Category Archives: National Forests

California, Conservation, National Forests, Outdoors

Forest Service Opens Public Comment on National Old Growth Protections

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell
Old growth forests took centuries to become what they are. The rules for protecting them are getting rewritten over the next 90 days, and the public gets a say.
 
The USDA Forest Service published a draft environmental impact statement for a proposed national old-growth forest plan amendment, advancing its commitment to conserve old growth across the National Forest System. The draft calls for consistent stewardship standards nationwide, with an emphasis on proactive management to reduce wildfire risk and adapt to climate-driven threats – drawing on both current science and Indigenous Knowledge.

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California, Conservation, National Forests, Outdoors, Wildlife

Burke Creek Gets Its Natural Course Back

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Forest Service restoration work begins on Burke Creek and Rabe Meadow near South Lake Tahoe

 
The Forest Service has started restoration work on Burke Creek and Rabe Meadow near South Lake Tahoe. The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, working with the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, finalized the decision back in April – the project restores the creek’s natural function and improves water quality, meadow vegetation, and habitat for the wildlife that depends on it.

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California, Conservation, Interesting Places, National Forests, Outdoors

Keeping Tahoe Blue Starts With the People Standing In It

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Beach managers and volunteers gear up for another summer of protecting the lake

The League to Save Lake Tahoe is teaming up with the Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, local nonprofits, and beach operators again this summer to keep the lake’s water clear for the crowds headed up for the season.
 

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California, National Forests, U.S. Forest Service, Wildfire

Nearly $500 Million Headed to the Wildfire Crisis Strategy

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell
The Forest Service is getting nearly $500 million to help fight the wildfire crisis. Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the investment this week, aimed at expanding the agency’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy before catastrophic fires reach communities bordering national forest land.
 
The agency will spend roughly $400 million – funded through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – on the 21 priority landscapes it has already identified across the West as the places most likely to burn hot and burn hard. Another $100 million funds something newer: the Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program, which brings tribes, local communities, and partner organizations into the planning process across 24 states before the work begins.

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Conservation, National Forests

National Forests Are the Country’s Largest Source of Drinking Water

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

More than 60 million Americans turn on the tap and get water that started as snowmelt on national forest land.

]The National Forest System is the single largest source of drinking water in the country, according to the Forest Service. Many national forests sit directly over the source areas for major rivers and aquifers, which makes the health of the forest and the health of the water supply the same question. Cut down the trees, degrade the watershed, and the water quality downstream goes with it.

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