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☆ Wildfire smoke hits New York again: 'We are truly the first generation to feel the real effects of climate change,' Gov. Hochul says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A screenshot of a map from AirNow.Gov shows air quality and smoke plumes on June 28, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. The AirNow Fire and Smoke map is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Forest Service. Kathy Hochul tweeted Wednesday afternoon that air quality health advisories were in effect for the state. City administrators will be working to alert residents of the hazardous air conditions on public transit and via cell phone alert systems. But Hochul advised residents to look up their zip codes on AirNow.gov for localized air quality readings.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hochul Organizations: U.S . Environmental Protection Agency, U.S . Forest Service, New York Gov, Western Locations: Canada, New York, U.S . Forest Service ., York, Western New York, Central New York, Eastern Lake Ontario

☆ Opinion | I Pledged $1 Million to Plant New Trees. I Wish I Could Invest the Money in Saving Old Ones.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Roger Worthington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Most of that money went to reforestation projects on national forest land carried out by a nonprofit I began. The agency manages its lands for multiple uses, including timber harvesting, and has allowed the cutting of carbon-rich, old-growth forests whose destruction contributes to global warming. But overcome, I suppose, by pie-in-the-sky do-gooderism, I pledged the money anyway. Over the next few years, over 650,000 trees were planted. Today, with a balance of over $250,000 remaining, we’re on track to exceed the target of one million trees.

Organizations: U.S . Forest Service, Forest Service

☆ Fact Check-Clips show fire-fighting helicopters, not Canadian wildfires being intentionally started
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Footage of helicopters using flame-throwing torches to light fires has been misrepresented online, with social media posts claiming the clips show that the 2023 Canadian wildfires are being lit deliberately. This clip shows footage published on June 2, 2023 by the British Columbia (BC) Fire System (youtu.be/tTKSmdrfzqU?t=9), (youtu.be/tTKSmdrfzqU?t=15). According to the description of the video, it depicts a planned ignition on the Donnie Creek wildfire with a Heli-torch. There is also no evidence that aerial ignition caused the Canada wildfires, contrary to what these social media posts say. Footage shows planned fires ignited from helicopters, which are used to combat wildfires not deliberately light them.

Persons: ”, Read Organizations: U.S . Forest Service, Heli, Reuters, Facebook, Yukon, Nations, Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Locations: U.S, British Columbia, Canada, Quebec, Atlantic Canada

☆ Replanting the Amazon could slow global warming. Here’s why it’s hard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +24 min

Milton da Costa Junior nosed his pickup through a remote stretch of the western Brazilian Amazon to check on his babies. Local authorities said the September 2021 incident, which Da Costa outlined in a police report that was reviewed by Reuters, is being investigated. Out of dozens of reforestation initiatives in the country, Rioterra and The Black Jaguar Foundation, a Brazilian-European group, are among the largest. Illegal invaders destroy in hours what it takes Rioterra or Black Jaguar a year to plant. In all, Black Jaguar has signed contracts with 26 farms and planted 326 hectares (806 acres) to date.

Persons: Milton da Costa, Da Costa, Carlos Nobre, Alexis Bastos, Rioterra, ”, Nobre, “, Bastos, Jamari, Dejesus Aparecido Ramos, it’s, ” Bastos, Jair Bolsonaro, Germany –, Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Black, Ben Valks, Valks, Leandro Silveira, Silveira, São, ” Valks, aren’t, Cristina Banks, Leite, Marcos Mariani, Araguaia, Mariani, Tânia Irres, ” Irres, Regina Molke, I’ll, Clovis, Black Jaguar, Aquaverde, Renato Franklin, “ Ben, ” Franklin, L’Oreal, da Costa, ” Da Costa, da, Spring, Clare Trainor, Catherine Tai, Lais Morais, Ilan Rubens, Lucy Ha, John Emerson, Marla Dickerson Organizations: Milton da Costa Junior, Toyota, Reuters, Black Jaguar Foundation, National Institute for Space Research, Rioterra, Cultural, Environmental Studies, Petrobras, “, Amazon Fund, Environment Ministry, United, United Arab Emirates, São Paulo, Global, Farmers, Brazil’s Central Bank, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Imperial College London, Santana, Bolsonaro, United Nations, Space Agency, Copernicus, Sentinel Locations: Machadinho, Rondônia, Brazil, Germany, Brazilian, European, Manhattan, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Bastos, Porto Velho, droves, Rio, Black, Itapuã, Oeste, Norway, United Arab, Pará, Caixa, “, Costa, Syria, Paris, Santana, Araguaia’s, Clovis, Regina, United States, South, Geneva, Rio Preto, da Costa

