Commercial Logging for Wildfire Prevention: Facts Vs Fantasies
Commercial Logging for Wildfire Prevention:Facts Vs Fantasies
— By Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D., WesternFire Ecology Center
The notion that commercial logging can prevent wildfires has its believers andloud proponents, but this belief does not match up with the scientific evidenceor history of federal management practices. In fact, it is widely recognizedthat past commercial logging, road-building, livestock grazing and aggressivefirefighting are the sources for "forest health" problems such asincreased insect infestations, disease outbreaks, and severe wildfires.
How can the sources of these problems also be their solution? This internalcontradiction needs more than propaganda to be resolved. It is time for thetimber industry and their supporters to heed the facts, not fantasies, anddevelop forest management policies based on science, not politics.
FACT: Commercial logging removes the least flammable portion of trees-theirmain stems or "trunks," while leaving behind their most flammableportions-their needles and limbs, directly on the ground. Untreated loggingslash can adversely affect fire behavior for up to 30 years following thelogging operations.
FACT: Commercial logging reduces the "overstory" tree canopy whichmoderates the "microclimate" of the forest floor. This reduction ofthe tree canopy exposes the forest floor to increased sun and wind, causingincreased surface temperatures and decreased relative humidity. This in turncauses surface fuels to be hotter and drier, resulting in faster rates of firespread, greater flame lengths and fireline intensities, and more erratic shiftsin the speed and direction of fires.
FACT: Small-diameter surface fuels are the primary carriers of fire. Currentfire spread models such as the BEHAVE program do not even consider fuelsgreater than three inches (3) in diameter because it is mainly the fine-sizedsurface fuels that allows fire spread. Commercial logging operations removelarge-diameter fuels which are naturally fire resistant, and leave behind anincreased amount of fire-prone small-diameter fuels.
FACT: Timber plantations comprised of densely-stocked, even-aged stands ofyoung conifers are extremely flammable and vulnerable to catastrophic fireeffects. When plantations burn they normally result in 100% mortality of trees,yet have no native seed sources to naturally regenerate stands. Thus, burnedplantations require expensive and repeated management inputs to achievesuccessful reforestation.
FACT: Commercial logging spreads invasive weeds and stimulates the growth of"chaparral" brush which are much more flammable than the originalforest cover. Once the commodity timber outputs have been removed, federalagencies have no economic incentives to manage the vegetation that colonizessites disturbed by logging operations; thus, fires will continue to burnthrough logged areas.
FACT: Watersheds that have experienced extensive logging and road-building alsoexperience greater fire severity than unlogged and unroaded watersheds.
(End of article. Read more articles on our blog or return to our website. http://www.thebattlecreekalliance.org/ )
— By Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D., WesternFire Ecology Center
The notion that commercial logging can prevent wildfires has its believers andloud proponents, but this belief does not match up with the scientific evidenceor history of federal management practices. In fact, it is widely recognizedthat past commercial logging, road-building, livestock grazing and aggressivefirefighting are the sources for "forest health" problems such asincreased insect infestations, disease outbreaks, and severe wildfires.
How can the sources of these problems also be their solution? This internalcontradiction needs more than propaganda to be resolved. It is time for thetimber industry and their supporters to heed the facts, not fantasies, anddevelop forest management policies based on science, not politics.
FACT: Commercial logging removes the least flammable portion of trees-theirmain stems or "trunks," while leaving behind their most flammableportions-their needles and limbs, directly on the ground. Untreated loggingslash can adversely affect fire behavior for up to 30 years following thelogging operations.
FACT: Commercial logging reduces the "overstory" tree canopy whichmoderates the "microclimate" of the forest floor. This reduction ofthe tree canopy exposes the forest floor to increased sun and wind, causingincreased surface temperatures and decreased relative humidity. This in turncauses surface fuels to be hotter and drier, resulting in faster rates of firespread, greater flame lengths and fireline intensities, and more erratic shiftsin the speed and direction of fires.
FACT: Small-diameter surface fuels are the primary carriers of fire. Currentfire spread models such as the BEHAVE program do not even consider fuelsgreater than three inches (3) in diameter because it is mainly the fine-sizedsurface fuels that allows fire spread. Commercial logging operations removelarge-diameter fuels which are naturally fire resistant, and leave behind anincreased amount of fire-prone small-diameter fuels.
FACT: Timber plantations comprised of densely-stocked, even-aged stands ofyoung conifers are extremely flammable and vulnerable to catastrophic fireeffects. When plantations burn they normally result in 100% mortality of trees,yet have no native seed sources to naturally regenerate stands. Thus, burnedplantations require expensive and repeated management inputs to achievesuccessful reforestation.
FACT: Commercial logging spreads invasive weeds and stimulates the growth of"chaparral" brush which are much more flammable than the originalforest cover. Once the commodity timber outputs have been removed, federalagencies have no economic incentives to manage the vegetation that colonizessites disturbed by logging operations; thus, fires will continue to burnthrough logged areas.
FACT: Watersheds that have experienced extensive logging and road-building alsoexperience greater fire severity than unlogged and unroaded watersheds.
(End of article. Read more articles on our blog or return to our website. http://www.thebattlecreekalliance.org/ )
Posted by Battle Creek Alliance at 7/14/2009 9:57 AM 
Categories: forests clearcutting Sierra-Nevada_Cascade_Mountains global_warming climate_change wildfire
Tags: forests clear cutting global warming wildfires steelhead California logging salmon climate change trout
Categories: forests clearcutting Sierra-Nevada_Cascade_Mountains global_warming climate_change wildfire
Tags: forests clear cutting global warming wildfires steelhead California logging salmon climate change trout
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