News

Pembina Valley Online—Don Martens, who has extensive experience with residential homebuilding, recently saw a post asking why America should buy lumber from Canada.  “The answer is well, because Canada is where the trees are,” he says. “Canada naturally has so, so, so many acres of trees. Obviously, we have more trees than we can possibly… Continue reading Canada is where the trees are

Reuters—Nonprofit environment watchdogs put their stamps of approval on countless wood products that get touted as responsibly produced. Yet research shows Canadian forests have seen some of the world’s largest declines in ecologically critical primary and old-growth woodlands over the last two decades, even as sustainability-certification programs grew to include nearly all of Canada’s logging.… Continue reading ‘Sustainable’ logging operations are clear-cutting Canada’s climate-fighting forests

Message from Chief Tom Schultz, March 4, 2025 I’m grateful to serve as your next Chief of the Forest Service. First, thank you to Chief Moore for his leadership. He spent his life in service, dedicating a 45-year career to the benefit of the American people. I recognize that I am the first Chief who… Continue reading Meet Tom Schultz, 21st Chief of the Forest Service

The Center Biological Diversity has sued five cabinet-level agencies, seeking to stop the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its DOGE teams from taking further actions against multiple environmental agencies until each team fully complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This is the first lawsuit challenging DOGE’s efforts to eviscerate the agencies charged with protecting the… Continue reading Lawsuit Seeks to Prevent DOGE, Musk From Gutting U.S. Environmental Agencies

WhiteHouse.gov—Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Chief of the United States Forest Service (USFS) shall issue new or updated guidance regarding tools to facilitate increased timber production and sound forest management. Within 60 days, the Secretary of the Interior shall complete a strategy on USFS and BLM forest management projects under… Continue reading Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production

AP News—When Hurricane Katrina roared through New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward district two decades ago, it wiped out 200,000 trees across the city, which has struggled ever since to restore its tree canopy. Those efforts will be set back by the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to terminate a $75 million grant to the Arbor Day… Continue reading U.S. Forest Service terminates $75 million grant to the Arbor Day Foundation to help disadvantaged communities plant trees

Idaho Capital Sun—Tom Schultz will serve as the 21st chief of the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees 154 national forests and 20 grasslands across 43 states. Schultz previously was the vice president of resources and government affairs at Idaho Forest Group, a family-owned company based in Coeur d’Alene that is now one of the country’s largest… Continue reading USDA secretary appoints Idahoan Tom Schultz to serve as U.S. Forest Service chief

WyoFile—U.S. Forest Service employees opened their inbox Wednesday to find a consoling message from their chief that offered some clarity to the resignations, layoffs, and turmoil that have dogged the federal agency for weeks. It was a welcomed note for many, albeit one conveyed while Forest Service Chief Randy Moore was announcing his resignation. “We provide drinking water… Continue reading Forest Service chief resigns

Louisville Courier Journal—Dozens of U.S. Forest Service staff serving Daniel Boone National Forest are among federal workers who have received notices of probationary status this month — indicating risk of immediate termination — amid the Trump administration’s blitz to cut the size of the federal government. Termination of those workers would land a considerable blow… Continue reading Dozens of U.S. Forest Service workers in Daniel Boone National Forest facing layoffs

KIRO 7—Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will pause timber harvesting in some forests for six months. DNR said the pause was necessary to use advanced technology that would map and provide a better understanding of the forests they manage. The pause will ensure that the DNR follows its policy of conserving 10 to… Continue reading Washington DNR pauses timber harvesting in efforts to conserve older forests

Missoula Current—The U.S. Forest Service has pulled its intent to issue an official nationwide policy to preserve old-growth forests. After spending more than two years studying mature and old-growth forests and taking public comments on the threats they face, the Forest Service dropped the amendment after getting pushback from Republicans and the timber industry. Read… Continue reading Forest Service Punts on Old Growth Amendment

University of the Cumberlands and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources have entered into a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) agreement to provide public access for hunting, fishing, and related outdoor recreation on 10,273 acres of university-owned land in Whitley and McCreary counties. The new University of the Cumberlands WMA is comprised of three tracts of… Continue reading University of the Cumberlands WMA adds 10,000 acres of public access in southeastern Kentucky

