Here is the weekly news affecting forests in California from Greg Giuisti:
Looking out for Lake Tahoe: new accord stirs debate, Alex Matthews
Capitol Weekly, 09/25/13
In 2011, fueled by pro-development and business interests, the state of Nevada passed legislation intended aimed at ending what many saw as a blissful, decades -old union with California — the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Nevada wanted to get out of the historic compact governing the protection of the majestic lake along the borders of both states. But environmentalists were not quite ready to let go of such a crucial regulatory tool......
Agency fails to do its job, many employees say, Greenwire, September 25, 2013, (subscription required)
Nearly half the workers at the Forest Service don't think their agency is doing its job. According to a survey released today by the government watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, just 55 percent of agency employees said the Forest Service is accomplishing its mission. The report, dated March 28, was produced by the consulting firm CI International.....
Air Quality: Let’s not forget there’s a forest through those trees
By Senator Tom Berryhill, Sonora Union Democrat, September 19th
California’s wildfire season is only half over and the communities surrounding the Rim Fire in and around Yosemite National Park are still regrouping as firefighters continue working to contain one of the worst wildfires in California’s history. Extreme drought conditions, over 100 years of fire suppression policies and minimal management of forestland have turned the Sierra into a tinderbox......
Logging bill reaches governor, without Santa Cruz in it, Jason Hoppin, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sept 23, 2013
DAVENPORT -- A logging bill that ran into a buzz saw of local controversy has landed on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, who -- after the Santa Cruz Mountains were carved out of the bill -- he is expected to sign it. The bill, AB 904, allows all but large landowners to pursue timber plans in perpetuity, as long as they comply with stricter environmental standards than those required of routine harvests. But the bill alarmed some local environmentalists, who worried about the removal of barriers to unwanted logging......
Special rules on logging, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 09/24/2013
Apparently, Santa Cruz County is a special interest. What else can one make of the end around state legislators have given environmental interests here who sought an exemption to a new law giving a break for small landowners who want to allow timber harvesting on their properties. The logging bill, AB 904, allows smaller landowners, up to 15,000 acres, to pursue timber plans in perpetuity as long as they comply with stricter environmental standards......
House passes McClintock timber bill, Alex MacLean, Sonora Union Democrat, September 24, 2013
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a forestry bill on Friday that includes an amendment by Congressman Tom McClintock intended to expedite the salvage of timber burned in the Rim Fire. The bill, HR 1526, also known as the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, was approved 244-173. House Democrats largely opposed the measure, with 172 voting against and only 17 in favor.....
Survey reveals Americans’ overwhelming support for our National Forests, FOREST BUSINESS NETWORK, SEPT 23, 2013
The National Forest Foundation (NFF) announced today results of a new nation wide survey of voters revealing strong personal connections many Americans have with the National Forests and the benefits these lands provide. These connections are so strong that four in five voters polled said despite federal budget problems, funding to safeguard National Forests should not be cut. .....
Rim fire's effects likely to last for decades to come: Ecologists say forests in huge swaths of the Stanislaus National Forest could take 30 to 50 years to reestablish themselves, Bettina Boxall Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2013
TUOLUMNE, Calif. — Tourists stopped at the Rim of the World overlook on California 120 earlier this month to take photos of the panoramic view — just as they always have. But they stared in silence at the ashen hues of a landscape swept by the largest wildfire to burn in the Sierra Nevada in more than a century of recordkeeping. Steep canyon walls and mountain slopes that had been robed in chaparral and oak were now draped in black, spreading to the horizon in a funereal scene.......
The multi-million dollar question: Is forest certification working?, Center for International Forestry Research, Thomas Hubert, Thompson Reuters Foundation, Sept 20, 2013
Forest certification is considered a promising tool to improve forest management, but there needs to be a robust evaluation of a complex web of factors to establish its true value for various stakeholders, according to a new analysis.
Certification is a market-based scheme under which companies or communities managing forests voluntarily submit to audits by independent inspectors. If they meet responsible forest management criteria, their timber products can then carry a recognized branding such as that of the leading certification scheme, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)......
Experimental forests planted to try to lessen toll from wildfires, NBC News, Sep. 18, 2013
Experimental forests that have been groomed to slow wildfires could reduce the frequency of catastrophic fires in the future, researchers say. The decade-long project to slow and contain forest fires could become a blueprint for fire management across California. The project, which was developed in an experimental forest at the University of California at Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station near Lake Tahoe in California, creates pockets of thinner trees in areas where the fire risk is high, while still leaving pockets of dense growth for wildlife habitat......