Blog Archives for Restoration

By Bethanie Walder - February 26, 2010    Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell spent some time on Capitol Hill this week explaining the Forest Service’s proposed 2011 budget with Congressional appropriators and oversight committees.   The new budget proposes to pool numerous existing line items into one large “Integrated Resource Restoration” (IRR) program.  The idea is that this would enable the agency to move forward more effectively toward all restoration objectives, including watershed restoration.

By Greg Peters - February 22, 2010   At the tail end of 2009, two prominent political bodies, the Western Governors Association (WGA) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) each sent letters to the USDA extolling watershed restoration, the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, and "Right-Sizing" the Forest Road System.

By Thomas R Petersen - February 19, 2010    Seven of Canada's Rocky Mt. National Parks are getting a total of $945,000 to fix culverts that block fish from entering important mountain streams, which will improve aquatic connectivity.

By Bethanie Walder - February 2, 2010   The President’s budget was just released, and with it came increased attention to restoration within the Forest Service, unfortunately that was coupled with what appears to be a decrease in focus on the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative.   After a cursory view, it also seems that the increased attention on restoration continues a long-running trend within the Forest Service of creating new euphemisms for the old habit of logging.

By Bethanie Walder - December 21, 2009    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Dec. 21, 2009 Future gets brighter for state's aging national forest roads OLYMPIA - Congress and the Obama administration are responding with on-the-ground results in response to appeals by a coalition of conservation groups and the state Departments of Ecology and Fish & Wildlife. Federal action is now occurring to repair and reclaim crumbling national forest roads in Washington state that have been harming endangered salmon and clean water.

By Bethanie Walder - December 9, 2009    On October 30, Congress appropriated $90 million for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative.  The funds are used to protect and restore clean water by reclaiming unneeded roads and fixing the roads we do need.  We just received the 2010 regional allocations, and added them into a chart showing how they compare to the 2008 ($40 million) and 2009 ($50 million) allocations:

By Bethanie Walder - November 6, 2009    On Friday, October 30, President Obama signed the Department of Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.  The bill provides funding for public lands management across the country, including the national forests.  While there are many great provisions included in this act, Wildlands CPR is thrilled that the Act includes $90 million in funding for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative for 2010.  This is equivalent to the total amount allocated to Legacy Roads and Trails in 2008/2009 combined.

By Bethanie Walder - October 26, 2009    We've been trying to figure out exactly what the FS has accomplished during the first two years of the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative. We crunched some numbers from the agency and put together a short fact sheet highlighting their successes so far.  In their first two years, they allocated funds to:

By Bethanie Walder - October 23, 2009    On Thursday, October 22, the Forest Service published an announcement about their national 2009 Rise to the Future and National Watershed Awards. We're delighted to report that the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative won the "Public Awareness Award."  Here's what the FS had to say about our work:

By Bethanie Walder - October 7, 2009    I spent the last two days at the Western Governor’s Association (WGA) Wildlife Council (WGWC) meeting in Helena.  The meeting focused on progress toward implementing a resolution for improving wildlife connectivity and linkage zones across the western states.