News Journal—Trevor Sherman has been promoted to Publisher of the News Journal, the paper of record for Whitley County, Kentucky. Sherman is the third publisher in the News Journal’s 38-year history. Sherman first came to the News Journal in 2011 as an advertising sales representative and a delivery route driver. He began news and feature… Continue reading Trevor Sherman Promoted to Publisher of News Journal

Environment & Energy Leader—The U.S. Forest Service has announced a $16 million investment to combat the rising threat of invasive species across the United States. This initiative, which covers over 100 projects across 37 states and two territories, is part of the Forest Health provision in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The comprehensive plan tackles invasive… Continue reading Forest Service Invests $16 Million to Combat Invasive Species

Environmental Law & Policy Center—A lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) challenges the process of setting timber targets without conducting a proper environmental review. The U.S. Forest Service’s mandatory targets determine the amount of timber that must be logged from national forests every year. The lawsuit and revelatory internal Forest Service documents… Continue reading Timber Targets Have Environmental Consequences

This Saturday, December 14, 2024, Kentucky Heartwood will be leading a hike and field trip to see some outstanding forests in the Jellico Mountains threatened with logging under the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed Jellico Vegetation Management Project. On this hike we’ll see and discuss examples of mature and old-growth forests, different forest communities, and examples of… Continue reading Old-Growth Field Trip in the Jellico Mountains

Appalachian News-Express — Landslides are a deadly and costly natural disaster. In the U.S., 25 to 50 people on average are killed by landslides each year, according to the Department of Interior. In Whitley County, Kentucky, over 90% of the land is susceptible to landslides. In McCreary County, it’s over 97%. This is where the… Continue reading Landslides Pose Threat to Kentucky Counties

Following is one of the public comments submitted to the U.S. Forest Service regarding the Stearns Ruffed Grouse Habitat Management Project: This project places priority on a single species, the ruffed grouse. Multiple studies show that this game bird has declined largely due to West Nile virus, being over-hunted, and predation by prey species such… Continue reading Ruffed Grouse Project Comments

Scoping comments accepted now through Friday, October 18th, 2024 at 11:59pm Kentucky Heartwood—There is a new proposal for Grouse habitat management in the Stearns District of the Daniel Boone National Forest along the Big South Fork area of McCreary and Pulaski Counties. This has nothing to do with the Jellico Mountains logging project. Forest Service… Continue reading Comment on the Stearns Ruffed Grouse Habitat Management Project

Vox—Due to a looming budget cut, the U.S. Forest Service will not be hiring seasonal staff for the next fiscal year, leaving thousands of people out of work and putting essential conservation and biodiversity work at risk. The spending bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives gave the Forest Service around half a… Continue reading Leaked recordings detail Forest Service quietly gutting its workforce

Tim Reed, Stearns District Ranger of Daniel Boone National Forest, has retired. Kyle Edmonds, a forest wildlife biologist, will serve as temporary Stearns District Ranger until a permanent ranger is appointed. We wish Mr. Reed well in his retirement. Read the story at McCreary Voice

Updated milestones in the Jellico Mountains project: Objection period estimated to begin on January 1, 2025.

BBC—Roberto Brito learned how to use a chainsaw at the age of 11. Now he uses his intimate knowledge of the Amazon rainforest to guide tourists around in his flip-flops. It used to be that when Roberto Brito looked at a tree, he would see a number: the amount of money he could earn from… Continue reading The logger who learned the value of living trees

The Tribune—Monroe County commissioners and environmental organizations have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the U.S. Forest Service’s implementation of the Houston South Vegetation Management and Restoration Project in the Hoosier National Forest. In addition to the USFS’s failure to properly examine the impacts to Lake Monroe, the lawsuit claims the Forest Service is violating… Continue reading Forest Service sued again in effort to stop Hoosier National Forest project

Southern Environmental Law Center—A gate blocks the entrance and an ‘area closed’ sign threatens potential trespassers with fines or prison. The warnings come as centuries-old trees are being cut down and put on the back of logging trucks, making Brushy Mountain yet another point of conflict in the fight to save the nation’s oldest forests.… Continue reading Appalachian old growth recklessly put on the chopping block

The comment period for the National Old Growth Amendment ends on September 20, 2024! The U.S. Forest Service is working to amend management plans for every national forest in the country to protect old-growth, which could become one of the most meaningful safeguards for federal public forests that we have seen in decades. The agency… Continue reading Call to Action: Mature and Old Growth Forests Need Your Help

Inside Climate News—Roughly 70 percent of 22,000 people polled online earlier this year agreed that human activities were pushing the Earth past “tipping points,” thresholds beyond which nature cannot recover, like loss of the Amazon rainforest or collapse of the Atlantic Ocean’s currents. Roughly one in two Americans said they are not very or not… Continue reading Deteriorating Environment Is a Global Public Concern

E&E News—The Forest Service faces “enormous” budget challenges that will likely affect how employees go about their daily jobs, agency Chief Randy Moore said. In a memo to employees on the Forest Service website Thursday, Moore said the agency is planning for fiscal 2025 based on the leanest scenario as spelled out in the House… Continue reading Forest Service budget woes persist into 2025

FSEEE — Citing outdated management objectives in the 20-year-old Land and Resource Management Plan for the Daniel Boone National Forest, officials are proposing to log mature and old-growth trees in the 16,969-acre Jellico project area. Read the story by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed a federal lawsuit in February 2024 against the U.S. Forest Service, alleging the Forest Service’s ‘timber target’ decisions put the climate at risk, undermine the Biden administration’s important climate goals, and violate federal law. SELC filed the lawsuit after examining documents from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)… Continue reading SELC Webinar

REI—The U.S. Forest Service manages 193 million acres of the country’s forestlands and grasslands. But logging, development and climate-related stressors like wildfires and invasive species have dwindled our old-growth forests — home to our most ancient trees and ecosystems — to just 12% of these lands. That’s where the National Old-Growth Amendment comes in. The U.S. Forest… Continue reading Protect America’s old-growth forests

NHPR—The project will log more than 600 acres, a relatively tiny portion of the Sandwich Range’s more than 35,000 acreage. But it will cut trees near spots popular for hiking, bringing logging trucks to normally quiet slices of the forest. In certain tree stands, clear cuts are planned. Colloquially, many Granite Staters may see the… Continue reading ‘National forests are not national parks’: Logging debate in Whites divides forestry experts, environmentalists

ABC4—The U.S. Forest Service has stopped logging 147,000 acres of trees in Ashley National Forest in Utah because of a lawsuit filed against the project by conservation groups. The Forest Service authorized the project in October 2023. The Center for Biological Diversity says the project would tear down the habitat for many of Utah’s bighorn… Continue reading US Forest Service halts logging in Utah national forest

News Channel 9 ABC—The U.S. Forest Service has announced it will scrap plans to log a biologically important area of North Carolina’s Nantahala National Forest near the Whitewater River. The announcement came nearly six months after the Southern Environmental Law Center sued the agency over the planned logging. “This wild and beautiful forest was saved… Continue reading Forest Service agrees to protect Nantahala Forest from logging

Big Country News — Conservation, hunting, and angling groups and the Nez Perce Tribe have submitted their objections to the Land Management Plan by the U.S. Forest Service in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. Concerns include excessive clear-cutting and its effects on wildlife. The Forest Service said the focus on timber harvest is to reduce fuel… Continue reading Nez Perce Tribe, Environmental Groups say USFS Plan Would ‘Degrade’ Idaho, Montana Forests

The Voice — The Jellico project is a hot topic that has touched a nerve in the people of McCreary and Whitley Counties. It has also touched their hearts. Comments kept pouring in, right up until the midnight hour, just minutes before clocks struck twelve. According to the Jellico Mountains Logging Facebook page, in the end, 673… Continue reading 636 public comments against Jellico’s proposed action

Eastern Standard — The U.S. Forest Service has been receiving public comments on a plan to log 10,000 acres of forest on Jellico Mountain in southeastern Kentucky over a 40-year period. Complicating the issue is an Executive Order signed by President Biden to conserve mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. Kentucky Heartwood Executive Director… Continue reading Kentucky Heartwood and Forest Service Debate Logging Plan

Last day to submit your official comments to the U.S. Forest Service! Letter to the Editor published in The News Journal:

McCreary Voice — More than a dozen people attended a McCreary County public meeting in Stearns, KY on Tuesday to learn about the US Forest Service (USFS) Environmental Assessment for a proposed project to log almost 10,000 acres in Whitley and McCreary Counties. “I’m concerned about many elements of this project and its effect on… Continue reading Friday is last day to submit comments on Jellico Project

Special thanks to our Whitley County leaders who have submitted official comments to the Forest Service regarding the Jellico Mountains logging project. Representative Nick Wilson Kentucky House of Representatives, District 82, Whitley & Laurel As the State Representative of Whitley County, I urge you to reconsider your decision to clear cut this large area. I… Continue reading Whitley County Leaders Speak Up

Kentucky Today — The U.S. Forest Service is investing nearly $74 million to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy from sustainably sourced wood, and increase the capacity of wood processing facilities. The grants were announced as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and were made possible in… Continue reading Forest Service grants fund two projects in Kentucky

The McCreary Voice — By Alan Harrelson — As a strong believer in private property, I would not dare tell another landowner what to do with his home, his land, his family. But with the forestry service we are not discussing private property, but rather a vast amount of public acreage that is, by law,… Continue reading On Being a Steward of the Forest

The News Journal — by Mark White — To the forest service’s credit, after the November 2022 town hall meeting and the more than 300 official comments on the draft proposal, the forest service did scale back its proposed action by 261 acres to 9,798 acres. The forest service also created two alternatives. Alternative one would… Continue reading Your help is needed in effort to stop Jellico Mountain logging project

The News Journal — by Trevor Sherman — After another town hall meeting in Williamsburg last week, community members are once again being tasked with letting U.S. Forest Service officials know their thoughts on proposed logging work in the Jellico Mountain region of the Daniel Boone National Forest. This time, however, previous input from a… Continue reading Community feedback utilized in alternative plans for proposed logging project

The News Journal — Community members are concerned about the lack of changes to the proposed Jellico Mountain logging project outlined in a new draft environmental assessment that was released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Forest Service last week, which still calls for the clearcutting of nearly 1,000 acres… Continue reading New USDA draft environmental assessment does little to change the scope of Jellico Mtn. logging project

Southern Environmental Law Center — This week, SELC filed a new, first-of-its-kind lawsuit that alleges the Forest Service’s ‘timber target’ decisions put the climate at risk, undermine the Biden administration’s important climate goals, and violate federal law. The case, which was filed on behalf of the Chattooga Conservancy, MountainTrue, and an individual in Missouri, centers… Continue reading Groundbreaking lawsuit takes aim at U.S. Forest Service’s ‘timber targets’

The News Journal — The Stearns Ranger District of the Daniel Boone National Forest has announced that they released a draft environmental assessment for the Jellico Vegetation Management Project on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The project, now open for public comment, proposes to conduct silvicultural treatments, including timber harvest, intermediate treatments and associated road work,… Continue reading Draft environmental assessment for proposed Jellico Mtn. logging job released

U.S. Forest Service — With the start of Kentucky’s spring wildfire hazard season, wildland fire crews are setting up shop across the Daniel Boone National Forest. These crews will be on call to respond to wildfires throughout the spring fire season, which lasts from February 15 to April 30. They will also carry out a… Continue reading Daniel Boone National Forest announces prescribed burns, fire season reminders

WXPR – Last week, the USDA Forest Service announced a proposal to amend all 128 forest land management plans across the country. In keeping with the Biden administration’s April 2022 executive order, each forest plan is going to be amended to conserve and steward old and mature growth national forests and grasslands. WXPR spoke with… Continue reading Forest Service announces plan to amend all forest land management plans to protect old growth trees

