Nathan Gilles

My story in @columbiainsight.bsky.social on forest collaboratives—quasi advisory groups to the Forest Service designed to get enviros and timber folks talking after the timber wars—covers collaboratives' current funding woes, why some enviros like collaboratives, and why some don't.

USDA proposes closing regional Forest Service offices in Portland, moving work to Colorado, Utah • Oregon Capital Chronicle The Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Headquarters would be closed, Pacific Northwest Research Station would move to Fort Collins, Colorado.

U.S. Forest Service offices in Portland charged with wildfire prevention, scientific research, forestland management and conservation across the Northwest would be shuttered and moved out of state under a new plan announced by the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. buff.ly/hOfrNMt

I had a wonderful time reporting on @critfc.bsky.social and others' efforts to protect Pacific lamprey. It was great getting out in the field to see this important conservation work in action. Read the story @columbiainsight.bsky.social: columbiainsight.org/pacific-lamp...

My latest story in @columbiainsight.bsky.social explores how the Forest Service plans to substitute its practice of marking trees with paint with two alternative practices that give loggers greater discretion over which trees get cut.

I have a new piece out in @columbiainsight.bsky.social. Let me know what you think.

Defunding the Gorge: Washington budget battle threatens National Scenic Area - Columbia Insight A Washington House amendment could dissolve the decades-old, bi-state commission that manages the Columbia River Gorge

I have a story out in @columbiainsight.bsky.social on this attempt in the Washington House to defund the Columbia River Gorge Commission. While several news outlets have reported on this, our story provides (what I would like to think is) a larger (and clearer) legal/policy analysis.

Defunding the Gorge: Washington budget battle threatens National Scenic Area - Columbia Insight A Washington House amendment could dissolve the decades-old, bi-state commission that manages the Columbia River Gorge

Defunding the Gorge: Washington budget battle threatens National Scenic Area.

columbiainsight.org/defunding-th...

Even Trees Need Friends A study finds trees’ ability to migrate as the climate warms could depend on beneficial fungi

I have a new story out in @sierramagazine.bsky.social. The story reviews a study that demonstrated—shocker!—that some trees will need beneficial fungi in order to migrate under #climatechange. #assistedmigration

Trump Moves to Increase Logging in National Forests The president wants to circumvent environmental regulations to expand timber production, something sought by homebuilders and the construction industry.

I've been waiting for this to drop for weeks. Though keep in mind, the Forest Service has been working to "streamline" environmental oversight for years. This is likely to accelerate a trend already underway.

File this under "stupid facts." The vast majority of the methane emitted by cows comes from burps, not farts.
As I quoted UC Davis enteric fermentation scientist Frank Mitloehner for an @portlandmercury.com story why back in 2014, "We are talking just about the front side, not the backside.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Forest Service is using the threat of wildfires to meet timber targets - Columbia Insight The agency has sought to minimize environmental oversight and used authorities critics say incentivize the logging of older trees   Who profits? The Forest Service says this commercial logging opera...

I have a new (and lengthy) story out today in Columbia Insight (@columbiainsight.bsky.social) examining how the Forest Service (@forestservice.bsky.social) has been using the wildfire crisis to help meet its timber targets both nationally and in the #PacificNorthwest.

What is ‘blue carbon’ and why is it so valuable? - Columbia Insight The Pacific Northwest’s once-prevalent tidal forests are mostly gone. But what remains stores an important secret New world: A manmade "beaver dam analog" (foreground) and dead Sitka spruce trees are...

Nice to see @pnwbluecarbon.bsky.social mention my recent story on #bluecarbon in @columbiainsight.bsky.social. I enjoyed interviewing your scientists and reading your research. Plus I got to visit some beautiful inter-tidal spruce forests. #climatechange

Between Hot Drought and Heat Waves, Climate Change is Killing Trees Faced with widespread tree die-offs, scientists are racing to determine the upper thermal limit of the world’s trees.

Although winter is hardly the time to plug a story on #climatechange, I would nonetheless like to share a story I wrote last spring for Earth Island Journal on the effects of extreme heat on #trees. The effects aren't good, but the #science is both interesting and important.

Human activity is making it difficult to retain adequate water supplies - Columbia Insight A new study also says climate change is making it harder to escape drought even as winters bring lots of precipitation Can't get enough: Rylee Buckley, 17, fills a water container with a neighbor's h...

I have a new story out on the American West's declining ability to recover from drought. The story reviews a fantastic study by @climate-guy.bsky.social and others and includes comments from @larryoneill.bsky.social. Thank you both for the interviews. #climatechange #drought

What is ‘blue carbon’ and why is it so valuable? - Columbia Insight The Pacific Northwest’s once-prevalent tidal forests are mostly gone. But what remains stores an important secret New world: A manmade "beaver dam analog" (foreground) and dead Sitka spruce trees are...

If you're looking for a break from political news, I have a new story out on the Pacific Northwest's blue carbon stocks and the Sitka spruce-dominated tidal forests that once grew from northern California to southern Alaska. #climatechange #carbon