If you are following the news, you know that, once again, Colorado is being swept by raging forest fires, as are parts of New Mexico, Oregon and California. The West is no stranger to fires, but in recent years, fires on federal lands have grown increasingly out of control as failed federal policies have built up unprecedented levels of fuel that have cost tax payers billions.
I recently asked Commissioner Doug Heaton of Kane County, Utah to explain how the lack of proper management of our federal lands has affected the increase in forest fires. His insights are very helpful in understanding why the Transfer of Public Lands into state hands is The Only Solution Big Enough to properly preserve our environment for generations to come.
"Under careful management, it is possible to maintain a healthy forest that remains perpetually young and vibrant. Not unlike a garden, proper management includes a harvest of that which is 'ripe'. As trees approach the end of their life cycle, wise forest management practice removes them to make way for the new growth. The massive amounts of carbon which are stored in old trees is safely stored in homes and other products used by man instead of being released back into the atmosphere through dissolution, or the fires that nature employs as her final management tool. In the process of harvest, the forest can be thinned to appropriate density, and the "dead and down" safely removed." "In our semi-arid climate in the west, forests optimally sustain somewhere around fifty trees per acre. At that density the trees themselves sustain optimal growth, and that spacing allows for other forage needed by forest animals to get sustaining sunlight, Fire hazard is reduced, and perhaps most importantly, the watershed is optimized." "In dense unmanaged forests, forest fire temperatures get so hot they actually burn the soil, baking what once was something like a sponge into something more like Saran Wrap. Subsequent rains no longer soak in and sustain the watershed, but now collect into raging torrents that carry ash and debris which clog waterways and decimate fish and aquatic fowl. Natural springs dry up as the rain water that once fed them can no longer penetrate the baked surface of the ground." "The two great enemies of the tree are fire and the beetles. When beetles attack the forest, a tree's defense lies in its ability to "pitch out" the larva that bores through the bark. As the larva reaches the cambium layer, a healthy tree produces enough sap to literally drown and push the intruder back out. Trees in overpopulated forests which must share limited water become stressed by dehydration and lack the sap to expel the intruder, so the trees are overcome by the beetles and the forest dies leaving the forest ripe for the next lightning strike." "People assume that animals simply outrun the fires and save themselves....Animals, like people, gravitate to 'comfort zones' particularly in times of danger....Since they were young they have known that if they hold perfectly still their camouflage will hide them from harm. So they wait until it is too late. Even endangered species are not protected from fire. They die with the rest of the animals. Thus that which we thought we were protecting is destroyed by the unintended consequences of our emotionally driven policy." (To read Commissioner Heaton's entire article, click here.) |
