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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Drag your braaaaains down Main Street Friday Budget committee members needed Videos of local candidate forums airing now on TV Ashland's Lithia Park named a Great Public Space Figuring out the character can be a bit of a puzzle Education Budget committee members needed Fighting back against hackers SOU wants its students to love Ashland AHS drops homecoming king, queen A busy homecoming week for AHS students Environment Fires and forests evolved together, but now people are in the mix Marijuana growers are threat to salmon, biologists conclude Annual tour shows how to live green Taking action here, now on global climate change Garden serves up a feast fit for monarchs Business Lashland Pizzeria hopes for Mystic rebound Ski survey gets heavy response John Kalb, Ashland chiropractor The Coffee Window Politics and elections Videos of local candidate forums airing now on TV Election officials fine Richardson for late reporting of rent-free home Sheriff a no-show at Ashland Chamber forum New script for film ordinance sent back to rewrite November elections right around the corner State News Nation - World Obituaries Death Notices Charlotte Louise White (Crenshaw) Death Notices Death Notices Death Notices Sports Latest Stories Arizona likely to key in on Oregon QB Mariota Grizzlies rough up Eagles for fourth win in a row Dodge rewrites NAIA record books Four Raiders pick up weekly honors Something old, something new and something at the last second High school Grizzlies rough up Eagles for fourth win in a row Four Raiders pick up weekly honors Something old, something new and something at the last second Ashland pulls out homecoming thriller Elizabeth Institute donates pink socks to AHS soccer Southern Oregon University Arizona likely to key in on Oregon QB Mariota Dodge rewrites NAIA record books Four Raiders pick up weekly honors No. 14 Southern Oregon pulls out rollercoaster win over No. 11 Eastern Oregon Revamped Raider Stadium ready for test drive Opinion Latest Stories Granlund cartoon: A real horror story - Ebola Jim Brock: Time to call off the drones, Mr. President Our View: Our View Letters to the Editor, Oct. 2 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 1 Editorial Our View: Our View SOU control shifts downstate Our view: SOU reaches out to downtown Homecoming changes with the times Keep film ordinance simple Letters Letters to the Editor, Oct. 2 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 1 Letters to the Editor, Sept. 29 Letters to the Editor, Sept. 26 Letters to the Editor, Sept. 25 Guest opinions Us versus them Remembering a very prominent local lady Remembering a simpler time in Ashland Fostering a culture of peace in Ashland Stuck on the sands of hesitation Revels Latest Stories Best Bets: Oct. 2-9 Ashland's First Friday Art Walk Rogue Valley Symphony opens its 2014-15 season Community blog: Local poets celebrate with a reading and a chapbook Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Theater Camelot Theatre presents 'Spotlight on Johnny Mercer' Southern Oregon hosts its Lunacy Theatre Festival Friends of Jim Giancarlo remember Ashland theater icon Freud v. Lewis: Intellectual heavyweights spar over life's big issues 'Freud's Last Session" at Ashland Contemporary Theatre Music Rogue Valley Symphony opens its 2014-15 season Q&A: Nacosta Muscian's career spins back through Ashland Sean Hayes at the Armory Q&A: Rachael Miles Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Movies Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas New script for film ordinance sent back to rewrite Still stifling laughter 40 years after 'Young Frankenstein' 'The Drop' hits all the marks Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Community Blog: Predicting Peace - Part 3 of 7 'SOU Loves Ashland' Unitarian Universalists welcome the Rev. Nan White Professional care a great help in dealing with dementia Kiwanis Club names new officers Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs NEWS NOW Drag your braaaaains down Main Street Friday ... Our View: Our View ... Budget committee members needed ... Drag your braaaaains down Main Street Friday ... Our View: Our View ... Budget committee members needed ... COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTOR: WILD SIDE Fires and forests evolved together, but now people are in the mix By Joseph Vaile For the Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile For the Daily Tidings Posted Sep. 30, 2014 @ 4:02 pm By Joseph Vaile For the Daily Tidings Posted Sep. 30, 2014 @ 4:02 pm » RELATED CONTENT • Getting away from — and back into — it all • What do you think of the return of wolves to Jackson County? » Social News I run outside a few times a week. Running serves a dual purpose for me. It keeps me in decent shape and it clears my mind. These past few weeks though, running has been a drag. I’m not sure what it’s like to smoke a pack of cigarettes, but it must be similar to jogging during fire season. Recently, as I ran in the heat sucking up so-called air, thoughts were racing through my head. “How bad is this crappy air for my lungs? Worse yet, what about my kids? Are these fires the new norm? Is this a harbinger of climate change — a sign of imminent apocalypse?!?” As a wilderness lover and forest conservationist, it feels like I’ve had at least two million conversations about forest fire over the past two decades. Well, not two million, but let’s just say the debate has been raging for a long time.  It’s a topic full of complexity, but basically there are two viewpoints. One view is that we should stop all forest fires through human intervention. For 70 years our friend Smokey Bear has taught us this: “Only YOU can prevent wild fires.” The other view is that we should simply embrace forest fire as a natural ecological process — accept it like we do photosynthesis or the weather. Some say that where there’s fire, we should let it run its natural course and burn. Both perspectives resonate with me. My biologist self knows that forests evolved with fire for millennia and appreciates the natural ecological process. A wise person told me once that forests need fire like they need rain. Fires germinate seeds and clear out brush, helping forest grow the colossal trees we love in our mountains today. These “fire-evolved forests" provide us clean drinking water, recreation playgrounds and habitat for pollinators essential to food production. Still, my humanitarian self recalls the recent heartbreaking images of a wildfire gone out of control in Weed, Calif. Residents are picking up the pieces and returning to piles of ashes that used to be their homes. Every kind-hearted soul would do just about anything to help these people recover from this catastrophe.  Huffing and puffing along, I wind along the trails above Lithia Park, admiring the forests in the hills above me, and looking down at our quaint city below. I’m running through the wildland-urban interface, where homes stand precariously on lands prone to fire. I feel a sense of gratitude for groups like the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, which has spent two decades preparing local forests for fire. Despite the smoky conditions, for a moment I have total clarity: We need to embrace these seemingly contradictory views at the same time. Just as we fight fires that put our communities in harm's way and honor the valiant efforts of fire fighters, we need to celebrate fires that land managers allow to burn in Crater Lake National Park and other wild areas. As a society, if we expect the services we value from our forest to be there in the future, we must seek a better relationship with fire. Just then I run by a forest that was thinned of small trees and burned under controlled conditions. I stopped to view the charred brush and the blackened bark of the large trees, looking up to appreciate the healthy crowns of the still live trees. I see a few smaller dead trees and realize that is OK. I’d been a part of reviewing this project years ago, and I was thankful for the forethought and the risks that were taken to thin and burn the area. I catch my breath, start back up the hill and pray for an end to fire season. I will always hate smoke. Joseph Vaile is executive director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild, 541-488-5789, www.kswild.org).       By Joseph Vaile For the Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile For the Daily Tidings Posted Sep. 30, 2014 @ 4:02 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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