☆ In New Mexico, an unlikely wildfire thinning alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Andrew Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Near Taos in northern New Mexico, Vicente Fernandez, a mayordomo, or forest caretaker, cut saplings and seedlings crowding a mature fir tree. In an about-face, the Forest Service is now paying local woodcutters or leñeros $300 an acre to cut these trees for personal use or sale. Some environmentalists oppose Taos County's so called Mayordomo Program, and other thinning, saying it is a waste of time, harms forests and is often a guise for logging. "The Forest Service believes in helping communities to wisely use the forests," the agency said in a statement. "We cannot fireproof forests, we can fireproof communities," said Horning, who has lived in northern New Mexico for 30 years.

☆ New Mexico rivers rage, fields dry after slow federal fire aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Andrew Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Andrew HayACEQUIA DE LA SIERRA, New Mexico, May 2 (Reuters) - Rivers are roaring in northern New Mexico after a big snowpack. The problem is blocking water flowing from a 12,000-foot (3,660-meter) Sangre de Cristo mountain peak into the Mora Valley through earthen channels known as acequias. Sanchez, a mayordomo or water caretaker, had hoped to have Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to clear the ditches after the agency was given $3.95 billion to compensate communities for the 40-mile-long blaze. FEMA and other federal support has reached only a handful of the dozens of acequias that requested aid in November, said local irrigation leader Paula Garcia. "I don't think they're up to the job," said Roybal-Mack, a Mora Valley native.

☆ California's fire season under way weeks after heavy rain and snow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Reuters) - Barely five weeks after the last bout of heavy rain and snow in California's historically wet winter, firefighters on Friday battled the state's first large wildfire of the year in rugged foothills east of Los Angeles. The blaze posed no immediate threat to populated areas as it burned steep terrain deep in the forest, agency spokesperson Lyn Sieliet said. Still, it marked the first blaze of the 2023 season measuring 100 acres or more, signaling the potential for extreme wildfire activity this summer and fall. Forecasters said a warming trend hastened a spring thaw following a spate of Pacific storms that pummeled California with torrential rains and mountain snow from late December until late March. Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] Apache Stronghold, a Native American group hoping to protect their sacred land from a Cooper mine in Arizona, gather outside the 9th Circuit Appeal Court in Pasadena, California,U.S., March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Mike BlakeMarch 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Forest Service plans to re-publish an environmental report before July that will set in motion a land swap between the U.S. government and Rio Tinto (RIO.L)(RIO.AX), allowing the mining giant to develop the controversial Resolution Copper project in Arizona. Joan Pepin, an attorney for the Forest Service, told an en banc hearing of the 9th U.S. It doesn't settle any rights to land and it doesn't create any land rights," Pepin told the court. The Apache Stronghold held a ceremony outside the Pasadena, California, courthouse on Tuesday to protest Rio's plans for the copper mine.

☆ Mapping California’s ‘Zombie’ Forests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Elena Shao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

NEVADA Sacramento Stable conifer forests San Francisco Mismatch Less than five percent of conifer forests historically occurred in current climate. Sacramento Stable conifer forests Mismatch San Francisco Less than five percent of conifer forests historically occurred in current climate. San Jose Fresno CALIFORNIA Pacific Ocean NEVADA Bakersfield Area of detail CALIF. 50 MILES Reno NEVADA Sacramento Severe mismatch Stable conifer forests Less than one percent of conifer forests historically occurred in current climate. Note: The data looks at changes in conifer forests across the Sierra Nevada between the 1930s and the 2010s. They found that during that time period, the Sierra Nevada’s conifer forests had, on average, shifted about 112 feet higher in elevation.

☆ A mailman, a NASA scientist and a park ranger: Some government employees shrug off TikTok bans
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Jean-Pierre, who’s from Morristown, New Jersey, has attracted 215,500 followers on the video app where most days he posts from his mail truck during his lunch break. As of last month, all federal workers are banned from having TikTok on their work phones. In some places, using a personal device isn’t enough to get around TikTok restrictions. There’s no telling precisely how many federal workers use TikTok, but certain hashtags show the breadth of its popularity. The public relations staff at some federal agencies said they had no plans to interfere with what federal workers did on their own.

A second hiker has disappeared on California’s Mount Baldy, the same mountain where actor Julian Sands vanished on Jan. 13, officials said Monday. Jin Chung, 75, failed to return from a hike and meet two others as planned Sunday, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Helicopters and drones with infrared devices were used to try to find Sands over the weekend; high winds prevented aircraft from being used Monday, the sheriff’s department said. He was supposed to return and meet them at 2 p.m., the sheriff’s department said. His family, in a statement released by the sheriff's department, thanked the searchers who are looking for him.

☆ Rashford on target again as Man United cruise past Forest
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MANCHESTER, England, Dec 27 (Reuters) - England striker Marcus Rashford continued his fine goalscoring form as Manchester United cruised to a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Tuesday. Rashford, who scored three times for England at the World Cup in Qatar, set United on their way to victory with a well-placed finish from a corner in the 19th minute, before Anthony Martial doubled the hosts' lead three minutes later. Forest thought they had got back into the match midway through the first half, but Willy Boly's goal from a free kick was ruled out for offside. Forest stay 19th. Reporting by Peter Hall Editing by Christian RadnedgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Doug Ducey has agreed to dismantle a makeshift border wall that triggered a lawsuit by the federal government and rankled environmentalists. The agreement comes one week after federal officials filed a lawsuit against Ducey’s administration saying the border project was illegally built on federal land. Protesters spent weeks camping in freezing temperatures along the border wall, and had vowed to stay there until the containers were removed. Karamargin said the assurance from federal officials paved the way for Ducey to agree to remove the shipping containers. The shipping container project cost Arizona at least $82 million, Karamargin said.

☆ Mother nature is screaming for us to adopt a new diet. An agreement by nearly 200 countries could help identify flaws in how we produce food.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Food production drives deforestation and biodiversity loss. Mother nature is screaming for us to adopt a new diet, too. It's a primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss that, in turn, releases greenhouse-gas emissions causing the climate crisis. As the global population grows and people in developing countries earn more money, the demand for food — especially meat — will further stress nature. The US State Department in October also requested advice on potential legislation to combat deforestation in food supply chains and voluntary actions the private sector could take.

☆ World leaders want to protect a third of the Earth's land and water to save wildlife from extinction. There's a climate connection, too.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Nearly 200 countries agreed to protect 30% of Earth's land and water at a UN biodiversity meeting. The meeting, known as COP15, also underscored the link between nature and the climate crisis. Indigenous peoplesFor the first time, the biodiversity framework acknowledged the role of Indigenous people in protecting and restoring land and water. But world leaders didn't designate their land and territory as a separate category of conservation, which groups including Amnesty International and Greenpeace called for. Countries didn't achieve any of the targets to slow biodiversity loss by 2020 included in a previous framework, known as the Aichi targets.

After a two-week standoff between protesters and construction crews building a border wall made of shipping containers, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Arizona, accusing it of trespassing on federal land. "Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States," the complaint reads. In August, Ducey issued an executive order directing the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to fill gaps in the existing border wall in Yuma County using shipping containers. Important waterways are being damaged or altered by the placement of shipping containers on land that serves as important habitats and crossings, including for endangered species, he said. "Under the Clean Water Act, they have created a dam with those shipping containers and it just looks like a junkyard now."

☆ Storm blowing through California dumps snow in Sierra
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Heavy snow fell in the Sierra Nevada as a winter storm packing powerful winds sent ski lift chairs swinging and closed mountain highways while downpours at lower elevations triggered flood watches Sunday across large swaths of California into Nevada. More than 250 miles (400 km) of the Sierra from north of Reno south to Yosemite National Park remained under winter storm warnings either until late Sunday or early Monday. The Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe shut down some operations on Saturday when the brunt of the storm hit. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported Sunday morning that more than 43 inches (110 cm) had fallen in a 48-hour span. A stretch of California Highway 89 also was closed due to heavy snow between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, the highway patrol said.

☆ 'Firmageddon': Researchers find 1.1 million acres of dead trees in Oregon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“We’re seeing forms of stress in all of our species of trees,” said Christine Buhl, a forest entomologist with the Oregon Department of Forestry. Trained observers peer outside both sides of the plane, looking for noticeable damage to trees. “You definitely have to have a stomach of steel.”This year, the aerial observation program flew over about 69 million acres of Washington and Oregon forest in about 246 hours. Oregon’s average temperatures have risen about 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, according to a 2021 state climate assessment delivered to the state’s Legislature. “It was the combination of the high temperatures in the afternoon with the sun boring down,” said Chris Still, a professor in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University.

