Wildfire
-
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 (read logging) up to…
-
The ecological impacts of livestock production is significant and there is seldom a full accounting of these costs. Photo George Wuerthner Livestock is responsible for more ecological damage to the western landscape than any other human activity. However, few accounting of these impacts is ever compiled. One source is my book Welfare Ranching–the Subsidized Destruction…
-
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 large wildfires are looking in…
-
Prescribed burns are perceived to be a panacea for reducing wildfire, but there are many problems with implementation. George Wuerthner Many people in New Mexico are calling for an investigation of the practice of prescribed burning in light of the recent immense Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfires that began as prescribed burns. The combined…
-
The aftermath of the 2011 156,000-acre Los Conchas Blaze in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. Photo George Wuerthner A recent commentary 30×30 not the answer to stop destructive wildfires by Jerry G. Schickedanz, has numerous inaccurate assumptions about wildfire. His comments repeat many common misunderstandings of fire ecology and how natural systems function.…
-
The Bitterroot Mountains rise up above the Bitterroot Valley in western Montana. Photo George Wuerthner Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest is proposing the Bitterroot Front Project (BFP), encompassing 144,000 acres. This action will impact an area more than four times the size of the 34,000-acre Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula. The Bitterroot Front Project will impact…
-
A high severity blaze on the Boise National Forest. Almost all large fires occur during extreme drought conditions. Photo George Wuerthner One continuously hears from the timber industry and its allies that the present occurrence of large wildfires is primarily the result of 100 years of “fire suppression” and thus “abnormal” fuel accumulations. We are…