Controlled Burn

[Trismegistus]

WIKIPEDIA:

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild, wet winters and hot dry summers) and wildfire. A typical chaparral plant community consists of densely-growing evergreen scrub oaks and other drought-resistant shrubs. It often grows so densely that it is all but impenetrable to large animals and humans. This, and its generally arid condition, makes it notoriously prone to wildfires. Although many chaparral plant species require some fire cue (heat, smoke, or charred wood) for germination, chaparral plants are not "adapted" to fire per se. Rather, these species are adapted to particular fire regimes involving season, frequency, intensity and severity of the burn.

Chaparral is one of the most fire-prone plant communities in North America because of thunderstorms. As a consequence, since an increasing number of developments are pushing into the backcountry along what is known as the wildland-urban interface, management of the system has become increasingly important.

There are two assumptions relating to California chaparral fire regimes that appear to have caused considerable confusion and controversy within the fields of wildfire and land management: first, older stands of chaparral become “senescent” or “decadent” implying they need fire to remain healthy (Hanes 1971), and second, fire suppression policies have allowed chaparral to accumulate unnatural levels of fuel leading to larger fires (Minnich 1983). California chaparral is extraordinarily resilient to very long periods without fire (Keeley, Pfaff, and Safford 2005) and continues to maintain productive growth throughout pre-fire conditions (Hubbard 1986, Larigauderie et al. 1990). Seeds of many chaparral plants actually require 30 years or more worth of accumulated leaf litter before they will successfully germinate (e.g. scrub oak: Quercus berberidifolia, toyon: Heteromeles arbutifolia, holly-leafed cherry: Prunus ilicifolia). When intervals between fires drop below 10 to 15 years, many chaparral species are eliminated and the system is typically replaced by non-native, weedy grassland (Haidinger and Keeley 1993, Keeley 1995, Zedler 1995).

The idea that older chaparral is responsible for causing large fires was originally proposed in the 1980’s by comparing wildfires in Baja California and southern California. Fire suppression activities in southern California allowed more fuel to accumulate which in turn led to larger fires (in Baja, fires often burn without active suppression efforts). This is similar to the argument that fire suppression in western United States has allowed Ponderosa Pine forests to become “overstocked.” In the past, surface-fires burned through these forests at intervals of anywhere between 4 and 36 years, clearing out the understory and creating a more ecologically balanced system. However, chaparral has a crown-fire regime, meaning fires consume the entire system whenever they burn. Detailed analysis of historical fire data has shown that fire suppression activities have failed to exclude fire from southern California chaparral as they have in Ponderosa Pine forests (Keeley et al. 1999). In addition, the number of fires is increasing in step with population growth. Overall, chaparral stand age does not have a significant correlation to its tendency to burn (Moritz et al. 2004). Low humidity, low fuel moisture, and high winds appear to be the primary factors in determining when a chaparral stand burns. The Chaparral is a coastal biome with hot dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Droughts and fires are very normal during the summertime.

[Butch Crain]

Thanks John for keeping this particular discussion "apples to apples".

[Drifter]

1. Wildfires are to western ecosystems what rain is to a tropical rainforest. They are necessary for the continued health and existence of these ecosystem. Wildfires do anything but destroy a landscape. Indeed, they are one of the major ecological forces that rejuvenate western ecosystems. Without fire, there would be no old growth forests of Ponderosa Pine and Western Larch. Wildfires cleanse the forest of disease and insects. They thin forest stands. They recycle nutrients. They create snags that are homes for thousands of species.
2. One timber industry advocate said, "I never saw a clearcut burn." Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course clearcuts burn. When long, hot summers dry out the grasses, brush, and logging wastes, they can flare explosively. When they grow thick with closely packed young trees, they present exactly the fire danger we are wrestling with now. The logging roads provide human access that is the source of the vast majority of forest fires. (from Dr. Thomas Power, University of Montana, August 15, 2000)
3. Two good examples of how fires seek clearcuts and logging roads, and ignore the moister old growth: the Raft River Fire on the Olympic Peninsula, and the Sundance Fire, in North Idaho--both in 1967. In the former, the fire literally raced from clearcut to clearcut down the logging road, completely skipping the old growth in between. In the latter (70,000 acres), the burned area was entirely in an area laced with logging roads and logging scars, once again largely ignoring the uncut areas.
4. In Western Montana, the fires are in are burning in the forests adjacent to some of the rapidly growing residential areas in the nation, the Bitterroot, Helena, and Clark Fork Valleys. At last count in Western Montana over 75 percent of the burned acreage lies outside of protected areas like National Parks and Wilderness. 96 percent of the firefighting effort is focused on roaded and developed areas where human lives, homes, and other structures are threatened. Spending tax dollars to protect isolated cabins and homes built in the midst of fire-prone landscapes is no different than building houses in the flood plains of rivers or condos on hurricane prone Atlantic coast barrier islands.
5. Commercial logging does not remove dangerous fuel loads. Instead it takes the largest, most valuable, and most fire resistant trees, leaving behind a firetrap. Commercial logging is not a prescription for forest health; it is one of the major causes of unhealthy forest conditions. Old trees and old growth are resistant to fire.
6. Logging Isn't Needed on Our National Forests. A recent scientific review team, led by Wenatchee Forest Service Research Station Scientists Paul Hessburg and John Lemkuhl, has found that on dry sites (which include much of the intermountain west), the use of prescribed fire alone would restore tree stocking levels and can be implemented on a broad range of cases without prior thinning.. Science Peer-Review Summary of the Wenatchee National forest's Dry Forest Strategy, June 1999.
7. Will Logging Prevent or reduce fire risk? "Timber harvest, through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate, and fuels accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity." -Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, 1996. Final Report to Congress.
8. "Logged areas generally showed a strong association with increased rate of spread and flame length, thereby suggesting that tree harvesting could affect the potential fire behavior within landscapes. In general, rate of spread and flame length were positively correlated with the proportion of area logged in the sample watersheds. "-Historical and Current Forest Landscapes in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Part II: Linking Vegetation Characteristics to Potential Fire Behavior and Related Smoke Production (PNW-GTR-355)
9. "As a by-product of clearcutting, thinning, and other tree-removal activities, activity fuels create both short- and long-term fire hazards to ecosystems. The potential rate of spread and intensity of fires associated with recently cut logging residues is high, especially the first year or two as the material decays. High fire-behavior hazards associated with the residues can extend, however, for many years depending on the tree. Even though these hazards diminish, their influence on fire behavior can linger for up to 30 years in the dry forest ecosystems of eastern Washington and Oregon. "-Historical and Current Forest Landscapes in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Part II: Linking Vegetation Characteristics to Potential Fire Behavior and Related Smoke Production (PNW-GTR-355)
10. "It appears significant that many large fires in the western United States have burned almost exclusively in slash. Some of these fires have stopped when they reached uncut timber; none has come to attention that started in green timber and stopped when it reached a slash area." -G.R. Fahnestock, 1968. "Fire hazard from pre-commercially thinning ponderosa pine." U.S. Forest Service.
11. "Fire severity has generally increased and fire frequency has generally decreased over the last 200 years. The primary causative factors behind fire regime changes are effective fire prevention and suppression strategies, selection and regeneration cutting, domestic livestock grazing, and the introduction of exotic plants. "-Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia Basin (PNW-GTR-382)
12. The high rate of human-caused fires has generally been associated with high recreational use in areas of higher road densities. "An Assessment of Ecosystem Components in the Interior Columbia Basin and Portions of the Klamath and Great Basins-Volume II (PNW-GTR-405).
13. According to Reed Noss in the Road Rippers Handbook (1995), research has shown that 78% of human-caused fires occurred within 265 feet of a road and in New Jersey it was determined that 75% of all forest fires were traced to roadsides. Other studies have estimated that humans cause 90% of wildfires and that over half are started from roadsides. (Noss, Reed F. 1995. The ecological effects of roads or the road to destruction. The Road Ripper's Handbook. 1995 Edition. Road Removal Implementation Project. Missoula, MT.)
14. The causes of wild fires are also widespread, including lightning strikes,barbeque briquettes, ATV exhaust, chainsaws, and logging crews. An exhaust pipe can start a fire. An automobile accident caused the Hanford Reservation fire.
15. Fire retardants: preservation at a price. Over the past five years, 409,721 fires in the United States have burned 18,382,397 acres. An annnual average of 15 million gallons of retardant have been used to contain the blazes in the past 20 years. It is estimated that in this fire season, a record year in which more than 4.3 million acres have already burned, nearly 40 million gallons of retardant and an unknown quantity of foam will be used.

[Trismegistus]

What applies to the forests here in this state can’t really be compared to other biomes but yes the lack of natural fires does contribute to overcrowded tree stands albeit nature can thin overcrowded tree stands in other ways – limited nutrient resources, pests, disease, etc. But fire by and large is one of the most important determinants influencing the composition, health and environmental integrity of our forests. Generally speaking, the larger, healthier trees that are naturally more fire-resistant albeit high-intensity treetop fires are often more dangerous because they are largely resistant to suppression tactics, pose risks to firefighters and the public, and can spread fire quickly across drainages.

