| Perhaps no single factor has had a
more adverse impact on forest health than fire suppression.
For eighty years we have disrupted the natural fire cycle by
aggressively fighting virtually all fires, big and small. As a
result, parts of our forests are overstocked with young trees
and burdened with excess fuel.
This years exceptionally dry
winter could set the stage for another active fire season in
Arizona forests this summer. Two years ago over 6.5 million
acres burned in the West including 85,000 acres in Arizona.
The controversy created by those fires highlights the need to
re-examine our current approach to fighting forest fires.
Arizonas Ponderosa pine and higher elevation conifer
forests have always had naturally occurring fires. Fires in the Ponderosa pine forest were fairly frequent and
of low intensity while less frequent fires in the conifer
forests often consumed entire stands of trees. Fires thinned
the forest and removed excess fuel. They also created openings
for pioneer species like aspen and helped control disease and
insects.
In spite of increased controlled burning and policy changes
that allow some natural burns in wilderness areas, firefighters continue to jump on most
wildland fires. Fires are still viewed by much of the public
and media as catastrophes rather than naturally occurring
necessary events. Last summers Leroux fire and the previous
summers Pumpkin fire near Flagstaff are examples.
If we continue to suppress fires
we can expect even bigger fires in the future as fuel continues
to accumulate. We cannot mechanically thin forests and
remove fuel over the entire western landscape even if it were
biologically desirable which it is not. There is simply
not enough money in the federal budget. Instead, we need
to stand back and let our forests burn.
Prescribed burns are fine but we must also accept the fact
that we are going to have big uncontrolled fires. Big fires,
though less frequent, are as much a part of our environment as
hurricanes. They are usually a result of a combination of
environmental factors that include a long period of severe
drought, high winds, low humidity, and fire favoring
topography. It is these fires that have the vigor to
significantly alter and regenerate our forests. Fires do not
destroy forests, they change them. That is one of the lessons
of the Yellowstone fires of 1988.
Yellowstone and other big fires also teach us about the myth
of fire suppression. Efforts to control and extinguish big
fires are, by and large, futile. The Forest Service and other
land management agencies falsely take credit for putting out
big fires when in reality they only go out when there is
change in the environmental conditions that caused them in the
first place. It is not armies of fire fighters and slurry
dropping planes that put out most big fires, but changes in
wind, humidity, fuel and topography. That was the case with
many of Arizonas big fires including the Dude Fire (1990),
the Lone Fire (1996) and the Coon Creek Fire (2000). The
question is why do we waste millions of taxpayer dollars and
risk the lives of fire fighters trying to put them out.
Last year congress appropriated 1.6 billion dollars under
the National Fire Plan to improve our firefighting efforts.
Spending fire prevention money to protect communities at the
urban-wildland interface is money well spent but it should not
be spent on so called forest restoration or other logging
-in-disguise projects away from communities in an attempt to
fireproof our forests.
Instead of looking for excuses to put out fires, we need to
look for reasons to let them burn. Deciding when and where to
fight fires is complex, but we must do a better job picking
our fights with nature.
Last summer many people were concerned that the Leroux Fire
near Flagstaff might mar the scenic beauty of the San
Francisco Peaks. We must remember, however, that it is not
natures job to provide us scenic views.
On the other hand, go up to Escudilla mountain near
Alpine next fall and marvel at the large stands of golden
aspen on the high slopes and remember that it was a big forest
fire in 1951 that made it all possible.
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