This video created by Jules Bennett is an overview of the wildfire environment we currently face in the United States.
“It’s a 6 minute informational video that explains why wildfires across the western U.S. are becoming increasingly destructive,” Mr. Bennett wrote to us. “It’s based on credible secondary research that I conducted over the course of a few weeks and tries to simplify the concept so that the public can become more aware of why it’s happening, and potential solutions to think about.”
I found the video good and helpful. These issues need to be simplified yet informative for the average citizen. He does this. We haven’t managed our federal forest for fire because of short term economic thinking. We still encourage and subsidize development in fire risk areas. And we have been in denial about the severity of climate change and what it will do regarding our future with wildfires . Hopefully the big lessons are being learned and will be acted on, at the local, state and federal levels, given what we experienced in 2019 and 2020.
I found this video more helpful in understanding the causes of the changes in forested land: https://youtu.be/O6Vayv9FCLM
When the “10 am rule” was conceived and applied for decades after the Big Burn, was their any intention to make sure that with that policy, the other work the FS was supposed to be doing was forest management such as Rx burns and thinning? What I hear and see often is the Big Burn and the resulting “10 am rule” receiving a big part of the blame for what we’re dealing with today. Was there an associated effort to manage the forests as well? It seems to me while the “10 am rule” had a role in suppression, the complete lack of intentional (versus the FS’s Managed Fire) forest management practices over the last 3-4 decades is equally or more so to blame. Why wasn’t there a balance here? Environmentalists and Spotted Owls? The absence of forest management bewilders me…always easy to blame our dead forefathers on their policies versus calling certain parties out in our current situation
This is a limited summary that completely ignores the human factor and the rise of Restoration Wildfire, letting fires burn on purpose and lighting large fires within a wildfire setting to achieve many more burned acres that would happen if we left fires to burn on their own. We are purposefully burning millions of acres each summer to reintroduce fire to fire-depleted ecosystems. This relatively new widespread policy has never been subjected to NEPA/NFMA planning and decision making and is illegal as currently configured.
“… and is illegal as currently configured.” Can you explain?