You are viewing news tagged as 'forests'

Energy company aims to turn Colo.'s dead trees into electricity

May 24, 2013

Xcel Energy Inc. wants to use beetle-killed trees and other forest waste in Colorado to generate electricity.

The Minneapolis-based company announced yesterday in a filing to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission that it plans to seek bidders willing to build and operate a 2-megawatt...

Protest could delay Forest Service's update of aging air fleet

May 23, 2013

A Missoula, Mont.-based air tanker company has protested a Forest Service plan to issue contracts for seven new air tankers, potentially hampering the agency's ability to battle wildfires well into the 2013 season.

Neptune Aviation Services yesterday protested the contracts to the...

Warm spring temps shrank Rockies snowpack over last 30 years

May 21, 2013

When a Denver resident turns on the sprinkler in midsummer, it applies last winter's Rocky Mountain snowfall to the lawn. In the northern Rockies, that snowmelt fills the Columbia River, whose hydroelectric dams provide power to Seattle residents. Meanwhile, the meltwater flowing into the...

Judge blocks Utah law that would prevent BLM, Forest Service from enforcing state rules

May 17, 2013

A state law that would have prevented some federal officials from enforcing state laws anywhere in Utah was temporarily blocked yesterday by a federal judge.

Under the law sponsored by state Rep. Mike Noel (R), federal employees would have faced a $1,000 fine and six months in jail for...

Controversial Tongass land-swap bill up for review

May 15, 2013

A controversial bill to allow an Alaska Native corporation to acquire roughly 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest primarily for logging goes before a House Natural Resources panel Thursday.

H.R. 740 by Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) would allow...

USFS to add uncertified military planes to firefighting fleet

May 15, 2013

The U.S. Forest Service won’t cut any funds from its retardant-bombing fleet this fire season, but it will enter the fray with a lot of planes that aren’t certified to fight wildfires.

On Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the agency will look to the U.S. military to...

Limited federal funds may mean cuts to local firefighting programs

May 14, 2013

Lance Okeson at the Boise Fire Dispatch office had a surprise visit from the secretaries of the U.S. Agriculture and Interior departments Monday, and they came with bad news.

Okeson is in charge of the fuels program for the Bureau of Land Management's Boise District. Agriculture Secretary...

Devils Tower prescribed burn ignites wildfire

May 13, 2013

Fire officials got more than they bargained for Wednesday afternoon when a prescribed burn at Devils Tower National Monument ignited a wildfire.

The original, 300-acre planned fire burned Tuesday and was being mopped up ahead of schedule on Wednesday. It succumbed to late-afternoon high...

Carbon milestone a reminder of things to come

May 13, 2013

The Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide levels passed an ominous milestone yesterday when a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observatory on the Big Island in Hawaii registered 400 parts per million for the first time.

It's a concentration of CO2 that has not existed in the...

BLM pressed in committee on fire, sage grouse and grazing

May 10, 2013

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who holds the reins in the House over Interior Department spending, urged the Bureau of Land Management yesterday to boost its focus on wildfire management as a means of protecting the imperiled sage grouse.

Republicans like Simpson have long called on the...

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