Daily Archives: September 17, 2018

ASHLAND, Ore.– Hundreds of people gathered at Southern Oregon University’s Stevenson Union in Ashland Saturday morning for a Fire and Smoke Summit organized by State Representative Pam Marsh. Pooling some 15 local and statewide speakers together, the summit was meant to inform the public about southern Oregon’s wildfire situation. As attendee Bobbie Wild described it, the summit was, “Very illuminating. Very reassuring in some ways.” In an interview with NBC5 News, Rep. Marsh described why it was necessary to hold this summit. “It’s been a very difficult summer, we’ve suffered economically, our health has suffered, we are looking at the future trying to figure what kind of community we can be if we have persistent condition like this every year,” she said. Covering topics ranging from forest management and public health to the economy and climate change, the panel brought together groups from across the spectrum.

Sean Triplett

Wildland firefighters are still the heart and soul of the battle against raging blazes, but a technology boom is playing an increasing role in efforts to snuff out flames. Today’s firefighters count on accurate data from satellites and heat-sensing instruments to chart the size, location and direction of a fire, Sean Triplett, group leader for Geospatial & Resource Information Management at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, told the Elko Daily Free Press. For example, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer uses two satellites that detect active fire and burned areas, then sends geographic information systems on Earth the coordinates of the spots. Firefighters and others have access to this data. The U.S Forest Service uses two aircrafts fitted with infrared cameras for more precise fire mapping. The aircrafts fly at night and at high attitudes.

UTAH — As of Friday, two wildfires in Utah County had burned a combined 68,000 acres, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. The fires were threatening to merge into one large and destructive blaze under a relentless late-summer sun. Clearly, this unusually hot, dry and combustible fire season is not over yet. But the larger of these fires, the Pole Creek Fire, also is unusual in that it has drawn the ire of Utah’s lieutenant governor, Spencer Cox. On Thursday, he tweeted a blistering attack on the U.S. Forest Service for what he said was mismanagement. …When fires are raging, it makes little sense to argue over politics and long-term strategies. …But frankly, the blaming needs to stop. Only civil dialog and an effort to build coalitions around common interests will lead to meaningful solutions.

Earlier this week the 113-foot tug Gene Dunlap brought an empty log barge to Port Angeles. The tug held the barge, which is owned by South Port Lumber of Coos Bay, Ore., fast in place for a couple of days at the log boom in the west end of the harbor while the crane operator aboard the barge loaded 580 bundles of logs onto the barge. In total 15,000 tons of logs were loaded aboard the barge for delivery to the Georgia Pacific mill in Coos Bay. Next Thursday two Seaspan barges will moor to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3 and be loaded with woodchips provided by Interfor. The process will be completed a couple hours prior to sunrise Friday morning, at which time a Seaspan tug will take the barges under tow to the Catalyst pulp and paper mill in Crofton, B.C.

SEATTLE  — Helicopters and trucks are relocating hundreds of mountain goats from Olympic National Park in an effort officials said will protect natural resources, reduce visitor safety issues and boost native goat populations elsewhere in Washington state. …The animals were blindfolded, put into specially made slings and airlifted to a staging area in the park. They were examined, collared with a tracking device, given fluids and then began a journey by truck and ferry to another area in the North Cascades. From there, they were flown in crates and released into alpine habitat. A plan approved by park officials in June calls for about 375 goats to be moved to habitat in the North Cascades, where the animals are native. Park officials estimate between 275 and 325 goats that can’t be caught will eventually be shot and killed.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon fish and wildlife officials have rejected a request from six conservation groups to protect a small predator that inhabits old-growth redwood forests.  The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday denied the petition by the conservation groups to protect the Humboldt marten under the Oregon Endangered Species Act. The state allows the predator that’s about 2 feet (.61 meters) long to be trapped for its fur. The conservation groups say the martens could be wiped out from trapping and roadkill.  The species was thought to be extinct until it was found in redwoods in 1996. It’s believed that about 200 individuals remain in two locations in Oregon.

In response to the Aug. 31 letter to the editor, “More logging in forest would curb wildfires,” I must say this is totally erroneous. Past logging practices are part of the reason why wildfires are so devastating. The large majority of catastrophic wildfires have occurred on either land that has been logged, lands that could be considered marginal timber lands, those without enough timber to be financially feasible, and brush, scrub and grass lands. Old-growth forests, while they do have fires on occasions, even stand replacement fires, tend to burn less often and the older trees are most likely to survive, unlike logged off lands where the older trees are cut down and the new growth are all the same species and same size, which burn more readily. 

Ryan Zinke

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently deemed environmental organizations “terrorist groups” responsible for the worsening wildfire situation in California. This exemplifies a widespread effort to mislead the public into supporting the timber industry over outdoor recreation and ecological conservation and has national implications for forest policy. The worsening wildfires in California occur at boundaries between urban and forested areas. Forest thinning is appropriate to reduce fire risk near human-populated areas. However, this is not where environmentalists oppose logging. Wilderness areas are, by definition, far from populated areas and allowing them to burn would not destroy homes or businesses. Not only that, but fire serves an important ecological role by clearing the understory, providing room for new growth.

After two years and $2 million worth of studies, the Forest Service is ready to plunge headlong into thinning 64,000 acres to protect the watershed of the C.C. Cragin Reservoir. The Coconino National Forest is seeking bidders to harvest 86,000 tons of saw timber and pulpwood in a 3,500-acre chunk of the watershed. The minimum bid is set at roughly $114,000. Hopefully, a logging company will bid on the project — although efforts to find contractors elsewhere for similar thinning projects have lagged years behind the original schedules. Even if the Forest Service quickly finds a bidder, it will likely take five years or more to work through the 64,000-acre watershed — with the possibility of a wildfire disaster looming every season. The project represents a ground-breaking effort to protect a town’s water supply by restoring the forest health across an entire watershed.