Implementing forest restoration in California and throughout the Western U.S. has now become more challenging thanks to an obscure and controversial court decision you likely have never heard of.
Issued in 2015, the so-called Cottonwood federal court decision requires the Forest Service to halt restoration work throughout a forest whenever a new species is listed, critical habitat is designated or other new information is discovered about a species in that particular forest. This decision — which is designed to protect animals — is now having the opposite effect: It is destroying their habitat by preventing forest restoration and making megafires more frequent.
Restoring our forests and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire will, in large part, require overcoming this legal hurdle.
This news is especially concerning given that we are well into fall and the 2024 wildfire season is still ongoing. So far this year, California’s Park Fire grew to be the fourth-largest wildfire in the state’s history. Wildfires in Oregon and Idaho shut down major highways and blanketed western states in smoke for months. And in Wyoming, wildlife have been sent fleeing the state’s ongoing elk fire. In total, nearly eight million acres have already burned this year.