ABC News – The Biden administration moved on Tuesday to conserve groves of old-growth trees on national forests across the U.S. and limit logging as climate change amplifies the threats they face from wildfires, insects and disease. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the agency was adopting an “ecologically-driven” approach to older forests — an arena… Continue reading US moves to protect old growth forests as climate change threatens their survival

Politico Pro – The Forest Service harvested more timber in fiscal 2023 than it has for years, but still fell short of the agency’s annual target. National forests yielded 2.9 billion board feet of cut timber, and 3.1 billion board feet in sales, the Forest Service said. Timber industry groups said the numbers reflect progress… Continue reading Timber harvests climb in national forests

AZ Central – Decades ago, the logging industry had it backward, removing old-growth trees while leaving the small ones. That’s no longer the case. A coalition of stakeholders, including some former adversaries, came together to fundamentally rethink how we manage ponderosa pine forests in Arizona. Recognizing the need to correct course and safely restore natural… Continue reading We save Arizona’s forests by keeping their largest trees

News Channel 9 – In 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a draft recovery plan for the Cumberland Darter, a pencil-shaped, three-inch fish whose range has been reduced to just a handful of streams in Southeast Kentucky and Northeast Tennessee, including in the Jellico Mountains. The Cumberland Darter’s precipitous decline was caused by… Continue reading DNA mapping begins a long road to recovery for endangered Tennessee fish

Seattle Times – Thirty years ago, fuels-reduction work in the national forests to prevent mega-fires was promoted like a religious revival. It involved logging projects focusing on thinning forests to mitigate the damage caused by past timber cutting and fire suppression. But after years of analysis of “fuels-reduction” projects, the painful facts have arrived. Let’s… Continue reading Forest ‘thinning,’ aka logging, is not going to save us from wildfires

Daily Montanan – Three conservation groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a United States Forest Service plan for a large logging project near Yellowstone National Park that they say puts several threatened or endangered species in even more danger. The groups said that the Forest Service is refusing to identify the locations, timing… Continue reading Conservation groups sue Forest Service for logging proposal near Yellowstone National Park

West Virginians worry it’s a return to the state’s destructive logging past. Fayette Tribune – The U.S. Forest Service has proposed to clear-cut and burn a number of areas of the Monongahela National Forest near the Upper Cheat River — 3,463 acres of trees in all. The Forest Service says that it seeks to make the forest more resilient… Continue reading Forest Service plans to clear-cut in the Monongahela National Forest

We spoke with Tim Reed, U.S. Forest Service Stearns District Ranger and decision-maker on the Jellico Mountains Vegetative Management Project. He said we should expect the Environmental Assessment in September. They are following the NEPA Process and will provide a 30-day official comment period. Watch this space.

EarthJustice.org – The Council on Environmental Quality released its phase II proposed rule for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This is the final proposed rule in a multi-phase process to remedy harmful changes made under the Trump administration. NEPA is our bedrock environmental law requiring the federal government to engage with communities and take… Continue reading Reversing the worst impacts of the NEPA rollbacks

EarthJustice.org – More than 528,000 submitted comments to the U.S. Forest Service about protecting mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging on federal land as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy. “The public wants the nation’s mature forests and trees to be protected from the chainsaw, and with good reason,” said Garett Rose, senior attorney… Continue reading More than Half a Million People Call on Forest Service to Protect Mature, Old-Growth Forests and Trees

Washington Post – The federal government estimated that more than 100 million acres of old-growth and mature timberlands are still standing on public lands. The findings are the result of a year-long review ordered last year by President Biden and are likely to inflame tensions with the timber industry over which forests should remain unlogged. But they… Continue reading U.S. has inventoried old-growth forests. Will protection be next?

