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The only good news is it will envelop D.C. today. Fitting to force them to smell their passive dismissal of the global catastrophe of climate change.

by 1970-01-01 3mo ago

summarybot 3mo ago
Let us each examine and repair our own, personal bond with Nature.
edawg88 3mo ago
In addition to climate change effects, do you think that preventing wildfires for decades contributes at all? My understanding is that managed burns can be useful at preventing the worst fire fires. The fact that some trees only germinate in the presence of wildfires points to wildfires being a very natural and pre-human thing. And recent wildfire management practices are likely a strong factor in recent wildfires.
- gwerbin 3mo ago
  I don't think that's as relevant for these huge regions of remote forest in Canada as it is for the lower 48 of the USA where you have a lot of population density and ranching and farming in the dry areas that historically burned on a regular basis. Maybe someone in rural Ontario knows the full story.
  - BigGreenJorts 3mo ago
    Yeah, the boreal forests super rural/unpopulated bc they're mostly up north and on the shield where it's hard to build. That's said, there is quite a bit of logging lands where the age, arrangement and species makeup think we have fires more often than they're supposed to happen. That's something to note : Jack pine which is fire adapted doesn't mature for a pretty long time. The boreal forest is meant to have massive powerful forest fires that clear stands completely but they're supposed to happen on a timeline of like 80+ years. I'm not as plugged in as I used to be, but I recall some folks worried about more birch taking up space up north bc of how often burns were happening and birch loves to form massive stands when the floor clears.
    - edawg88 3mo ago
      Thank you for sharing!
- foxyv 3mo ago
  The answer is: It's complicated https://www.wilderness.org/articles/article/5-big-myths-about-wildfire https://www.wilderness.org/articles/article/5-big-myths-abou... Ecologically, wildfires are necessary for some biomes. However, not all of them. Many are needlessly destructive due to climate change and over logging of forests.
- red-iron-pine 3mo ago
  managed burns have their place in ecosystems where they're common. most of these fires in Canada are because it needs to be -40C for about 2 weeks to kill off the pine beetle . if the beetle doesn't die then it, as the name suggests, infests pine trees and kills them. after a couple seasons you have massive, absolutely immense swaths of dead pine trees, full of flammable pine tar and sap. eventually they burn, and the warm temps + beetles mean they don't come back. ecological change, biome collapse.
  - BigGreenJorts 3mo ago
    Mountain pine beetles are more of a BC issue. They don't really exist in Ontario. There are native beetles that target eastern white and red pine, but not with such massive pine die offs.
- Teever 3mo ago
  Is it the case that Canada has been implemented substantial forest fire prevention practices? I’m not an expert in forestry. It it doesn’t seem feasible that Canada was every really doing any large scale forest fire prevention simply due to the scale of the country and forests within it.
remarkEon 3mo ago
[flagged]
- gwerbin 3mo ago
  > Canada’s complete and total refusal to conduct proper forest management Care to say more? Have they been suppressing fires in the forest way out in the middle of nowhere for decades?
  - polski-g 3mo ago
    They're supposed to go into forests in the middle of nowhere and do controlled burns. And no, 37degC does not cause wood to spontaneously combust. This is just gross negligence, same thing that happens in California.
  - remarkEon 3mo ago
    What does the middle of nowhere have to do with this? We have technology that allows us to fly. You fly out, conduct controlled burns, cut out bad growth, install firebreaks. This is not an unsolved for process. For whatever reason, it’s not happening and these fires are the result. People really need to stop thinking so one dimensionally about these kinds of problems.
    - gwerbin 3mo ago
      But are they supposed to? For example I have heard it said that in the northeast US (New England, NY, NJ) the forests pretty much evolved around humans (and rarely lightning) burning them periodically to control undergrowth. Is the same true in central Ontario? If not, then nobody is "supposed" to be doing anything? Unless catastrophic massive fire cycles are just a thing that happens every 500 years or whatever in that region...? It's one thing to claim that bad forest management and not climate change is responsible, but it's consistent with climate change, and there are many areas in the USA that have adopted better fire and forest management practices in recent years and are still burning like crazy in seasons when they historically did not burn.

