The Wallow Fire is still burning over 400,000 acres in northeastern Arizona, making it the second biggest wildfire in that state's history. I was reading some of the comments on this fire, particularly those that criticize bad forest management policies. They can get quite emotional! Unfortunately they break into two hostile camps that scream all the same ol' shibboleths at each other: tree-huggers versus rednecks, etc. There must be a better way. This is what I'm aiming at in this post.
But first, an anecdote. I was camping in a ponderosa forest outside the Little Pueblo one spring when I noticed how good the forest looked. You have to be at the right place at the right time to see a national forest that has actually been thinned. Typically the forest service or one of their contractors does thinning on the edge of the forest, next to housing subdivisions, to create a buffer zone.
If you haven't seen a pretty forest before, you don't know what you are missing! And a thinned forest is a pretty one: you can walk anywhere you want. You can actually look up and see the sky. There's a bit of breeze able to blow between the trees. On the sunlight-dappled ground are grasses, flowers, and bushes, which in turn make good food for wildlife. (City slickers have this mistaken notion that there is lots of wildlife in thick, overgrown forests. I guess they think animals eat bark and pine needles.)
The contractor was actually just chain-sawing the smaller trees, the so-called ladder fuel. Then they gathered it up in big piles, which became animal nests. The 4" diameter trees were used by a local industry for rustic cabin siding. What a shame that it is so hard to find commercial uses for even smaller trees. If only some clever chemical engineer could find a way to convert them into ethanol!
I also noticed that their trucks were labelled "Non profit corporation." This seemed a little odd at first. Explaining this small observation ends up explaining much of the bigger picture of forest mismanagement.
(to be continued...)
But first, an anecdote. I was camping in a ponderosa forest outside the Little Pueblo one spring when I noticed how good the forest looked. You have to be at the right place at the right time to see a national forest that has actually been thinned. Typically the forest service or one of their contractors does thinning on the edge of the forest, next to housing subdivisions, to create a buffer zone.
If you haven't seen a pretty forest before, you don't know what you are missing! And a thinned forest is a pretty one: you can walk anywhere you want. You can actually look up and see the sky. There's a bit of breeze able to blow between the trees. On the sunlight-dappled ground are grasses, flowers, and bushes, which in turn make good food for wildlife. (City slickers have this mistaken notion that there is lots of wildlife in thick, overgrown forests. I guess they think animals eat bark and pine needles.)
The contractor was actually just chain-sawing the smaller trees, the so-called ladder fuel. Then they gathered it up in big piles, which became animal nests. The 4" diameter trees were used by a local industry for rustic cabin siding. What a shame that it is so hard to find commercial uses for even smaller trees. If only some clever chemical engineer could find a way to convert them into ethanol!
I also noticed that their trucks were labelled "Non profit corporation." This seemed a little odd at first. Explaining this small observation ends up explaining much of the bigger picture of forest mismanagement.
(to be continued...)
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