Status of Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog Precarious

Here is a link to a story about the status of mountain yellow-legged frogs by Katie Vane, reinforcing the precarious status of the species and the need for conservation-minded management of those areas of the national forests that provide habitat for the frog.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Relief at Upper Echo Lake Overshadowed by Prescribed Burns Elsewhere in the Region

On the heels of a settlement agreement that signals the end of the Forest Service's plans to cut, pile, and burn vegetation around Upper Echo Lake south of Lake Tahoe, there are grim reminders of continuing agency mismanagement of forestry resources in the vicinity.

First, prescribed burns in the El Dorado and Lake Tahoe National Forests contributed to poor air quality in the region, as reported here.  This led regulators to encourage Washoe County residents to stay indoors.

Second, according to reporter Jason Hidalgo, the Little Valley Fire, which has destroyed dozens of homes and other buildings in Washoe Valley, may have been caused by prescribed burns in the area.

Federal and state forestry agencies are staunch advocates for prescribed burns.  We wonder if there is empirical research to support their position.  At least one expert thinks otherwise as reported some time ago on the NEPA Lab blog.  Robert E. Keane in his book Wildland Fuel Fundamentals and Application (Springer 2…
Keep reading

FOIA Reform: Will It Improve Agency Transparency and Responsiveness

This summer, Congress and the President enacted the FOIA Improvement Act.  The language of the Act is available here.  One article describing the Act by Josh Gerstein of Politico is here.  The Act includes a provision to amend the existing law creating a presumption of disclosure.

While the Act has symbolic value, the federal agencies so routinely violated FOIA prior to passage of the FOIA Improvement Act that it remains to be seen whether transparency and responsiveness will improve.
Keep reading

Context for Forest Service Action

Image
This image provides wonderful context to assess the Forest Service's ill-conceived Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project.

Notice how sparse the vegetation is at this elevation.  Certainly when one thinks about wildfire risk, this is not the image the mind conjures.
Keep reading