Environmentalists' Attempts to Save the Forest May Contribute to Fires

The question was, "Is the environmental movement contributing to the conditions that lead to forest fires?" I didn't listen to the entire debate, because I've already heard from the study they were going to quote.

In 2003, the federal government concluded that lawsuits, usually designed to prevent logging, keep the U.S. Forest Service from being able to adequately manage American forests leading to a policy of fire management by forest fire. Having friends who study forestry, I know that the truth is way more complicated than those simple statements and allegations, but they do have a grain of truth in them.

Forest fires in general and the California fires in particular would likely have been less severe if the U.S. Forest Service were allowed to do their jobs.

Let me start this by saying, I am not anti-wildlife. In my backyard, there is a small tree stand that I jokingly refer to as my bunny habitat. When we take clippings from the rest of the yard, when the trees surrounding the house are wind-damaged and branches fall, and when we mulch the leaves in autumn, it all becomes part of the dense underbrush in the habitat. That area is a wildlife spot in the middle of our city of 30,000 and one lot away from a major state highway.

It is, to my knowledge, home to rabbits, squirrels, a couple possums (ick!), birds, garter snakes, raccoons and the occasional skunk. Visitors to my home are warned that my wildlife has more rights to the yard than the visitors do and anyone seen throwing rocks at or injuring the animals will be violently asked to leave. After all, those animals live here; the people are just visiting.

The remainder of the yard is planted with native prairie grasses and other shrubbery designed to attract wildlife. I'd like to claim credit for it, but the landlady did it, not me.

My yard is also very wet. There is a local storm sewer drain in my neighbor's backyard and most of the water stops by my house on its way to the drain. Friends have jokingly referred to my yard as a swamp and after my friend Dawn's car got stuck in the mud of the driveway, we know it's not a joke.

Still, if it were part of a larger forest, my bunny habitat would be a fire danger. It is dense undergrowth and dead duff from the trees and the surrounding yard. It is also not conducive to the growth of new trees. Most Illinois hardwoods require a break in the canopy and clear ground to take root. Some even prefer that their seeds are fire-scorched before taking root.

It's the nature of evolution. This was once open prairie and the few trees that took root on the prairie needed to be able to withstand the regular prairie fires, caused for generations by nature and not man.

Now, Central American hardwoods have a hard time replenishing themselves because the natural way of things has been disturbed. Instead, the forests are full of softwoods, many planted there during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and various danders keeps the forest floor from providing a good environment for oaks, walnuts, chestnuts and more to grow.

In an effort to protect endangered species or prevent logging, environmental groups across the country have filed federal lawsuits objecting to the way the Forest Service plans to manage the land. Often, these lawsuits are accompanied by injunctions that prevent the Forest Serivce from taking any action until the lawsuit is resolved.

By refusing to let the Forest Service remove these non-indigenous trees, or log in areas where there is older growth, environmentalists are contributing to the problem. Trees die, of natural causes, and are left to fall and create fire fuel rather than being removed.

Wind breakage, dead leaves, and other dead materials accumulate and the forest begins to suffocate from the roots up. Worse yet, when a fire is touched off by lightning or an arsonist, there is so much fuel, that the fire burns too hot, killing everything in its path and leaving barren fields.

Since fire season is generally in the autumn, there is little to no new growth before the spring rainy season and the same mountain sides that saw fire damage are now prone to mudslides or simple erosion. The plant names are different in southern California, but the principle is the same.

Does that mean that all environmentalists are wackos, as the right wing media might like to believe? No. Does it mean they need to take some responsibility in forest management? You bet.

Forest management is a complicated thing. And, much to the chagrin of many, the role of the U.S. Forest Service is not to preserve wild areas. They do that too, but the forest service is part of the Department of Agriculture, charged with keeping American forests thriving for resources management reasons (so we have trees) and for recreation. And, believe it or not, for logging, as trees are a renewable resource when managed properly.

Wildlife refuges should be managed in such a way to preserve and promote the homes of as many native plants and animals as possible. Forests should be managed so that wildlife has a home that is safe from all threats, including fires, and sometimes that means sacrificing a tree or ten along the way.