HuffPost — Critics say it is time for the White House to make demands of the Forest Service instead of letting the agency advance pro-logging policies. On Earth Day last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting and restoring mature and old-growth forests on federal lands across the country. The order… Continue reading Forest Service Is Dragging Its Feet On Protecting Ancient Trees From Logging

This publication summarizes the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The 2024 Forest Service Budget request for discretionary appropriations is $9.7… Continue reading Forest Service Fiscal 2024 Budget Justification

The News Journal – Basically, it’s not the fact that the logging job is being proposed that has people so upset. It’s more about the overall scope of the job, which will span about four decades and include a considerable amount of clearcutting. I am concerned about the long-term negative effects that could result from… Continue reading Plans for Jellico Mtn. logging project remain unchanged, but maybe not for long

Since 1980, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has lost more than $1.7 billion on timber sales in the Tongass National Forest, according to a new report by Taxpayers for Common Sense. “It actually costs taxpayers millions to ‘sell’ timber that we collectively own, which makes no sense,” said Autumn Hanna, vice president of Taxpayers for… Continue reading New Report: Taxpayers Lost $1.7 Billion from Money-Losing Timber Sales in the Tongass

Sumauma.com – Under what insane set of values are lifeless, horizontal logs priced higher than living, vertical trees? How can it make economic sense to run down one of the world’s most important climate stabilisers, water pumps and cooling systems for the sake of a quick buck, burgers and gold trinkets? The answers to these three… Continue reading Valuing the forest can’t be left to the market

A May 2019 report by the Center for Sustainable Economy says thelogging program on federal forests continues to lose money for U.S. taxpayers in the range of $1.5 to $2.0 billion per year. Each year, the U.S. Forest Service authorizes logging of roughly 3 billion board feet of timber – equivalent to 650,000 full log… Continue reading Damaging logging operations on federal public lands costs U.S. taxpayers nearly $2 billion each year

WildEarth Guardians – Conservation organizations WildEarth Guardians and Oregon Wild filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s misuse of an agency regulation to evade its obligation to analyze and disclose the environmental impacts of three projects on the Fremont-Winema National Forest in Oregon. The organizations allege the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)… Continue reading Conservation groups sue Forest Service for evading analysis and disclosure of commercial thinning projects’ environmental impacts

CounterPunch.org – Some reporters still mistakenly write that commercial logging makes money for the Forest Service. It doesn’t — and this is an important issue because citizens need to know that politicians are actually sacrificing the public’s national forest resources and billions of federal tax dollars to enable the private profit of the timber industry. Adding to… Continue reading The Forest Service Not Only Loses Money Logging, It Makes Fires Worse

Kentucky Lantern – Last month, the Biden administration announced a plan for new regulations to enhance “climate resilience” in those forests. It was a follow-up to a first-of-its-kind inventory ordered by Biden that showed mature and old-growth forests make up 60 percent, or 112 million acres, of the forests managed by the Forest Service and… Continue reading Log and burn? Or let it be? The fight over the future of Hoosier National Forest

America’s mature and old-growth forests — natural climate solutions that remove and absorb large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere — could win stronger protections if enough people weigh in to urge federal agencies to act. Please urge the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to issue a rule protecting climate forests. The agencies are focused on… Continue reading Protect Our Climate Forests

Bangor Daily News – Mills cut back pulpwood orders within the past couple months, citing global market conditions, soft demand for certain papers and high inventories. It is a reversal of the booming business last summer. Leslie Pepper, a logger in Maine for 36 years, has to call each Monday morning to see if the… Continue reading Mills cutting pulpwood orders cause ‘world of hurt’ for loggers

The 8th episode of RISE, the Eastern Standard documentary series, focuses on a proposed US Forest Service logging project in the Jellicos, part of the Cumberland Mountains in the Daniel Boone National Forest on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. As proposed, the project would clear cut stands of old-growth trees on 10,000 acres over 40 years. Presenting… Continue reading RISE Eastern Standard Documentary on NPR

Albuquerque Journal – During my 35 years working for the U.S. Forest Service, I learned about the “law of holes” the hard way. The first law: if you’re in a hole, stop digging. The second: when you stop digging, you’re still in a hole. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management stopped digging… Continue reading Protecting old-growth forests best way to fight climate change