A clearcut does not grow back the same as a stand managed with a selective cut. Fortunately there is an abundant amount of case-matched studies that look at nearly every form of forest management from natural and prescribed burns to selective and clear-cut operations to “fire suppression, leave alone” protocols. From these studies the most destructive form of management has proven to the “catastrophic fire” that occurs on steep slopes that are seriously overcrowded due to years of fire suppression – in these type of fires nearly every growing thing is destroyed, the soil is crystallized and loss of sub-soil biomass results in extensive erosion and watershed sedimentation. Clear-cutting is probably the second most damaging form of forest management. Although clearcutting generally has no immediate impact on overall diversity, the richness and diversity of residual plants with the exception of certain ground cover shrubs and flowers declines after canopy removal and may take 50 of more years to recover. Consequently, compositional differences between secondary and late-serial stands persisted for many decades after clearcutting. The impact of thinning obviously is dependent on what type of for a is being removed from a particular stand. In a unbiased thin – not species dependent -- thinning has a minimal impact on forest diversity or forest health, i.e. thinning does not affect the relative proportion of the different components of respiration to an observable degree, albeit there is obviously a slight reduction on canopy photosynthesis.

A lot of folks will do a thinning cut prior to a prescribed burn – this is a method we are using to reestablish a hardwood predominant – read white oak -- forest on some of our lands on Cadron Creek. The thinning cut is done to facilitate fire control and to assure more optimal elimination of invasive flora. One of the critical aspects of a prescribed burn is to keep it out of the tree crowns where it can’t be readily controlled; thus, smaller trees or trees that could allow the fire to run into the canopy are brought down and either harvested, burned or allowed to decompose at the site. We will often take these trees – harvest what we can for firewood or pulp and pile the remaining tops into a brush pile. This brush pile is usually then burned separately if it is in an open clearing or – more often – left to decompose on site protected from the fire so prescribed to serve as habitat for small animals, birds and reptiles.

No one form of forest management works in all areas and serves all needs. Albeit I tend to be universally opposed to management by “catastrophic fire” -- I know of no studies offhand that would suggest catastrophic fires as being environmentally beneficial – perhaps in the eradication of some localized pest or disease. Likewise I’m not a big proponent of clearcutting albeit I understand that some commercial operations will use it as a means to change the forest makeup to trees that require large disturbed high light intensity environments. I prefer a more natural landscape than that offered by clearcut operations. And thus in my preference for a natural landscape I like using the tools that nature herself offers to us – and that includes fire.

[Paddlegal]

"No, fire good. Fire our friend!" - from Young Frankenstein (which everyone should watch in its entirety
- Fish

http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/play/port_ ... iid.235775

[Trismegistus]

“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; an argument an exchange of ignorance.”
Robert Quillen

And I'm simply not going there...

[Trismegistus]

Nice information Drifter -- I missed that in earlier reading -- I guess our posts past one another on the way to their destination. But tons of good stuff -- stuff that makes a person think --

I like the observation -- "Logging Isn't Needed on Our National Forests. A recent scientific review team, led by Wenatchee Forest Service Research Station Scientists Paul Hessburg and John Lemkuhl, has found that on dry sites (which include much of the intermountain west), the use of prescribed fire alone would restore tree stocking levels and can be implemented on a broad range of cases without prior thinning". I have always felt this was the case and that we can't have it both ways. There simply has to be some way that these forests can replenish themselves and if it's not fire then it has to be timbering.

Nature makes her own rules. When man plays by the rules we'll succeed; when we don't we fail. This even happens in the clinical setting -- when I work with nature every procedure yields a favorable outcome; when I try to "buck the system" mother nature bites back hard and I find myself confronted with a less-than-desirable outcome.

One prescription I have seen for the chaparrel -- which tend to be lower growing shrubs -- is the use of goats to help thin out the forest. I believe there is some legitimacy to this approach -- we used a combination of goats and pigs to reduce undergrowth on eleven acre island with considerable success -- and would be preferred by many over fire, timber/brush extraction or use of herbicides. Plus you can't beat a good goat roast on a cold wintery day.

[Drifter]

I like the observation -- "Logging Isn't Needed on Our National Forests. A recent scientific review team, led by Wenatchee Forest Service Research Station Scientists Paul Hessburg and John Lemkuhl, has found that on dry sites (which include much of the intermountain west), the use of prescribed fire alone would restore tree stocking levels and can be implemented on a broad range of cases without prior thinning". I have always felt this was the case and that we can't have it both ways. There simply has to be some way that these forests can replenish themselves and if it's not fire then it has to be timbering.

Key word here: Restore. "Return to an original condition."

I assume the land he was talking about here was land that was logged or otherwise unnaturally changed - "managed" if you will.

