Forests

"For 27 years, forests around Chernobyl have been absorbing radioactive elements. A fire would send them skyward again – a growing concern as summers grow longer, hotter and drier."

"Several wildfires raged unchecked across drought-parched Colorado on Thursday, one threatening oil and gas wells close to the Utah border and another about 300 miles to the southeast chased a group of Boy Scouts from their camp near New Mexico."

"The Senate Natural Resources Committee has approved a one-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools Act."

"Two people have been killed by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, law enforcement officials said on Thursday, as crews fought to keep the fierce, wind-whipped blaze from roaring into the outskirts of Colorado Springs."

"BLACK FOREST, Colo. -- Shifting winds whipped flames through the winding roads and hills of Black Forest on Wednesday, forcing new evacuations and sending a plume of thick smoke across the Front Range."

"ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. -- Kim Sandum is driving on a one-lane gravel road inside the George Washington National Forest, the largest federally protected forest on the East Coast. She points to a trout stream gurgling over rocks and shallows not 20 feet from her rolling minivan."

"Giving expression to a law unanimously passed by Congress in 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [Wednesday] proposed two rules to help protect Americans from exposure to the harmful chemical formaldehyde emitted from wood products. These rules ensure that composite wood products, whether produced in the United States or imported, meet the formaldehyde emission standards established by that law."

"Take a look at the notepad on your desk, your ATM receipt or the package of disposable plates you bought for your Memorial Day barbecue. Many paper products are labeled as being sourced from sustainable forests, and many consumers make buying decisions based on those labels. But are the labels trustworthy?"

"The Forest Service would be allowed to forgo environmental reviews for forest thinning projects smaller than 10,000 acres under a provision in the House farm bill."

"BOISE, Idaho (AP) — After another dry winter across much of the West, fire officials are poised for a tough wildfire season that will be even more challenging because federal budget cuts mean fewer firefighters on the ground, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Monday."