http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/usfs/ en-us Tue, 9 Sep 2008 21:40:52 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2078474/posts Forest Service Investigator Believes Barton Lied About Letter. The lead U.S. Forest Service investigator looking into the cause of Colorado's largest wildfire testified Tuesday that she doesn't believe a burning letter sparked the fire. Agent Kimberly Jones was testifying in a Denver federal civil case where five insurance companies and several property owners are suing the federal government for more than $7 million because a Forest Service employee was responsible. That employee, Terry Barton, was convicted of starting the 2002 Hayman wildfire and spent nearly six years in a federal prison. When Jones testified that she didn't believe there ever... The Denver Channel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2078474/posts#comment Tue, 9 Sep 2008 21:40:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041056/posts BIG SUR,CA Weary firefighters got no Independence Day reprieve from a pair of out-of-control wildfires that roared along California's central coast, chewing through opposite ends of an arid forest in the Los Padres National Forest. Despite cooler temperatures and light winds, flames from the stubborn fire that forced the evacuation of Big Sur inched closer to historic vacation retreats. Meanwhile, firefighters farther south dealt with winds with speeds up to 40 mph that fanned a wildfire in Santa Barbara County. About 5,000 homes there were under evacuation orders, while residents in 1,400 homes were warned to pack up and be... newsmax.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041056/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jul 2008 12:45:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035995/posts With two-thirds of Oregon county governments, including Lane County, facing financial crises, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Monday urged residents to accept modest local property tax increases and more logging on federal forests to help stave off deep cuts in county law enforcement and other critical services. Those steps are just two of 54 recommendations in a task force report delivered to the governor on Monday. Kulongoski commissioned the report last year to address the imminent loss of about $238 million in annual federal timber payments, including $47 million a year to Lane County. The top recommendation was for Oregon... The Register-Guard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035995/posts#comment Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:37:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029263/posts A judge awarded more than $4.2 million to a late Nevada rancher's estate after finding that the U.S. Forest Service engaged in an unconstitutional "taking" of water rights out of hostility to the rancher, a property rights activist. The decision ... involved the Fifth Amendment clause against private property being taken for public use without just compensation. The rancher, Wayne Hage, bought the sprawling Pine Creek Ranch in central Nevada in 1978. the taking occurred when the Forest Service made it impossible for Hage to maintain irrigation ditches, which deprived the ranch of water and made it unviable. The government... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029263/posts#comment Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:59:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2025879/posts Dead lodgepole pines turned into products from pellet fuel to pens. millions of beetle- kill pines in the nearby hills and mountains could explode into a fire ... But locals also realize that using the wood for beetle-kill products is just a start - and not a silver bullet. "There's little stuff going on, but not near what we need," ... But, still, he's grateful. "Small steps lead to big trips," ... Dead and dying lodgepole acreage in Colorado has grown to 1.5 million since the first signs of the mountain pine beetle outbreak in 1996... homes, property and lives... Rocky Mountain News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2025879/posts#comment Wed, 4 Jun 2008 16:01:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024854/posts Terry Lynn Barton has been released from prison after serving a six-year term for starting the worst wildfire in Colorado's recorded history. Barton, 44, pleaded guilty to arson charges stemming from the 2002 Hayman Fire, which blackened 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate. She was a fire spotter for the U.S. Forest Service at the time The Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024854/posts#comment Mon, 2 Jun 2008 17:08:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2016353/posts Crews will cut trees on more than 200 acres around Vail this summer in their continuing efforts to battle the pine beetle epidemic. This summer’s work will continue to create a ribbon of “defensible space” around the town that seeks to prevent the spread of fire... “It’s to protect lives, homes and property from the effects of catastrophic wildfire,” ... The work is part of the Vail Valley Forest Health Project, a multi-year effort coordinated by the Forest Service that seeks to combat the pine beetle infestation from East Vail to Edwards. The mountain pine beetle epidemic has killed up... Vail Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2016353/posts#comment Thu, 15 May 2008 15:32:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993473/posts The parents of the 11-year-old boy killed by a black bear last summer in American Fork Canyon are suing the U.S. Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. They say more should have been done to prevent their son's death. Step-father Tim Mulvey, his wife Rebecca Ives and Sam’s father say they have lived with the horror of that father's day weekend every day since and now they want to make sure it never happens to anyone else's family. It is grief beyond comprehension for most of us; a child ripped away from his family in the middle of... ABC 4 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993473/posts#comment Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:36:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992639/posts Barton Gets 15 Years Probation, Community Service. A woman who admitted to starting the Hayman Fire will not do any time in Colorado for sparking the largest wildfire in the state's history... "I feel good. It's done," Terry Barton said, looking relaxed at the hearing. Barton is currently serving a six-year sentence in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas and will be released in June. The state wanted her to also serve time in state prison, but Barton's original state sentence of 12 years in prison was overturned by the Colorado Appeals Court. "Your honor, I'm not asking for... TheDenverChannel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992639/posts#comment Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:44:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975583/posts Agriculture chief's priority: avoid jail By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 23, 10:12 AM ET WASHINGTON - He overhauled federal forest policy to cut more trees — and became a lightning rod for environmentalists who say he is intent on logging every tree in his reach. After nearly seven years in office, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey still has a long to-do list. Near the top: Persuade a federal judge to keep him out of jail. Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist who has directed U.S. forest policy since 2001, also wants to set up state rules making it... Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975583/posts#comment Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:24:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936233/posts Bears that barge in on people in the forest have become enough of a nuisance that more of them should be hunted, state wildlife managers have decided. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, responding to a spike in human-bear contacts and an 11-year-old boy's death in June, want to issue 296 black bear hunting permits for Utah's 2008 spring and fall hunts, a 20 percent increase from the 248 permits offered this year. DWR officials say the state's black bear population is high enough to warrant the permit increase. Wildlife managers also say bears and humans clashed too many times... The Salt Lake Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936233/posts#comment Fri, 7 Dec 2007 18:06:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1923398/posts New mill to turn dead trees into pellet fuel. Colorado's first wood-pellet mill owes its birth to pine beetles that are killing millions of trees near the town of Kremmling and across northwest Colorado. The diseased trees will be the new Kremmling mill's chief input - a new twist for the pellet-fuel industry. The 18,000-square-foot plant is billed as the largest west of the Mississippi. It's slated in February to start grinding trees into environmentally friendly pellets for wood-pellet stoves and industrial and commercial pellet boilers. Many of the trees are too skinny or too cracked and old to be... Rocky Mountain News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1923398/posts#comment Fri, 9 Nov 2007 16:31:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1922337/posts About 20 piles of downed pine and aspen trees will be burned Wednesday and Thursday ... The trees were cut down this fall by crews building a buffer between the forest and neighborhoods to prevent the spread of wildfires. Once more snow falls, some of the 250 piles of timber remaining on the upper bench of Donovan Park will be burned. Vail Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1922337/posts#comment Wed, 7 Nov 2007 18:06:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1922413/posts When the U.S. Forest Service received no bids on two small timber sales in Eagle County earlier this year, the agency's local rangers encountered what is becoming a problem throughout the intermountain West. The federal agency got a lesson in market economics and the three-way tug of war over lumber in national forests. There were no bidders for the timber "salvage" sales designed to remove trees killed by infesting pine beetles. The Forest Service also wants to sell the dead trees so they won't add extra fuel to wildfires. The glut of dead trees is occurring at a time when... Vail Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1922413/posts#comment Wed, 7 Nov 2007 21:21:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1920284/posts Nick Dole has set up a hunting camp in the same area of the Lewis and Clark National Forest every year since 1982 and stayed there for up to five weeks at a time, so it bothers him that the U.S. Forest Service stands to break his tradition by enforcing a 16-day limit on camping. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., also finds the decision disturbing and wants the regional head of the Forest Service to intervene. "Our personal camp has been -- what, a 20-some-year situation -- and they want to change it," Dole said Monday from the camp he and... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1920284/posts#comment Fri, 2 Nov 2007 23:57:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904428/posts The self-described “Land of Many Uses” will likely have several fewer in the coming years as the U.S. Forest Service explores closing 10 amenities in northern Colorado. The Forest Services employs the “Many Uses” slogan because national forests are home to logging, grazing, mining and recreational pursuits, but the point remains that the agency is the steward of public lands along much of the Front Range. The list for closure includes five sites in Larimer and Boulder counties, including the Tom Bennett Campground on the north flanks of the Mummy Range, picnic areas along the North Fork of the Big... Daily Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904428/posts#comment Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:18:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1895318/posts 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... Canyon Courier http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1895318/posts#comment Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:38:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893748/posts U.S. Forest Service officials have released a plan to reduce destructive wildfire potential on about 8,100 acres of forest land east of Estes Park. The goal of the Thompson River Fuel