Here are parts three and four of the series of 12 videos produced by the Santa Fe National Forest on the topic of fuel management and forest restoration.
Fuel Management is defined as:
An act or practice of controlling flammability and reducing resistance to control of wildland fuels [vegetation] through mechanical, chemical, biological, or manual means, or by fire, in support of land management objectives.
Forest Restoration:
Actions to re-instate ecological processes, which accelerate recovery of forest structure, ecological functioning and biodiversity levels towards those typical of climax forest, i.e. the end-stage of natural forest succession.
Part 3, How We Got Here
Part 4, The Scientific Evidence
Well, I’m a dedicated fire/fuels nerd, local to where these videos were produced, and have followed Swetnam’s work closely for years. That said, these videos are extremely accurate and informative, but I would bet that nobody besides other fire/fuels nerds are going to find the SFNF’s videos engaging. C’mon folks, you have to punch it up a little, make the visuals and audio a lot more captivating. These talking hard hats are right on, but I can’t see them engaging the general public without a much more dynamic presentation. Actually, if I was at a meeting where these were shown, I might nod off a little. 😉