Forests

"The blaze is one of more than 680 wildfires in the state this year — about 200 more than average."

"Winds that weather experts said normally arrive in force in the late fall fueled flames in the Springs fire that quickly chewed through 6,500 of acres of dry brush."

"BOISE, Idaho -- Two small but unseasonably early fires burning in northern California's wine country and another wind-whipped blaze farther south likely are a harbinger of a nasty summer fire season across the West."

"COPEMISH, Mich. — A team led by a nurseryman from northern Michigan and his sons has raced against time for two decades, snipping branches from some of the world's biggest and most durable trees with plans to produce clones that could restore ancient forests and help fight climate change."

"The U.S. Forest Service is expected in June to end two years of wrangling over whether to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the George Washington National Forest."

"The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that logging companies and forestry officials in Oregon were not required to obtain permits from the Environmental Protection Agency for storm-water runoff from logging roads."

"The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether environmental groups can challenge a federal government plan that has led to increased logging in California forests throughout the Sierra."

"The rotting bodies of about 6,000 pigs in a river that supplies tap water to Shanghai has drawn attention to an ugly truth -- China's pig farms are often riddled with disease and one way or another, sick animals often end up in the food chain."

"Last year, as hot, dry conditions fueled blazes across the West, nearly 10 million acres of U.S. land were burned in what ended up being one of the costliest and most destructive wildfire seasons in the nation’s history. In the middle of all that, the U.S. Forest Service, which manages nearly 200 million acres of public land, didn’t do itself any favors when it reversed nearly two decades of national policy and ordered an 'aggressive initial attack' on all blazes within the agency’s jurisdiction, no matter how small or remote."