{{custom_field.photo_credit}}
By Bob Ferris "The wolf is the arch type of ravin, the beast of waste and desolation. It is still found scattered thinly throughout all the wilder portions of the United States, but has everywhere retreated from the advance of civilization." from Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches by Theodore Roosevelt originally published in this … Read more
By Bob Ferris When reading Tim Egan’s recent op-ed in the New York Times on salmon I was reminded of an “aha” moment I recently experienced at the Tongass talk I gave for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Science Pub. Towards the end of the talk I asked the crowd of 90 or … Read more
By Bob Ferris Roughly 1.2 million people visit the 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest each year, but few of them seem to know it. In their minds they are making stops at places like Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan on Alaska’s picturesque Marine Highway. They see bears, wolves, salmon, deer and eagles in what they … Read more
by Gabe Scott A nail is being driven in the coffin on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Is it a coffin for the old-growth logging industry; or for Tongass wolves, deer and salmon? It is up to you to decide. Recent announcements by the Obama administration offer glimmers of hope. Secretary Vilsack’s July 3, … Read more
By Bob Ferris I became convinced yesterday that actors who play zombies in movies learned their walking techniques from fly fishermen wading in swift rivers on slippery and slimy cobble. I came to that conclusion as I “gingerly” crossed the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River—it is all in the balance … Read more
Pictures and graphics are always important. In putting together a power point slide for an upcoming talk I am giving on the Tongass National Forest for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, I stumbled onto the following graphic representation (with lots of help from Gabe Scott our person in Cordova, Alaska). Just a simple … Read more
By Bob Ferris As a wildlife biologist who has spent most of his professional career working with critters, I have to admit that I am fairly new to forestry issues. Moreover, the O&C issue is a particularly gnarly one. But I can read graphs and have spent a long time interpreting and … Read more
By Bob Ferris “Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor.” Ginetta Sagan The title of a recent opinion piece in a Utah paper nailed it: Making War on Wolves. Because what we are seeing out there is truly a war waged on a wildlife species. And like with most wars … Read more
By Bob Ferris I have worked on conservation issues through more than seven administrations and during that time I have known personally most of the directors of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In nearly all instances these have basically been stand-up folks trying to do the best job possible under trying circumstances. With all … Read more
By Bob Ferris Although we do not have total counts at this point, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed reproduction in seven known packs this year—Imnaha, Minam, Mt Emily, Snake River, Umatilla River, Walla Walla, and Wenaha. And here is a shot of the Mt. Emily pups. These represent more tangible dividends … Read more
To celebrate the recent passage of the suction dredging bill and in an effort to remove myself from the computer, a friend of mine Kyle who works for a local watershed council and I decided to paddle down the Willamette River from Eugene to Independence Oregon, just south of Salem. Growing up paddling in the … Read more
By Francis Eartherington When BLM logs our public lands, they determine how logging is done by using a “prescription.” The prescription might be thinning, or it might be clearcutting, or it could be hardwood conversion (e.g., clearcutting alder stands) or density management (thinning in a messier way), or something called Variable Retention Harvest (clearcutting … Read more
Cascadia Wildlands
P.O. Box 10455
Eugene, OR 97440
541.434.1463
