Watch This Great Video
by the John Muir Project
With Forest Ecologist Chad Hansen
A great video on the home ignition problem with Fire Scientist Jack Cohen
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/built-to-burn/
Fire Science: An overview
In justifying its proposal to treat 150,000 acres along the Bitterroot Front, the Forest Service evokes the specter of catastrophic wildfire devastating homes and communities in the Bitterroot Valley. The Forest Service announcement of public workshops on the proposal emphasizes wildfire danger: “This landscape just screams risk,” said Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor Matt Anderson. “This project is all about doing the right thing on the landscape at a scale that matters, protecting homes, property, and lives, and restoring the ecosystem for a host of resources. “
Fear of wildfire is understandable. In addition to watching images of California wildfires on television and the Internet, Valley residents have vivid memories of the Lolo Peak fire of 2017. The stakes are high, particularly in an area like the Bitterroot Valley, where so many live in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI).
Yet our fear should not be the basis for FS decisions. People who hike throughout the valley can see the evidence of unwise and/or mismanaged FS treatments in the past, such as in the Westside and Three Saddles project areas and in terraced landscapes. The consequences of poor decisions become magnified each year because of climate change. We simply cannot afford, both in terms of taxpayer dollars wasted and habitat decimated, more mistakes. FS treatment must be informed by the best recent science, not by fears intensified through heated, fiery language (puns intended) used by the Forest Supervisor (and our county commissioners).
The FS claims it is indeed using the best science available. But even a quick Internet search suggests otherwise—or at least suggests that the FS should more carefully consider evidence that calls into question their approach to mitigating wildfire risk. The public would also benefit from knowledge of recent research on wildfire so that we do not support FS plans that do more harm than good, plans that could even increase risks to lives and property.
Here we offer a few links to articles that argue for a change in management of wildfires. These articles are aimed at a general audience, at those of us who are not experts in fire science. Most also offer dozens of references to more scholarly articles for anyone interested in delving more deeply into the research.
An Examination of Home Destruction: Roaring Lion Fire, Bitterroot Mountains, Montana
A New Direction for California Wildfire Policy— Working from the Home Outward
Despite the title, nearly all of the articles refer to research and make arguments applicable to wildfire throughout the west and elsewhere.
Open Letter to Decision Makers Concerning Wildfires in the West
This letter is signed by over 200 experts.
Old Flames: The Tangled History of Forest Fires, Wildlife, and People
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/old-flames-the-tangled-history-of-forest-fires-wildlife-and-people/
Fire/Logging Myths
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2019/10/23/fire-logging-myths/