| The vigorous
fire suppression and "hands-off" policies during recent decades have replaced
nature's method of managing forest density and health, prompting a huge buildup of
"fuels" such as fire-prone trees, dead branches and brush. The U.S. Forest
Service estimates forests are 82 percent denser than in 1928. |
Make
forest thinning the first step in the process . . .
Many forests today generally grow hundreds of trees per acre compared to
pre-historical conditions of 25 trees per acre. This dense undergrowth and increased tree
mortality, combined with increasingly taller layers of intermediate vegetation has turned
western forests into deadly time bombs.Selectively thinning 30 percent of trees in an unhealthy forest will eliminate 93
percent of future tree death and lower potential for catastrophic fire.
As said by California Dept. of
Forestry & Fire Protection Director Richard Wilson, only immediate treatment of the
forest will save the Tahoe basin from significant damage and loss of life when -- not if
-- the time comes for fire to strike. It is imperative that we move beyond talk and learn
from our actions -- and we must not allow uncertainty over outcomes to delay us from any
action.
Note that biomass thinning
reduces air pollution
compared to prescribed fire . . .
Removal of biomass (mostly brush and unhealthy or dead trees) first, for example,
reduces the amount of air pollution that would occur in a prescribed fire. Burning 10,000
acres per year in the Tahoe basin would release more than 25,000 tons of carbon monoxide
and more than 4,000 tons of fine particulate matter each year, which not only would affect
visibility around the lake, but also would cause exceedances of state and federal air
quality standards. Biomass thinning for energy production would reduce this air pollution
by 97 percent.
Authorize prescribed fire
treatments only after conditions are safe . . .
Prescribed fire has an important role to play, but in the Tahoe basin, carefully
implemented selective thinnings must be the first step in restoring and maintaining our
forest ecosystems. We need to implement forest management prescriptions utilizing
individual tree selection and mechanical forest thinnings to achieve optimal forest health
by creating an all-age, multi-story and fire-resilient forest.
Support local community based
solutions as part of
the collaborative process . . .
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said at the June 30 Lake Tahoe conference that the
Tahoe basin is a showcase that demonstrates how innovative, collaborative approaches can
be used to restore large-scale ecosystems. Babbitt also said that the time is now to take
such action.
Recent successful efforts by the
Quincy Library Group, which passed the House of Representatives on July 9, 1997 with broad
bipartisan support, should serve as a model for helping to resolve the imminent forest
health crisis in the Tahoe basin.
Allocate sufficient funds to
fully implement forest health and safety treatments in the Tahoe basin . . .
According to Agriculture Undersecretary Jim Lyons also at the June 30 Lake Tahoe
conference, among many other forest health and safety programs, the Tahoe basin clearly
needs funding for thinning and to do work to reduce some of the fuels on the ground. In
addition, he said that funding is needed for prescribed fire. Lyons emphasized that more
flexibility is needed to move dollars currently allocated for suppression into
pre-suppression work - because money spent on pre-suppression is more efficient than
spending money on putting out fires. |