The Obama administration and the Forest Service last week hosted what they call a national roundtable. It was an effort to summarize and explain in detail the various components of the draft forest planning rule, which was published last month. When final, this rule will guide the Forest Service on how to manage 193 million acres of America’s national forests. The roundtable, held in Washington D.C., was the beginning of a series of public forums that will take place throughout the country.

Earlier this month, a magistrate judge in Idaho issued an important decision on a lawsuit filed by The Wilderness Society and our partners over destructive off-road vehicle use on the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho.  The judge agreed with us that the Forest Service had violated environmental laws in developing its plan to designate where motor vehicles were allowed to travel. This decision was the culmination of several years of work on behalf of TWS and our partners to halt unauthorized and inappropriate motorized recreation. 

You’ve got to love it when an American icon like actress Betty White speaks up for something you care about. It’s even better when she gets recognized for her commitment and achieves a dream in the process.

White, a long-time supporter of wilderness, became an honorary Forest Service ranger at the Kennedy Center this week. The agency presented her with a badge and one of its famous Stetson hats. She even got to hug Smokey Bear.

A University of Montana study about the connection between logging and wildfires ratifies what many firefighters have long held as a truism: In Ponderosa pine and mixed conifer, fires tend to be hotter and nastier on logged ground than in unlogged forests.