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May 19 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels March 3, 2004 A Trojan horse rides again By Jay Lininger Albert Einstein noted, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results." Welcome to the Ashland Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. The district proposes to log remote portions of the Ashland Watershed under the pretext of hazardous fuel reduction. It would cut 6,000 acres including older forests more than two miles from the urban interface. An environmental impact statement is forthcoming, and implementation could begin in 2005. We've been down this path before. The district's 1997 HazRed proposal would have cut thousands of old-growth trees from the center of the watershed under a similar strategy. Many viewed it as a Trojan horse for commercial logging in an improper place using fuel reduction as an illegitimate excuse. HazRed drew protest and went nowhere. Fortunately, community members rallied, and a consensus process fashioned the Ashland Watershed Protection Project. The AWPP, now in its third year of implementation, emphasizes non-commodity fuel reduction near the interface. Congressional appropriations under the National Fire Plan pay for the job. The newest proposal is more like HazRed, but it is 10 times larger. The driving idea behind the proposal is that 100 years of fire suppression caused hazardous fuels to accumulate with potentially catastrophic implications when a wildfire inevitably burns. This perpetuates a popular but unscientific belief that fuels increase until consumed by fire, ignoring the effects of fungal decomposition in an environment that is moist for half the year. It also overstates the effectiveness of fire exclusion. Organized fire suppression started locally in 1902, but did not become effective until the 1950s, when fire fighters could access the watershed via roads and aircraft. Major fires burned the watershed in 1910, 1917, 1924 and 1959. Fire-free periods of several decades are not unprecedented. Studies of 1987 wildfires southwest of Ashland indicate that fuel accumulation is not correlated with absence of fire, and that fires burn more severely in partially cut forests than in uncut stands. Exceptions exist, but uncut forests generally resist highly severe fire because their diverse structure provides shade, reduces ground temperature, keeps woody fuel relatively moist and interrupts surface wind movement. According to the Ecological Restoration Institute of Northern Arizona University, the effectiveness of mechanical thinning in fire hazard reduction is uncertain. Most evidence that fires "lay down" on the ground in thinned forests is anecdotal and not scientifically verified. Logging that opens forest canopies can, in fact, increase fire danger because it leaves tons of flammable slash (branches and twigs) and exposes the ground to direct sunlight. This raises temperature, dries woody fuel, increases wind movement and makes fires more intense and difficult to control. The 2002 Squires Peak fire jumped containment lines and threatened homes when it spread into one-year-old logging slash from the BLM's Spencer Lomas timber sale, according to the Medford Mail Tribune. Controlled burning is a proven effective hazard reduction practice. The Forest Service proposes to burn 1,300 acres, though it should consider multiple applications of fire in more of the watershed. It's safer and cheaper to light controlled burns in mild weather than to fight wildfires in the heat of summer. Fuel breaks can facilitate safer fire fighting and controlled burning, but they require maintenance, which costs money. Historically, the Forest Service uses commercial logging to raise money or else lets brush overwhelm its breaks, putting fire fighters� lives at-risk. The Forest Service should prioritize fuel reduction around the urban interface using its authority under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to spend federal dollars on private land. That is where the most serious fire hazard and risk to human life and property exist. The most urgent need is to prepare for emergency fire suppression operations, which are chaotic and cause more damage than fire itself. Fire is a frequent visitor to the watershed, and preparing for its inevitable return is crucial. Ashland native Jay Lininger studies wildland fire science at the University of Montana in Missoula. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams