After nearly nine years of work and four tries, the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness Area seems finally headed for approval, designating the first major new wilderness in Washington in a generation.
April 11, 2008
Washington: Wild Sky Wilderness appears close to approval
NYT: Emergency appeal filed for Yellowstone bison
Since last fall, 1,615 bison seeking food at lower elevations outside the park have been killed or removed, under a state-federal livestock disease management program and through hunting
Voyageurs National Park legacy fund
Definitely a worthy cause.
This fund protects Voyageurs National Park from new development by buying private properties inside the boundaries of the Park from willing sellers so they can be added to the Park’s public lands.
Idaho: Boaters beware - more logs on the Middle Fork
Boaters bound for the Middle Fork of the Salmon River this summer should expect logs to be present along the fabled river’s 100-mile length, officials with the Salmon-Challis National Forest are warning.
Bush admin proposes weakening national forest environmental rules
WASHINGTON, DC - April 10 - Today the Bush administration released its latest forest planning regulations, which are as flawed as the ones overturned by a federal court last year. The Forest Service’s new planning rules contain almost all of the same problems as the agency’s 2005 regulations that were struck down less than a year ago in a legal victory for conservation organizations. Both the 2005 regulatory changes and these latest changes seek to turn the strict forest-planning standards established in 1982 by the Reagan administration into virtually meaningless suggestions, making it easier for industry to log, mine, and drill national forests with little to no regard for impacts on wildlife and the land.
Bush opens back door for logging national forests
EarthJustice has accused the Bush Administration of slyly defying a federal court decision, as it implements new rules governing national forests.
Montana: Forest Service to review Bitterroot Resort proposal
Now, the Bitterroot and Lolo National Forests are going to consider the proposal from the Bitterroot Resort for Nordic skiing operations on the Lolo National Forest and gladed alpine skiing and Nordic skiing operations on the Bitterroot National Forest in mid-March.
Moving the National Forests to the Interior Department?
What if you took the entire Forest Service — and its 193 million acres nationwide — out of the Department of Agriculture and instead placed it alongside the National Park Service under the Interior Department?
That’s the subject of a new study under way by the Government Accountability Office.