Forests

"Apparently, if a tree falls in Washington, people will notice — and even mourn its collapse."

"The U.S. Forest Service is closing 23 research and development stations in more than a dozen states as part of an organizational overhaul under President Donald Trump that is intended to trim costs and concentrate the agency’s resources in Western states, officials said Thursday."

"The Trump administration on Friday moved to relax fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks."

"For more than a year, the National Park Service has been quietly working to fulfill an unprecedented directive from Trump officials: Parcel off a corner of Yosemite National Park to give to a private developer."

"Canada announced retaliatory tariffs as high as 50 percent on hundreds of American products on Tuesday, just days after the collapse of trade talks triggered punishing tariffs from the Trump administration." "Canada said the higher levies, on items from aluminum foil to dishwashers to fish, would help protect workers, producers and manufacturers harmed by new Trump tariffs."

"On a gentle slope on the western side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where a towering green canopy of ponderosa pines had stood for centuries, wildfires have transformed roughly 1,700 acres into brown, bare shrubland. That forest is gone for good, scientists say."

"Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will return to the negotiating table when the U.S. shows the “right attitude,” not treating Canada as a subsidiary of the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump made further threats on U.S.-Canada trade early Monday, saying in an online post that tariffs on Canadian automobiles, car parts and steel will increase to 50 per cent on Jan. 1."

"Democratic Gov. Tim Walz moved Tuesday to block mining near the pristine Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, dealing a blow to Republican efforts that have sought to push forward a copper and nickel project in the region."

"A federal judge in Alaska this week struck down the Trump administration’s decision to green-light a land exchange that had paved the way for a 10.5-mile road to be blazed through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge."

"The Trump administration plans to remove restrictions on logging across more than 40 million acres of national forest, the Agriculture Department said."