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Latest Posts tagged with "National Forest"

America’s Rainforest Under Threat: How Alaska’s Tongass National Forest needs your help

March 5, 2010 By Laura Bailey

Tongass National Forest. Photo by Henry Hartley. Wikimedia Commons.

Centuries before chainsaws were invented and logging corporations founded, the towering trees of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest were growing. Trees that soar to the sky today were already shooting into adolescence when Columbus sailed the seas. The gentle giants amaze visitors with their arresting size — some trunks are as big as dining room tables — but these rare trees are a disappearing breed. Read more

Lungs of the Earth: The Top 10 carbon storing national forests in America

March 4, 2010 By Mike Anderson, J.D.

One of America's Top 10 National Forest, the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon. Courtesy KSWild.

Ever hear the old adage that trees are the “lungs of the earth?” It creates an awesome visual and brings a human element to the towering giants that fill our forests. But did you know that forests in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Alaska are among the Earth’s strongest “lungs?” Read more

Protesting gas leases in West Virginia: Success for now

March 19, 2009 By Mary Krueger

Seneca Creek, West Virginia. Photo by Solomon Rodd.

On March 3, The Wilderness Society filed a protest with the Bureau of Land Management, which was planning to auction off a lease that would allow oil and natural gas drilling on the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. The BLM is the leasing agent for all federal lands, including national forests, and a “protest” is a document that allows the public to challenge those leases before they are auctioned off. Read more

A National Treasure: Washington State’s North Cascades

March 13, 2009 By Andrea Imler

One of the gems of the North Cascades: Mt. Shuksan. Photo by Jim Nelson.

One of our top priorities in the Pacific Northwest is the North Cascades Initiative. Rising from lush valleys to Mount Baker’s 10,778-foot peak, the North Cascades are in greater Seattle’s backyard and is the most glaciated area in the Lower 48. Glaciers carved many of the deep valleys and cut mountain sides much steeper than those on the higher peaks of the Sierra Nevada or Rockies. The North Cascades are one of the few intact ecosystems in the Lower 48 that is wild and large enough to support wide-ranging species such as grizzlies, mountain lion, and wolves. Read more