The burnt-out Safeway Store in Paradise, California. Even a big parking lot with no fuel could not prevent the loss of this structure due to wind-blown embers. Photo George Wuerthner
A new report from Headwaters Economics titled: “Missing the Mark: Effectiveness and Funding in Community Wildfire Risk Reduction” misses the mark […]
Continue Reading →Even the extensive pavement (totally without fuel), extensive clearcutting, and hazardous fuel reductions on public lands did not save this Safeway Store when the Camp Fire burned through Paradise, California. Photo George Wuerthner
Recently Bend residents were treated to the wildfire documentary Elemental at the Tower Theater. The movie produced by Continue Reading →
Fuel reductions are a major part of the Forest Service’s wildfire reduction plan. Photo George Wuerthner
Recently the Federal government released its Confronting Wildfire Crisis plan to control wildfires in the West. As with all previous programs, it focuses on removing “fuels” as its solution and calls for escalating fuel reductions […]
Continue Reading →Active forest management is viewed as a solution to large blazes, but fails to acknowledge that climate is driving wildfire. It is true that if you completely remove forests, you won’t get a forest fire. Photo George Wuerthner
Proponents of “active forest management” or logging as a means of reducing […]
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Subsidized logging in the name of fuel reductions on the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon. Logging accounts for 35% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner
Congress just passed the big infrastructure bill, and I expect President Biden will sign it—maybe before you read this commentary.
Funding is for […]
Continue Reading →Active forest management on private timberland just west of Chester, CA which was overrun by the Dixie Fire. Photo George Wuerthner
There has been a spate of pronouncements from politicians as different politically as Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines to California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsome arguing that we need more “active forest […]
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The aftermath of the Las Conchas Blaze in 2011 in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. Photo George Wuerthner
An excellent overview of wildfire issues was published in the Revelator. https://therevelator.org/wildfire-archive/
I encourage folks to review it.
I especially appreciate the linkage of recent large fires to drought and […]
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Large blazes like the Camp Fire which leveled this McDonald’s in Paradise CA are driven by extreme fire weather, particularly wind. Active forest management including thinning and prescribe fire does nothing to prevent such blazes. Photo George Wuerthner
Recently California Governor Newsom came out with a proposed fire budget of over […]
Continue Reading →Previously logged and thinned forest that burned at high severity in the Jocko Lakes Fire, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner
There are daily news stories about the recent large wildfires in 2020. In nearly all of these media accounts, the large blazes are almost always attributed to a lack of active forest management. […]
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