New step in Biden administration plan to limit old-growth logging
The government will protect millions of acres of old-growth forest on public lands from threats that include wildfire, insects, disease, and climate change with an updated management plan, said Biden administration officials on Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the U.S. Forest Service would employ “science-based management and conservation strategies that can be adapted to unique local circumstances on national forests.”
Pandemic aid to farmers at $7 billion as USDA pro-rates timber payments
The USDA will pro-rate its final round of pandemic payments to timber harvesters and haulers to stay within the $200 million limit for the aid program, officials said on Thursday. Meanwhile, USDA data showed disbursements of $6.98 billion in coronavirus relief to farmers and ranchers this year.
Logging sabotage incident snags BLM nominee
Republican senators from the West say Tracy Stone-Manning is disqualified from serving as director of the Bureau of Land Management because of her involvement in a logging sabotage episode in 1989. Idaho Sen. James Risch charged on Wednesday that Stone-Manning had "colluded with eco-terrorists."
A novel approach to deforestation may also offer a pandemic safety net
A novel conservation group in western Borneo offers healthcare services and training in sustainable farming to curb illegal logging. In the process, the group may have come up with a blueprint to stop diseases from making the deadly leap between wildlife and people, Brian Barth writes in FERN's latest story produced with Popular Science. (No paywall)