Come on…let’s face it: the Controlled Burning in Oregon is outta control.
Hmmm, Let’s see…It’s a No Brainer that early this past Wednesday winds were extra strong from the get go…Not talking a little breezy here, we’re talking strong, forceful, steady, blustery winds. Could it be a dangerous type of person with a mindset to “Get on with outta controlled burning” that allowed the now Wizard Fire to spread uncontrollably on Thursday, Mr. Forest Service Man? No question about it, there’s your mysterious answer; search no further Mr. Ranger Man. So forget your heroic pledge, how you, “Vow a complete review to see what went wrong, and work to prevent any repeats of this problem.” The only “Sequence of Events that took place that need corrective measures” is you and the mindless decision to forge forward to burn Thursday.
Let’s take another perspective of burning, a different view from another angle of LIFE. Let’s say there are plenty of forest fires from spring to fall, none of them landed remotely near or around where controlled burning has left all life dead and trees charred from past years. So now what? What on Earth cajoles the human mind into believing that these controlled burns are in fact saving more LIFE than they KILL? Now that’s the Real Mystery for sure!
Hmmm, has anyone ever considered the health factor in Humans relative to breathing in so much smoke? Every year the number of forest fires vary. This year Central Oregon had months of California fire smoke, plus many fires here in Oregon. There have been very few smokeless days with little to no breaks from fire this season. It would be intelligent to act according to what’s at hand here. More than plenty of burnt land for the season and people not well from too much fire smoke. Maybe it’s time to consider stopping the not-so-merry-go-round of controlled burning.
Take a break from burning Life this fall and instead, Breathe It In.
Leo, Bend
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2008.
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I moved from the Bend area a little over a year ago, due to the horrific air quality that rolled around each year. The burning is indeed outta control and continues to worsen every year. This relatively new plan is in need of a complete review. It is absolutely crazy.
I am an avid camper and nature lover and have been saddened to see many beautiful areas be burned again and again and again.
There are countless insects, rodents, plants, lizards, snakes, birds, deer, etc whose lives and homes are disrupted and destroyed. Human health is undermined, while breathing smoke day in and day out for literal weeks and months at a time.
In a time like now, where global warming is undeniably on the increase, it makes no sense to burn the very things that help reduce the carbon load.
Forest fires happen and have been happening since before we probably even landed on the planet, and no amount of “(un)-controlled burning” is going to change that.
I too don’t like the smoke from forest fires but forest fires are a natural and normal way for nature to recycle and rebirth. Our misguided forest management of many decades gave us the current massive ground fuel buildup and beetle dead trees which has led to huge and hot fires ignited by nature (lightening). Now, without prescribed burns, naturally ignited fires will/could be even bigger, hotter and more damaging. As they say, “you can pay me now, or pay me later but you’ll pay me no matter what”.
So we should interfere more than we even have, and continue to do so… that makes perfect sense.
Actually Stabo we’re trying to make up for our imbalancing the fire equation in the first place. The years of managing the forests with the attitude that all fire is bad and must be put out immediately has lead to this. There was a fire study years ago along the US – Mexico border (one of the few places that are geographically connected but with opposite fire management practices). The study determined that over the long term the amount of acreage burned was the same on both sides, the only variable was the size of the individual fires. South of the border – where there is no intervention – regular small fires burned only as far as the bounds of the previous small fire. On the other hand north of the border – where fire was attacked aggressively – fires were less frequent but the average size was much larger. Often these large fires burned at the most dangerous times of the year and exploded way beyond the ability of humans to control or even influence.
So if one doesn’t like the prospect of fire the west is not a good place to live. Personally I see a well executed control burn as a nice cleanup job. The larger trees are left intact, overgrown ladder fuels are reduced and important nutrients are returned to the soil. That is much preferred to a catastrophic wildfire were everything is destroyed leaving a moonscape.
And there are some occasions when man is not in complete control. Fire is one of those occasions.
RJ