Welcome to the Western Institute for Study of the Environment. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit collaboration of environmental scientists, practitioners, and the interested public. W.I.S.E. provides this free, on-line set of post-graduate courses in environmental studies, currently fifty Topics in eight Colloquia, each containing book and article reviews, original papers, and essays. In addition, we present two Commentary sub-sites,  a news clipping sub-site, and the W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking site.  Reviews and original articles are archived in our Library. Recent titles reviewed are posted below.

November 16, 2007 | Comments Off | Topic:  Introduction

SOS Forests:

The Cost and Futility of Trading Hot Air

Long Valley Voices

The Incineration of the Payette

Trigo Fire Follow-up

Plea Bargain Dashes Hopes For Full Investigation and Justice

Wildlife and People:

States Fumbling to Intervene in Wolf Delisting Lawsuit

The Faces of Evil

The Gardner Files

Association of Counties opposes Mexican gray wolf reintroduction

North Fork Clearwater Wolf Kill

May 6, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Commentary Updates

Idaho Wildlife Services Wolf Activity Report by USDA-APHIS in Wildlife Sciences

May 6, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates

Food For Thought by Alvaro Vargas Llosa in Rural Culture

An Urgent Signal for the Coming Ice Age by Peter Harris in Paleobotany and Paleoclimatology

The Food Crisis by J.R. Dunn in Rural Culture

April 23, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Introduction

Comments to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Regarding “Appropriate Management Response” by Michael E. Dubrasich and Gregory J. Brenner in Forest and Fire Sciences

Solar Cycle 24: Implications for the United States by David Archibald in Paleobotany and Paleoclimatology

What They Didn’t Tell You About Wolf Recovery by George Dovel in Wildlife Sciences

Montane Meadow and Open Area Encroachment in the Lincoln Forest, Sacramento Grazing Allotment by Ric Frost, Casey Roberts, Garrett Hyatt, and John Fowler in Forest and Fire Sciences

Cut, Burn and Kill by Roni Bell (Sylvester) in Rural Culture

Still Feeding the World: a Tribute to Norman Borlaug by Paul Driessen in Rural Culture

Reconstructing Climatic and Environmental Changes of the Past 1000 Years: A Reappraisal by Willie Soon, Sallie Baliunas, Craig Idso, Sherwood Idso, and David R. Legates in Paleobotany and Paleoclimatology

April 1, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates

The Forest Carbon and Emissions Model (FCEM) by Thomas M. Bonnicksen, Ph.D. in Forest and Fire Sciences

From Climate Alarmism to Climate Realism by Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, in Rural Culture

Old-Growth Forest Science, Policy, and Management in the Pacific Northwest Region by Paul H. Beck in Forest and Fire Sciences

Polar Bear Population Forecasts: A Public-Policy Forecasting Audit Working Paper Version 68 by J. Scott Armstrong, Kesten C. Green, and Willie Soon in Wildlife Sciences

March 14, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates

The Destruction of the Sheldon by Cliff Gardner in Wildlife Sciences

Cattle and Wildlife on the Arizona Strip by Cliff Gardner in Wildlife Sciences

The “Roadless Rule” and Global Warming - What You Should Really Know by Harriet M. Hageman in Forest and Fire Sciences

NAFSR Budget Recommendations for the USFS FY2009 Budget by George M. Leonard - Chairman, Board of Directors, National Association of Forest Service Retirees (NAFSR) in Forest and Fire Sciences

Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate: Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, S. Fred Singer ed., in Paleobotany and Paleoclimatology

March 1, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates

Before The Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians, edited and compiled by Thomas C. Blackburn and Kat Anderson, selected excerpts in History of Western Landscapes

In Retrospect by Henry T. Lewis in History of Western Landscapes

Are Lightning Fires Unnatural? A Comparison of Aboriginal and Lightning Ignition Rates in the United States by Charles E. Kay in History of Western Landscapes

Suggested Amendments to S. 2593 - The Forest Landscape Restoration Act of 2008 by Members of W.I.S.E. in Restoration Forestry

Movie Review: The Trip to Bountiful by Vincent Canby in Rural Culture

February 24, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates

The Need for the Management of Wolves by Arthur T. Bergerud in Wildlife Sciences

The Jim’s Creek Savanna Restoration Project: Silvicultural Analysis by Tim Bailey in Restoration Forestry

How Many Wildebeest Do You Need? by Mike Norton-Griffiths in Wildlife Sciences

Late Succession Is Eco-Babble Nonsense by Mike Dubrasich in Forest and Fire Sciences

February 11, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates

Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture On Canada’s West Coast by Judith Williams, reviewed in History of Western Landscapes

The Monster Reared His Ugly Head: The Story of the Rodeo-Chediski Fire by Jim Paxon, reviewed in Rural Culture

Angora: South Lake Tahoe - Disaster. Survival. Restoration by the Tahoe Daily Tribune staff, reviewed in Rural Culture

Imagine by James D. Petersen in Rural Culture

Wilderness and Political Ecology: Aboriginal Influences and the Original State of Nature edited by Charles E. Kay and Randy T. Simmons, reviewed in Wildlife Sciences

January 29, 2008 | Comments Off | Topic:  Colloquia Updates