Roadless Rule DEIS “More than 90 percent of the letters received contained brief sentiments or opinions on the proposed action. Of the comment letters received, approximately 99 percent were generally opposed to the proposed rule recission, while approximately 1 percent were generally in support.”

Our new paper assesses relationships between wildfire rate of spread, area burned, and severity in western + boreal North American conifer forests 2012-2023. Take home message in the title: faster--> bigger--> more severe. With @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social, @jessforplanet.bsky.social and more! 🔥🧪🌍

Faster, bigger, more severe: Extreme wildfire spread sets the stage for forest ecosystem change in western and boreal North America

A relatively small number of rapidly spreading wildfire events burn disproportionately large areas. But beyond area burned, do fast fires produce distinct postfire ecological outcomes? Here, we measur...

science.org

PNW Fire Update: 2 new large fires yesterday makes 55 large fires burning in OR (33) and WA (22). Good news: at least 4 are expected to be off the board today. Bad news: Conditions remain challenging and the lightning is coming this week is expected to be "highly efficient" east of the Cascades. 1/

EAB is on the move here in Oregon.

Tree-killing emerald ash borer confirmed in 4 new Oregon cities

The invasive insect, which has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America, was detected in Beaverton, Salem, Silverton and Rock Creek, with an unconfirmed case in Hillsboro.

oregonlive.com

I very much enjoy this creative invitation from the UO Postdocs Association for a Postdoc happy hour.

Kind of crazy to see how California has almost doubled its energy production since 2019 while mostly shifting it towards solar and battery storage and away from imports. Visualization from: engaging-data.com/california-e... Data from: www.caiso.com

I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.

Had a great time with the #TEELab at #ESA2026 this year. We presented our work from the forests of WA National Parks, boreal Alaska, sage brush, and New Mexico! Caught up with old friends and made some new connections. Also, walking around SLC in a thunderstorm was gorgeous.

Kicking off #esa2026 with a great discussion on how we as scientists can and should have a voice in policy. We have agency and we should use it responsibly, but definitely use it.

New paper out, "A quantitative evaluation of forest aboveground biomass density map products in Oregon, USA" in ERL, led by the incomparable Andy Hudak. Findings go way beyond Oregon--central to how we think about and constrain AGB estimates: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

A quantitative evaluation of forest aboveground biomass density map products in Oregon, USA

A quantitative evaluation of forest aboveground biomass density map products in Oregon, USA, Hudak, Andrew Thomas, Bakken, Jennifer L, Lister, Andrew, Mauro, Francisco, Gregory, Matthew, Riley, Karin L, Wilson, Barry Ty., Santoro, Maurizio, Healey, Sean P, Ma, Lei, Yu, Yifan, Bright, Benjamin C, Byrne, John, Mita, Roy, Houtman, Rachel M, Shaw, John, Fekety, Patrick, Domke, Grant Michael, Walters, Brian, Bell, David, Weiskittel, Aaron, Atkins, Jeff, Duncanson, Laura, Hunka, Neha, Kennedy, Robert E, Babcock, Chad, Saatchi, Sassan, Raczka, Brett, Silva, Carlos, Tang, Hao, Hurtt, George

iopscience.iop.org

Really great interview from Dr. Andrew Merschel at the Life of Fire Podcast on all the great work his lab is doing redefining how we think about the fire histories west of the Cascades. pod.link/1527843633/e...

Using Tree Rings To Better Understand Fire History in the PNW with Dr. Andrew Merschel

Listen to Using Tree Rings To Better Understand Fire History in the PNW with Dr. Andrew Merschel from Life with Fire wherever you get your podcasts!

pod.link

I’m looking to recruit a postdoc to join my research group at University of Iowa to work on disturbance ecology and biodiversity! Start date flexible, lots of opportunity for skill development, collaboration, and mentorship. Will review applicants in mid-August! Link: gavinmjones.com/opportunities/

Opportunities

BIG NEWS! The Jones Lab will be relocating to the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability (SEES) at the University of Iowa in Fall 2026. Our work on disturbance ecology and conservation sc…

gavinmjones.com

New paper in Fire Ecology: what actually makes a wildfire "extreme"? Current definitions rely on rigid thresholds that don't hold up across ecosystems. We argue for judging fire behavior, ecological outcomes, and social impacts against historical baselines. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Roadmap for the future of extreme wildfire events - Fire Ecology

Background Extreme wildfire events (EWEs) represent a growing threat globally, posing substantial risks to ecosystems, human communities, and infrastructure. Despite increased recognition of their eco...

link.springer.com

I’m glad to see this important place for accessible climate science is back.

Climate.us@climate.us · 3mo ago

Public trust in climate information is hard-won, something we understand as former members of the Climate(.)gov team. For our launch, @katharinehayhoe.com shared why she believes Climate.us is worthy of that trust, and why she'll be sending people here for years to come. #ClimateUS #ClimateForUs 🌍🧪

Bad EAB news from ODF: emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle whose larvae kill ash trees, has turned up in three new Willamette Valley spots this month: a parking lot just east of I-5 in Tualatin, one outside Newberg, and a private residence in Silverton.

