Playing with Fire Forest Management in America

1
Playing with Fire Forest Management in America

• Megan West
• Topics in Political Theory
• Spring 2005

2
The Problem

• 2000 was 2nd Worst Fire Season in History
• 17 Deaths
• Cost over 2 Billion
• 8.4 Million Acres Burned
• In just 4 years, 24 million tons of Carbon
  Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxides were emitted from
  wildfires
• Minimal improvement over last ten fire seasons

• Mismanagement
• Hazardous Fuels
• Growing Wildland/Urban Interface
• Ineffective Legislation
• Focus on the wrong type of Fuels Reduction
• Focus on Rehabilitation
• Lack of Funding

3
Definitions

• Wildland Fire Any non-structure fire that
  occurs in the wildland
• Wildfire An unplanned, unwanted wildland fire
• Prescribed Fire Any fire ignited by management
  actions to meet specific objectives
• Wildland Fire Use The application of the
  appropriate management response to
  naturally ignited wildland fires
• Wildland/Urban Interface
• Area where there is one home per 40 acres
• Less than 1.5 miles from wooded area exceeding
  1,325 acres
• Excludes agriculture
• Wildland/Urban Intermix
• Area composed of at least 50 burnable vegetation
• Excludes agriculture
• Source National Fire and Aviation Executive Board

4
Wildland/Urban Interface in the Northwest

• California
• 41.7 of land qualifies as wildland/urban
  interface
• Oregon
• 42.8 of land qualifies as wildland/urban
  interface
• Washington
• 49.2 of land qualifies as wildland/urban
  interface
• Total WUI for region in 1990 11,842,572 acres
• Total WUI for region in 2000 13,153,174 acres
• http//silvis.forest.wisc.edu/info.asp

5
Brief History

• Proactive forest management has been very
  controversial
• Thought to be bad for the environment
• Clearing thick areas is actually promoting health
• Ecological rotation
• Time frame and scale
• Sustainability depends on time frame
• Sustainability also depends on scale
• Source http//silvis.forest.wisc.edu/info.asp

6
Federal Wildland Fire Policy

• Passed in 1995 in response to 1994 fire season
• Eight Points
• Protection of human life is the first priority
• Wildland fire must be reintroduced into the
  ecosystem
• Agencies will create an organizational climate
  that supports employees who implement a properly
  planned program to reintroduce wildland fire
• Some for of pretreatment where wildland fire
  cannot be safely reintroduced
• All areas with burnable vegetation will have Fire
  Management Plan
• Wildland fire management and resource management
  go hand in hand
• Involvement of all partners
• Role of federal agencies is firefighting, fuels
  reduction, education, and technical assistance
• Source http//www.fs.fed.us/land/wdfirex.htm

7
National Fire Plan

• Passed in August of 2000
• Objectives
• Assuring that necessary firefighting resources
  are available
• Conducting emergency stabilization and
  rehabilitaion
• Reducing hazardous fuels
• Providing assistance to communities affected by
  wildland fire
• Committing to the Wildland Fire Leadership
  Council
• Source http//www.fireplan.gov/overview/whatis.ht
  ml

8
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003

• Objectives
• Reduce dense undergrowth through thinning and
  prescribed burns
• Improve public involvement in review process
• Select projects on a collaborative basis
• Focus projects on Federal lands that meet strict
  criteria for risk of wildfire damage to
  communities
• Authorize the Healthy Forests Reserve Program for
  private lands
• Encourage biomass energy production
• Develop accelerated program to combat insect
  infestations
• Source http//www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/healthyf
  orests/restor-act-pg2.html

9
Prescribed Fire

• Benefits
• Effectively reduces hazardous fuels
• Immulates natural process
• Costs
• Risk to firefighters and others in the area
• Dependent on weather and fire danger rating
• Clears entire area
• Emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides
• Some soil nutrients lost

10
Prescribed Fire Gone Wrong

• In 2000, a prescribed fire got out of control in
  Cerro Grande, New Mexico
• Burn done by National Park Service
• Fire burned 20,000 acres
• Hundreds of homes were destroyed
• Source Burning Questions Americas Fight with
  Natures Fire, David Carle
• http//www.efcog.org

11
Whole-Tree Harvesting

• Benefits
• Effectively clears hazardous fuels
• Selectivity
• Not weather dependent
• Cost
• Some soil nutrients lost in process

12
Struggling Timber Industry

• Suffered losses beginning in 1970s because of
  high interest rates
• 1990 Northern Spotted Owl put on Endangered
  Species list
• Typical habitat for Northern Spotted Owls is
  old-growth forests
• Moratorium put on old-growth harvesting
• 2.3 million acres of old-growth forests in
  Northwest
• Source More Tree Talk The People, Politics, and
  Economics of Timber, Ray Rapael

13
Community Effects

• No property taxes paid on Federal wildland
• When U.S. Forest Service puts land up for bid,
  roughly 25 payment goes to local community to
  make up for loss
• Projects have been in decline since 1970s

14
Proposal

• Replace prescribed fire with whole-tree
  harvesting
• Contract private companies to complete projects
• Use fuels in cogeneration plants
• Reallocate funds to build cogeneration plants in
  Northwest
• Cogeneration plants create 25-30 megawatts of
  power to run mills
• Excess power sold to power companies
• Projects done in shorter time-frame
• Projects done on a larger scale

15
Conclusion

• Prevention is safer and more cost-effective than
  rehabilitation
• Whole-tree harvesting is the best solution to
  hazardous fuels reduction
• Environmentally friendly solution
• Lowest risk to bystanders
• Reduce preventable deaths resulting from
  wildfires
• Benefits struggling timber communities