Tagged: Forest Service

A new study from the research arm of the Forest Service suggests that leaving behind broken branches and the tips of treetops after logging can help fight invasive species.

Scientists suspected that fir boughs and other logging leftovers could act like gardener’s mulch and protect the soil.

The U.S. Forest Service says the death of a 20-year-old firefighter in Idaho last summer was a “chance” occurrence. The new report is in sharp contrast to the findings of federal workplace safety investigators.  

A new report says climate change will be a growing factor in the way America's forests are managed.  The research is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  It predicts the number of acres burned in a typical fire season could double in the next quarter century. 

To find out more, we spoke with the Forest Service’s Climate Change Advisor, Dave Cleaves.  He says weather is changing and forest managers must adapt.

The Forest Service purchased 80 acres of private land last month along the Salmon River, in an effort to protect wilderness.

The Trust for Public Lands, a national nonprofit organization, helped the Forest Service acquire that land last month.

Northern Rockies Director for the Trust Deb Love says it’s important to buy up private land and protect it as wilderness.  She says doing so helps the Forest Service manage the land without worrying about pockets of private property.

The Forest Service has received funding to buy a few privately owned parcels of land in the northwest. 

The money for the land buys comes from a federal conservation fund, that gets a tiny percent of the royalties from offshore oil drilling.

Debbie Okholm is with the Forest Service. She says more than 15 percent of the land inside national forest boundaries in the northwest is actually owned by other people. So the forest service focuses on acquiring that land.