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The Forest Service recently held public meetings regarding revising the management plan for George Washington National Forest. The general attitude expressed at the meetings I attended was: “If you don’t like my noise, trash, erosion, and stumps in the national forest, then go to Shenandoah National Park, or fly out west.”

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We observed trash and garbage all around the site: A bottle of V-8 juice, a half-full tube of toothpaste, empty tin cans that still smelled of food, and toilet paper likely used for a ‘cat hole.’ It was like the campers just threw their garbage on the ground where they sat and left it there.

Looks like Australia is encountering some of the same schemes we are dealing with here in the U.S.

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Queensland Tourism Minister Fran Bailey launched the plan today that encourages commercial operators to develop infrastructure for accommodation and restaurants in national parks.

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WISDOM, Mont. (AP) Two black bears with a taste for human food have led the Forest Service to close the Mussigbrod campground and trailhead.

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Ken Meade, 65, killed the male grizzly at close range as it charged him. He said that killing the 4-year-old, 350-to-400 pound bear as it closed in on him was, “the luckiest shot of my life.”

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Lightning storms swept through northern parts of the Bridger and Crazy Mountains on Friday and Saturday, but so for only caused a very small fire in the Bridgers, which fire crews soon contained. Most of this year’s fires in the Gallatin National Forest have been human-caused, however.

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