California Forestry
» Fire in the Forest
Fire in the Forest
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California and other Western forests evolved with fire. Careful analysis of tree rings demonstrates that prior to 1850, our forests and wildlands burned as frequently as every few years. The evidence further suggests that these fires were generally of low intensity, and that they were ignited both by lightning and Native Americans seeking to improve hunting and food gathering success.
Forest management through most of the 20th Century sought to suppress all wildland fire. Unfortunately, the success of the fire policy gradually led to a serious build-up of flammable fuels. Resource scientists have most recently concluded that total fire exclusion is flawed, and are seeking ways to safely return low intensity flames to California's wildland ecosystems.
Fire can be a good thing. Forest products companies use fire in the forest to clean up accumulated logging slash or prior to tree planting. We also use prescribed fire to restore the presence and beneficial effects of low intensity burns in the ecosystem. It also helps to maintain certain habitat communities that historically existed in balance with fire.
However, fire is not a toy. It must be very carefully used in order to avoid unwanted consequences such as accidental escapes, excessive heat and resource damage, or unhealthy air quality impacts.
Just as we now know that not all fires are bad, it is just as true that not all fires are good. Devastating, stand-destroying fires are the single greatest threat to California's forests. Wildfires that burn too hot kill everything in their path, and can even seriously damage the fertility of the soil. To protect both forest and human communities, we still need to aggressively suppress almost all wildfires.
Reintroducing fire to dense, overstocked forests is not possible without some sort of mechanical pre-treatment. Forest thinning reduces flammable material, and therefore future wildfire risk. Thinning can also create beneficial wood products, including biomass for clean energy production. After a forest is thinned, the tool of prescribed fire can be utilized more safely and with more predictable results.