main consumer was new housing, and that obviously wasn't very good. But now things are picking up.".....
Lumberyards bustling again as housing market improves, Timber prices have soared more than 40% over last year as sawmills are reopening and hiring again. Truck companies that haul wood out of state are also reviving, Shan Li, Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2013
Even before dawn breaks, workers at the lumberyard in Lynwood were bustling around, getting a move on the day. Men in yellow safety vests drove flatbed trucks stacked to the brim with planks of wood. Others were buzzing around in forklifts, ferrying more boards. It's a scene that had John Cencak smiling in satisfaction and relief. After years of anxiously waiting for the economy to rebound, the vice president of Jones Wholesale Lumber Cos. was seeing an upswing......
Nixon-Era Law Invoked by Obama on Climate Unsettles Industry, Mark Drajem, San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 2013
March 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they have to consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects, from pipelines to highways. The result could be significant delays for natural gas- export facilities, ports for coal sales to Asia, and even new forest roads, industry lobbyists warn......
Offset credits poised to enter Calif. market, ClimateWire, March 11, 2013
The first carbon offsets valid for use in California's cap-and-trade program are nearing the market, with 3 million tons of "early action" credits now listed on a state registry. The state Air Resources Board (ARB) on Friday unveiled a list of offset projects that have passed almost all the regulatory hurdles to becoming eligible for use in the state's landmark economy-wide greenhouse gas market....
Lawmakers, taxpayer groups continue to oppose controversial 'fire tax', Andrew Edwards, San Bernardino County Sun, March 17, 2013
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has formally served three state agencies with a class-action lawsuit intended to overturn a controversial "fire tax" levied on Californians who live in some the state's forested areas. The Howard Jarvis group's legal challenge is only one of multiple efforts to get rid of the tax.....
Two Shasta County residents appointed to state fire board, Damon Arthur, Redding Record Searchlight, March 14, 2013
One of the newest members of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection from Shasta County has come to the defense of a controversial fire fee on rural residences. Stuart Farber of Redding, whose appointment was announced Thursday, said the fee is necessary to give local fire departments the tools they need to do their jobs saving lives and protecting property. “I actually support the fee and the reason why is the local fire safe councils and fire boards don’t have the money for those resources and the fire fee will provide those resources,” Farber said......
U.S. Forest Service turns to nonprofits for help restoring 2009 Station fire damage, As budgets shrink, there's insufficient funding to restore Station fire area. Daniel Siegal, Glendale News-Press, March 16, 2013
With across-the-board federal spending cuts constricting an already tight budget, officials in charge of restoring thousands of acres in the Angeles National Forest left damaged by the 2009 Station fire are turning to nonprofits for help. Although the U.S. Forest Service hasn’t calculated how sequestration will impact specific regional programs, the agency is facing a 5.2% overall reduction of its budget....
Support grows for modifying Calif. environment law, LAURA OLSON, San Jose Mercury News, March 16, 2013
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California's four-decade-old environmental protection law has been credited with saving habitat, reducing air pollution and giving residents a voice against deep-pocketed developers. Yet this year, the California Environmental Quality Act has become a target for sweeping changes in the Legislature. Democrats who typically align with environmental groups are taking seriously the concerns that have long been raised by business leaders......
Abuse pollutes state environmental law, The California Environmental Quality Act, signed into law by Gov. Ronald Reagan, is being used for unintended purposes and needs fixing, George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2013
SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Jerry Hill grew up in San Francisco and vividly remembers the rare suffocating days of late summer when the fog fled and people sweltered. The city's natural air conditioner clicked off, temperatures soared into the 90s and — back then — the skies boiled into a toxic soup. "There'd be four or five hot days, around 1963 and 1964, when I was playing high school football and the smog was so thick I couldn't run 10 yards without stopping and choking to get air," remembers Hill, 65, new chairman of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. .....
Cozy emails undermine air czar's integrity, Lois Henry, Bakersfield Californian, March 9, 2013
When you set yourself up as an independent reviewer of facts, a judge essentially, it's best not to cozy up to one side of a debate coming before you. In fact, that might be considered unethical, even illegal, in some instances. Certainly, it's a breach of propriety, or even just flat embarrassing. But not, apparently, to John Froines, a little-known but key figure in the world of air contaminant regulation in California......
Oregon's wandering wolf returns from California, San Jose Mercury News, March 14, 2013
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The wandering wolf known as OR-7 has returned to Oregon from California, but he hasn't given an indication that he's planning to settle down. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department said the wolf's odyssey brought him into southwest Klamath County on Tuesday evening. In more than three years, the wolf has covered at least 3,000 miles, biologists estimate......
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