Western Larch, © George Wuerthner
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Andy Kerr's Larch Occasional Papers Page Don't passively wait for the powers that be (in the conservation movement or Congress) to put your Wilderness and/or Wild & Scenic River proposal on the political agenda. Make your proposal so compelling and politically popular that it demands attention. Andy Kerr |
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Larch
Occasional Papers |
Persuading Congress to Establish a Wilderness and/or Wild & Scenic River: A Checklist Small PDF (Suitable for Viewing and Circulating) Large PDF (Suitable for Printing) ABSTRACT 1: Ordinary citizens have been achieving Congressional protection for their favoritre roadless areas and/or free-flowing streams since enactment by Congress of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Though political in nature, there is rationality to the process of protecting a part of America's wild for this and future generations. There is also a methodology. If you can check off this checklist, you will achieve success that is enduring. Transferring Western Oregon Bureau of Land Management Forests to the National Forest System Small PDF (Suitable for Viewing and Circulating) Large PDF (Suitable for Printing) ABSTRACT 2: Both environmental protection and fiscal efficacy would be improved if federally owned forestlands in western Oregon presently managed by the Bureau of Land Management were transferred to the National Forest System and managed by the United States Forest Service. The Forest Service—even with all its flaws—is the nation's premier forest management agency. Most forested holdings managed by the BLM in western Oregon comprise “O&C” lands—“Oregon and California” Railroad lands that revested back to federal ownership after a sordid and colorful history as private railroad properties. Unfortunately, that history is perpetuated today by BLM's consistent, intentional—and often illegal—mismanagement of these lands. Thinning Certain Oregon Forests to Restore Ecological Function Small PDF (Suitable for Viewing and Circulating) Large PDF (Suitable for Printing) ABSTRACT 3: Politics makes for strange bedfellows and that is particularly the case today with the restoration of Oregon's public forests. Conservationists must work with cooperative elements of the timber industry to achieve ecological restoration of certain forest types exhibiting certain stand conditions. Significant amounts of this forest restoration will require some commercial logging—“thinning”—albeit only for a few decades and taking much smaller diameter trees than in the past. Logging for ecological restoration will produce much less timber than was historically removed from federal forests, but significantly more timber than has been removed in recent years. Carefully controlled thinning projects in certain forest types with certain stand conditions must be a part of a scientifically justified program of forest restoration that includes protecting all old growth trees, creating more old growth trees, preserving roadless areas, removing roads, removing livestock and/or reintroducing natural fire to forest ecosystems. Forest Service Administrative Appeals: A Misallocation of Resources Small PDF (Suitable for Viewing and Circulating) Large PDF (Suitable for Printing) ABSTRACT 4: Conservationists could achieve more and better conservation of national forest lands if they traded away administrative appeals of agency decisions in exchange for Congressionally mandated substantive protections for roadless, riparian, older, naturally younger and other ecologically significant forests. The time and effort spent by the conservation community on administrative appeals could be better spent on preparing for litigation, political organizing, resource monitoring and public education. The proposed legislated trade of process for substance would not affect judicial review of agency actions. Eliminating Forest Service Regional Offices: Replacing Middle Management with More On-the-Ground Restoration Small PDF (Suitable for Viewing and Circulating) Large PDF (Suitable for Printing) ABSTRACT 5: Budget reductions have forced the Forest Service to share rangers and other staff between ranger districts and merge national forests for administrative purposes. Yet, no Forest Service regional office has been eliminated or merged since 1965. Forest Service regional offices should not be merged or preserved, but eliminated entirely. Little conservation good is generated out of regional offices. The private sector has essentially eliminated middle management. Necessary functions now performed by the regional offices could be transferred to the national forest level, Washington Office level or the Albuquerque Service Center. Unnecessary functions currently assigned to the regional offices could be eliminated with cost savings used for other purposes—preferably on-the-ground management at the national forest and ranger district level. Establishing a System of and a Service for U.S. Deserts and Grasslands Small PDF (Suitable for Viewing and Circulating) Large PDF (Suitable for Printing) ABSTRACT 6: The Bureau of Land Management should be subsumed by a congressionally authorized U.S. Desert and Grassland Service analogous to the U.S. Forest Service. The new agency would manage most public lands currently managed by BLM in a new National Desert and Grassland System, analogous to the National Forest System. The agency would have the mission of managing these public lands for biological diversity conservation, watershed protection, carbon sequestration and compatible recreation. As appropriate, remaining BLM lands would be transferred to the National Park System, National Forest System and National Wildlife Refuge System. Upgrading the BLM from a “bureau” to a `service” would improve public land and resource management. Integrating BLM lands into a new land conservation system would also increase public awareness, acceptance and support for these federal public lands. Other Hot Downloads Henjum, M. G., J. R. Karr, D. L. Bottom, D. A. Perry, J C. Bednarz, S. G. Wright, S. A. Beckwitt, and E. Beckwitt. 1994 Interim Protection for Late-Successional Forests, Fisheries and Watersheds: National Forests East of the Cascade Crest, Oregon and Washington. The Wildlife Society, Washington, DC. The Eastside Forests Scientific Society Panel report is now available in PDF, thanks to author and editor Jim Karr. Unfortunately, it is non-searchable as it was scanned to make the PDF, rather than from the original document. You can also get just the Executive Summary. Collaborative Conservation Strategies: Legislative Case Studies from Across the West. 2007. Western Governors Association. Denver Colorado. Includes a chapter by Andy Kerr entitled “The Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000 (Oregon).” (Starting on page 11 of the pdf file.) Kerr, Andy. 2006. "The Ultimate Firefight: Changing Hearts and Minds." (Note: this is a double-page spread, so scroll sideways to read the complete article.) Pages 273-277 in Wuerthner, George (ed). Wild Fire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy. Island Press. Washington, DC. Kerr, Andy. 2007. Making PV Pay: It's Just Good Business Sense. Home Power. February & March. No. 117, 74-79. The best scientific advice on how to manage fire in western forests—before they burn, as they burn and after they burn—can be found in Managing Fire-Prone Forests in the Western United States, which is downloadable here with the permission of the lead author under the condition that it is used only for limited educational use. Ehrensing, Daryl T. 1998. Feasibility of Industrial Hemp Production in the United States Pacific Northwest. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 681. This report was commissioned by Oregon Natural Resources Council (now Oregon Wild). |