American forests are at risk. Wildfires are becoming more frequent, fire season is lasting later into the year, and fires are burning for longer. And the costs of these fires continues to mount. The Forest Service spent $2 billion fighting forest fires last year. Wildfires in Northern California alone caused $65 …
Tropical forests have a lot to offer: the richest concentration of biodiversity on the planet, a home for indigenous peoples, and the plants that are used to create many modern pharmaceuticals. In negotiations leading up to the UN Paris Climate Agreement, tropical forests were also formally recognized for their key …
Continued from Part I – New England Forests “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” —Lao Tzu Highstead New England’s grassroots conservation organizations continue to innovate around individual challenges. Those …
On a crisp fall day some several years ago, I left my house in rural Connecticut for a contemplative walk in the woods. My restless teenage legs were matched by my curiosity about the world around me. Down a wooded path with no houses in sight, I stopped to rest along …
Maple syrup is more than a sweet treat: to the sugarmakers of the Northeast, it’s a way of life. The tradition of maple sugaring has roots in indigenous culture and the sweet sap continues as a multi-million dollar industry today. But this year’s warm winter and early spring made Vermont’s …
Being part of a graduate program that is so interdisciplinary in nature requires one to wear many hats. One has to be flexible and creative enough to be compelling, yet subtle, in order to provide thought provoking insights in a manner that is appropriate to your audience. These qualities are …
Just a few weeks ago, a friend of mine called me in a state of panic saying that San Francisco was recently placed under a state of emergency due to the Rim Fire threatening the city’s water supply. This particular fire burned hundreds of thousands of acres in and around …
The legend of the Gordian Knot is often used as a metaphor to describe an how an intractable problem can be solved by thinking “outside the box.” After my first month at the Sierra Nevada Alliance (Alliance), I realized that it will take some unconventional thinking to address environmental issues …
I work for the North Coast State Forest Coalition, out of the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club Office in Portland, Oregon In 2011, the Oregon Department of Forestry revised the State Forest Management Plan to include an increase in clear-cut targets and less old growth conservation plans. Soon thereafter, the North …
