Field notes, explainers, and shorter analysis. Same standard of evidence as our reports, without the full apparatus.
The U.S. Forest Service is undergoing its biggest restructuring in 121 years. Here's what must not get lost in the shuffle: community safety, transparency, accountability, and land stewardship.
A Northern California forestry veteran shares what Congress hasn't seen — communities destroyed by backfires, million-acre burns with no rehab plan, and a Forest Service that no longer serves the people.
Dana Tibbits of the National Wildfire Alliance urges a reset of U.S. wildfire policy, calling for aggressive suppression, science‑based fuel reduction, and protection of communities and forests.
September 2020: the Alaska Incident Team ignited fires on South Fork Mountain despite forecasted winds. Ruth, California burned. Who decided? Who's accountable?
Frank Carroll argues that USFS Potential Operational Delineations, known as POD’s risk becoming preauthorized burn zones. Here's why communities near the wildland-urban interface must demand accountability.
An interview with U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz discussing wildfire impacts, adaptive forest management, and efforts to bridge divisions over forest and wildfire policy in the United States.
A true pioneer and dedicated steward of our forests for over 50 remarkable years.
An analysis comparing wildfire suppression costs with proactive fuel treatments, arguing for increased investment in prevention, landscape resilience, and community wildfire preparedness.
Democratic Sen. Kathleen Taylor and Republican Rep. Court Boice bridge Oregon’s rural–urban divide to tackle catastrophic wildfire risk and protect forests and communities.
Photo review of Southern Oregon forests under stress, showing how thinning, prescribed fire and filtered sunlight restore respiration, moisture balance and resilience.
“When Controlled Burns Go Bad, The Deadly Lessons of California’s 2020 North Complex Fire”. This article by Dr Bob Zybach and Frank Carrol examines the 2020 North Complex Fire in northern California, exploring how a lightning-sparked wildfire that was initially left unstaffed eventually
An analysis of recent National Forest wildfires impacting Western communities, examining trends, wildfire impacts, and forest management concerns across Oregon and Northern California.
An opinion piece arguing that better vegetation management near powerlines, including logging and replanting with low-growth crops, could reduce catastrophic wildfire risk in rural Oregon.
Forest Service retiree Phil Aune reflects on forest management, fire policy, planning paralysis, and why he believes the agency must return to accountability, execution, and local decision-making
The National Wildfire Alliance proposes a federal executive order outlining wildfire emergency response, forest management reforms, fuel reduction strategies, and policy changes addressing wildfire risk nationwide.
The 2022 Cedar Creek Fire burned 127,000 acres, choked Oregon communities with smoke for six weeks, and cost taxpayers $132 million — and it didn't have to happen. A look at how decades of mismanagement brought us here.
Eldon "Tope" Knauf argues that effective forest management depends on robust rural manufacturing infrastructure—including sawmills, pulp mills, and byproduct facilities—and that the loss of these industries is leaving billions of board feet of timber without viable markets, driving up hous
Smokejumper Magazine editor Chuck Sheley discusses wildfire impacts, smoke, community effects, and the role of rapid initial attack and wildfire management policy in Northern California.
Former Forest Service timber management official Wayne Knauf calls for a return to the principles of the 1897 Organic Act, arguing that National Forests exist to support communities, jobs, schools, and roads—not to be locked away—and that two decades of failed federal management have reduced timber
This article argues that America’s worsening wildfire and forest health crisis demands immediate fire suppression, active forest management, and restoration practices modeled in part on long-standing tribal stewardship.
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