Beetle Hysteria Again

Beetle hysteria has raised its head again, and I am not talking about the Fab four. A prominent article in the New York Times titled “Tiny Beetle Adds New Dynamic to Forest Fire Control Efforts” quotes many foresters and others who suggest that beetle-kill trees across the West will create larger wildfires and by implications are “destroying” our forests.

For instance, Montana’s State Forester Bob Harrington said as much at conference recently, as in the article. While it may seem “intuitively obvious” that dead trees will lead to more fires, there is little scientific evidence to support the contention that beetle-killed trees substantially increases risk of large blazes. In fact, there is evidence to suggest otherwise.

At the heart of this and many other media reports are flawed assumptions about fires, what constitutes a healthy forest, and the options available to humans in face of natural processes that are inconvenient and get in the way of our designs.

The Fire This Time

Firefighting Needs Major Overhaul, Study Shows

Wildfire prevention efforts should focus far more on homeowners and key ecosystems -- and far less on random fires deep in the wilderness, according to a new study by the University of Montana, University of Colorado and Colorado State University.

The study -- which calls for an overhaul of the National Fire Plan --takes a hard look at federal efforts to prevent wildfires that are increasingly scorching the West and threatening homes near forests and wilderness. Only 11 percent of National Fire Plan wildfire-mitigation efforts in the last five years have occurred near people’s homes or offices, where it's critically needed, the researchers conclude.

Guest Column

Now’s the Time to Tackle Forest Fire Fighting Costs

As spring arrives, this year’s forest fire season will be upon us soon. The price of fighting forest fires has been increasing substantially, now accounting for close to half of the Forest Service’s budget and costing the taxpayer billions. Yet we have failed to address the root causes of these escalating expenses.

The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management often have to pay for fire fighting by raiding other programs. Congress has started to address this issue, and the House of Representatives recently passed the FLAME Act, which will create a separate account to fund fighting the most expensive wildland fires. If this passes the Senate and becomes law, biologists and recreation managers no longer may have to fear for their budgets when large fires break out.

Unfortunately, the FLAME Act by itself will do nothing to address a key reason of why forest fires have become so expensive - the increasing number of homes on private land near forested public lands.

Guest Commentary

Fire Suppression, Federal Budgets, and Future Fires

With fresh snow piling up on the peaks, and the 2009 Montana legislature getting underway in Helena, now is the right time to have a sensible discussion regarding wildfire and fire management in Montana. The cool, wet spring of 2008 made last year’s fire season a mild one, but last year’s lazy summer should not lull us into forgetting that wildfire is a permanent concern for Montanans, and increasingly is the 800 pound gorilla looming over our state budgets. Wildfire will return next summer, or perhaps the following one, and conditions are right for a big year.

Thankfully the stage was set for constructive talks about wildfire this winter when the Montana Fire Suppression Committee released its long-awaited recommended changes to fire management laws in Montana. Although some of the proposed laws lean the wrong direction, the majority of the committee’s recommendations are needed.

Guest Commentary: George Wuerthner's "On the Range"

Context Needed in Beetle Discussion

In the November 17th Science Section of The New York Times there was an article by Jim Robbins about the current pine beetle event occurring in the West.

There was a lot of good factual information in the piece about pine beetles and their basic ecology, and on the whole, Robbins did a good job of describing some of the concerns that people have about the beetle situation. Nevertheless, the tone and implied message conveyed an overly pessimistic and negative picture of beetles as well as wildfires. It was not so much that it had a lot of false statements as much as the way it was written. Taken together the various quotes, and background in the article leaves one with the perception that somehow beetles, as well as wildfires are “out of control” in the West's ecosystems.

Guest Commentary: George Wuerthner's "On the Range"

Notes on the ‘88 Yellowstone Fire Conference

I attended The '88 fires: Yellowstone and Beyond fire conference in Jackson, Wyoming. The conference went on for five days and had many simultaneous presentations, featuring some of the latest insights into wildfire ecology and fire behavior. The following are some of the highlights.

Weather and climate figured into many presentations for a variety of reasons. Speakers like Tony Wsesterling of the University of California and Tom Swetnam of the University of Arizona spoke about long term global climate change which will likely increase the severity and number of large wildfires in the future.

Many speakers from agency managers to wildfire ecologists emphasized over and over again the influence of drought, low humidity and wind on fire spread and behavior. The conclusion of speakers is that under severe weather conditions, some fires are unstoppable and we are already seeing such a trend in fires today.

Wildland Fire Conference

The Fires Next Time

Think about wildfire in the West and it’s hard to picture a rosy future, except for the sunsets bleeding through the smoke.

Climate change is creating longer, hotter, more explosive burning seasons, while more and more homes sprout on flammable ground. Meanwhile, the pool of firefighting talent keeps getting smaller: there are fewer trained crews, air tankers and helicopters available than there were 20 years ago. Complicated and sometimes contradictory federal policies make it difficult for the next generation of firefighters to get the training and experience they need.

And for those who do meet the requirements for this dirty and dangerous work, there’s a new specter searing the mind of fire bosses: criminal prosecution if something goes wrong and firefighters are hurt or killed.

While fire is increasingly – and properly – understood as a necessary part of many functioning ecosystems, controlled burning is a complicated and sometimes dangerous process. Fire managers often are reluctant to start fires or let natural fires burn, because an escape could leave their careers in ashes, or at least well toasted.

Those were some of the topics outlined this week at a four-day conference sponsored here by the International Association of Wildland Fire and the National Park Service, an event that drew about 400 firefighters, scientists and officials from land management agencies.

Aircraft was just inspected

Investigators Not Sure What Caused Plane Crash That Killed Two Montanans

Investigators have not found the cause of a Missoula-based firefighting plane crashing Monday near Reno, Nevada, killing all three crew members, two of them from Montana.

The Associated Press' Scott Sonner reports that investigators say the plane -- owned by Neptune Aviation in Missoula -- was just inspected and wasn't even close to its next 100-hour required inspection. The investigators also said there has never been a similar incident with the Lockheed P2V aircraft.

Authorities identified the victims of the crash as 41-year-old Gregory Gonsioroski from Baker Montana, 25-year-old Missoulian Zach VanderGriend and 61-year-old Calvin Gene Wahlstrom from Huntsville, Utah.

Click here for the full AP story.

breaking news

Professor Dies in Boise Wildfire That Destroyed 10 Homes

A tragic story this morning in Boise just hit the wires: Authorities have found a body in a burned Boise home after a quick-moving grass fire destroyed 10 homes in the southeast section of the city last night.

KTVB in Boise has the breaking story.

Update: The Idaho Statesman's Patrick Orr reports that the body is likely that of Mary Ellen Ryder, a Boise State University professor who had been missing since her house in Columbia Village burned -- the same house where authorities found the body.

During fire season in the West, mass evacuations can seem commonplace, overly cautious even -- especially when year after year, hundreds upon thousands of people evacuate from Western wildfires and often, nothing happens, to them or to their homes. But this is a stark reminder of just how important those evacuations plans can be and how we cannot be lulled by the routine of fires in our backyards -- a very sad reminder.