Why The Forest Must Burn
“After 15 years of massive and severe blazes that have blackened landscape and choked the community with smoke for weeks at a time, severely disrupting people’s lives and the local…
By Thomas Maness, Cheryl Ramberg-Ford and Allyn C. Ford Dean, College of Forestry
When it comes to proper management of our public forests, some would like to take a page from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. He posed the concept of non-action as an approach to life. In our forests, if we do nothing and let nature take its course, this line of reasoning goes, these landscapes will return to a more “natural state” on their own.
The trouble is, the natural state of forests includes fire — a lot of fire. They will never return to a state that existed in the past, because the conditions that created them no longer exist. What actions should we take to manage our forests for the multiple benefits we expect? We need to recognize that fire has a role to play and that, at the same time, we can reduce the risk of catastrophic loss. [Read the Full Article]
