Northwest just finished warmest fall on record, scientists report and NCAR Research shutdown

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Al Bergstein

The Washington State Standard is reporting that not only did we finish the year with the warmest year on record but our recent rain will not do much to help the ongoing drought in central and eastern Washington. Why? Because it’s falling as rain and not as snow.

This record warm spell includes all temperature data going back to 1880. These floods, this warming, is exactly what scientists have been predicting for decades. Now we reap what we have sown in fossil fuel use. So what is the government doing? It’s shutting down research on the atmosphere.

The Trump Administration has announced the closing of the greatest atmospheric research lab in the world, at National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the largest federal climate research lab outside Boulder in Colorado. This cynical ploy to rob of us global climate data is directly linked to the fossil fuel industry that underpins this administrations every action. Every drop of gas one buys is funding this destruction of our most valuable commodity, the scientific research to understand the processes of our planet. The announcement was made by OMB chair Russell Voight, the author of Project 2025. His statement said, “This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country…” without providing any evidence except his own opinion.

The Governor of Colorado stated, “Climate change is real, but the work of NCAR goes far beyond climate science,” Polis said. “NCAR delivers data around severe weather events like fires and floods that help our country save lives and property, and prevent devastation for families. If these cuts move forward we will lose our competitive advantage against foreign powers and adversaries in the pursuit of scientific discovery.”

If you supported Trump and the politicians who make up his sycophant society you are helping support these disastrous decisions that continue to destroy our country and turn us into something resembling the Soviet Union or worse. Clearly our Senators and House members do not support this shut down of NCAR Colorado. Is this the kind of country you want to leave to your children and grandchildren?

This is not Making America Great Again, it’s an attempt to create a totalitarian government based on the beliefs of the fossil fuel industry. Better rethink your support of this maniac and act now to stop him before it’s too late. Send your donations to the ACLU and other organizations fighting for out rights. Contact friends in Red states to make sure they have heard this news and tell them to contact their Federal representatives to overturn this insane dictate.

You can support a green economy now by buying or leasing electric vehicles, walking and biking whenever possible, donating to the national organizations fighting the administration in court and supporting local farmers who strengthen our resilience to the effects of climate change .

Our hope is when this administration is finally out of office, that we can rebuild better the destroyed institutions that they have worked to eliminate in the name of the gas station of yours down the street. But that will take more than words on a blog. It takes every one of us doing something to change the direction of this out of control ship of state.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/climate-change/trump-administration-break-climate-research-center-ncar-rcna249668

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Government, Olympic Peninsula, Politics | Tagged: , , | Comments Off on Northwest just finished warmest fall on record, scientists report and NCAR Research shutdown

Sportsmen Fight Trump Plan To Log Roadless Headwaters on Olympic Peninsula Public Lands

Posted on September 8, 2025 by OlyOpen

Another day, another threat from the Trump administration to open public lands, revoke roadless areas to open them to cutting on Federal forests. This press release is from the Sportsmen for Wild Olympics.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 8th, 2025

QUILCENE, WA—September 8th, 2025: Today, Sportsmen for Wild Olympics released a new map with photos illustrating the devastating impacts that developing key roadless backcountry public lands on Olympic National Forest could have on critical headwaters of prime trophy fishing rivers and public access on the Olympic Peninsula. The group is calling on Congress to pass the Wild Olympics Act as a proactive solution to permanently protect these lands.

“This map tells Congress and the Administration: protect the Olympic Peninsula’s public lands—don’t privatize or develop them,” said Ashley Nichole Lewis, a Quinault Indian Nation fishing guide and spokesperson for Sportsmen for Wild Olympics. “It gives our fellow sportsmen and women something to fight for, not just against—a lasting solution to threats we are confronting right now.”

The urgency comes as the Trump Administration announced a shortened comment period ending September 19th on their plans to rescind the Roadless Rule in order to log & develop sensitive spawning habitat on public lands, a key federal safeguard for undeveloped backcountry areas across national forests, including Olympic National Forest. The new map with photos highlights & names the critical ancient forest roadless headwaters & salmon streams on Olympic National Forest that are now threatened by the Trump Administration’s plan to lift protections for these backcountry public lands prized by Olympic Peninsula sportsmen for the clean water, critical habitat & access they provide.

What is the Roadless Rule?

The Roadless Rule, established in 2001, protects undeveloped areas of national forests from new road construction and logging. These “roadless” areas are often rugged backcountry landscapes that provide crucial habitat for fish and wildlife, protect water quality, and offer remote hunting and angling opportunities. Removing these protections opens the door to industrial development in some of the last remaining intact, healthy forest lands in the country.

“Rescinding the Roadless Rule is yet another attempt to hand over our essential public resources to special interests—at the expense of salmon, clean water, and future generations,” Lewis said.