Indiana Residents fight the U.S. Forest Service over the future of Hoosier National Forest. The mighty, valuable oak is at the center of a conflict between federal officials and logging opponents over how to manage mature forests in an era of climate change. The Forest Service has more than 20 projects underway like the Hoosier… Continue reading Log and Burn, or Leave Alone?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of the Interior (DOI) announced actions to foster forest conservation, enhance forest resilience to climate change, and inform policymaking on ensuring healthy forests on federally managed lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). USDA and DOI worked together to develop several… Continue reading Mature and Old-Growth Forest Inventory

WildEarth Guardians – Conservation groups late Monday challenged a U.S. Forest Service plan to clearcut more than 5,500 acres of pine forests just outside Yellowstone National Park, in the Custer Gallatin National Forest. The plan also calls for logging across an additional 9,000 acres and bulldozing up to 56 miles of roads in the area,… Continue reading Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before

By: Trevor Sherman, The News Journal I have found myself doing a fair amount of research in recent days after attending last week’s Corbin Rotary Club meeting at David’s Steakhouse. The special guest speakers were Debbie Moses, and Timm and Theresa Martin, who were there to speak about the ongoing efforts to convince the U.S.… Continue reading Proposed clearcutting in Jellico Mountains could have serious negative consequences

The Jellico Mountains Logging Task Force would like to officially thank and recognize Whitney Hamblin of Kentucky Heartwood for all the amazing artwork and documents she made for our cause. Thank you, Whitney and Kentucky Heartwood! The task force, citizens of Whitley and McCreary counties, and the wildlife and trees in the Jellico Mountains really… Continue reading Thanks to Whitney Hamblin for her Artwork

McCreary Voice – With the rugged beauty and history of the area, perhaps it is no real surprise that a local citizens’ group is opposed to the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed Jellico (& Little Rock Creek) Vegetation Management Project, which incorporates the use of clearcutting and variations of clearcutting to harvest approximately 5,000 acres of… Continue reading Citizens are eager to “stop the chop”

WTVQ — A group of Whitley and McCreary County citizens have banded together to protect thousands of acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest. This is in response to the U.S. Forest Services’ plans to clear-cut approximately 5,000 acres of the forest and log a total of 10,000 acres over the next 40 years, the… Continue reading Jellico Mountain task force formed to oppose Daniel Boone National Forest logging

March 15, 2023 Tim Reed, District ManagerDaniel Boone National ForestStearns Ranger District3320 Highway 27 NWhitley City, KY 42653 Subject: Citizens Alternative to the Jellico Vegetative Management Project #63037 Dear Mr. Reed, This letter is in response to U.S. Forest Service plans to log the Jellico Mountains of the Daniel Boone National Forest over the next… Continue reading Citizens Alternative to the Jellico Vegetative Management Project

Please sign and share our petition: No Clearcutting the Jellico Mountains in our Daniel Boone National Forest https://www.change.org/JellicoMountains

WILLIAMSBURG, Kentucky—Brandon Bowlin learned of the U.S. government’s plan for clear-cutting in the southernmost mountains of Daniel Boone National Forest only a few weeks after the hard summer rains of 2022, when the earth slid off a mountain beneath a slope he had once logged. Since age 14—when Bowlin first held a chainsaw—he has harvested… Continue reading Kentucky Residents Angered by U.S. Forest Service Logging Plan That Targets Mature Trees

The following letter was sent to the editor of The McCreary Voice and is shared below with the express permission of the author. Dear Editor, I am writing to you and the community in reference to two articles: Locals Express Views During Town Hall Meeting and Vigorous Response to Jellico Vegetation Management Proposal. The U.S.… Continue reading Letter to the Editor

The Revelator – The community at the base of the Jellico Mountains initiated an incredible public campaign to “stop the chop” in response to the Forest Service’s scoping analysis. Every decision we make today will leave generations of people growing into adulthood with questions about why we chose profit and extraction over protection.  While we… Continue reading Protect This Place: Jellico Mountains, Home of Magical Waterways and Unique Species

These are the top stories of 2022 as voted upon by the news staff of the News Journal. 6) Daniel Boone National Forest proposal Nearly 100 people turned out on Nov. 17 for a town hall style meeting over the U.S. Forest Service’s proposal to clear cut logging of about 1,000 acres in the Daniel… Continue reading Our Story is #6 for 2022

