The purpose of comments on this page is to raise new topics that don’t fit existing posts.
The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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The purpose of comments on this page is to raise new topics that don’t fit existing posts.
Hi Sharon,
I am looking for Posts V+ in this series: https://forestpolicypub.com/2017/07/24/why-we-disagree-about-fuel-treatments-iii-splats-spots-and-all-that/
Here’s V. https://forestpolicypub.com/2021/08/27/ten-common-questions-about-adaptive-forest-management-v-should-management-be-concentrated-in-the-wui/
I think I ran out of energy after that and never finished it.. sometimes if I feel low energy and folks don’t seem that interested, I’ll stop. But thanks for your interest!
New PNAS study on area burned and climate change: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213815120
From the abstract: Our results indicate that nearly all the observed increase in BA is due to anthropogenic climate change as historical model simulations accounting for anthropogenic forcing yield 172% (range 84 to 310%) more area burned than simulations with natural forcing only. We detect the signal of combined historical forcing on the observed BA emerging in 2001 with no detectable influence of the natural forcing alone. In addition, even when considering fuel limitations from fire-fuel feedbacks, a 3 to 52% increase in BA relative to the last decades is expected in the next decades (2031 to 2050), highlighting the need for proactive adaptations.
Thanks, A! I will discuss this but have to work through the BLM proposed rule, it’s on a timeline.
Link to Seattle Times feature story on Osborne Panoramas and landscape change.
https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/re-creations-of-1930s-forest-photos-help-expose-todays-fire-risks/
This is very cool.. thank you! I will post.
Thanks John and Sharon: Osbornes have always been one of my favorite research tools when researching past forest conditions. Most of the work I have done with them has been in western Oregon. Ridgelines were mostly open then, along the routes of ancient Indian Trails, and formed a significant portion of the “natural firebreaks” others have referenced. Other such breaks followed rivers and creeks and lake shorelines and were largely absent of trees and firewood used by fishermen, campers, and nearby residents. You may want to include this link in your post of this article for those interested in more examples: http://www.orww.org/Osbornes_Project/index.html
This article was about using the photos to “illustrate the consequences of relentless fire suppression” – not from restrictions on logging adopted to protect old growth habitat (as some seem to think). It also seems focused on “high elevation forests” where logging (or not) is less of a factor.
If you want to see more of my Osborne Panorama comparisons, check out this website that my son Charles built. Not all that I have done are on there.
Osborne-panoramas.org
Thanks, John! You are doing terrific work.
From the Seattle Times……..shooting of 500,000 barred owls to save spotted owls.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/feds-propose-shooting-one-owl-to-save-another-in-pacific-northwest/
The wildlife biologist on the Colville National Forest insisted on using the Barred Owl as a indicator species, and we actually set up a very large management area east of the Kettle Crest to protect Barred Owl habitat. The Colville did NOT have spotted owls.
I did have a long discussion with the wildlife biologist for the Colville and he was fine with the barred owl moving west. I told him I considered it an invasive species. He said it was fine, because the Barred Owl moved into the forest “naturally”.
Well, somewhat naturally. His take it was the barns and other structures on the plains that allowed the Barred Owl to hopscotch across the Dakota’s and Montana’s to the Colville National Forest.
Vladimir
Vladimir- I don’t know if you were with us when I posted this paper about barred owls. https://forestpolicypub.com/2021/07/25/did-barred-owls-move-into-western-forests-in-the-last-century-new-genetic-evidence-suggests-not/
I had a question about the FY 2024 budget (which is recently approved) and the impacts on USFS Research Stations and R&D. It seems like there is a hiring freeze in at least some (if not all) research stations, and it seems like the discussion is that this is a result of some combination of budget shortfalls in the budget (a small cut) as well as some allocation issues within the Budget Modernization efforts. Does anyone know what is happening here, and if hiring will be starting again anytime soon?
OK, we’ll ask.