Reduction Project is to reduce the spread and intensity of wildfires that could affect private property and municipal water supplies in and around the Big and Little Thompson rivers and to protect the forest’s ecosystem. Historically, small fires thinned forest undergrowth and kept the chances for a large wildfire to a minimum. But through much of the 20th century, people suppressed those fires. That left a more dense undergrowth,... Loveland Reporter-Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893748/posts#comment Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:21:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1891052/posts As flames advanced on the wealthy vacation community of Sun Valley, real estate agent Todd Conklin sent his wife and kids to safety, then offered spa treatments to some of the more than 1,600 firefighters and National Guardsmen arriving in town. “They said, ‘No, we don’t need that,”’ Conklin said. “So we just started buying them dinners.” Conklin’s offer is emblematic of how this town where Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Kerry, Demi Moore, Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Hanks have second homes has dealt with a 78-square-mile wildfire that broke out more than two weeks ago. As F. Scott Fitzgerald famously... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1891052/posts#comment Tue, 4 Sep 2007 19:49:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890162/posts Tree-thinning to begin in fall in Colorado, Wyo. The U.S. Forest Service is launching a major effort to battle bark beetles across an 80,000-acre swath of Colorado and Wyoming, its largest assault to date on the fire-prone forests. The plan, announced Friday, calls for thinning and tree removal in five Colorado counties and two in Wyoming. The program, aided by $8 million in new federal funding, relies on partnerships between the federal agency and the mountain counties where rust-red trees are causing the most danger to humans. Mary Ann Chandler, a Forest Service spokeswoman, said the agency has structured the... Rocky Mountain News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890162/posts#comment Sun, 2 Sep 2007 14:28:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887826/posts Crews cutting trees in hopes stopping wildfire from jumping between neighborhoods and the forest. As the color red has grown in the forest... The mountain pine beetle epidemic has hit ...hard. Whether it’s a lightning strike or a barbecue sparking a blaze, Spaeh says she understands the risk of a destructive forest fire. ....town, county and the U.S. Forest Service are cooperating to create a layer of “defensible space” — a 200-to-300-foot barrier — that aims to stop the spread of a fire, either from the forest into the neighborhood or vice versa. “This is a really good thing,” ...... Vail Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887826/posts#comment Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:06:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887209/posts An unstoppable wave could devastate 3 million acres of lodgepole pines. Mountain pine beetles are obliterating a forest that stretches from British Columbia to Mexico, and in the process are creating a hazard for fire, public safety and water supply. “What we’re looking at is an entire lodgepole pine forest dying right before our eyes,”... Severson described the problem to the Colorado Water Congress at its convention last week.... More than 22 million acres eventually will be destroyed in the American West. Meanwhile, the beetles are making their way across Canada toward the Atlantic Ocean as well. The lack of... THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887209/posts#comment Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:19:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880801/posts Gov. Schwarzenegger recently escalated a battle of words with federal officials over how to manage the remaining wilderness areas in Southern California's national forests. In an August letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Schwarzenegger accused the federal government of not doing enough to make sure wilderness in the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Angeles and Los Padres national forests is protected from road construction. The state and environmental groups want more restrictions on forest roads than are outlined in new forest management plans, 10- to 15-year master plans for land use in the forests. Schwarzenegger charged the federal government with not... Riverside Press-Enterprise http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880801/posts#comment Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:11:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1875108/posts Wildfires in several western states have stirred embers of the "Sagebrush Rebellion," as ranchers and politicians have criticized federal agencies, the courts and environmentalists over policies they say are contributing to the fires. Nevada's Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., claimed environmental groups and federal bureaucracy have contributed to fires, including one at Lake Tahoe that burned more than 250 homes. And this week, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, a rancher, and the state's two senators, Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, joined ranchers in blaming federal safety rules for crippling early efforts to douse a 1,000-square-mile... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1875108/posts#comment Thu, 2 Aug 2007 05:44:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1873660/posts Goal of cutting is to reduce fire danger, salvage timber and regrow forest. Removing beetle infected pine trees will help new and healthy pine trees grow. It will also promote the growth of aspen, which are naturally fire resistant. By clearing out these trees, they’re prevented from falling on the ground, which not only adds to the fire danger, but also hampers growth of new trees. Dead trees also obstruct movement of large animals such as deer and elk. The dead trees left behind shed their needles and branches and then fall to the forest floor. The pines, filled with... Vail Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1873660/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:26:22 GMT