skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Public Asked to Weigh In on Future of NW Forest Plan

play audio
Play

Monday, March 16, 2015   

SEATTLE - The U.S. Forest Service holds public meetings this week in Seattle and Portland, asking for comments on how to update the Northwest Forest Plan.

The plan has been the overarching management strategy to balance conservation and timber harvest on national forestland in the Northwest for 20 years, but the Forest Service is leaning toward relying on separate plans for each forest instead.

As a coauthor of the original plan, University of Washington Forest Ecology professor Jerry Franklin says he's convinced an individual approach won't work as well, because so many of the challenges are regional, including endangered species and climate change.

"That's why we had to do the Northwest Forest Plan in the first place – because you couldn't deal with these issues piece by piece," says Franklin. "You had to have a vision of how the whole puzzle looked, and what pieces each forest was going to provide."

Franklin says he'd like the revised plan to acknowledge the need to protect mature an old-growth forests based on science, rather than what he sees as a Forest Service desire to avoid lawsuits about timber sales.

The timber industry has said for years that the Northwest Forest Plan hasn't delivered the volume of timber it promised in 1994.

But Mike Anderson, senior policy analyst with The Wilderness Society, points out that lately, forest and watershed restoration work has kept logs coming to the mills and created jobs in rural communities. He cites more collaboration on the ground as proof that the region has moved beyond the "timber wars" of past decades.

"I would hope that this time around, there's going to be a lot more common ground to be found," says Anderson. "There's a very strong affection for the forests and their rivers and the fish, and we all want to see a good, healthy environment out there."

Anderson thinks climate change is the biggest threat to the national forestlands today and wants the Northwest Forest Plan to address it. He's on a national advisory panel working with the Forest Service on the update.

Washington's public meeting is Wed., Mar. 18, 5:30-8:30 p.m., at the Conference Center at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, 17801 International Blvd., Seattle. Written comments also can be made to the Forest Service.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021