Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
They so Hate Shrubs
The hatred of rich understory native shrubs and delicate life forms that provide habitat for remarkable biodiversity runs deep in many. To them, anything that deviates from the mythological, park-like forest or open grassland is useless, ugly, dangerous. It must be removed.
The reasons run through a usual laundry list* of misconceptions:
1. Too much “brush” due to past fire suppression (demonizing habitat in favor of timber production and ranching).
2. Fires are destroying California’s forests (they aren’t).
3. Native Americans burned and thus prevented large fires (large fires have always happened).
4. Clearing habitat will protect us from devastating wildfires (it won’t).
*Additional information on all this can be found on our fire research page.
Hence, we have Cal Fire, the California Board of Forestry, and Governor Newsom proposing a program to attack 20 million acres of native habitat throughout California, with huge grinding machines, logging, and herbicides. They will likely certify their program this Wednesday (12/11/19) at the Board of Forestry meeting.
Please join us to help stop this insanity. The photos below explain it all. Nature vs. what they want.
A naturally dense, healthy forest vs. a artificial “park-like” forest.
Same location before, a healthy old-growth manzanita chaparral vs. after, a “fuel” treated landscape by the USFS.
Old-growth manzanita vs. after the masticators.
A natural, chaparral-covered hillside vs. cow burnt.
Post Rim Fire naturally regenerating forest vs. Post Rim Fire “treated” forest by the USFS.
Old-growth chaparral in Santa Barbara County vs. a masticated, weed infested post-chaparral habitat in Santa Barbara County
Deforestation of the Planet
With Governor Newsom and Cal Fire promoting the deforestation of 20 million acres of native California habitat under the guise of fire protection…
Stop the destruction of 20 million acres of habitat and protect our communities from fire
After 15 years of fighting to protect the chaparral and Nature, the moment has come.
The California Board of Forestry will be holding a hearing on December 11, to consider Cal Fire’s just released Vegetation Treatment Program’s Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) that targets 20 million acres of native California habitat for destruction.
Based on past behavior, the Board will likely certify it… but there remains a ray of hope IF we can put enough pressure on them and Governor Newsom to follow the science, not what the entrenched fire bureaucracy desires.
1. Please read and sign our petition (text copied below).
2. Send emails as suggested in the petition.
3. Please share this petition with everyone you know.
Petition
STOP destruction of 20 million acres of habitat
and protect our communities from fire
The California state government has just refused to do what is necessary to protect us from the wind-driven wildfires that kill the most people and destroy the most homes.
Their solution? To double down on what they’ve always done – clear 250,000 acres of native habitat per year through grinding, burning, and herbicides in their proposed Vegetation Treatment Program (VTP). Even though the state admits that this approach will fail to protect lives and property during the most devastating wildfires, it nonetheless remains California’s priority solution to the wildfire problem.