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December 12, 2022

Read the latest Sierra Voice newsletter

 

November 30, 2021

Agreement reached with US Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct new Status Review of California Spotted Owls

 

October 19, 2021

Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced that it is seeking public comment on the proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the Pacific fisher, southern Sierra Nevada distinct population segment (DPS), as required by the Endangered Species Act.

 

February 2, 2021

There is an important new General Technical Report from the U.S. Forest Service: Postfire Restoration Framework for National Forests in California (PSW-GTR-270). Download the report here.

 

May 15, 2020

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally lists the Pacific Fisher as an endangered species--a decision nearly thirty years in the making

 

April 15, 2020

Formal Notice of Intent to sue the Trump administration's Fish and Wildlife Service: Failure to protect the California spotted owl

 

January 6, 2020

Read our comment letter to the Inyo National Forest regarding the Eastern Sierra Fire Restoration and Maintenance Project

 

September 27, 2019

Read our coalition comments on the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests' revised draft land management plans and revised draft environmental impact statement

Read additional comment letters, and learn more here.

 

September 10, 2019

Take Action! Your comments needed on new forest management plans for the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests

Comments are due by September 26, 2019

 

 

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Science in Brief

Wildfire in California: It’s Not Just About “Forest” Fires

The increase in the size and severity of wildfires in recent years gives us all pause, while at the same time motivating our search for strategies and actions to reduce the negative impacts of extreme fire. Significant attention in the past twenty years has been focused on unpacking the relationships between forest management and fire suppression. The effort has led to an understanding that restoring the fire regime is key to conserving frequent fire ecosystems types like mixed conifer and yellow pine forests and reducing fire risk. Less attention has been placed on other plant community types, like woodlands, chaparral, and grasslands. Read more

Image above: Wildflowers bloom in mass after the 2007 Witch Creek Fire, San Diego, CA. By Chaparralian, CC BY-SA 4.0

Emergency Actions to Protect Giant Sequoias

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are initiating emergency actions to protect giant sequoias from the threats posed by high-intensity wildfire. Park staff will remove and reduce dense vegetation and other potential fire fuel sources in and around eleven giant sequoia groves that are especially at risk. The work will include manual thinning by hand, and later burning piles of cut vegetation and dead wood, and later using prescribed fire in areas that were initially thinned by hand. Most of these groves are in remote locations.  Read more

Image right: NPS personnel clearing fuel from around the base of giant sequoias

 

Spotlight on Species: Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)

Lewis's Woodpecker populations have declined by approximately 48 percent between 1968 and 2019, according to North American Breeding Bird Survey. Due to their declining population, Partners in Flight rates them 15 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, placing them on the Yellow Watch List for birds most at risk of extinction without significant conservation actions to reverse declines and reduce threats. The current estimated global breeding population according to Partners in Flight is 82,000 individuals. Lewis's Woodpeckers are threatened by changing forest conditions as a result of fire suppression, grazing, and logging, which often result in higher densities of single age pines and fewer standing dead or decaying trees available for nesting. Read more

Image above: Lewis's Woodpecker by Kevin L. Cole (c) 2009.

 

 

 

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"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it does otherwise."
~Aldo Leopold