Forests

"The Trump administration pushed out thousands of veteran U.S. Forest Service staff. An ‘extraordinary’ fire season is testing those who are left."

"The five-car caravan crept down a gravel logging road as the day’s last beams of golden light filtered through the trees. About 20 forest defenders were making a stand in southwest Vancouver Island, at a spot where a logging company was expected to cut old-growth trees the following morning. They made camp in tents and the backs of cars."

"As regulations have reduced prenatal exposure to harmful emissions from vehicles and industry in recent years, smoke from climate-fueled wildfires is erasing air quality gains."

"B.C. Premier David Eby says the entire province is now under a state of emergency as crews grapple with dozens of out-of-control wildfires that have forced thousands of people to evacuate."

"The stopgap includes extenders and authorizations for a number of environmental and infrastructure programs but leaves out special funding the White House had requested for national parks operations, wildfire management and disaster recovery in North Carolina."

"Wildfires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area while destroying at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures, authorities said Sunday."

"California’s wildfires are destroying forests faster than the state can replant them, and federal cuts are making the gap worse. One expert says the crisis is barely known — even though it could reshape half the state’s forests by 2071."

"The Forest Service remains stretched on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho — a place with ties to key agency leaders — and is leaning on volunteer groups for help."

"The latest wildfires in southern Europe this week have displaced more than 250,000 people, including some 70,000 people who were evacuated in central Spain."

"Smoke from wildfires — which are burning more of the Northern Hemisphere as Earth warms — attacks nearly every system in the human body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show."