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Forest Journalism for a Sustainable Future

50 years on, Wild & Scenic Rivers critical to healthy landscapes, species

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Several notable birthdays were observed on October 2. In political and human rights circles, Mahatma Gandhi was remembered. In the music industry, Sting turned 67. TV host Kelly Ripa turned 48. Portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz celebrated her 69th birthday. And across the country, river enthusiasts commemorated the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which was signed into law on that day 50 years ago.

Back in 1968, Congress passed this legislation to preserve river sections that have outstanding natural, cultural and recreational values, making sure that they would continue in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

These rivers are a select bunch: Out of about 3.6 million miles of U.S. streams and rivers in the United States, less than 13,000 miles of waterways, including sections of 495 named rivers and tributaries, are protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

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30 years later: Yellowstone’s 1988 fires revealed resilience of forests

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Post-1988 young lodgepole pine forests, photographed in 2014. Photo: Monica Turner, CC BY-ND

This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Yellowstone fires – massive blazes that affected about 1.2 million acres in and around Yellowstone National Park. Their size and severity surprised scientists, managers and the public and received heavy media coverage. Many news reports proclaimed that Yellowstone was destroyed, but nothing was further from the truth.

I was there during the fires and returned that fall to view the aftermath. Burned forests extended for miles, with blackened tree trunks creating a stark and seemingly desolate landscape. But peering down from a helicopter, we were surprised to see that the fires had actually produced a mosaic of burned and unburned patches of forest.

I have studied the recovery of Yellowstone’s forests since 1989, watching landscapes of charred trees transition into lush young forests. Fires play an important ecological role in many ecosystems, and Yellowstone’s native plants and animals are well-adapted to historical cycles of disturbance and recovery. Today the burned landscape is dominated by thriving young lodgepole pine trees. [Read more…]

Wildfire mitigation: California Senate approves forest management changes

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Thomas Fire, Ventura, CA, Los Padres NF, 2017
Firefighters watch the approach of last fall’s Thomas Fire in Ventura, California, Los Padres National Forest. Photo: U.S. Forest Service

In the midst of a string of catastrophic wildfires, the California Senate sent a bill to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk Friday that makes sweeping changes to forest management and wildfire prevention while addressing the role utility companies play in the devastation.

Senate Bill 901 aims to strike a balance between ratepayers and utilities, using a new set of rules to determine how much of the cost of repaying wildfire losses utilities can pass on to consumers. When not at fault, utilities will be allowed to finance the debt, thereby reducing how much is passed on to the end consumer and preventing forced bankruptcy. But the bill also doubles penalties for utilities found to be at fault for causing fires.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire determined in June that downed power lines and other maintenance issues on equipment belonging to investor-owned utility Pacific Gas & Electric caused over a dozen such fires. [Read more…]

Pyne: It’s time to rethink firefighting in the wildland-urban interface

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A sawyer works the night shift on the 416 fire in Colorado earlier this summer. (inciweb)

So far, the 2018 fire season has produced a handful of big fires in California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado; conflagrations in Oklahoma and Kansas; and a fire bust in Alaska, along with garden-variety wildfires from Florida to Oregon. Some of those fires are in rural areas, some are in wildlands, and a few are in exurbs.

Even in a time of new normals, this looks pretty typical. Fire starts are a little below the 10-year running average, and the amount of burned area is running above that average. But no one can predict what may happen in the coming months. California thought it had dodged a bullet in 2017, until a swarm of wildfires in late fall blasted through Napa and Sonoma counties, followed by the Big One – the Thomas fire, California’s largest on record, in Ventura and Santa Barbara.

Every major fire rekindles another round of commentaries about “America’s wildfire problem.” But the fact is that our nation does not have a fire problem. It has many fire problems, and they require different strategies. Some problem fires have technical solutions, some demand cultural calls. All are political.

Here’s one idea: It’s time to rethink firefighting in the geekily labeled wildland-urban interface, or WUI – zones where human development intermingles with forests, grasslands and other feral vegetation.

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Analysis: In zeal to restrict logging, advocacy groups exploit dubious research

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Oregon Wild brought along the Lorax to its protest outside the 2018 International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon. Photo: Dave Atkins

In the end, the orange-coated Lorax protesting outside the 2018 International Mass Timber Conference was not the most surprising development that March morning in Portland, Oregon.

That came when I visited with the protest’s organizer and asked why Oregon Wild opposes the construction of mass timber buildings.

He explained: “We aren’t necessarily opposed to using wood, it can be good. We are opposed to how it is harvested. We are opposed to clearcuts.”

And then: “Recent research shows that the benefits of using wood compared to fossil fuel-intensive materials have been overestimated by an order of magnitude.”

Wow.

An error of 10 times is enormous in the research world. Being off by two times (or 100 percent) is large, but this would mean an error of 1,000 percent.

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