Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
The 2017 Wildfires – How We Think About Nature and Fire
After the massive 2017 firestorm that hit northern and southern California, it is important to take a look nature’s relationship to fire and how nature has been characterized in the wake of what has happened. For this discussion, we will be focusing on the fires in Napa and Sonoma Counties, although most of what we write is directly applicable to the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties as well.
How We Talk About Nature. First and foremost, we need to reframe the discussion and consider the words we use. Nature provides beautiful habitats for a wild diversity of creatures. It is not “fuel.” Fuel is what we put into our cars and what heats and cools our homes. A dense thicket of shrubs offers the wild foundation of green for countless organisms from lichens to wrentits. It is not “overgrown.” The term “overgrown” can be used to describe our gardens and backyards perhaps, but it’s not an appropriate or accurate way to describe our wildlands, no matter how many fire or flood cycles have been missed. Saying nature is “overgrown” is at best, derogatory. “Overgrown” is a highly subjective term based on hubris, not the needs of a woodrat, a Scrub Jay, or a ceanothus silk moth.
Words matter. Due to the loaded terms that are continually used to describe the natural environment, it is no wonder that a significant number of politicians and members of the public either fear or distain nature and see no reason why we should protect it. To them, terms like fuel, overgrown, brush, and dead trees, have become bludgeons to attack those of us who want to protect the rapidly vanishing natural environment and as an excuse to log, clear, and eliminate our public lands.
Natural Fire Return Intervals. The best way to determine what the natural fire cycle is for an area is to examine the frequency of lightning-caused fires.
Save Lives or Treat “Fuel?”
Such devastating losses due to the 2017 wildfires are beyond tragic.
Forty-six people have died.
More than 9,500 structures have burned.
The community of Santa Rosa has been devastated.
Rescuers in Montecito are trying to find families buried in the massive wave of rock and mud that tore into the seaside town after heavy rains slammed into the mountainside above the community after its protective layer of chaparral was burned off during the Thomas Fire. The number of people killed in the mudslide has increased to 19. Some are still missing.
Such losses are unacceptable.
We respectfully ask the State of California to consider the following questions:
1. Why were so many homes burned despite the fact that most had complied with state fire codes when built and had reasonable amounts of defensible space?
2. Why did the vegetation clearance projects (fire breaks, prescribed burns, etc.) found in many of the burned areas fail to protect lives and homes?
3. Would the newly proposed vegetation clearance program by Cal Fire and the Board of Forestry, have prevented or significantly reduced the devastating loss of life and property during and after the 2017 Tubbs Fire, Nuns Fire, Atlas Fire, and the Thomas Fire?
Listing the Rare Refugio Manzanita as an Endangered Species
Today, we and our partner, Los Padres ForestWatch, submitted a technical request to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to add the extremely rare Refugio manzanita to the country’s list of endangered species. This manzanita species can only be found along a narrow ridgeline in the Santa Ynez Mountains between Gaviota and Santa Ynez Peaks. Listing the species as endangered would offer more protection from vegetation removal projects and development. More details below.
Santa Barbara, CA — Today, the California Chaparral Institute and Los Padres ForestWatch submitted a technical request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Refugio manzanita (Arctostaphylos refugioensis) as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). This rare plant can only be found in one place on Earth: along the Santa Ynez Mountain Crest between Gaviota and Santa Ynez Peaks in Santa Barbara County.
Discovered by botanist Roman Gankin in 1966 while he was exploring the Refugio Pass near Gaviota, the Refugio manzanita is an evergreen shrub that can grow up to approximately 15 feet tall. Like other manzanitas, its bark is a striking red color and its flowers are urn-shaped and white or pink. However, the Refugio manzanita, unlike many other manzanita species, only regenerates from seed rather than resprouting from the base of its trunk.
The Refugio manzanita is only found between 1,000 and 3,200 feet in the Santa Ynez Mountains between Gaviota Peak near Highway 101 and Santa Ynez Peak just east of Refugio Road. It has one of the most limited ranges of all manzanita species in the world. “This species is part of the rich and unique natural heritage that makes the Santa Barbara region so special,” said ForestWatch Conservation Director Bryant Baker. “It deserves to be protected.”