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The Wilderness Act at 50: Better With Age

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On September 4th, 2014
Editor’s note: Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act. To commemorate the anniversary, we asked a small group of Island Press authors to reflect on the influence of this law to date and how its role may or should change as we move into an uncertain future. This is the last piece in the series. It is reprinted from 50 Years of American Wilderness with permission.
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Why Our Forests Need Fire, Not Salvage Logging

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On December 13th, 2013
For over two decades, I have studied forests from Oregon's amazing coastal rainforests to the fire-adapted forests of the West. In dry forests, there are three issues that reoccur every fire season: (1) forests will burn regardless of what we do; (2) politicians will propose unchecked post-fire "salvage" logging, even in national parks, as a quick fix; and (3) scientists will continue to document the incredible regeneration that takes place after fires and how post-fire logging disrupts forest renewal.
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Island Press Staff Picks

By Admin, Jason Leppig / On December 12th, 2012
This week’s pick is from Lauren Koshere: “How’s the Park lookin’ these days,” asks a gravelly voice on the other end of the telephone line, “after they let those fires ruin the place?” As a reservations agent for in Yellowstone National Park, I answer hundreds of questions a day. But few guests’ questions refer to the Yellowstone fires of 1988. Fewer still reflect such disapproval about the management of those fires.
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When Will the Fish & Wildlife Service Give a Hoot for Spotted Owls?

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On July 5th, 2012
Perhaps no other species symbolizes the conflict over logging in the Pacific Northwest more than the northern spotted owl. This medium-sized, forest-dwelling raptor has been credited with shutting down the logging industry in the 1990s and with shouldering the responsibility of conservation for hundreds of species that share its old-growth forest habitat.
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The Wildfires in Hawaii Are a Loss for Our World

By Admin / On March 28th, 2011
The wildfire created by the recent eruption of the Kilauea volcano on the Island of Hawaii has already burned some 2,000 acres in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home to 23 species of endangered plants and 6 endangered birds. Because this fire now threatens a relatively pristine native rain forest that is home to Hawaii's famous happyface spiders and honeycreeper songbirds, Park officials are quite rightly doing everything they can to stop it. As a whole, Hawaii is a globally important paradise that is dying on our watch.
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Two fires.

By Stephen Pyne / On August 31st, 2009
Then: Southern California burns, 2008
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The Great Gap Fire

By Stephen Pyne / On July 10th, 2008
". . .the Gap Fire has scorched more than 10,000 acres of land, stretching its flaming wings to the south, east, and west, seriously threatening hundreds of houses, and forcing thousands of Goleta and countless mountain community residents out of their homes. . ." — The Santa Barbara Independent, July 10, 2008

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