☆ 'Significant storm' to batter west with high winds and heavy snow forecast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Leila Sackur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A "significant winter storm" will dump heavy snow and make travel dangerous as it makes its way across the west of the country over the weekend, forecasters warned early Saturday. “High winds, heavy snow and heavy precipitation will reach the Pacific Northwest today, then impact California,” the National Weather Service said in a bulletin. More than 5 feet of snow is expected in the Sierra Nevada, resulting in “extremely dangerous travel, especially across mountain passes,” it added. “A winter storm with gale force winds, high intensity snowfall and feet of new snow accumulation may result in widespread avalanche activity in the mountains,” the Forest Service Sierra Avalanche Center said Friday. Elsewhere 1-3 feet of snow are expected across mountain ranges of the west coast, the NWS said.

☆ Border barrier of shipping containers snakes across Arizona wilderness
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Liliana Salgado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz., Dec 8 (Reuters) - A long, thin line stretches across the dusty Arizona landscape. It is a border barrier - but not the customary wall or fence. This is made up entirely of shipping containers stacked on top of each other. Border communities had been overwhelmed, he argued, saying the double-stacked containers would reach 22 feet (6.7 m) high. What we're here to do is enjoy our public lands in a strategic way that hinders the placement of further shipping containers," said Eamon Harrity, wildlife project manager at Sky Island Alliance.

☆ Grizzlies could roam wildest reaches of Washington state again, but first a mountain of red tape
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Threatened grizzly bears could roam again in the wildest reaches of Washington state. The National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday they have restarted the on-again, off-again process to reintroduce grizzlies to North Cascades National Park. Grizzlies haven’t been spotted with certainty in the North Cascades since 1996, the National Park Service said in a news release. People killed them,” said Jason Ransom, who leads the wildlife program at North Cascades National Park. The National Park Service has scheduled several virtual meetings to discuss the proposal.

☆ This California startup says it can predict where wildfires might start—it's using that power in a surprising way
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Nobody can predict the future, but a San Francisco-based startup called Kettle seems able to predict where wildfires could start in California. That means Kettle provides insurance for insurance companies. But Kettle's focus on reinsurance, rather than selling its software directly to insurance companies, is unique, Manning says. Most reinsurers predict wildfire risk through a decades-old technique that relies on historical data, Manning adds. In other words, reinsurance companies do benefit large insurers — but they also make sure you're able to get the money you're owed if disaster strikes.

☆ Washington state woman fended off black bear by punching it in the nose, official says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A Washington state woman was injured after a bear knocked her to the ground outside her home Saturday morning, a wildlife official said. The bear was ultimately killed in the same area later in the morning by Fish and Wildlife officers, it said. "Black bear mothers seldom attack people in defense of cubs," the U.S. Forest Service said in a primer on black bears. Washington hasn't had a fatal black bear attack on humans since 1974, Fish and Wildlife officials said. Each case involved a different species, including a brown bear in Alaska, a black bear in Connecticut, and a grizzly in Wyoming, officials said.

☆ Forest Service 'burn boss' arrested after prescribed fire torches private land in Oregon
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A U.S. Forest Service employee was arrested after the prescribed fire he was managing torched 18 acres of private land in Oregon, authorities confirmed Friday. The U.S. Forest Service did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In notifying residents about the fire this week, the Forest Service said in a statement that atmospheric parameters existed for a relatively safe prescribed burn, which had been planned at 300 acres. Christopher Adlam, regional fire specialist and assistant professor at Oregon State University Extension Service's fire program, said a prescribed burn hadn't torched private land in Oregon in 20 years until Wednesday. The arrest might not lead to more burn bosses in custody, but it could affect how officials work with prescribed burns, the scholar said.

☆ Oregon sheriff arrests Forest Service employee for controlled burn that spread
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 20 (Reuters) - A county sheriff in Oregon has arrested a U.S. Forest Service employee on suspicion of reckless burning after a controlled burn escaped and scorched about 20 acres (8 hectares) of private land. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterRelations between New Mexico communities and the Forest Service were strained earlier this year when a controlled burn sparked a large wildfire. A Forest Service review found that pressure to meet objectives may have led the agency to ignore risks posed by a controlled burn. In Oregon, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley said in a statement on Wednesday his office arrested a 39-year-old "burn boss" after a controlled burn escaped and torched 20 acres belonging to a cattle rancher. Forest Service representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

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