Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Forest restoration in the age of climate change
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Thursday, October 20, 2022
A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team member looks out at an area recovering from the Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire. Photo: USFS InciWeb ([link removed])

As the West grapples with increasingly large fires fueled by climate change and a century of misguided suppression policies, ecologists are reconsidering what forest restoration looks like ([link removed]) in the 21st century.

Writing at Ensia ([link removed]) , journalist and photographer Jim O'Donnell looked at several possible solutions. In some cases, including much of the Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak megafire that burned in New Mexico this year, fires burn in the “right way”—cool enough to not kill every tree in its path. Many of those areas were covered with native grasses and flowers just a few months after the fire, signaling a healthy, natural restoration was already underway.

In other areas, the fire burned so hot that every plant died, including seeds in the soil. In those places, ecologists identify the highest-priority spots to re-seed.

“Site specificity matters,” explained Matthew Hurteau ([link removed]) , a biology professor at the University of New Mexico. “In a drier zone that gets more sun we might do a mix of seedlings that includes drought-tolerant species like ponderosa pine, while a higher, wetter location might get a mix of other conifers.”

More controversially, scientists are looking at re-foresting areas with non-native trees that are more adapted to hotter, drier conditions. Certain pines from Mexico may be more resistant to crown fires that spread from treetop to treetop.

New Mexico state forester Laura McCarthy says ([link removed]) that strategy “isn’t my first choice, but I say we follow the science and if the science tells us to do it, then let’s do it.”
Quick hits


** Biden announces Strategic Petroleum Reserve sale, pressures oil companies on high prices
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Politico ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed]) | The Guardian ([link removed])


** Delayed methane rule runs into rising gas prices
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Why the partnership between a cattle rancher and a wolf advocate couldn't last
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** New Mexico adops rule to protect cultural sites
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])


** Lawmakers make the case that the Land & Water Conservation Fund is already underfunded
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Colorado got lucky with wildfire smoke this summer
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CPR News ([link removed])


** What will Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument mean for Summit and Eagle Counties?
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Vail Daily ([link removed])


** Yellowstone at 150: "It's never dull"
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Christian Science Monitor ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” I think the favorite moments a lot of times are the simplest ones. It’s when you get that “aha” moment from a visitor, when you are talking to them about Yellowstone, and maybe it’s how Old Faithful erupts – just something as simple as that. How does it work? It’s not a clock. It’s not something that we schedule. It’s a natural feature that is variable. We are able to predict ([link removed]) how it erupts one eruption at a time. … Or when you talk to visitors about: Why are grizzly bears important? Why can’t I go get too close to a bison? When the visitors make that connection that this is a wild animal living in a wild place, and that we need to respect their space in order to be safe and allow them to survive. … The mission of this agency is to preserve Yellowstone, preserve the national parks, “unimpaired” for future generations. That’s the language from the Organic Act ([link removed]
A%20NATIONAL%20PARK%20SERVICE-5.pdf) , from when the National Park Service was established in 1916. I really take that to heart.”
—Yellowstone National Park Ranger Rich Jehle, Christian Science Monitor ([link removed])
Picture this


** @interior ([link removed])
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Me reaching for a glass of water on my nightstand at 2 am.

North American porcupines have 30,000 barbed quills that make them a foreboding force to predators. When threatened, their quills puff up and they shake their tails, announcing to predators to stand back.

Often spotted lumbering between tree bands or climbing trees, these large rodents move slowly and are always looking for a tasty snack of bark and twigs.

Photo by Lori Rothstein

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