3. Two good examples of how fires seek clearcuts and logging roads, and ignore the moister old growth: the Raft River Fire on the Olympic Peninsula, and the Sundance Fire, in North Idaho--both in 1967. In the former, the fire literally raced from clearcut to clearcut down the logging road, completely skipping the old growth in between. In the latter (70,000 acres), the burned area was entirely in an area laced with logging roads and logging scars, once again largely ignoring the uncut areas.

Again:
Natural forests have much less buildup of "hazardous fuels" than do pine farms, etc. Logging tends to necessitate the prescribed burning.

Thought we weren't going to talk about this stuff around here any more.

[Trismegistus]

Another one of those apples to apples comparison -

Clear cuts on the Olympic Forest are always going to provide more flammable material than an old growth stand. By removal of the canopy light and wind can reach the underlying vegetation and timber waste -- without its drying effects the old growth stands can be burned only during periods of prolonged drought and heat. This same effect is seen here in Arkansas -- fire races through areas of open brush and slash while often creeping through the forest itself where the underlying vegetation and leaf mast is more moist.

As to the statement "Natural forests have much less buildup of "hazardous fuels" than do pine farms, etc." -- well that one I have no data on right on but again it's going to be a tough comparison -- I have both pine farms and natural stands under my stewardship and find that the age, composition and location of the stand may have more impact on the amount of hazardous fuel buildup than on the type of tree per se or whether its a natural stand or a tree farm. For example: As a pine stand ages and undergoes natural thinning and creates a high overhead canopy that excludes sunlight there is very little hazardous fuel buildup beyond a carpet of needles. However as the same stand matures and trees drop their lower limbs (light exclusion) and wither and die through disease and pests there is a 20-30 year period these same stands can become a tinderbox. Similarly for a compositional perspective a farmed stand of eastern red cedar with its resinous wood and needles is going provide far more "hazardous fuels" than a natural forest predominantly of beech and holly.

[Trismegistus]

"Thought we weren't going to talk about this stuff around here any more."

I guess the moderators are looking elsewhere -- plus I think our discussion a bit benign even though I think the entire thread began as a troll.

There are some great issues at play here and a lot of gray despite an enormous amount of data on the subject. As you know my sentiments lie somewhere in the middle -- when I was growing up we spent a lot of time working with fire -- natural fires were once a part of the landscape on the lower Buffalo River. Lookout towers stood on many of the higher peaks and summers -- July through September -- often found us often fighting fires that were usually ignited naturally. Trenching fire lines and backfires were our primary tools to combat these fires. But I look back on these endeavors now and realize the natural course of events would have been to let these fires run.

Now with decades of fire suppression the magnificent prairies and barrens that once covered the Ozark Plateau in Baxter, Marion, Boone, Carroll and other counties are now gone. There really aren't even any remnants remaining -- the flora and fauna is long gone too. Now I love the trees that now cover these areas -- they are now such a part of the natural setting most folks can't recall nor don't have any knowledge of the prairies and barrens that once existed. I am even willing to fully accept the new fire-suppressed landscape -- finding it a bit ludicrous that in the restoration of elk to the area that the USFS and AGFC is confronted with "loss of habitat" -- forests simply do not provide adequate forage for elk. Similarly the Buffalo River watershed can no longer support a large herd of Buffalo anymore without restoration of the prairies and barrens that once existed.

Times change and with it -- us. A few prescribed fires of a few thousand acres is unsufficient to "restore" presettlement conditions to our landscape -- all show and child's play. Like most of us today, fire will never ever be allowed to run free ever again.

[Drifter]

"There are some great issues at play here and a lot of gray despite an enormous amount of data on the subject."

Precisely. And the issues have little to do with... well, I'll save it for a more appropriate time and place.

[Trismegistus]

Indeed!

And so lookin' forward to that day we can share our tales and viewpoints over a real open fire....

In the interim -- it's off to Nebraska for the Thanksgiving holiday with an expedition-size load of family and pets and a few good books -- BTW: Just finished The U.S. Forest Service: A History by Harold K. Steen and The Forest Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial History by James G. Lewis. On the inspiration of Ms. KimL I wanted to delve into the history and political underpinnings of the USFS -- the story of a lot of good folks many who were misguided and misinformed -- so many cooks in that kitchen it's a miracle that the soup was even palatable.

Bureaucracy: "... a bureaucratic system of organization characterized by the existence of a series of relatively stable vicious circles that stem from centralisation and impersonality" (Crozier, 1964) -

[Drifter]

Looking forward to the campfire chat as well, Tris. We'll have to do that soon. Gotta chainsaw and a match? For that, I do. hahaha

Sounds like a nice little Thanksgiving expedition you have planned there - be safe! (And enjoy the cheaper gas - saw it for $1.55 today...)