Author: White Oak

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