Four years ago, a devastating fire spread across my property.  We were told by locals, foresters, loggers, and USDA conservationists that we needed to log the burned land.  We were told that the bugs would come and ruin the timber anyways and then kill the trees that had survived.  We were told that our property would be in greater fire risk danger if we did not remove dead timber, and we were encouraged to take out living trees that were predicted not to survive.  The loggers told us we would make about $60,000 logging 80 acres, but they didn’t tell us that sawmills automatically lower prices when a fire occurs and it would cost $40,000 to replant this same land.  We proceeded with the expedited timber harvest plan, only to pull the plug on the salvage operation after 12 acres.

Our property is now the perfect case study of what happens when a burned area is left alone or salvage logged. In the areas that were logged, invasive species of brush have grown enthusiastically, and we had to replant with nursery stock.  Natural regeneration was wiped out by the heavy logging equipment, and this part of our land is a mess.  In the areas that were left alone after the fire, the rate of natural regeneration of mixed conifer species was incredible and required no replanting and little removal of invasive weed species.  The living trees in the burn that were predicted to die by the foresters are still living today, and the bugs came and went. 

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Year after year, Bush has cut funding from the USFS, yet within this budget, more money is allocated for fire management and less for fire prevention.  In February, 2008, Bush proposed decreasing fire preparedness monies by 11 percent. Although the budget calls for a $150 million increase for extinguishing blazes, prevention funding is slashed by $77 million, including a $13 million reduction in small fuels removal. Similar cuts were proposed in 2007.  Casey Judd, business manager for the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association, a firefighter employee group explains, “The administration still has it backward. Preparedness should be the focus, not suppression.”   Norm Dicks, D-Wash., adds, “Common sense would be that if you put more money into fuel reduction, it’s going to have an effect on having less severe fires.”  The White House response was that money could be shifted between the agency’s firefighting and fire suppression accounts, as needed.  This is exactly what concerns USFS employees with the current California wildfires.

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July 19, 2008:  Fires in Hyampom Still Crackling

Could we flip back through history to a hundred-thousand years before Columbus or ten minutes before landfall, we would find immense forests, some three-hundred feet tall and thirty-five feet around, most of the forests appearing like a manicured Federal Park, clear of underbrush, deaf falls and dry limbs and needles and leaves turning to duff just waiting for a spark.

The forests, like most life on this continent, were not an accident.  That they looked like they were manicured is because they had been forever before the penetration of Europeans.  Forests were full of life and were like a super market for the natives.  Animals, birds, eggs, nuts, excitement and adventure flourished everywhere.  It was a duty for the natives to clean the forests and encourage life to visit there, and it was an honor to “talk for” the forests in ceremony and prayer.  Loving earth with a deep respect has always been the “way” of mountain and coast indigenous.

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These fires started naturally and are probably the kind of fires that occurred naturally before massive fire suppression efforts began in the west a hundred years ago. After a nice Memorial day soaking, the foliage here was pretty green when the lightning struck.  These fires have been smoldering and cleaning up the forest, except where they are threatening homes. Klamath-Siskiyou Wild explains it best:

Fire has been an integral component to the function of biodiversity for millennia. Fires burn in a diversity of patterns and intensities, and are influenced by numerous factors such as fuels, temperature, terrain and moisture. Many of these fires are close to communities and firefighters are doing their best to protect lives and property. Once the smoke has cleared, we may find that many of these fires in back country forests were ecologically beneficial as fire clears out understory vegetation, burns a natural mosaic pattern and leaves behind a healthier forest.

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Now brings you:
*A solution to floods and fires

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On Saturday, I called 911 twice to report seven fires, six of which only appeared on a map yesterday! I called CalFire, the United States Forest Service (two ranger districts), the Humboldt County Sheriff Department, the Trinity County Sheriff Department, and our local volunteer fire department. I wanted to know what road I could take out of our valley if I needed to escape the firestorm. The response, “Ma’am, there are fires everywhere. We don’t know where they are or what roads are open.” I felt trapped, and we began putting dozer lines around our meadow, hooking up more sprinklers, and connecting fire hoses to the pump in our pond.

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Granted, our bushfire seasons are horrific!

OK, so yeah, I’m just having a bit of fun with the different words and descriptions, but I have a point. Not an etymological point, but a point nonetheless.

A Brief Australian History Lesson

The Californian fires have once again brought to light the sheer flammability of our surroundings. I live in Victoria, an Australian state with a very high bushfire rate. Australia has the dubious honor of being the home to what may have been the worst bush/wildfires in the world.

