Fire Mitigation/Suppression

Hey here's an idea guys..If you don't like forest fires, don't live in a forest!

These forests have evolved over eons and don't need human intervention to make them "healthy".... and old dead trees turn into dirt. Dirt is good

SM,
People living in the prairies of Oklahoma face prairie fires. There is no safe place.

Super Malta wrote: Hey here's an idea guys..If you don't like forest fires, don't live in a forest!

These forests have evolved over eons and don't need human intervention to make them "healthy".... and old dead trees turn into dirt. Dirt is good

I grew up in SoCal. There are brush fires annually. Fire is eminent everywhere.

lostgurl303 - Check into CUSP (link in a previous post). Depending upon where you are located, at least the chipping part of it would be taken care of, especially if your neighbors join in the "fun" (lot of work, but worth it in the long run even comparing it to renting a chipper).

I appreciate your concerns and do understand your frustration with the FS. I have a couple of woodworker friend who work regularly and diligently in FS lands to harvest pine beetle kill. But they are only two. Problem is there is so much of it. And there are efforts to try to harvest it to become bio-fuel and also pellets for pellet stoves. If you'd like, I can try to contact my two buds on how they get permitted to go in and harvest (I'm pretty sure it's on FS lands). According to their own website, the FS prides itself on forestry management and is "evolving" as the situations require. I'm not seeing this so much. Just for informational purposes, here is the link to their site where they discuss fire mitigation: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/fire/multi_owner_landscapes/ . Not sure if this will help you, or not, but maybe it can get you started?

Just for clarification, "mitigation" means taking measures to reduce the effect or eliminate the possibility of an event's occurrence. It's not the fact our forest are overgrown or dying. That's where I was coming from in terms of homeowners taking matters into their own hands and doing something about the fire danger.

Thanks for the apology although it really wasn't necessary. I think we could all take lessons in how we tend to interpret things, and maybe I came back at you a little too strong in my response. For that, I offer my apologies.

And, finally, if you have any questions about any of this, or you're not sure about anything I've posted, please feel free to ask, or to PM me. If I don't know the answers, there's probably someone out there I know who does.

ZHawke

Super Malta wrote: Hey here's an idea guys..If you don't like forest fires, don't live in a forest!

These forests have evolved over eons and don't need human intervention to make them "healthy".... and old dead trees turn into dirt. Dirt is good

In the FYI department: http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/70290/ . This tiny town is located in my home state of North Dakota on the open prairie (few, if any trees anywhere around). There have been several other documented instances of wildfires like this destroying entire communities, farmsteads, and eco-systems. It's just not that simple to live somewhere where something won't affect you. Each location has its own demographics, hazards, and risks. All we're trying to do is increase awareness and to help people (individuals and families) be better prepared should they experience these kinds of events.

Also, your assertion that forests have evolved over eons is partially correct. However, Colorado's forests are very dissimilar to what existed in as recently as early in the previous century. I need to do additional research to find this stat, but I remember being told by the State Forest Rep we worked with that in the late 1800's early 1900's the average number of trees per acre in CO was around 40. Today, that number has increased today to an average of 400 or more. I'm providing a link to the Colorado State Forest Service here to try to help others better understand the issues faced by those living in forested areas: http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/wildfire.html

ZHawke

A couple of resources to help in the fire mitigation efforts most everyone should consider doing:
http://gacc.nifc.gov/rmcc/administrative/fire_restrictions.html
http://wescottfire.org/
The last one has a tab called "I'm looking for information on" that contains a lot of good stuff.