Poor Management of Forests, Not Global Warming, To Blame for Widespread Wildfires

[JohnnySagebrush]

And that's how I know you have zero idea of the scale or nature of the problem. You should call the head of CALfire and let them know about your proposal! I'm sure they'd be interested on how you plan on conjuring up thousands more laborers to clear millions of acres of dead trees.

I’m glad someone gets it.

I’m a career wildland firefighter, from grunt into management. The scope of this issue is lost on most folks. Environmental activists make a convenient scapegoat, but are really the most minuscule of contributors to the problem of catastrophic wildfires.

 

[jk7707]

I’m glad someone gets it.

I’m a career wildland firefighter, from grunt into management. The scope of this issue is lost on most folks. Environmental activists make a convenient scapegoat, but are really the most minuscule of contributors to the problem of catastrophic wildfires.

Glad to see someone who knows what they're talking about checking in. But you should probably get back to clearing all those dead trees. No big deal.

 

[LMP]

I’m glad someone gets it.

I’m a career wildland firefighter, from grunt into management. The scope of this issue is lost on most folks. Environmental activists make a convenient scapegoat, but are really the most minuscule of contributors to the problem of catastrophic wildfires.

Lack of funding definitely is an issue. Any sort of funding be cut to the up keep of the forest is a major problem. I have no idea how to get more man power to help. Control burns helps, but without trained people to do so, there is only so much that can be done. Trying to stop a large fire without taking steps to clear the dead trees an under growth, is fighting a major up hill battle. Do you have any extra insight on prevention that you think could help?

 

[lifelessheap]

I’m glad someone gets it.

I’m a career wildland firefighter, from grunt into management. The scope of this issue is lost on most folks. Environmental activists make a convenient scapegoat, but are really the most minuscule of contributors to the problem of catastrophic wildfires.

Where do you work? I have multiple members of my family who work with CalFire. They sure as shit wish logging was not stopped by libtards. Harvesting all that fuel and using private money to build access roads would be great. Instead everything just builds up on public land and creates super fire conditions.

But thanks for being smarter than everyone. Thanks.

 

[sverre054]

I have been hearing for a while now that wild fires are getting worse because we don't let them burn.

That a Forrest fire is nature's broom.

I got allot of friends who work in logging, and tree service. I think they know what they are talking about.

They are a part of nature, and do have some benefits, in a natural scale. These conditions though, are being heavily influenced by man. The conditions in the forests though, have gotten too dangerous, due to year after year of extremely high temperatures, and low rains. These large swaths of temperate Evergreen and pine forests, used to be able to withstand these forest fires, and mostly smaller tress and undergrowth were destroyed in the fires. Unfortunately due to climate change, these trees are not getting there traditional rainfall and hard freezes they need, and are enduring ever increasing long and hot summers.

I live in the largest temperate rain forest in the world, and we get well over 13 FEET of rain a year on average. Every year, the summers are getting longer and hotter. This summer we had 6 weeks of temps in the 80s and no rain. That was unheard of. All you have to do is be in outdoors, and you will see it.

 

[VivaRevolution]

They are a part of nature, and do have some benefits, in a natural scale. These conditions though, are being heavily influenced by man. The conditions in the forests though, have gotten too dangerous, due to year after year of extremely high temperatures, and low rains. These large swaths of temperate Evergreen and pine forests, used to be able to withstand these forest fires, and mostly smaller tress and undergrowth were destroyed in the fires. Unfortunately due to climate change, these trees are not getting there traditional rainfall and hard freezes they need, and are enduring ever increasing long and hot summers.

I live in the largest temperate rain forest in the world, and we get well over 13 FEET of rain a year on average. Every year, the summers are getting longer and hotter. This summer we had 6 weeks of temps in the 80s and no rain. That was unheard of. All you have to do is be in outdoors, and you will see it.

Lol, you know you can think climate change is real, without telling lies about starving polar bears, and how Forrest fires getting worse is climate change, and not 40 years worth of dead and dry tree debris that hasn't been burned, because we don't let Forrest fires burn.

If you live in the PNW, like I do, I agree our weather has changed significantly since the 80's and 90's, that is a far better example of climate change.

