Column: Poor forest management fuels wildfires
Tom Kress, Douglas County Commissioner | Jun 21, 2023 Wildfires have become increasingly devastating in recent years, ravaging massive areas of land, destroying homes and businesses, and endangering lives. I wanted to take a moment to address and offer a chance for our residents to hear the other side of the story when it comes […]
Editorial: Count trees before and after the wildfires
Talk about busy work. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are counting the number of old-growth and “mature” trees on federal land. Editorial | capitalpress.com | May 4, 2023 Federal forest managers need to be allowed to manage the forests, not count the trees to “protect.”Inciweb A thought: These two agencies are […]
Climate Change, Megafires Crush Forest Regeneration
High-intensity fires in western states kill mature trees and their seeds while warmer, drier conditions stress seedlings. But forest managers can still intervene to change this trajectory. By Nancy Averett| eos.org | 28 April 2023 Warmer and drier climate conditions in western U.S. forests are making it harder for trees to regrow after wildfires, according to […]
The Smoke Dilemma
As wood burns, many chemicals such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone are released. For people with respiratory health issues, the biggest concern with smoke is particles 2.5 microns or smaller (approximately 1/30th the diameter of a human hair), commonly called PM 2.5. These particles, when inhaled, can travel deep into […]
The Canopy | Spring 2023
Thank you for visiting the Communities for Healthy Forests newsletter, “The Canopy”. The October edition features articles “Senator Wyden:Please Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle,” By Lee Paterson and “Thinning and Prescribed Fire are Critical Tools for Wildfire Risk Reduction,” By Mark Buckbee. Happy reading.
<a href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2023/02/15/to-thin-or-not-to-thin-its-really-not-a-question/">To thin or not to thin … it’s really not a question</a>
Fire science and experience over decades of research and field practice have settled on a major prevention tool: fuels reduction. Author Kelly Andersson | https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/thinning/ | Posted on February 15, 2023 The largest wildfires in the West — often called mega-fires — have increased in both size and number in recent years. The fire season […]
Melissa Cribbins named Executive Director of Communities for Healthy Forests
Melissa Cribbins was named Executive Director of Communities for Healthy Forests on Jan. 1, 2023, succeeding former Douglas County (OR) Commissioner, Doug Robertson. In her first conversation in her new role, Cribbins gave us a picture of her approach to leading CHF into the future. Communities for Healthy Forests: So, congratulations on being the next […]
With wildfires on rise, study compares techniques for limiting them
With the wildfire season reaching further into autumn and concern growing about the loss of structures, ecosystems and lives, scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are evaluating how to manage landscapes to be more robust against future fire threats. Lillie Hoffart, Biological sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln | https://www.thefencepost.com/news | Jan 20, 2023 Nearly 19,000 acres […]
Addressing Proforestation on Public Lands
Proforestation is a recent preservationist movement that seeks to ban timber harvesting, logging, and active forest management —including prescribed fire and other wildfire mitigation activities—on public lands, particularly in “mature forests.” This movement cites a small body of research suggesting forests should be left to grow unmanaged by humans to maximize carbon sequestration. Read on […]
Is removing smaller trees and fuels along the narrow road to protect people and the thousands of acres beyond the project an overreach?
Yosemite’s top official and the National Park Service are being sued by a non-profit over the park’s forest thinning project. Watch what is believed to be controversial from NBC News.