PROTECTING OUR FORESTS: WILDFIRES ARE THE REAL THREAT

If the goal is really to reduce net carbon emissions and address climate change, one of the best things we can do is to actively manage forests to reduce risks of massive carbon-emitting wildfires, and to store carbon in long-lived wood products. Rob Freres | https://frereswood.com/ | August 28, 2023 This article was written in […]
Column: Poor forest management fuels wildfires

Tom Kress, Douglas County Commissioner | Jun 21, 2023 Wildfires have become increasingly devastating in recent years, ravaging massive areas of land, destroying homes and businesses, and endangering lives. I wanted to take a moment to address and offer a chance for our residents to hear the other side of the story when it comes […]
Catastrophic wildfires threaten clean and healthy environment

The forests that our federal and state governments manage are sending hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere as they burn each year. KENDALL COTTON | helenair.com | Jun 18, 2023 Forest fire season is underway in B.C. (Chris Harris/Getty Images) Even D.C. politicians are now choking under the smoke-filled air that […]
Bill to protect rural communities from wildfire passes both chambers

Recently, SB 872, which directs the State Forestry Department to collaborate with the respective Douglas & Coos Forest Protection Associations and the United States Forest Service, with a focus on protecting lands and rural communities within the wildland-urban interface from fire on federal lands through stewardship to decrease wildfire risk across Oregon through increased partnership with […]
Editorial: Count trees before and after the wildfires

Talk about busy work. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are counting the number of old-growth and “mature” trees on federal land. Editorial | capitalpress.com | May 4, 2023 Federal forest managers need to be allowed to manage the forests, not count the trees to “protect.”Inciweb A thought: These two agencies are […]
Climate Change, Megafires Crush Forest Regeneration

High-intensity fires in western states kill mature trees and their seeds while warmer, drier conditions stress seedlings. But forest managers can still intervene to change this trajectory. By Nancy Averett| eos.org | 28 April 2023 Warmer and drier climate conditions in western U.S. forests are making it harder for trees to regrow after wildfires, according to […]
Planting Day

Communities for Healthy Forests led more than 100 elementary students on a literal ‘field trip’ to the Hinkle Creek area east of Sutherlin. With help from staff from Roseburg Forest Products, the BLM, US Forest Service, Douglas Forest Protective Association, and the Umpqua Chapter of the Society of American Foresters, the students learned how to […]
Why Our Forests Need a Trim

How often do you get your hair cut? Odds are you go every couple of months—maybe in the depths of the Covid pandemic, you stretched it to half a year before it became unmanageable. What if you had to wait 10 years for your next trip to the barber? If we won’t wait a decade […]
‘Firmageddon’: Oregon conifers suffer record die-off as climate crisis hits hard

More than a million acres of state forest contain trees that have succumbed to stressors exacerbated by a multi-year drought. Gabrielle Canon | The Guardian | Thu 15 Dec 2022 01.00 EST Scientists have discovered a record number of dead fir trees in Oregon, in a foreboding sign of how drought and the climate crisis are […]
Biochar Benefits Studies in the Blackfoot Valley

GOLD CREEK Emerging technology and forest product utilization was the focus of the forest tour in the Gold Creek area Oct. 25. Jean Pocha | Pathfinder Correspondent | 11/10/2022 More than two dozen people observed the Tigercat Carbonator 6050 make biochar out of slash piles as part of forest thinning and fuels reduction work done […]