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A cousin of mine spent about 10 years as a Hotshot[0], and now runs an engine in Plumas County, CA. A few things that have stuck with me over the years of disc
by bitbckt 6y ago
A cousin of mine spent about 10 years as a Hotshot[0], and now runs an engine in Plumas County, CA.
A few things that have stuck with me over the years of discussing his work:
* Much like floods, he returns the same burn areas year after year (ex. Paradise, CA and surrounding area). Some of that is recent encroachment into wilderness boundary areas, but much is also historically-inhabited land whose climate has changed drastically.
* Prescribed burns quickly run up against environmental regulations (esp. those intended to reduce smog), property rights concerns, and coordinating the patchwork of agencies and individuals who own and manage this land - BLM, USFS, CalFire, Sierra Pacific Industries, &c.
* To hear him tell it, CalFire is woefully incompetent and fiscally irresponsible, leaving much of the work to over-burdened and under-funded federal agencies. I live in a CalFire "State Responsibility Area" (i.e. any fire in my area would be served by CalFire), and I've seen very little actual evidence to contradict him.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotshot_crew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotshot_crew
- taurath 6y agoTo be fair so much of the overall land prone to fire is under control of the feds - literally 47% according to the article. Having grown up in northern CA there’s just vast swathes of land to cover, and I doubt they’re spending nearly enough on controlled burns for the current climate. It’s 100% true that the land just wants to burn, pine needles 1-2” thick across an area half the size of New York State.
- seunosewa 6y agoWhy aren’t those needles degrading naturally? Perhaps nitrogen fertilization will help?
- sgc 6y agoProbably another one of the uses that active fungi management could help with. I know most about Paul Stamets, but the TED list [1] is fascinating. [1] https://www.ted.com/topics/fungi https://www.ted.com/topics/fungi
- ip26 6y agoPine needles are pretty slow to break down. They're actually a great weed guard around garden beds.
- semerda 6y agoI’m sick and tired of this ego protection through projection. These attitudes go nowhere. The CA fires are “wildfires” right? They start in those beautiful golden Californian grassy hills. Imagine if the state leadership took care of that land they own through back-burning to avoid forest destruction. What can the state control today; better land management. Let’s start there and see how far it gets us. Global warming isn’t an overnight fix but land management might.