 

[sverre054]

Lol, you know you can think climate change is real, without telling lies about starving polar bears, and how Forrest fires getting worse is climate change, and not 40 years worth of dead and dry tree debris that hasn't been burned, because we don't let Forrest fires burn.

If you live in the PNW, like I do, I agree our weather has changed significantly since the 80's and 90's, that is a far better example of climate change.

Half the year in WA other half in SE AK

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

Where do you work? I have multiple members of my family who work with CalFire. They sure as shit wish logging was not stopped by libtards. Harvesting all that fuel and using private money to build access roads would be great. Instead everything just builds up on public land and creates super fire conditions.

But thanks for being smarter than everyone. Thanks.

I currently work for the US Forest Service in fire management on a forest in Region 3 (the Southwest). I’ve worked for a State before as well as the BLM, but most of my career has been USFS.

When people talk about logging, they discount some important things. One being profitability. If it isn’t profitable, it isn’t happening. And a lot of our timber we have left is not profitable. So, the Government has to pay to have those trees removed as the timber value is less than operating expenses. This is the number 1 problem with getting this work done, bar none. We can get projects through the NEPA process, we just don’t have money or resources. Most of these destructive fires you seen in Cali aren’t even in timber, they are in brush or brush/timber.

With California, you’ve just got a mess. It’s hot, steep, and a Mediterranean fuel type. And the prevalence of homes make it very difficult to conduct prescribed burns.

It’s funny you say CalFire, because they don’t really do fire management.

I’ve got a lot to say on this subject, but I’m going to go enjoy some Labor Day activities for now.

 

[HunterAcosta]

This is a very disingenuous article that reeks of politics ...even if it were true that climate change is not responsible for the wildfires , there is no doubt that the severity of them is exponentially increasing when they do occur and they are becoming super fires . Why ? I would argue climate change has something to do with it but of course , climate change deniers will argue “ nothing to see here , move along !”

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

This is a very disingenuous article that reeks of politics ...even if it were true that climate change is not responsible for the wildfires , there is no doubt that the severity of them is exponentially increasing when they do occur and they are becoming super fires . Why ? I would argue climate change has something to do with it but of course , climate change deniers will argue “ nothing to see here , move along !”

Climate change is a large reason why we have so many dead trees in the first place, particularly in California, but all over the West.

The tree mortality we have is mostly due to the pine beetle. Cold winters are able to kill off beetles and their larvae, but we just don’t get gnarly enough winters anymore. So, we have more beetles. On top of that, stressed trees are more likely to suffer mortality from a beetle infestation. Heat and drought stress the trees. So, more trees are dying that in the past were able to survive beetle infestations.

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

Lack of funding definitely is an issue. Any sort of funding be cut to the up keep of the forest is a major problem. I have no idea how to get more man power to help. Control burns helps, but without trained people to do so, there is only so much that can be done. Trying to stop a large fire without taking steps to clear the dead trees an under growth, is fighting a major up hill battle. Do you have any extra insight on prevention that you think could help?

Prescribed fire is great, the best tool we have, really.
Unfortunately, it isn’t easy nor without risk. Our biggest impediment to treating forests isn’t obstruction by environmentalists. Not even close. It’s that there are homes and people EVERYWHERE these days. Places you think are remote have cabins, lodges, recreators, etc. And anytime we start a prescribed fire, we have to accept that we risk burning homes. Our smoke alone can cause problems for weeks by limiting visibility on highways, or killing asthmatics hundreds of miles away. There is a LOT of risk that goes with prescribed fire.

That doesn’t even begin to touch on the magnitude of the landscapes we need to treat. The only way to handle treating land on a big scale would be aerially lighting ridgetops late in fire season, and letting th fire back down on its own. Doing this, we could treat millions of acres a year. But it would be very disruptive and we would burn down a hell of a lot of structures when the weather didn’t cooperate.

 

[Bamboozled]

But you are logical and sensible, and the law in California allows any nutter a chance to sue and stop muh 'deforestation.'

Like that gender confused dipshit who cried when Trump won.

All of them.