“Forests to Faucets”: 10,000 Piles in 10 Days with Video

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Check out this video with burning piles in Colorado..from CBS 4 News. Worth having to endure the annoying ad, IMHO.

One of my media interests is comparing how stories are reported in local news compared to national news. My hypothesis is because they speak to people working with projects, the coverage tends to be more pragmatic and less ideological. Listening to this reporting, it is hard to find anyone against it. Because it’s not Timber Industry, it’s Denver Water.

“We have a lot of people glad to see us getting this done,” Armstrong said.

Up to 4,000 tree piles per day may be burned this year under a special state smoke permit, compared to the usual limit of 250. In the end the mountains and metro Denver should benefit.

“Catastrophic wildfire can have devastating impacts on our water supply, and so by treating the forest properly we can help prevent that and reduce costs in the future,” Chesney said.

The Forest Service hopes to burn more than half of the 20,000 tree piles in just 7 to 10 days. In the meantime, spending millions should help keep the drinking water clean.

That’s a lot of GHG’s, and why many Coloradans think that alternatives to burning piles could be good for the economy and the environment.

2 thoughts on ““Forests to Faucets”: 10,000 Piles in 10 Days with Video”

  1. Good Lord, look at the leaves! What the heck are they thinking? That’s all LP up there and darn few of those sticks have much crown for a release — AND I wonder how much windthrow they are going to get in the bargain. Wow. Nuts….but better than nothing.
    That all said, water yield should be better and hopefully the burn piles won’t set off a frenzy of popped cones to germinate. A couple of years ago I was just stunned to Google Earth around Tabernash and it was a sea of red and dead, I’d like to get down there for a Moffat Road pilgrimage and get another look.
    This is a perfect example of avoided-cost management. The Moffat Tunnel runs water across the divide so you know that 33 million spent now would prevent some serious expenses later. Amazing how people respond when a wrong decision will cost them. Ya know, like Hayman and the Black Forest.

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