The coalition—comprising thousands of local and regional hunters and anglers, and over 30 leading sportsmen organizations—has already punched well above their weight earlier this year playing an outsized role in the national backlash opposing the unprecedented threats to public lands coming from both Congress and the Administration. Lewis says these threats highlight exactly why the group supports the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, recently reintroduced by Senator Patty Murray and Representative Emily Randall.

“The different public land sale efforts in Congress and the new plan to strip protections from 59 million acres of core forest headwaters nationwide—including lands on the Peninsula—show that they will use any tactic to privatize or exploit our public lands,” Lewis said. “This map shows what that would actually look like. Congress & the White House must reverse course and pass Wild Olympics to permanently protect these critical salmon streams instead.”

The Wild Olympics Act, developed with years of local input, would enhance hunting and fishing access while permanently protecting some of the last, best intact salmon-spawning habitat left in the Lower 48. Importantly, it would not close existing roads or cost timber jobs. It has broad local support with over 800 local endorsements.

The new map & photos show how the Wild Olympics proposal would protect key areas such as South Quinault Ridge, Moonlight Dome, and other core ancient forest headwaters & rivers vital for hunting & fishing on the Peninsula —areas the Administration now plans to open for logging by rescinding the Roadless Rule.

(The steep forested slopes of the Moonlight Dome Roadless Area forms the critical headwaters for both the East and West Forks of the Humptulips River (seen ok the left), one of the top ten Trophy Fishing Rivers in Washington State).

The map also reveals that 300,000 acres of Olympic National Forest have been identified as eligible for sale under different plans by the Administration and some members of Congress during earlier drafts of the budget bill passed earlier this year. While the land sale provision was struck from the budget, proponents continue to push this idea forward.

The unprecedented threats to public lands recently sparked Senator Murray to throw down the gauntlet in the Senate, announcing she will block any public lands legislative package that comes out of Utah Senator Mike Lee’s Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee unless it includes her Wild Olympics bill, a move that galvanized local supporters to pull out all the stops to get it done this Congress.

Lewis hopes the map inspires more hunters and anglers to join the thousands who have already signed their petition.

“The outdoor community is powerful. Our fishing and hunting guides are pillars of this community. The same places we work the hardest are the ones we return to after the day is done—because we love them. Let’s use that collective power to ensure a single pen stroke can never take our public lands away. Let’s pass the Wild Olympics Act.”

###

HOW TO FIGHT BACK. 

1) Sign the WildOlympics.org/wild-olympics-petition/ telling Congress ancient temperate rainforests of the #WildOlympics aren’t for sale & to permanently protect Olympic Peninsula #publiclands & rivers against travesties like this in the future. 

2) Those who can afford it PLEASE WildOlympics.org/DONATE to fuel our fight. We helped defeat this four years ago. Help us defeat it again & pass the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild & Scenic Rivers Act to permanently protect ancient forests & salmon streams once & for all. 

3) SUBMIT A COMMENT AT PORTAL LINK Comment Period Ends Sept 19th. Tell USDA to uphold the Roadless Rue to protect Olympic Peninsula Ancient Forests & critical salmon nurseries that were already centuries-old when our nation was born. 

For more information, including a rolling list of articles from sportsmen outlets covering the threats to public lands, visit: SportsmenForWildOlympics.org/threats


Sportsmen For Wild Olympics Members Include:

Waters West Guide Service (Montesano)

Bad Ash Outdoors (Tahola)

Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association

Northwest Guides & Anglers Association

The Washington Wildlife Federation,

Izaak Walton League (Gr. Seattle Chapter) Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, (Washington Chapter)

Association of Northwest Steelheaders,

The Gray Wolf Fly Fishing Club (Sequim)

SAGE Fly Rods

Doug Rose Fly Fishing (at request of family)

Bad Ash Fishing (Tahola)

Washington Council of Trout Unlimited

Little Stone Fly Fisher (Port Townsend)

Johnson Guide Service (Sequim)

Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics (Forks)

Able Guide Service (Seiku)

Mike Z’s Guide Service (Forks)

Brazda’s Fly Fishing

Angler’s Obsession (Forks)

Sea Run Pursuits

Peninsula Sportsman Guide & Outfitting Service (Port Townsend)

Waters West Fly Fishing Outfitters (Port Angeles)

The Wild Steelhead Coalition

Piscatorial Pursuits (Forks)

Able Guide Service (Sekiu)

LimbSaver

Oly Women On The Fly

WA Council of Fly Fishers International

Puget Sound Fly Fishers

Coastal Cutthroat Coalition

Filed under: Clallam County, Environmental Protection, Government, Jefferson County, legislation, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »