. I was on top of my house with my 16-year-old son and two of his friends in the middle of a roof tear-off when my partner Lisa called. She said, “Have you heard about what happened to your friend Davey? He’s been arrested.” A few hours later, I read the news story, which I assume you have also read, about an Olympic whitewater slalom paddler arrested for supposedly “vandalizing” the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. A story that was carried in every single major news outlet in the country...

I was recently asked to participate in two public town halls held in Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe, California to provide a forum to learn about the current proposal by the Secretary of Agriculture to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. The town halls were hosted by the Sierra Club and the Sierra Nevada Alliance (of which I am a board member), since the US Forest Service is not allowed to host any public town halls on this proposal. This is in stark contrast to the 600 meetings held when the...

While my title suggests I can provide an informed look, my ability to do so is admittedly limited. This is partly because this administration is deliberately keeping much important information locked up. Also, because I am not a current US Forest Service employee, I rely on conversations with former colleagues for insider information and perspective. But I will attempt to identify what I think I know based on my experience and communications. First, the recently announced physical...