Dubbed the Black Friday Fires, they occurred on the 13th of January, 1939, in Victoria. Almost 20,000 km² (4,942,000 acres, 2000 ha) were destroyed, a total of 71 people lost their lives, several towns were entirely destroyed, and a total of 1,300 buildings were destroyed.

A Royal Commission — a major government public inquiry into an issue in commonwealth countries — determined that three quarters of the state of Victoria was directly or indirectly affected. The Commission noted that "it appeared the whole State was alight on Friday, 13 January, 1939."

1967 saw Tasmania – the only state with a higher likelihood to burn this year than Victoria — suffer a series of fires that later became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires. Over 60 people died, and thousands more were affected. So widespread were the fires that they even encroached upon the capital of Hobart.

And last in my tour of the named fires are the Ash Wednesday Fires. February 16, 1983, saw Victoria and our westerly neighboring state South Australia (original, aren’t we!) suffer from fires that took the lives of 75 Australians, and razed more than 2000 homes. The summer bushfires of 1982/1983 razed approximately 5,200 km² (1,284,000 acres).

El Niño

I’m not sure if many of you are aware, but I copped a thorough beating on Digg (the social news site) for my most recent story, looking at the links between global warming and the Californian fires. Apparently I was doing everything from politicizing the fires, to simply providing incorrect information, aka, sensationalizing the fires. I especially like the idea that an Australian is politicizing the American fires.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The simple fact is that a combination of global warming, and increased El Niño and La Niña events are causing havoc worldwide.

And being an Australian, I’m somewhat of an expert in this. Not to diminish the horror and tragedy of the Californian fires, but in terms of sheer magnitude and relative damage done, Australia has been copping it these past few years.

Just last year, we experienced what are being described as "…some of the worst bushfires in living memory," according to our premier John Brumby.

Wanna know the kicker? Here’s what he added next: "This summer could be worse, with the risk spreading across the state to the fringes of Melbourne."

Melbourne is to Victoria what San Francisco is to California: both a city of its own and a collection of what Americans would call ‘neighborhoods’ (thanks to Dave for helping me with that analogy). So what Brumby is saying is that the fires will likely begin to encroach upon urban centers.

For me personally, that likelihood is pretty high, considering that I only need to drive for 5 minutes before I reach areas ripe for fires.

Global Warming is not a Myth

What, as Donna Moss from The West Wing would say, "really grips my ass" is that people seem to want to be oblivious to what is going on. They hear the words ‘global warming’ and immediately start looking for the ballot box. They seem to misunderstand the implications. Whether global warming is caused by us or not, is not the issue. It simply is happening!

What we are trying to tell you is that the earth is warming, and with it various conditions are changing. As I mentioned, for California — and other areas across the world — the rain/dry equilibrium causes an increase in growth, which then dries out and becomes fuel for massive fires.

There are no questions asked. That is what is happening!

The Little Boy and Girl

El Niño and La Niña are pretty much to blame for a lot of what is happening. Australia has been at the mercy of El Niño conditions, providing us with droughts that are ruining lives across the entire country. But only are farmers being threatened with bankruptcy, but everything is drying out: we’re turning in to a giant tinder box.

To ignore the effects — like so many did for the better part of my lifetime — of El Niño and La Niña is stupidity in itself. And people are realizing that now, after the scientific community finally decided there was overwhelming evidence against them (no, I’m not bitter!). So why is it people are not willing to learn from their isolationist/buried-head syndromes, and see what is actually happening in the world.

No, I was not politicizing the tragedy of the Californian fires. And, no, I do not believe that an Australian life is worth more than an American life. But relatively, Australia has always been affected worse by fires than America has. In sheer terms of relative size and population density, it is a natural occurrence, and one that takes Australian lives with it.

Do I sound scared? I damned sure as hell do! I’m living cycling distance from suburbs that could very well ignite in a few weeks or months. I want people to know that what I’m reporting on, I have a stake in! Global warming is an issue that I’m seeing directly affect those around me. I have friends and family in fire brigades that will be out battling fires across the state, and in one case, across the country.

Whether you want to believe that we’ve had anything to do with global warming is up to you. I honestly couldn’t care less! But the world is getting warmer, and thus creating higher chances for melting polar caps, weird ocean changes and drought. When I say that global warming was the cause behind the severity of the Californian fires, I mean it. Yes, fires have been happening for a while, and would have popped up again, but not to the levels of which they are now!

I’ll halt my rant here. Be thinking of us Aussies as we enter our fifth season: the Bushfire season.

The Age - Fire season is approaching. Be ready

More from GO, ie, Josh’s Digg Beating

California Fires and Climate Change: A Match Made in Hell

Photo Credit - Tim A. Williams