Smoke

[missing linc]

The more man tries to "manage" nature, the worse the problems are. I have believed that for most of my life, it also applies to the whole "global warming" bullshit, the earth needs to refresh itself and fires are part of the process. But as mentioned above, along comes some dumb bastard with a piece of paper that says he/she is smarter than all the rest of us and they know what's right and what needs to be done.
Smoke has been so bad this year I feel like I'm smoking a pack of cigarettes a day again, I quit 25 years ago.

 

[Professor Fate]

The more man tries to "manage" nature, the worse the problems are. I have believed that for most of my life, it also applies to the whole "global warming" bullshit, the earth needs to refresh itself and fires are part of the process. But as mentioned above, along comes some dumb bastard with a piece of paper that says he/she is smarter than all the rest of us and they know what's right and what needs to be done.
Smoke has been so bad this year I feel like I'm smoking a pack of cigarettes a day again, I quit 25 years ago.

Did you ever notice how ironic it is that most "land management" is just trying to undo the things we've already done or caused?
Mother Nature needs to take it's course, but we just need to help her out some if we've upset her natural chain of events too badly.

 

[clementine]

Did you ever notice how ironic it is that most "land management" is just trying to undo the things we've already done or caused?

job security

 

[go-fish]

the earth needs to refresh itself and fires are part of the process.

A big hurdle is that we have a public that is split. In some situations fire managers have a "Let burn" policy. In other areas we have "Full Suppression" policies.
The Let Burn policy is to manage lands in a natural way. You know like Mother Nature wants. Lightning fire in a remote area? Let it burn and put our resources to work in areas with a higher threat to infrastructure and people. Seems like everyone would gt that but you have people and politicians who lambast our practices. Mostly those are people who want Federal lands turned over to State authority which often leads to development of those wild lands. State and local politicians salivate at the prospect of making some money under the table or influence with donors who would profit from having land turned over to State managers.
On the other hand, you have Full Suppression tactics. As mentioned earlier, full suppression without a heavy dose of treatment is a recipe for catastrophic wildfire. Look at Paradise, CA or the town in Canada that got decimated. Around every town, when a wildfire starts they want to put it out immediately. Dating back to it's inception, Fire Departments are part of the Insurance business. The insurance companies don't want to pay out homeowners when they lose their home. Homeowners don't want to lose their homes. What happens when you suppress all fires around towns and DON'T have a full time fuels reduction crew or program? Fuel loading around the town. It becomes a tinderbox. You have to have full suppression tactics around towns but with that comes thinning through mechanical means or prescribed fires. People often hate the idea of prescribed fires when the smoke drifts into town, especially if it is in a smoke basin. There is so much push back from prescribed fire.
We are left with people complaining about both Let Burn and complaining about the extra work and expense involved in Full Suppression.