A comprehensive blog covering wildfire news, Wildfire Today, has posted a piece that explores the need to increase the use of controlled burns on the Mendocino National Forest.
Publisher Bill Gabbert's conclusion?
"Forests are going to burn eventually. It is not a question of IF, but WHEN. We can control that burning in prescribed fires and do it on our own terms, or we can elect to do nothing and let nature (and careless fire-starting humans) do it for us with unplanned ignitions ... sometimes with catastrophic consequences and/or massive amounts of smoke."
Just came across this site and have to say you folks are right on. The Mendocino offers a great opportunity to show California (and the US) that fire isn't always the destructive force it's made out to be. Decent-sized controlled burns, especially in this part of the state, ought to improve the health of the forest while decreasing the odds of a more threatening blaze, and that sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Posted by: Andrew Peters | December 11, 2008 at 02:40 PM
Thanks for the good words. We do hope that this can serve as an example for other western public lands. Heck, some of us are even doing this sort of under burning on our private forest land.
Posted by: rfairbanks | December 15, 2008 at 09:40 AM