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.

A decade or so ago a friend suggested to me that instead of my normal spring backpack into my favorite north Georgia trout fishing hole that I instead try the Fires Creek watershed in Clay County, North Carolina. I had seen the mountains that make up this magnificent watershed for years as I drove to various spots along the nearby Appalachian Trail for hiking, but knew little about access to the area, or developed trails.

There’s an old saying about “death by a thousand cuts.” Those words could easily be used to describe how federal environmental programs fared during the eight long years of the Bush administration.

Throughout those years, in agency after agency, programs vital to the health of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the well-being of our nation’s beloved forests, parks, and wildlife refuges were systematically bled of the money they needed to assure their survival.

Here are just a few of the many examples of the damage:

Their populations have been ravaged, their lambs taken by disease. But now, after decades of decline, Idaho’s hammered bighorn populations could have a chance of making a comeback.

Today, only about 2,000 bighorn sheep still live in Idaho, a miniscule number compared to the tens of thousands of bighorn that once lived in the state’s rugged hills and rocky crags.

“Right now they’re quite a treat to see because there aren’t that many around,” said Craig Gehrke, The Wilderness Society’s Regional Director in Idaho.

Tahoe National Forest, just northwest of California’s Lake Tahoe, is a place that refreshes the soul. Rugged beauty, quiet backcountry trails and the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains all create a peaceful experience for visitors to cherish.