STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTOS BY PAUL RIES
Hailey resident Paul Ries went to Mongolia to help a country that is fast losing its larch forests.
He found a country where thousands of people living in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar take to the hiking trails when it’s 50 below—with good reason. And he found a country that’s seeing a faster rate of climate change, including extreme winters, historic droughts, insect pillaging and bigger, more intense forest fires, than most of the rest of the world because of its position in the north.
Ries will share his experiences as a volunteer forester in Mongolia via a Zoom presentation at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21.
The presentation is hosted by the Wood River Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society. To receive a link, email Lisa Horton at woodriverinps@gmail.com The talk will be recorded and eventually made accessible on the Idaho Native Plant Society’s YouTube channel.
Ries, a retired associate deputy chief with the U.S. Forest Service and former area ranger for the SNRA, will look at the critical challenges facing Mongolia’s forests in the area round the capital city of Ulaanbaatar during the Zoom presentation. He will also discuss how climate change is affecting the forests, the people and their interdependence.
Ries retired in 2014 after more than 40 years with the U.S. Forest Service. He earned his degree in Forest biology, or Ecology, from Colorado State University. He finished his career in the national office in Washington, D.C.
He recently became the treasurer of the local chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society.