Read "How big is big enough? Exploring drivers of fire-induced giant sequoia mortality from the individual to the stand level" in the #FireEcology Journal https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42408-026-00502-7 #SNFECO

One of the many great benefits of working at UO is the dedication of the communications team in sharing research conducted at the university. This weeks feature in OregonNews was our AK and BC old growth mapping efforts.

New maps chart old-growth forests across Alaska and British Columbia

The data shows where forests are most vulnerable to policy changes that could remove protections

news.uoregon.edu

Our report/paper on forest carbon offsets are featured on the PBS NewsHour @pbsnews.org. Thanks to Rebecca Sanders-DeMott @cleanaircatf.bsky.social for leading the effort! youtu.be/A8qkohvRDSA?...

PBS News Hour full episode, May 22, 2026

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour

youtu.be

I was extremely lucky to spend 4 summers working and conducting research at Teakettle. We had some close encounters with fires in the past, but it’s still rough after all the work that went into preventing a fire like this. Great NPR interview with @mhurteau.bsky.social www.npr.org/2026/05/04/n...

Trump administration falls behind on wildfire prevention with risky fire season ahead

Many of the nation's overgrown forests are at high risk of burning. Under the Trump administration, work to reduce flammable vegetation fell by more than a million acres compared to previous years.

npr.org

Excited to see this project going live in California. Neat and scalable solution to evaporation and weed control while also having the potential to generate an insane amount of power.

Our latest newsletter is out! Catch up with all that is happening with Northwest Science at the link below: mailchi.mp/d8a31a8d6b3d...

This gifted H.J. Andrews mug showing a diagram of old-growth Douglas-fir forests constantly wins the award for my favorite place to put my coffee.

New paper in Ecosystems: we mapped 30M ha of coastal Alaska & BC temperate rainforest, identifying 1.2M ha of old growth and 2.3M ha of mature forests. Summarized rather well by coauthor and advisor for this work @melissalucash.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/s100...

Melissa Lucash@melissalucash.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New paper led by @jameslamping.bsky.social mapping #old-growth forests in SE #Alaska and SW B.C. Take home messages:

tfw when we all realise that we should've decarbonized simply for energy security reasons alone and dgaf about who makes the gear; just install it and you're probably good for a couple of decades instead of relying on a constant stream of geopolitically vulnerable hydrocarbons.

As a fan of electric cars I think that having a way to tax their use makes a lot of sense. I don’t think the correct way would be a flat annual fee, but something in line with state and federal taxes on pumped gas. Not sure how this would work while charging at home though…

US House transport committee head wants to collect EV fees for highway repairs — Reuters

The chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants to collect funds ​from electric vehicles to help pay for U.S. highway repairs ‌as part of a surface transportation bill.

apple.news

The Wayne Harrison Memorial Scholarship supports the academic and professional growth of students through funding research, management, or education projects related to wildland fire science. Applications are due April 15, and scholarships are awarded by May 31. https://ow.ly/wwBS50YsubN

Rare personal non-research post: Final push for Oregon Adaptive Sports – Ski For All! OAS helps athletes with disabilities get on the mountain with adaptive gear and instruction. Donations are currently matched, so your gift has double the impact. oregonadaptivesports.rallybound.org/ski-for-all/...

James's Fundraising Page at Ski for All

oregonadaptivesports.rallybound.org

Interested in landscape modeling and are looking to use LANDIS-II? The LANDIS community is hosting a virtual workshop in May!

Melissa Lucash@melissalucash.bsky.social · 7mo ago

LANDIS-II Virtual Training Workshop in May! May 13, 15, 20, and 22 from 8a - 12p Pacific. This is a fast-paced, hands-on virtual workshop designed to give new users the background they need to start running LANDIS-II. Participation is capped at 20. Cost: $500 USD (Credit Card or Check only)

A great place to publish PNW-focused research just got better. Thanks to BioOne’s Subscribe to Open (S2O) program, @nwscience.bsky.social l will publish 2026 articles as open access, with authors paying only standard page charges.

Northwest Science Association@nwscience.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Northwest Science is part of BioOne's (@bioone.bsky.social) Subscribe to Open (S2O) program — and BioOne has reached its 2026 sustainability threshold. This means the 2026 volume of Northwest Science will be published fully Open Access — immediately and in perpetuity.

Deadline for abstract extended to March 2nd

Northwest Science Association@nwscience.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Deadline Extended: #NWSA2026 Abstract Submissions We’ve extended the abstract submission deadline for the 2026 NWSA Annual Meeting to March 2nd. If you were planning to submit, you now have a little extra time. Visit the link below for meeting details northwestscience.org/2026-annual-...