Free Republic

Before the string of blazes that lay siege this week to nearly all of Southern California, even before the historic firestorms of 2003, then-San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman told his bosses in Washington about the problem before him. The most populous national forest faced a mounting threat of catastrophic fire, and reducing it would cost a lot of money, he said. On Wednesday, Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey, the nation's top fire official, said funds meant to restore forests to health have reached record levels in recent years -- and that the San Bernardino National Forest has received...

Jefferson County officials said last week that plans to aid an Arizona businessman in his quest to construct a bio-energy facility in Golden are moving forward. Wade Yates, special project coordinator for Jeffco, said the county has finalized a $161,700 contract with CVL Consultants of Colorado for an engineering study and design plan for the proposed wood-pellet fuel biomass plant. If the report finds the site is appropriate for the Front Range’s first biomass facility, the consultants will help Jeffco rezone the land from agricultural to industrial uses and develop a comprehensive site development plan. At that point, “we’re really...

O'BRIEN, Ore. - After nearly 90 years of sawing pine and Douglas fir logs into lumber, Rough & Ready Lumber Co. is branching into the energy business, building a $5 million plant to burn logging debris and to produce electricity that it can sell at a "green tag" premium to the regional power grid. "It's ripe," said Rough & Ready President Link Phillippi, who hopes to have a 1.5 megawatt plant up and running by this fall. "There are the economic benefits, the benefits of healthy forests, and the benefit of a country needing renewable energy — clean energy." The...

RAPID CITY -- The sign on Soo San Drive warning of "extreme" fire danger in the Black Hills on Friday was not a typographical error. The U.S. Forest Service uses a complicated formula to compute its fire danger index. Yes, it's only mid-April. Yes, the high temperature was only about 58 degrees.