mhagen wrote in message ...

The Feds can't fix roads or manage forests without additional income and
they sure aren't going to get it from this administration. Unfunded
mandates from on high are are a rallying cry all over. Everybody's
hurting this year. SOME logging and SOME controlled burns are a
necessity just to begin catching up on the backlog.

Our el nino weather pattern looks like it will give us a late wet spring
- that makes it tough for burn bosses since underburns may still be
cooking when the shift to full summer happens. Its a good time for
commercial thinning. Too bad prices are so low.

And we haven't even factored in the real potential for another serious
fire season, despite the late rains. Also, I didn't mention the
difficulty in "threading the needle" in burn windows. Commonly,
prescribed burns are done in the fall, just to avoid "reburns" when
the weather changes to the heat of early summer. If it's dry in the
fall towards November, you can forget "burning targets" and it's just
lumped on to the backlog again. Many fire crews have lots of temps and
their appointments are strictly limited to exactly 1039 hours during
the year. Is it any wonder why the Sierra Nevada Framework is being
amended to provide more of a balance between prescribed burning and
thinning? Let's see what the "preservationists" do to explain how the
current plan would deal with the overwhelming reasoning against using
prescribed fire and hand-thinning to reduce 70% of the massive fuel
loads (as per the current SNF).

I don't see those prices going up anytime soon, either. Maybe when
private lands run out of small trees? G

PS The rain has some small morels coming up in my yard. They don't
look very edible but, it's an usual sight.

Larry