Forrest Fleischman

I've gotten into arguments with ecologists here and elsewhere about the contribution of human land management to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Many people believe that people=bad news, I think the story is much more complicated, and this new paper provides strong support for my view

I think studying this in Europe is particularly fruitful because compared to many of the world regions I study, we have really good historical records in Europe. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I've gotten into arguments with ecologists here and elsewhere about the contribution of human land management to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Many people believe that people=bad news, I think the story is much more complicated, and this new paper provides strong support for my view

Rather the finding is that biodiverse landscapes of the past were shaped by humans in ways that were beneficial. Or in other words, human activities aren't in and of themselves harmful to nature, rather they depend on the specifics of the scale of the activity and its relation to natural processes.

I've gotten into arguments with ecologists here and elsewhere about the contribution of human land management to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Many people believe that people=bad news, I think the story is much more complicated, and this new paper provides strong support for my view

The effect appears to be from modest levels of human-derived disturbance leading to increases in landscape heterogeneity, and is consistent with broad ecological theories (e.g. "Intermediate disturbance hypothesis").

I've gotten into arguments with ecologists here and elsewhere about the contribution of human land management to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Many people believe that people=bad news, I think the story is much more complicated, and this new paper provides strong support for my view

The paper analyzes data from European pollen cores dating back to the Roman era, and finds that on a broad scale, widespread depopulation associated with the Black Death in the 14th century correlates with a *decline* in diversity of wild pollen

This has been true about the whole debate. I read the Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson book, and while there are some broad philosophical points I agree with them about, they very clearly don't actually understand very much about NEPA.

This post illustrates what to me is the most fundamental problem with carbon credits. You can't sell carbon credits in electing Lula, but I've seen numerous analyses pointing to that as *the* crucial factor in the world's largest forest.

Here's my take on "permitting reform:" 1. The long time frames that governmental processes can take are a complex problem. As my colleagues have shown for Forest Service activities, things like contracting take longer than permitting www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Now granted - these are imperfect processes - for example, notice & comment is not particularly equitable or democratic.

Here's my take on "permitting reform:" 1. The long time frames that governmental processes can take are a complex problem. As my colleagues have shown for Forest Service activities, things like contracting take longer than permitting www.nature.com/articles/s41...

3. Providing a platform for government officials to evaluate their plans and consider alternatives.

Here's my take on "permitting reform:" 1. The long time frames that governmental processes can take are a complex problem. As my colleagues have shown for Forest Service activities, things like contracting take longer than permitting www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1. Informing the public about what the government is doing and what environmental risks it involves, notably considering environmental justice and cumulative effects. If we're realistic "permitting reform" is also "decreasing scrutiny of the environmental harms of projects"

Here's my take on "permitting reform:" 1. The long time frames that governmental processes can take are a complex problem. As my colleagues have shown for Forest Service activities, things like contracting take longer than permitting www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Small is not nothing, but this is not a strategic re-thinking of administrative and funding processes, its a band-aid solution on everyone's favorite scape-goat which addresses one of a number of complex inter-related causes.

Here's my take on "permitting reform:" 1. The long time frames that governmental processes can take are a complex problem. As my colleagues have shown for Forest Service activities, things like contracting take longer than permitting www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Looking closer to home, a series of careful studies looking at cost and time overruns in the construction of a light rail project from Minneapolis out into the suburbs found lots of problems - and barely mentions the permitting process. www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/2023/swl...

Here's my take on "permitting reform:" 1. The long time frames that governmental processes can take are a complex problem. As my colleagues have shown for Forest Service activities, things like contracting take longer than permitting www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This aligns with another observation: that most large projects take longer and cost more than their designers initially anticipate. Often *ALOT* longer and *ALOT* more expensive. sites.prh.com/how-big-thin...

I teach writing intensive classes that have 150 students in them. It would take me 3 40 hour workweeks to give each of my students a 45 minute oral exam.

I haven't had time to read the original article, but the coverage here focuses on the "hidden curriculum" as a barrier to lower class advancement in academia. What about the availability of extra resources to sustain periods of low income needed to succeed? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/b...