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Politics Of Hunting & Guns (NOT General Politics)
Wildfires out West
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<blockquote data-quote="LkeAF" data-source="post: 2255420" data-attributes="member: 118231"><p>"Managing" the forest by thinning is a good solution and appropriate in many places, but far from a "fix all" solution for the problem. One of the challenges that the public land managers have with more logging on public land is that it necessitates a network of logging roads and the USFS doesn't have the money or resources to maintain them after the logging is done. Then you get erosion issues, sediment in streams killing fish, etc. Not to mention, the vastness of the forests in the west almost seems like it would make much of it economically unfeasible to log. On top of that, in Idaho alone, there are nearly 5 million acres that are Wilderness, which means nothing mechanical is allowed on the ground and lightning strike caused fires are "supposed" to be allowed to burn and play their natural role, although I've seen that not be the case several times due to the tourism value those places have. </p><p>Coming from a firefighter, the fire behavior has become significantly more volatile in the last 20 years and personally I don't believe it's only because there happens to be so much more vegetation than there used to be. In some places, there certainly is. But in most places, that's a small part of the issue. The record low moisture content of the fuels that are burning is equally to blame and is directly caused by climate factors. </p><p>What to do about western forest fires is a hard topic to thoroughly and intelligently discuss because people want to blame it on the things they want to blame it on and never blame it on the things they don't want to blame it on. So, just like the USA these days, it's just people on opposite sides pointing fingers. And you can see how productive that is.....</p><p>I wish I thought there was an easy/feasible solution, but I don't. I'm with you though, I'm tired of choking on the dang smoke this season!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LkeAF, post: 2255420, member: 118231"] "Managing" the forest by thinning is a good solution and appropriate in many places, but far from a "fix all" solution for the problem. One of the challenges that the public land managers have with more logging on public land is that it necessitates a network of logging roads and the USFS doesn't have the money or resources to maintain them after the logging is done. Then you get erosion issues, sediment in streams killing fish, etc. Not to mention, the vastness of the forests in the west almost seems like it would make much of it economically unfeasible to log. On top of that, in Idaho alone, there are nearly 5 million acres that are Wilderness, which means nothing mechanical is allowed on the ground and lightning strike caused fires are "supposed" to be allowed to burn and play their natural role, although I've seen that not be the case several times due to the tourism value those places have. Coming from a firefighter, the fire behavior has become significantly more volatile in the last 20 years and personally I don't believe it's only because there happens to be so much more vegetation than there used to be. In some places, there certainly is. But in most places, that's a small part of the issue. The record low moisture content of the fuels that are burning is equally to blame and is directly caused by climate factors. What to do about western forest fires is a hard topic to thoroughly and intelligently discuss because people want to blame it on the things they want to blame it on and never blame it on the things they don't want to blame it on. So, just like the USA these days, it's just people on opposite sides pointing fingers. And you can see how productive that is..... I wish I thought there was an easy/feasible solution, but I don't. I'm with you though, I'm tired of choking on the dang smoke this season! [/QUOTE]
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