A lot of snipping...sorry if you lose track...

(Larry Harrell) wrote in message . com...
(Dan Winings) wrote in message ...
On 1 Jan 2003 11:41:40 -0800, (Larry Harrell)
wrote:

mega-snippage of stuff about "natural fires" with nothing about the
serious explosion of "unnatural" catastrophic fires plaguing the West


I propose to thin stands to near historical densities and implement
burning programs in the fire prone areas of the West. The key is water
and there are just too many trees for the available water. Drought
resistance and fire resistance go hand and hand in determining the
overall health of our ecosystems. We have spent untold millions of
dollars fighting wildfires and only treating a symptom of the overall
problem. Last year we saw the funneling of dollars away from solutions
to the problem. Our efforts should mimic natural processes and
carefully restore necessary drought and fire resistance to our
ecosystems.

Without drought resistance, there will be no future old growth in much
of the West (and even the present old growth in these "droughty"
areas). That much is clear and not really addressed by the
"preservationist" community.

Many people also do not see the after effects of large burns, with the
ever-present bark beetles and burned cambium layers taking up to 5
years to kill off burn survivors.

"Mother Nature" will most surely "balance" some of these ecosystems in
ways that us humans won't like. That is currently happening all across
America, from the South, to the Rocky Mtns and all the way to
California and the Black Hills. It cannot be ignored and deemed as
"natural".

Larry eco-forestry rules!

And just to make things even more confusing

.... should we really be talking about "natural" or "historical" or
"adaptations", when the factors (e.g. climate...and we can forget the
argument about whether the change is man-made or not, just recognize
that it is changing) that brought about these forest conditions and
adaptations have ceased to exist and show no signs of returning in the
forseeable future?

As far as mimicking natural disturbance regimes or processes... good
luck. From what I've read and listened to, it can't be done. What
natural process does thinning a stand, loading the trees onto a truck
and shipping them to the next county mimic? Vertical and horizontal
stand structure _maybe_. Then what? Soil chemistry? No. Nutrient
cycling? No. And on and on and on. Too many "No's" to pretend
you're mimicking anything natural. I've heard horror stories of
foresters trying to defend this paradigm in front of the public. I
agree, you've got to do what you can, just don't be so silly as to
think you're mimicking anything natural, and don't dare try to sell it
to anyone as such.
Caveat Venditor.

Scott forestry is mind-boggling!