By Michael Hoyt and Mel Holloway, Hamilton
It is fire season in the west, and the proponents of commercial logging are at it again. Claims that logging can prevent wildfires are filling the air. Assertions that “when we used to log in National Forests, there were hardly any wildfires” appear almost daily in newspaper editorials, television and radio news programs, and on social media.
Granted, years ago, when there was much more logging on lands managed by the National Forest Service, there were fewer large wildfires. But ignored by this worn-out argument is the fact that our climate was then cooler and wetter than it is now. Also disregarded is the widely recognized fact that commercial logging practices, rampant road-building, overgrazing by livestock, and overly aggressive firefighting that took place during those years were substantial contributors to the reduced state of health National Forests are now experiencing – disease outbreaks, insect infestations, and unnaturally thick stands of timber in many areas of the west.
Although some continue to deny the inevitability of our warming Earth, either for short-term gain or from lack of information, initial signals of a warming climate – the lengthening of the annual fire season, etc. – should now be evident, even to the most casual observer.
To suggest that increasing the very practices that were major contributors to the state of affairs that encourage the current abundance of wildfires is absurd. That proposal clearly indicates that those suggesting such actions either have something to gain from those practices – financial or political benefits – or they do not understand the cause-and-effect relationship between past practices and the current condition of the National Forests. Furthermore, wilderness logging and extensive fuel reduction projects would require wide-ranging road construction – a continuation of the human assault on the environment.
Even if logging or fuel reduction (another proposed silver bullet) were to increase on lands managed by the National Forest, it would have no short-term influence on the ever-increasing number and size of wildfires in the west. If accessible at all, most of the acreage burned in recent years is accessible only with great difficulty in many high altitude environments rarely touched by past fires.
The loudest proponents of logging and/or fuel reduction projects appear to have no sense of the varied terrain that our forests cover or their immense scale. Given their rhetoric, it is unlikely such advocates have ever visited the backcountry areas of our National Forests and Parks. Large portions of those zones are timbered slopes that are simply not commercially viable for timber harvest; regions whose best values are watershed protection, wildlife habitat, and scenic vistas that human visitors value.
That explosion of large wildfires, one of the many effects climate change has on the earth and its inhabitants, was forecast decades ago by scientists. Irrefutable indications of climate change – a warmer earth – long ignored for short-term financial and political gain, have arrived. Doctor James Hansen, an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University (best known for his far-reaching research in the field of climatology), has testified many times about the consequences of continued consumption of fossil fuels. We are now experiencing his projections.
Nevertheless, Congress continues to follow a course of inaction, excepting lip service, in supporting renewable or sustainable non-polluting energy sources. Keep in mind that, given its inability to accomplish anything meaningful, Congress is unlikely to approve funds for projects that require many years to complete and extend over hundreds of thousands of acres. The willful ignorance and grandstanding currently being demonstrated by many members of both houses of Congress is an embarrassment and would be humorous if it weren’t so sad.
The questions are no longer, “Who is to blame?” or “What caused it?” The question is now, “How should we deal with the situation?” Dealing effectively will not include doing “more of the same,” only harder.
Humans have spent millennia attempting to “manage” the environment and have failed miserably, always. Given the importance that the environment plays in our survival on this planet, it is far past time to end our misdirected attempts at reshaping nature for the sole purpose of satisfying human demands. We must either moderate our way of living to fit smoothly into the biophysical limits that Earth provides or perish. Understanding this basic concept is the first step in developing plans at each level – individual, family, and governmental – for dealing with Earth’s quickly warming climate.
Logging and forest fuel reduction have their place in current resource management and infrastructure protection and may be partially effective tools for achieving long-term methods for wildfire management. But, it is ludicrous to believe either is capable of preventing large wildfires now or in the near future. New methods and honest politics are necessary for dealing with the problems large wildfires present, not a continuation of past practices.