Washington D.C. and Ashland, OR – The USDA Forest Service unveiled its proposed National Forest Planning Rule yesterday that is intended to establish a new national framework for land management plans governing 193 million acres of some of the most ecologically valuable lands and waters in the nation. The proposed planning rule provides guidance on what the agency intends to emphasize on the National Forest System; however, it leaves this mostly open to the discretion of local agency officials.
CONTACT: Dominick DellaSala President and Chief Scientist, Geos Institute (541) 621-7223
WASHINGTON – Cool rainforests found at high latitudes store significantly more carbon than any other forests in the world, surpassing even tropical rainforests, according to research compiled by leading international ecologists.
Eastern Oregon bill builds on historic agreement between timber industry, state and national conservation leaders
PORTLAND, OREGON
State and national conservation leaders expressed strong support today for new legislation introduced by Senator Ron Wyden that would build on common ground reached between conservationists and the timber industry.
Salmon, water, old-growth forests and climate win!
WASHINGTON, DC
The Obama administration announced today its decision to cancel a Bush era plan that would have harmed salmon, clean water and old-growth forests on 2.6 million acres of public lands in western Oregon.
Four showcase events: “Shifting Patterns: Preparing for Unsettled Days”
Ashland, Oregon
Jefferson Nature Center is coordinating “Shifting Patterns: Preparing for Unsettled Days,” a climate change arts project that connects sixteen local artists with scientists at the GEOS Institute. “Shifting Patterns” artistic participants include writers, visual artists and performance artists.
GEOS Institute and University of Oregon’s Climate Leadership Initiative collaborate to look at 2030 & 2080
EUGENE, OR Three major global climate-change projections scaled down to Oregon’s scenic Rogue River watershed point to hotter, dryer summers with increasing wildfire risk, reduced snowpack and more rainy, stormy winters, according to a report coordinated by the University of Oregon’s Climate Leadership Initiative and the GEOS Institute.
Researchers ask Congress to vote yes on National Landscape Conservation System
Contact:
Richard S. Nauman, conservation scientist GEOS Institute – Ashland, Oregon (541) 482-4459, ext. 307, richard’s email
Christopher Lancette, communications director The Wilderness Society (202) 429-2692
Ashland, OR A group of 31 independent scientists representing 14 states today endorsed a national effort to provide permanent protection for the National Landscape Conservation System — a unified system of conservation lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). All the scientists have extensive experience in field research, particularly involving Conservation System lands, and are calling on Congress to support the National Landscape Conservation System Act (HR 2016). The legislation received a yes vote today from the House Natural Resources Committee and now makes its way toward a vote by the full House.
Ashland, OR Five exemplary individuals and organizations that led the way in 2007 in protecting life on earth were honored recently by the National Center for Conservation Science & Policy. “The world is a measurably better place because of the efforts of our most recent Conservation Award winners,” said Matthew McMcKinnon, Vice President the Board of Directors of the National Center.
Senator Ron Wyden, for his work on endangered species, and State Representative Peter Buckley, for his 100% Oregon League of Conservation Voters record, were recognized with the National Center’s 2007 Conservation Integrity Award. The Seattle Office of Earthjustice, for their success in protecting salmon, steelhead and old-growth forests, and Randi Spivak, for her work with grassroots coalitions in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the nation, received 2007 Conservation Leadership Awards. The Williams Creek Watershed Council was recognized with the 2007 Headwaters Heritage Award to honor their efforts to restore local streams to support returning salmon and steelhead.
