Forest and Friends - May 22, 2025

​Hey folks, This year is flying past and it is time again for Forest and Friends.  If you are on the eastside on Thursday May 22nd join us from 5:00-7:30 at Cascadia Pizza to talk forests and startups and climate (https://www.cascadiapizzaco.com/bellevue).  We get together each month to talk about GIS, environmental impacts of action, environmental impacts of inaction, and the implications of policies shaping our local and regional forests.

​It is plain to see we skipped last week, with Climate Week and field testing new hardware the month slipped by.  But it is a new month and we can follow-up our climate week adventures with a more grounded and local experience with the crew.

​We’re coming up on some of the reporting deadlines from the early executive orders and federal agencies are trying to find ways to meet their ongoing duty of care with newly diminished funding and staffing levels.  The challenge is real, and ongoing.  Earth Force has a thing or two we can offer in support those efforts in the work guidance and tracking stages, but the whole challenge of how to do more with less is daunting.  As we roll into the hotter and dryer months we’re going to quickly swap from idle to running at 100mph to idle again as fire weather shuts down fuels management work.  As if federal issues weren’t enough, the State budget process has cut local wildfire funding in half.

​Feel free to join us for pizza and a pint as we talk about climate! We’ll be geeking out, enjoying the taplist, menu, and friendship while we talk forests, startups, GIS, policy, etc.  I’ll be wearing a hardhat and cruising vest – feel free to walk right up and join our table – we’ll be trying to claim the patio out back weather permitting.