Daniel Boone National Forest announces prescribed burns, fire season reminders

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

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A century of reforestation helped keep the eastern US cool, study finds

Phys.org – Widespread 20th-century reforestation in the eastern United States helped counter rising temperatures due to climate change, according to new research. The authors highlight the potential of forests as regional climate adaptation tools, which are needed along with a decrease in carbon emissions. “This widespread history of reforestation, a huge shift in land cover,… Continue reading A century of reforestation helped keep the eastern US cool, study finds

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Forest Service announces plan to amend all forest land management plans to protect old growth trees

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

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US moves to protect old growth forests as climate change threatens their survival

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

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Scientists issue warning against commercial tree-planting schemes: ‘We should shift focus’

Yahoo – One strategy that is being implemented to combat the ongoing overheating of our planet may actually be doing more harm than good, scientists have warned. A new study on commercial tree-planting schemes discovered a variety of unintended consequences. The problem is that many of these initiatives simply try to plant as many trees as… Continue reading Scientists issue warning against commercial tree-planting schemes: ‘We should shift focus’

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Forests with multiple tree species are 70% more effective as carbon sinks than monoculture forests, study finds

Phys.org – Compared to single-species forests, mixed forests are more resilient to pests, diseases, and climatic disturbances, which increases their long-term carbon storage potential. The delivery of other ecosystem services is also greater in mixed species forests, and they support higher levels of biodiversity. Story at Phys.org

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We save Arizona’s forests by keeping their largest trees

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

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DNA mapping begins a long road to recovery for endangered Tennessee fish

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

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Forest ‘thinning,’ aka logging, is not going to save us from wildfires

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

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