Blog Archives for December, 2008

By Bethanie Walder - December 16, 2008    I’ve been thinking and talking a lot lately about the economy, economic stimulus ideas, and the seeming failure of a consumer economic model.  I found it interesting, then, to see a blog post by Robert Reich today that talked about the implications of Keynesian economics, deficit spending and opportunities to protect natural resources.  While I didn’t know all the correct economic terms for what I had been thinking, Reich offers some strong

By Sarah Peters - December 11, 2008   If you’re like me and you can’t keep up with all the last-minute policy changes by the Bush Administration, you might not have noticed a new announcement by the Forest Service this week.  Their latest shenanigans will leave us with a lopsided playing field when it comes to recreation. Managing our national forests is no easy task.  At best it is a balancing act between myriad competing interests.  But in the final countdown to the end of the Bush Administration, any attempt at achieving true balance appears to have been abandoned by the Forest Service.  

By Josh Hurd - December 8, 2008    This map shows the locations of firms that have done restoration work under contract for the federal government within the past few years. We obtained the data by exporting federal contract data from OMB Watch's FedSpending.org, imported that data into Excel, culled it a bit, and then Geocoded it using BatchGeocode.com.

By Adam Rissien - December 2, 2008    The Helena Independent Record reported on the first meeting of the Divide Travel Plan, which was held this past Monday, Dec. 1st.  The Helena District of the Helena National Forest released a notice that day announcing their proposed action. Unfortunately, the Forest Service did not give the public any advance warning as the first meeting was the same day people received notice in the mail. 

By Josh Hurd - December 2, 2008   Society often misunderstands watershed restoration as an activity with no product. This misunderstanding is predicable given the complex economic nature of restoration. Because of this, those supporting restoration must be able to articulate how restoration fits within our country’s economic framework. This blog post attempts to explain this.