Why are we seeing such a dramatic increase in the scope and intensity of wildfires in California and neighboring states in recent years? Should we blame the Left’s favorite boogeyman – global warming? Not exactly. According to Bob Zybach, an experienced forester with a PhD in environment science, Clinton-era environmental policies are primarily responsible for the worsening conditions ~
Zybach said a change in forest management policies is the main reason Americans are seeing a return to more intense fires, particularly in the Pacific Northwest and California where millions of acres of protected forests stand […]
Zybach spent two decades as a reforestation contractor before heading to graduate school in the 1990s. Then the Clinton administration in 1994 introduced its plan to protect old growth trees and spotted owls by strictly limiting logging.
Less logging also meant government foresters weren’t doing as much active management of forests — thinnings, prescribed burns and other activities to reduce wildfire risk.
In an assessment that would turn out to be quite prophetic, back in in 1994 Zybach told Evergreen Magazine that ~
(T)he Clinton administration’s plan for “naturally functioning ecosystems” free of human interference ignored history and would fuel “wildfires reminiscent of the Tillamook burn, the 1910 fires and the Yellowstone fire.”
His prediction was right on. For example, before the federal policy change, western Oregon had experienced only one major fire above 10,000 acres between 1952 and 1987 ~
The region’s relatively fire-free streak ended with the Silver Complex Fire of 1987 that burned more than 100,000 acres in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness area, torching rare plants and trees the federal government set aside to protect from human activities. The area has burned several more times since the 1980s.
“Mostly fuels were removed through logging, active management — which they stopped — and grazing,” Zybach said in an interview. “You take away logging, grazing and maintenance, and you get firebombs.”
Now, Oregonians are dealing with 13 wildfires engulfing 185,000 acres. California is battling nine fires scorching more than 577,000 acres, mostly in the northern forested parts of the state managed by federal agencies.
Another factor impacting the scope and severity of the fires has simply been population growth. Michael Bastasch reports ~
A recent study found the risk of fire increased in once rural areas as populations increased, putting more buildings, plants, vehicles and other ignition sources in fire-prone areas that were once sparsely populated.
As U.S. Geological Survey fire scientist Jon Keeley explained to The San Jose Mercury News ~
“What’s changing is not the fires themselves but the fact that we have more and more people at risk.”
[And the more people, unfortunately, the more arsonists.]
Unlike today’s greeniacs who tend to believe that humans should leave wild areas untouched, Native Americans understood proper land stewardship before the white man ever arrived ~
Zybach said Native Americans used controlled burns to manage the landscape in Oregon, Washington and northern California for thousands of years. Tribes would burn up to 1 million acres a year on the west coast to prime the land for hunting and grazing, Zybach’s research has shown.
“The Indians had lots of big fires, but they were controlled,” Zybach said. “It’s the lack of Indian burning, the lack of grazing” and other active management techniques that caused fires to become more destructive in the 19th and early 20th centuries before logging operations and forest management techniques got fires under control in the mid-20th Century.
Perhaps we should embrace that ageless wisdom.
Most radical environmentalists tend to run on emotions – their love for flora and fauna blinds them to the evidence of how best to manage wilderness areas. The rest of us want to coexist with nature. And that means responsible stewardship of public lands.
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Related:
Firefighters continue to battle Holy Fire raging in South California ~
(Aug. 11, 2018) While the Holy Fire rages on in Southern California, the city of Redding in the northern part of the state is reeling from the aftermath of the Carr Fire’s damage, reducing homes to rubble and leaving communities in an ashen state.
Man described as ‘monster’ charged with arson in California’s Holy Fire ~
In addition to arson, the Orange County District Attorney charged (Forrest Gordon Clark, 51) with two felony counts of resisting arrest and with making criminal threats. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Bail has been set at $1 million.
Kimberley Strassel, WSJ columnist, sorts CA congressman Adam “Shifty” Schiff on forest management ~
Allow me to help YOU, Mr. Schiff. Here is a link to December USDA report showing a record 129 million dead trees in California, citing forest mismanagement for fires. Your own California state fire office signed on to it. https://t.co/kzGQclSpul https://t.co/vq3h4SkkxJ
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) August 7, 2018
