Forests

"A growing body of research shows the cascading health impacts of wildfire smoke, from cognitive decline to heart issues." 

"Much of the Upper Midwest on Saturday was dealing with swaths of unhealthy air because of drifting smoke from Canadian wildfires, covering the northern region of the U.S. at a time when people want to be enjoying lakes, trails and the great outdoors."

"America’s treeless, isolated expanse put early European settlers to the test. Drought, loneliness, and debt drove many to failure, forcing the homesteaders to retreat East. But those who stayed unwittingly launched one of history’s largest terraforming projects, rewiring the land, the climate, and the future of the continent."

"Most comments reviewed by The Post were positive, though some visitors complained that there were too many mosquitos and “not enough moose.”"

"Protesters lived in a tree for 40 days on the Olympic Peninsula to protest logging of older forests." "On the 40th night of the protest, a black Jeep drove up a logging road and stopped near the base of a towering grand fir."

"Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said late Saturday that he had dropped his contentious plan to sell millions of acres of public lands from the sweeping domestic policy package that the Senate will soon begin debating."

"Monitoring air quality is key to forecasting and assessing wildfire smoke. Right now, that’s a coordinated effort between federal, state, tribal, and local entities. Federally approved and privately operated monitors feed data into tools like the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow tool, and help forecast air quality and issue public health guidance. But air quality scientists worry that EPA budget and job cuts will make it difficult to get air quality information to people, endangering public health."

"On the day the Trump administration announced it was rescinding the national forest roadless rule, the Senate parliamentarian said a proposal to sell millions of acres of public lands cannot go through without 60 votes in the chamber."

"The US Forest Service will begin the process to repeal the agency’s 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of national forest land from logging nationwide, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday."