I’m not one to pull a punch against the enviros, but this argument is a bit strange. Logging targets mature trees, not brush, whereas brush buildup is precisely what fuels the worst wildfires. Not sure how logging would help — in fact, you could argue that logging would make wildfires worse by opening the canopy for more young growth and brush.
There were some nasty fires in WI and MI during the logging of the primeval mature forest era.
As you say; the problem is that there is a thick growth of fuel - both brush and dead trees - in modern managed forests. I'm guessing that this is because for decades any fires that start up naturally have not been allowed to run their course, and because no artificial clearing has been allowed.
Fires in natural forests burns through the 'easy' fuel - brush and dead trees. The fuel pockets aren't thick enough to 'connect' over large areas.
But in a toxically-managed forest the fuel builds up and up - and the fuel 'connects' across miles and miles. Any fire that start in such a forest rapidly become vicious, fast, huge - and profoundly unnatural.
This is a great article - really thought-provoking.
With logging comes access and the ability to get to a fire. During the process, slash is dealt with in one form or another. In this area, single tree selection is done with a precription that enhances age/size mix. We manage the land to prevent wildfire as well. Please find me anyone who wants his/her investment to go up in smoke. Also, ask any fire fighter whether they’d rather fight a ground fire or a crown fire. Separation helps.
When the trees are damaged by the Bark Beetle, or by prior fires, the enviros still sue to prevent any harvesting of the remaining wood. A large fire along I-80 near the Calif/Nevada border had a 5 year lawsuit over the harvesting of fire damaged wood. There was a window of time in which the loggers could salvage some of the wood, and the enviros sued to prevent such actions. Now, all of that downed wood is fuel for more fires. Bark Beetle infestations are causing millions of board feet of lumber to be destroyed in N Calif & Oregon & Nevada.
They also have prevented many thousands of acres of grazing permits by ranchers to be utilized.
This creates a buildup of ‘ladder fuels’ which then get a head start & feed into the larger trees. Lightning cannot be controlled, but the correct salvage operations can be controlled.
Add to that the severe cutbacks by forest department workers and the grounding of planes which drop fire retardant slurry, and you have further disasters.
On top of that, the entire departments which are charged with stewardship of the nation’s forest and permeated with the greenies, who are misguided with ideas that are not true.
This about “Crowning”.
The movement of fire through the crowns of trees or shrubs more or less independently of the surface fire.
Once a forest fire has “Crowned” Gone into the tops of old trees it creates it’s own wind and travels at speed.
You are correct. This writer doesn’t understand fire ecology or the USFS protocols that over the last 100 years have hopelessly mismanaged National Forests.