national forest

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White House to Reverse Rule That Protects 59M Acres

'Roadless rule' blocked logging on national forest lands

(Newser) - The Trump administration plans to rescind a nearly quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging on national forest lands, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Monday. The "roadless rule" adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton's presidency in 2001 has long chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the West where...

Searchers Find 4-Year-Old, Safe, After 22 Hours in Forest

California boy spent night under a tree in T-shirt and shorts

(Newser) - About 50 members of a search-and-rescue team combed through the Sierra National Forest looking for a 4-year-old California boy who had wandered away from his family's campsite, shouting his name. On Friday, roughly 22 hours after he went missing, Christian Ramirez answered them, per CNN . Tulare County sheriff's...

California's Famous Forests Are in Jeopardy

Management practices, more intense fires, a warming climate among the factors

(Newser) - On a steep mountainside where walls of flames torched the forest on their way toward Lake Tahoe in 2021, blackened trees stand in silhouette against a gray sky. "If you can find a live tree, point to it," Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the...

Woman Who Posed as Stranded Motorist, Killed Student Pleads Guilty

She pleaded guilty after 2nd woman was convicted in the case last week

(Newser) - The woman who posed as a stranded motorist in an attempt to rob two Florida college students, only to end up fatally shooting one of them when he pulled his own gun in self-defense, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday. Yasmine Hider will be sentenced January 4 and faces up to...

For the First Time, Tree DNA Leads to a Conviction

Timber poacher Justin Wilke gets 20 months

(Newser) - DNA evidence is now solving crimes against trees as well as crimes against people. Justin Andrew Wilke, ringleader of a group of timber poachers that operated in Washington state's Olympic National Forest, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison earlier this week after the first federal trial to...

'Wizard Rock' Returned Weeks After It Vanished From Forest

1-ton boulder went missing from Arizona forest

(Newser) - A 1-ton boulder known as Wizard Rock disappeared from Prescott National Forest in Arizona and then "magically" reappeared weeks later. The United States Forest Service says visitors reported around two weeks ago that the well-known rock, a black boulder with white quartz running through it, had vanished from its...

Trump Wants to Build Roads in Biggest National Forest

Move would open up much of Alaska's Tongass to loggers

(Newser) - The Trump administration says it wants to lift the Bill Clinton-era "Roadless Rule" in a national forest bigger than West Virginia. The United States Forest Service said Tuesday that it would like to see an end to all restrictions on road building in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, a...

Nestle Pleased With Report on It Taking Too Much Water

Saying report confirms it has the right to access 'significant amount' of water in California

(Newser) - Nestle extracted roughly 32 million gallons of water from Southern California's San Bernardino National Forest in 2016 and sold it as Arrowhead bottled water. An investigation has determined the company's permits only allow it to take about 8.5 million gallons per year. The AP reports the...

Inside NC National Forest, Police Hunt This Man

Phillip Michael Stroupe II may have 'survivalist instincts'

(Newser) - North Carolina authorities have been telling visitors to stay away from the Pisgah National Forest as the search continues for an armed suspect believed to be in it. Authorities say the manhunt in the forest is ongoing for 38-year-old Phillip Michael Stroupe II of Weaverville. The Transylvania County Sheriff's...

Frat Members Blamed for Trees Felled in National Forest

It allegedly happened during Pi Kappa Alpha initiation ceremony

(Newser) - Fraternity members from the California State University's Chico campus are facing federal criminal charges after they allegedly cut down dozens of trees in Lassen National Forest during a camping trip as part of a pledge-initiation ritual, CBS San Francisco reports. Per the Los Angeles Times , at least 32 trees...

Sentence for Starting Record Arizona Fire: 2 Days in Jail

Cousins Caleb and David Malboeuf thought they put out campfire

(Newser) - Two cousins who admitted starting the largest wildfire in Arizona history were sentenced yesterday to spend a weekend in jail and perform 200 hours of community service. Caleb and David Malboeuf also will each be on supervised probation for five years. The Malboeufs were camping in Arizona's Apache-Sitgreaves National...

Missing Woman, Cat Found After Month in Forest

Woman survives weeks stranded in New Mexico national park

(Newser) - A woman who had been missing for nearly a month was found starving but still alive in New Mexico's Gila National Forest. Search crews say 41-year-old Margaret Page was stranded in the forest for weeks, surviving on creek water and the food she had brought with her, and lost...

Marijuana Plantations Ravaging National Forests: Experts

 Pot Plantations 
 Ravaging Our Forests 
say experts
Dec 13, 2011 9:15 AM CST

Pot Plantations Ravaging Our Forests

Minimal policing makes growing marijuana easy

(Newser) - Marijuana growers are devastating national forests and creating a "clear and present danger to the public and the environment," a top Forest Service official testified before the Senate last week. Major marijuana plots have been detected on some 67 forests across 20 states, and the trend is only...

Calif. Judge Steps Up Protection for 40 Species

Feds not doing enough for wildlife in national forests, judge rules

(Newser) - Endangered birds, fish, frogs, butterflies, and even a species of sea lion are set to benefit from a judge's ruling that federal authorities need to do more to protect some 40 species in southern California's national forests. The judge ordered three federal agencies to "take all necessary...

Feds Bust Major Pot Network in Wisconsin National Forest

Single group behind sophisticated farms

(Newser) - Some 200 federal agents and police swarmed a national forest in northern Wisconsin to bust a massive pot-growing network on public land. The illegal operations involved clear-cutting forests to establish fields, drying barns and shelters so growers could live and process pot on-site, reports the Green Bay Press Gazette . The...

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