High Country News

'Green' seal of approval considered for national forests

The Forest Service is considering "green" certification for timber produced on the national forests, but environmentalists fear it's a form of greenwashing that will wrongly legitimize public-land logging

by Emma Brown, Dec 12, 2005
A law born from the ashes

In George W. Bush’s Healthy Forests: Reframing the Environmental Debate, authors Jacqueline Vaughn and Hanna Cortner demonstrate that under Bush, "there has been a rollback of environmental standards and regulations."

by Renee Guillory, Apr 17, 2006
A rough road to repair

Abandoned logging routes wash $1.3 billion of trouble into Northwestern watersheds

by Francisco Tharp, Mar 27, 2008
A slow-moving disaster

As bark beetles ravage Rocky Mountain forests, communities like Granby, Colo., have to adjust to a radically different landscape.

by Hillary Rosner, Aug 10, 2009
A sucker punch to the stomach: When trees turn red

Colorado's bark beetle epidemic is unlike anything that has ever happened to the state in its brief history.

by Allen Best, Aug 17, 2009
A Washington tribe and a timber company wrestle over a forest's future

The Port Gamble S'Klallam are protecting their treaty rights to fish and shellfish in Port Gamble Bay, using laws to limit development, much to the frustration of timber company-turned-developer Pope Resources.

by Joshua Zaffos, Dec 03, 2012
Buildup to disaster: A Libby timeline

A timeline traces the decline of logging, the rise of environmentalism, and the slow asbestos poisoning of Libby, Montana, by its vermiculite mine

by Staff, Feb 21, 2005
Communities and Forests: Where People Meet theLand

Communities and Forests: Where People Meet the Land, is a collection of essays, edited by Robert G. Lee and Donald R Field, examining changing styles of forest management

by Staff, Apr 17, 2006
CON: When a wilderness bill is a sham

Montana is the last best place because of its remaining wildlands, but Sen. Tester's new bill does not protect them.

by Larry Campbell, Jan 14, 2010
Cows versus condos -- Northwest style

Some say that Washington’s Forests and Fish rules could be so hard on small timber farms that the owners are likely to sell out to development, to the detriment of salmon and other wildlife

by Lissa James, May 16, 2005