John Twitchell News Today

In the middle of the mountain pine beetle epidemic over a decade ago, we promoted the use of local wood products with the phrase “Local People, Local Wood.” Utilizing the wood from forest treatments not...

Routt County resident Carolina Manriquez, lead forester in the Colorado State Forest Service field office in Steamboat Springs, was recognized for her excellence in forestry knowledge with the Presidential Field Forester Award from the Society...

The 7,586-acre Morgan Creek Fire in north Routt County that started in July 2021 may have been scary and smoky for local residents, but the silver lining is contributions to improved forest health.

An independent review of the fire found no individual at fault. But victims criticized the review and wanted change. A bill was passed, which ended the state forest service’s authority to do prescribed burning. The agency’s fire unit employees were moved to the Division of Fire Prevention and Control. Lester doesn’t think that the Colorado State Forest Service needs that authority reinstated. “We would be happy to assist, but as far as taking the lead role again, theres no point in that...

Colorado looks to logging to help re-balance forests By BRUCE FINLEYDecember 13, 2020 GMT GOULD, Colo. (AP) — Stunned by unprecedented megafires, Colorado is embracing logging — mowing holes up to 140 acres in beetle-infested lodgepole pines — in an effort to revive out-of-balance forests. This for-profit mechanized tree-cutting, concentrated between the blackened Cameron Peak and East Troublesome burn scars, has been clearing 3,000 acres a year. And state foresters propose to clear more....