Analysis
Ted Stubblefield: Another Giant Gone
Ted Stubblefield, longtime U.S. Forest Service leader and Evergreen Foundation board member, dies at 85. A legacy of forest management, wildfire leadership, and advocacy.
Stories & analysis
Field notes, explainers, and shorter analysis. Same standard of evidence as our reports, without the full apparatus.
All stories
Analysis
From the Vault MacCleery: April 29, 2010
A paper from the archive on how indigenous peoples shaped the pre-Columbian Southeast, and what centuries of widespread burning mean for the rare species and ecosystems found there today.
Analysis
Environmentalitis and the Cost of Forest Litigation in Western Oregon
A deep-dive into how environmental litigation reshaped federal forest policy, ended salvage logging, and helped fuel recurring wildfire disasters in western Oregon.
Analysis
New Mexico Megafires, and the Case for Reforming National Wildfire Policy
This article revisits Steve Pearce’s request for a post‑fire report after New Mexico’s 2012 Whitewater‑Baldy and Little Bear megafires, outlining Bill Derr’s findings, NWA’s four core principles, and the call to restore the 10 A.M. Policy, end “let burn” strategies, treat fuels, and actively manage
Analysis
Stewardship Without Access: Why Deferred Maintenance Is Silently Shrinking Public Lands
Brent Oliver argues that true Forest Service stewardship must include access, maintenance, and disability rights—not just land protection—while highlighting the growing deferred maintenance crisis.
Analysis
From the Vault - The True Costs of Wildfire and the Douglas Complex: Wildfire Cost‑Plus‑Loss Economics — National Wildfi
Dr. Bob Zybach and John Marker show that suppression is only a small fraction of wildfire damages, using the Douglas Complex to illustrate cost‑plus‑loss economics and a practical one‑page checklist for quantifying true wildfire impacts.
Analysis
Defining Wildfire Economics: Costs, Policy, and the Price of Burning Forests
Jim Petersen explores “wildfire economics,” tracing Bob Zybach’s forest history work, academic debates over old growth, and the full spectrum of pre‑, during‑, and post‑fire costs from suppression to sawmills and biomass.
Analysis
Forest Fire: Idaho’s Largest Uncontrolled Tax on Rural Communities
Forest fires impose hidden costs on Idaho through suppression spending, lost timber revenue, damaged watersheds, and reduced opportunities for future generations, demanding a new approach to forest stewardship
Analysis
Prescribed Fire Planning: Writing Effective Burn Prescriptions for Safe Wildland Fire Use
Royal Burnett explains key concepts in prescribed fire planning, including burn objectives, control lines, fuel models, weather parameters, and the use of BEHAVE‑based tools like the Wildfire Pocket Analyst for safer fire use.
Analysis
The Forest Service Didn't Fail Us The Environmental Industry Captured It
An analysis of the Interior Department’s decision to end key partnerships, examining wildfire policy, forest management, and the debate over activist influence on public lands.
Analysis
“Strange Fire” Fire, Discernment, and the Collapse of Distinction
An examination of modern wildfire in America, exploring how institutional incentives, technological ignition, and collapsing distinctions between natural and profane fire are reshaping landscapes and communities.
Analysis
New Alliance Building Wildfire Readiness & Forest Resilience Across the American West
New alliance between the National Wildfire Alliance and Rogue Siskiyou Regional Wildfire Training Center (RSR) is building a year‑round Western wildfire workforce and rapid response system across states.
Analysis
Eastern Lane County Wildfires, Toxic Smoke, and Opportunity: Dr. Bob Zybach Presentation Index — National Wildfire Allia
Dr. Bob Zybach’s 59‑minute presentation on catastrophic wildfires, toxic smoke, forest management history, and reforestation opportunities in Eastern Lane County, Oregon
Analysis
Our Forests, Our Future: Rejecting the "Hands-Off" Dogma That Is Burning America
Frank Carroll argues that active forest management, timber harvest, thinning, and prescribed fire are essential to reducing wildfire risk and protecting America’s national forests.
Analysis
The Battle Changed Terrain; “There Is a Battle for America”
A reflection on James Watt’s 1984 warning, today’s wildfire crisis, and why failed forest policy, megafires, and collapsing public lands demand urgent action.
Analysis
Forestry in Indian Country: Solving Federal Forestry’s Rubik’s Cube
This publication explores how tribal forestry supports forest health, wildfire resilience, cultural stewardship, and rural economies, while highlighting the findings of the IFMAT III assessment.
Analysis
The Firestorm After the Flames: Why Post-Wildfire Forest Restoration Demands New Policies
An argument for replacing “managed fire” with rapid suppression, salvage logging, active forest management, and infrastructure repair to restore forests and protect communities after wildfire.
Analysis
Spotted Owls, Clinton's Plan, and Deadly Smoke: One Woman's 30-Year Fight for Forest Communities and Clean Air — Nationa
Nadine Bailey lost her livelihood to spotted owl politics — then watched those same unmanaged forests explode into catastrophic fire. Her 30-year testimony connects federal forest policy directly to lung cancer, lost towns, and toxic air.
Analysis
From the Vault: William Derr
A retired Forest Service employee raised serious concerns about the Station Fire review — incomplete interviews, management failures, and employee retaliation fears. The agency's response? Case closed.
Analysis
Another Year Of Deadly Wildfire Smoke?
In this article David L. Auchterlonie shows The WHO, the Lancet, the National Academy of Sciences, and dozens of peer-reviewed studies have reached the same conclusion: wildfire smoke is carcinogenic. It is linked to COPD, cardiovascular disease, and even autism in children — and kills an estima
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