fire ecology
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Remains of a home burned in the Camp Fire which destroyed 19,000 structures in the town of Paradise, California. Photo George Wuerthner State Farm Insurance Company announced it would no longer take on new insurance clients in California due to the rising cost of fire-related losses. The company cited “rapidly growing” catastrophe risks like wildfires,…
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Heavily logged lands failed to preclude the 2007 Jocko Lake Fire near Seeley Lake, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner Recently Senator Daines spoke at the Professional Fire Fighters conference in Bozeman. Daines advocated more management of our forests, believing that we can chainsaw our way to “forest health.” Senator Daines can be forgiven for his ill-advised…
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Eagle Creek six years after the wildfire. Photo George Wuerthner In September 2017, the Eagle Creek Wildfire scorched 50,000 acres in the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland. Numerous media accounts suggested the blaze “destroyed,” “damaged,” and devastated the forest communities. Wildflowers are favored by wildfire. Photo George Wuerthner As one reporter suggested, the…
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The 1988 Fires burned approximately half of Yellowstone National Park and provided a significant natural laboratory to review the effects of wildfire on aquatic ecosystems. Photo George Wuerthner Most people assume that wildfire harms aquatic ecosystems and fisheries. But such assumptions are being challenged by new research. This narrative misleadingly portrays mixed-intensity forest fires as…
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Much of the debate in fire science is about the historical fire regime in dry conifer forests such as these ponderosa pine in the Ochoco Mountains of Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner A critical paper discussing fire ecology and, by implication, fire policy was published in the Journal Fire. The paper’s title: “Countering Omitted Evidence of…
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Ponderosa pine in New Mexico Blue Range Wilderness. Photo George Wuerthner A new paper, Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE, was recently published. Based on solid scientific research, it makes the important point that indigenous fire management was local rather than landscape or…
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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 Trip Jennings and Ralph…
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The Bridger Canyon Fire by Bozeman burned during a period of high winds and extreme drought. The resulting snag forest is considered by some to be an example of a “bad” fire. Photo George Wuerthner I continuously read articles by journalists and others who expound on fire issues that promotes several inaccuracies. Here’s just one…