I am writing this article to provide Idaho citizens with information that will help them hold the Forest Service accountable to properly manage forest resources. My perspective is based on 31 years residence in Lemhi County, Idaho, which is over 90% federally managed land (Salmon-Challis National Forest and Salmon Field Office BLM). I am grateful […]
The Colorado Wilderness Act of 2021, H.R. 803, also known as Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, was just passed by the House in Congress and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by the Senate. This bill includes eight previous individual measures for public land and water protections in Arizona, Colorado, […]
It was just a few short years ago that the battle to install a new Supreme Court justice was raging with all kinds of accusations. Do you remember how the scowling democrats of the judiciary committee walked Kavanaugh over the hot coals of guilt by accusation? This was nothing but a three-ring circus run by […]
This is a follow-up on the Your Forests Your Future (YFYF) partnership between the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Salmon Valley Stewardship (SVS). A second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was made revealing more detailed information about USFS funding to SVS, and how that money was wasted. Because the FOIA document, which can be […]
Sally Jewell, former Secretary of Interior under President Obama, took the gloves off last week when she gave a speech at Boise State. According to a story by the Idaho Statesman on September 26th, Jewell proceeded to berate the Trump administration for the way they are supposedly bullying federal employees. She said that they were […]
I believe that each of our elected federal Senators and Representatives in Washington D.C. needs to have at least one qualified natural resource staffer to help them understand the problems we face in our counties and state. Idaho is a very wealthy state when it comes to natural resources but a very poor state when […]
Is a UN Agenda Soon to Become U.S. Statute? For years the western United States have had to put up with the rules made by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM which has run roughshod over our land telling us that our natural resources do not belong to us but are under the control of […]
The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREP) has been reintroduced by a New York representative for the seventh time in Congress, and has been referred to the Natural Resources Committee. This bill, H.R. 1321, is another attempt at taking more land away from Idaho citizens for use and designating it as wilderness, wild and scenic […]
It is well known that the federal government is heavily in bed with non-governmental organizations (NGO), especially our resource agencies through the Department of Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). What may not be understood is how big that bed is or why federal agencies continue to implement NGO objectives over the voice […]
Should Forest Service managers with direct oversight for Forest Plan Revision attend (and chair) meetings of an organization that could influence plan revision? Forest Service personnel from the Salmon-Challis National Forest (SCNF) and Intermountain Region office are participating on the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) in their official capacity while the SCNF is revising the […]
My uncle was an engineer for the Forest Service, he helped design and build the Yankee Fork road we used to access our summer gold camp. He was a proud employee of an organization that was regaled as America’s keeper of the Forests. Throughout the 1960s the USFS provided wood products for a growing nation […]
— Published with Permission of FreeRangeReport.com — …the Badger Creek Fire’s suppression costs exceed $6.3 million. That’s especially ironic when timber mills spent years trying to pay the Forest Service for the same trees that are now dead and burned. The government could have made money instead of losing money, and saved jobs, communities, watersheds, […]