Nathan Gilles
banner
nathangilles.bsky.social
Nathan Gilles
@nathangilles.bsky.social
Journalist and science writer living in the Pacific Northwest of North America. I write about climate change impacts and adaptation strategies.
My story in @columbiainsight.bsky.social on forest collaboratives—quasi advisory groups to the Forest Service designed to get enviros and timber folks talking after the timber wars—covers collaboratives' current funding woes, why some enviros like collaboratives, and why some don't.
columbiainsight.org
August 19, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Nathan Gilles
U.S. Forest Service offices in Portland charged with wildfire prevention, scientific research, forestland management and conservation across the Northwest would be shuttered and moved out of state under a new plan announced by the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. buff.ly/hOfrNMt
USDA proposes closing regional Forest Service offices in Portland, moving work to Colorado, Utah • Oregon Capital Chronicle
The Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Headquarters would be closed, Pacific Northwest Research Station would move to Fort Collins, Colorado.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I had a wonderful time reporting on @critfc.bsky.social and others' efforts to protect Pacific lamprey. It was great getting out in the field to see this important conservation work in action. Read the story @columbiainsight.bsky.social: columbiainsight.org/pacific-lamp...
columbiainsight.org
July 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
My latest story in @columbiainsight.bsky.social explores how the Forest Service plans to substitute its practice of marking trees with paint with two alternative practices that give loggers greater discretion over which trees get cut.
columbiainsight.org
June 17, 2025 at 6:40 PM
I have a new piece out in @columbiainsight.bsky.social. Let me know what you think.
May 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM
I have a story out in @columbiainsight.bsky.social on this attempt in the Washington House to defund the Columbia River Gorge Commission. While several news outlets have reported on this, our story provides (what I would like to think is) a larger (and clearer) legal/policy analysis.
Defunding the Gorge: Washington budget battle threatens National Scenic Area - Columbia Insight
A Washington House amendment could dissolve the decades-old, bi-state commission that manages the Columbia River Gorge
columbiainsight.org
April 25, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Nathan Gilles
Defunding the Gorge: Washington budget battle threatens National Scenic Area.

columbiainsight.org/defunding-th...
Defunding the Gorge: Washington budget battle threatens National Scenic Area - Columbia Insight
A Washington House amendment could dissolve the decades-old, bi-state commission that manages the Columbia River Gorge
columbiainsight.org
April 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM
I have a new story out in @sierramagazine.bsky.social. The story reviews a study that demonstrated—shocker!—that some trees will need beneficial fungi in order to migrate under #climatechange. #assistedmigration
Even Trees Need Friends
A study finds trees’ ability to migrate as the climate warms could depend on beneficial fungi
www.sierraclub.org
March 3, 2025 at 9:04 PM
I've been waiting for this to drop for weeks. Though keep in mind, the Forest Service has been working to "streamline" environmental oversight for years. This is likely to accelerate a trend already underway.
Trump Moves to Increase Logging in National Forests
The president wants to circumvent environmental regulations to expand timber production, something sought by homebuilders and the construction industry.
www.nytimes.com
March 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I have a new (and lengthy) story out today in Columbia Insight (@columbiainsight.bsky.social) examining how the Forest Service (@forestservice.bsky.social) has been using the wildfire crisis to help meet its timber targets both nationally and in the #PacificNorthwest.
EXCLUSIVE: The Forest Service is using the threat of wildfires to meet timber targets - Columbia Insight
The agency has sought to minimize environmental oversight and used authorities critics say incentivize the logging of older trees   Who profits? The Forest Service says this commercial logging opera...
columbiainsight.org
February 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Nice to see @pnwbluecarbon.bsky.social mention my recent story on #bluecarbon in @columbiainsight.bsky.social. I enjoyed interviewing your scientists and reading your research. Plus I got to visit some beautiful inter-tidal spruce forests. #climatechange
What is ‘blue carbon’ and why is it so valuable? - Columbia Insight
The Pacific Northwest’s once-prevalent tidal forests are mostly gone. But what remains stores an important secret New world: A manmade "beaver dam analog" (foreground) and dead Sitka spruce trees are...
columbiainsight.org
December 19, 2024 at 10:03 PM
Although winter is hardly the time to plug a story on #climatechange, I would nonetheless like to share a story I wrote last spring for Earth Island Journal on the effects of extreme heat on #trees. The effects aren't good, but the #science is both interesting and important.
Between Hot Drought and Heat Waves, Climate Change is Killing Trees
Faced with widespread tree die-offs, scientists are racing to determine the upper thermal limit of the world’s trees.
https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/between-hot-drought-and-heat-waves-climate-change-is-killing-trees##
December 2, 2024 at 9:13 PM
I have a new story out on the American West's declining ability to recover from drought. The story reviews a fantastic study by @climate-guy.bsky.social and others and includes comments from @larryoneill.bsky.social. Thank you both for the interviews. #climatechange #drought
Human activity is making it difficult to retain adequate water supplies - Columbia Insight
A new study also says climate change is making it harder to escape drought even as winters bring lots of precipitation Can't get enough: Rylee Buckley, 17, fills a water container with a neighbor's h...
columbiainsight.org
November 27, 2024 at 8:01 PM
If you're looking for a break from political news, I have a new story out on the Pacific Northwest's blue carbon stocks and the Sitka spruce-dominated tidal forests that once grew from northern California to southern Alaska. #climatechange #carbon
What is ‘blue carbon’ and why is it so valuable? - Columbia Insight
The Pacific Northwest’s once-prevalent tidal forests are mostly gone. But what remains stores an important secret New world: A manmade "beaver dam analog" (foreground) and dead Sitka spruce trees are...
columbiainsight.org
November 19, 2024 at 7:31 PM