Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
The Rim Fire did not “kill everything”
It’s time to replace the incorrect “forest fires kill everything” notion reflected in the LA Times article on the Rim Fire (9/24/13) with what actually happens. A burned forest is full of life-in-reserve. It will recover despite our hand wringing.
It was gratifying to read a clear explanation at the end of the article of the factors that led to the Rim Fire: past logging, climate, and to a minor extent, past fire suppression. It was also good to see mentioned that intense fires such as this are not abnormal. We only wish these points had been mentioned at the beginning. As a consequence, it is likely the main take away for the average reader will be that this fire “killed everything,” the soil was “cooked,” the charred trees have “no value,” and if we don’t do something soon, the landscape will “permanently convert to chaparral.”
Such statements are based on outdated perspectives, mainly that a forest has no value unless it can be logged. For example, charred trees have tremendous value as habitat-rich building blocks for a recovering forest. Despite the heat, the soil will be fine and the sediment that reaches the streams will introduce a rich variety of nutrients to the aquatic environment. To warn that “if we don’t intervene, it will convert to brush,” indicates that there is a clear misunderstanding about natural, post-fire processes.
How did the forest ever survive without us?
Photo below: the remarkable recovery since the 1988 Yellowstone Fires. The careers of a number of land managers were ruined because of the political pressure and hype about how the Yellowstone Fires were the fault of the fire service, past fire suppression, and that the park had been “destroyed.” Nothing could have been further from the truth. Unfortunately, we haven’t learned. The misconceptions continue with the Rim Fire.
Silver Fire Defies Popular Beliefs About Wildfire
Silver Fire Defies Popular Beliefs About Wildfire
by Burning Within the Deadly 2006 Esperanza Fire Scar
According to conventional wisdom, the seven-year-old vegetation
was not supposed to burn
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Defying the fundamental assumption underlying Cal Fire’s new vegetation treatment proposal (that older “overgrown” vegetation is the cause of large wildfires), the devastating Silver Fire near Banning, California, burned through invasive weeds and young, desert chaparral recovering from the deadly 2006 Esperanza Fire (see map below). Such high fire frequency will lead to the spread of more weeds and the loss of native chaparral.
Proponents of backcountry vegetation treatments have maintained that the cause of large wildfires is unnatural “fuel” build up due to past fire suppression efforts. Younger fuels, they maintain, will not carry a fire. For example, in commenting on the July 2013 Mountain Fire near Idyllwild, UC Riverside geographer, Dr. Richard Minnich, maintained that allowing fires to consume as many acres as possible would increase the protection of nearby communities for fifty years (Press Enterprise 7/18/13). The loss of 26 homes and the burning of young vegetation by the Silver Fire contradicts Dr. Minnich’s contention that much of southern California is in pretty good shape because older vegetation burned off during a spate of wildfires over the past decade (KPCC 8/10/13).
While sounding intuitively correct, such fuel-focused perspectives are not supported by the most recent scientific research. With a rapidly drying climate and an increasing population causing more ignitions, whether the fuel be weedy grasses, young or old native shrubs, or trees, southern California wildfires will likely continue to be large and intense.
Like earthquakes, large wildland fires in southern California are inevitable. Instead of trying to prevent them by clearing large areas of backcountry habitat, we need to use strategies that have been proven to be the most effective in protecting lives, property, and the natural environment from wildland fire. Namely, create communities that are firesafe through hazard relevant zoning, fire resistant construction and retrofits, appropriate defensible space, and strategic fuel breaks (within 1,000 feet of homes) in conjunction with firefighter safety zones. For those communities in indefensible locations, evacuate the residents, then focus firefighting resources on communities that are defensible. Such an approach needs to be incorporated into Cal Fire’s proposed Vegetation Treatment Plan.
Additional information regarding the most recent science on fire is available on our website.
Fire Service Unfairly Blamed for Wildfires
Research rejects past fire suppression and “unnatural” fuel build-up as factors in the size and occurrence of large fires in southern California
A new scientific review and five major studies now refute the often repeated notion that past fire suppression and “unnatural” fuel build-up are responsible for large, high-intensity fires in southern California. Such fires are a natural feature of the landscape. Fire suppression has been crucial in protecting native shrubland ecosystems that are suffering from too much fire rather than not enough.
The research has also shown that the creation of mixed-age classes (mosaics) of native chaparral shrublands through fuel treatments like prescribed burns will not provide reliable barriers to fire spread; however, strategic placement may benefit fire suppression activities.
The research will be presented during a special California Board of Forestry hearing, August 8, 2013, 8am, at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel, in Ventura, California.
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