On a hot summer day last week, a group of forest scientists and managers hiked up a cool Idaho mountain ridge to look at trees in trouble. Whitebark pines are hardy, gnarly and long-lived trees at high elevations across the Pacific Crest, western Canada and the Northern Rockies of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. While these trees have long withstood wind, snows and freezing temperatures for millennium, on slopes from 5,000 to over 12,000 feet — today, a combination of conditions puts the species at risk. more

America’s National Wildlife Refuges — 549 of them, scattered throughout the 50 states and U.S. territories — are best known for the wildlife they protect: thousands of species of animals, birds, reptiles, fish, wildflowers, and trees. What’s less well known is that many refuges also offer a glimpse into America’s past — encompassing the story of our land beginning with the native people who lived here long before the first European settlers, and continuing through the major events of our nation’s history. more

Thanks to a court victory last month that tossed out misguided ideas for how the U.S. should manage its forests, President Obama now has a golden opportunity to replace them with his administration’s principles. The result could be a mandate for the Forest Service to make decisions about managing forests based on the 21st century imperatives of global warming and clean drinking water. more