Proposed alternative to clearcutting the Jellico Mountains:JELLICO MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA JMNRA

Check out the excellent feedback that Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) provided to the U.S. Forest Service regarding the Jellico Logging Project. View SELC Comments The mission of the Southern Environmental Law Center is to protect the basic right to clean air, clean water, and a livable climate; to preserve our region’s natural treasures and… Continue reading Southern Environmental Law Center’s Comments

The News Journal – Our founding fathers were some pretty smart folks. When they created this country, they did so with the idea of giving the people a way to peacefully address their grievances with the government. On Nov. 17, we got to see this in action locally as about 100 people gathered at the… Continue reading Glad to see open dialogue at town hall meeting on proposed logging

Thank you to everyone who submitted public comments to the U.S. Forest Service… for a total of 293 comments on the Jellico Project! The USFS values public participation and encourages comments on all forest projects to “help us make the right decisions for the good of the land and the public we serve.” We hope… Continue reading 293 Public Comments!

READ THE ARTICLE AT THE VOICE

WILLIAMSBURG — More than 100 concerned residents attended a meeting Thursday to discuss a proposed project that would affect nearly 10,000 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest over the next 40 years. READ MORE AT THE TIMES TRIBUNE

News Journal – With the exception of forest service officials, there was a clear consensus from pretty much everyone else who spoke out at the meeting that clear cutting is a terrible idea. “I find it disgusting. Clear cutting on steep slopes should be outlawed,” said one person, who identified himself as a former logger.… Continue reading This will destroy this whole region for years,’ resident tells U.S. Forest Service

Thanks to the U.S. Forest Service, Kentucky Heartwood, and the hundred members of our community who turned out on November 17 for our town meeting on the Jellico Logging Project. And special thanks to the Whitley County Extension Office for allowing the community to use its space. Here are some photos from the event:

Kentucky Heartwood made a Facebook Live broadcast of the Jellico Project Town Meeting on November 17 at the Whitley County Extension Office. Turnout was excellent, with about 100 members of the community in attendance and many sharing their views. Special thanks to the U.S. Forest Service, Tim Reed, John Hull, and the others for their… Continue reading Video of the Town Meeting

WBIR 10 News NBC – “We are concerned about the amount of logging and the number of years the proposal is going to take. Forty years, that’s a long time,” said Lauren Kallmeyer, the executive director of Kentucky Heartwood. “We’re hoping for a lot less trees to be cut overall. Then, the amount of trees… Continue reading People who live near Daniel Boone National Forest are concerned about losing 10,000 acres of trees

“Our shared public lands provide the best, and perhaps only opportunity for the restoration and recovery of the great forests that once dominated eastern Kentucky. These lands need stewardship and care. But the agricultural underpinnings of traditional forestry too easily sideline other values and risk degrading and diminishing our public forests.” READ THE ARTICLE AT… Continue reading Daniel Boone Forest deserves better treatment than proposed logging project

Don’t cut down the last old-growth we have left. It’s as simple as that and has been for Oregon Wild’s mission for nearly 50 years. We just learned that the U.S. Forest Service plans to log old-growth trees along the Pine Drops trail, one of the most popular mountain biking trail networks in Oregon. Trees over 100… Continue reading Deschutes National Forest to log old-growth trees in popular trail area

Kentucky Heartwood has filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s South Red Bird Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project on the Daniel Boone National Forest in Leslie and Clay counties. The largest timber project on the Daniel Boone in nearly 20 years would allow commercial logging on over 3,800 acres of public lands, along with the construction of… Continue reading Kentucky Heartwood files lawsuit challenging nearly 3,800 acres of logging in Daniel Boone National Forest

The Kentucky Daily – Several have shared their concerns on Facebook regarding a United States Forest Service proposal that could potentially clear out wooded areas in their backyards. “No deforestation or conversion of land use is proposed,” confirmed Timothy Eling, Public Affairs of the Daniel Boone National Forest. READ THE STORY ON THE KENTUCKY DAILY