John Muir Project
The John Muir Project is a left-of-center environmentalist group opposed to logging in forests. The group is a fiscally sponsored project of the Earth Island Institute. 1
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In addition to opposing logging in forests, the group opposes brush clearing by the federal government in national forests. In January 2025, the group filed a lawsuit against the federal government over a plan to use brush clearing and logging to reduce the risk of a catastrophic wildfire in Plumas National Forest. 2
Background
Chad Hanson and David Orr launched the John Muir Project in the spring of 1997. The Earth Island Institute has fiscally sponsored the John Muir Project since its founding. 1
The group opposes any logging in national forests and has called for the federal timber sales program to be ended believing, “As long as federal public land agencies are allowed to sell public trees to private logging interests, the degradation will continue.” 1
Issue Stances
In January 2025, the John Muir Project and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit opposing a fire prevention effort in California’s Plumas National Forest. The groups objected to the logging and brush clearing efforts in the fire prevention plan claiming that it made the forest more vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires. 2
The John Muir Project has been opposed to the Fix Our Forests Act, legislation which would expand logging in the national forests. The group claims that the legislation would weaken safeguards against the over-logging of national forests and exploitation by timber companies. 3
The group opposes the concept of “thinning” forests by limited logging and controlled burns because the group believes that thinning “reduces wind resistance and makes fires spread faster toward vulnerable towns, giving people less time to safely evacuate.” The group claims that fires in “thinned” forests have reached communities and resulted in deaths. 3
The group is also skeptical of forestry as a means of combating climate change. The group accuses people who claim forests can be used to sequester carbon dioxide in the soil as being engaged in a deeper bias: “natural processes like wildfire are blamed for climate impacts, while the far greater carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and extractive land uses are treated as background noise.” 3
The group claims that in addition to the thinning of forests, wildfires are exacerbated by poor evacuation plans and poor development practices by areas close to forests were responsible for the destructive wildfires. The group claims that “weather, wind, and climate conditions” deter the severity of wildfires, not dead trees. 3
The group is also opposed to “salvage logging” believing instead that fire-devastated forests could experience rapid recovery without logging or artificial replanting. 3
Leadership
As of 2026, Chad Hanson was the director and principal ecologist at the John Muir Project. Hanson began his career as an environmentalist by volunteering with the Sierra Club and working for the Native Forest Council. He founded the John Muir Project after graduating law school. 4
Rachel Fazio is the associate director and staff attorney of the John Muir Project. She joined the group in 1998. Before that, she worked in the business. 4
Jennifer Mamola is the policy and advocacy director of the John Muir Project. She previously worked for the U.S. Peace Corps. 4