The only good news is it will envelop D.C. today. Fitting to force them to smell their passive dismissal of the global catastrophe of climate change.

summarybot 3mo ago

Let us each examine and repair our own, personal bond with Nature.

edawg88 3mo ago

In addition to climate change effects, do you think that preventing wildfires for decades contributes at all? My understanding is that managed burns can be useful at preventing the worst fire fires. The fact that some trees only germinate in the presence of wildfires points to wildfires being a very natural and pre-human thing. And recent wildfire management practices are likely a strong factor in recent wildfires.

gwerbin 3mo ago
I don't think that's as relevant for these huge regions of remote forest in Canada as it is for the lower 48 of the USA where you have a lot of population density and ranching and farming in the dry areas that historically burned on a regular basis. Maybe someone in rural Ontario knows the full story.
- BigGreenJorts 3mo ago
  Yeah, the boreal forests super rural/unpopulated bc they're mostly up north and on the shield where it's hard to build. That's said, there is quite a bit of logging lands where the age, arrangement and species makeup think we have fires more often than they're supposed to happen. That's something to note : Jack pine which is fire adapted doesn't mature for a pretty long time. The boreal forest is meant to have massive powerful forest fires that clear stands completely but they're supposed to happen on a timeline of like 80+ years. I'm not as plugged in as I used to be, but I recall some folks worried about more birch taking up space up north bc of how often burns were happening and birch loves to form massive stands when the floor clears.
  - edawg88 3mo ago
    Thank you for sharing!
foxyv 3mo ago
The answer is: It's complicated https://www.wilderness.org/articles/article/5-big-myths-about-wildfire https://www.wilderness.org/articles/article/5-big-myths-abou... Ecologically, wildfires are necessary for some biomes. However, not all of them. Many are needlessly destructive due to climate change and over logging of forests.
red-iron-pine 3mo ago
managed burns have their place in ecosystems where they're common. most of these fires in Canada are because it needs to be -40C for about 2 weeks to kill off the pine beetle . if the beetle doesn't die then it, as the name suggests, infests pine trees and kills them. after a couple seasons you have massive, absolutely immense swaths of dead pine trees, full of flammable pine tar and sap. eventually they burn, and the warm temps + beetles mean they don't come back. ecological change, biome collapse.
- BigGreenJorts 3mo ago
  Mountain pine beetles are more of a BC issue. They don't really exist in Ontario. There are native beetles that target eastern white and red pine, but not with such massive pine die offs.
Teever 3mo ago
Is it the case that Canada has been implemented substantial forest fire prevention practices? I’m not an expert in forestry. It it doesn’t seem feasible that Canada was every really doing any large scale forest fire prevention simply due to the scale of the country and forests within it.

remarkEon 3mo ago

[flagged]

gwerbin 3mo ago
> Canada’s complete and total refusal to conduct proper forest management Care to say more? Have they been suppressing fires in the forest way out in the middle of nowhere for decades?
- polski-g 3mo ago
  They're supposed to go into forests in the middle of nowhere and do controlled burns. And no, 37degC does not cause wood to spontaneously combust. This is just gross negligence, same thing that happens in California.
- remarkEon 3mo ago
  What does the middle of nowhere have to do with this? We have technology that allows us to fly. You fly out, conduct controlled burns, cut out bad growth, install firebreaks. This is not an unsolved for process. For whatever reason, it’s not happening and these fires are the result. People really need to stop thinking so one dimensionally about these kinds of problems.
  - gwerbin 3mo ago
    But are they supposed to? For example I have heard it said that in the northeast US (New England, NY, NJ) the forests pretty much evolved around humans (and rarely lightning) burning them periodically to control undergrowth. Is the same true in central Ontario? If not, then nobody is "supposed" to be doing anything? Unless catastrophic massive fire cycles are just a thing that happens every 500 years or whatever in that region...? It's one thing to claim that bad forest management and not climate change is responsible, but it's consistent with climate change, and there are many areas in the USA that have adopted better fire and forest management practices in recent years and are still burning like crazy in seasons when they historically did not burn.