California Needs Healthy, Managed Forests
As we approach this fire season, it's time for Californians to take a lesson from history and allow professional foresters to retain a complete set of tools to manage forests.
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For years, activists have used political and legal means to prevent the harvesting of trees throughout California, creating a tinderbox in our forests that endangers communities and devastates rural economies dependent on forestry jobs.
Over the last two years, we saw more than 1.3 million acres of overgrown forest and brush burn in California, including the largest single fire in the state's history. Sadly, the fires killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Even more tragic, this destruction was predictable and preventable. Just look for the thickest forest piled with logs and branches, or the oldest densest chaparral, and that is where a catastrophic fire will burn. Reduce the fuel and you reduce the threat.
As this year's fire season approaches, will more avoidable tragedies strike our state?
If we are lucky and avoid catastrophe this year it may happen next year because forests on public lands still aren't getting the attention they need to be healthier. Even private forests are growing thicker because burdensome regulations and excessive fees make forest management impossible for some private landowners.
Our forests are brimming with too many trees, with growth far exceeding trees harvested each year. Today there are about 460 to 1200 trees per acre in the Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest. My research shows that in the late 1800s, when the forest was healthy, it supported 66 trees per acre, and only 22 of them were large.
While we need to harvest trees in our forests, many sawmills have been forced to close and several others in the state had to cut staffing this year because there weren't enough harvested trees to keep the mills operating on a normal schedule.
Why do we have this paradox of overgrown forests and a lack of harvested trees? The answer is simple. A small minority of vocal people opposes any harvesting at all.
Thankfully, more policymakers today understand that a healthy forest is not a forest that is left alone.
Legislation and policy coming out of Washington, D.C., and Sacramento show an increasing willingness to address the crisis caused by overgrown forests. Even some activist groups that once opposed all harvesting are beginning to acknowledge that some is needed.
The public is learning what professional foresters have known for some time: a healthy forest is one that is cared for. Just as a gardener would prune and weed, we must care for our forests through periodic harvesting to ensure that they don't become overgrown and unhealthy.
Despite the progress that's been made, some forms of responsible forest management continue to be shunned - resulting in less harvesting than is necessary for healthy forests.
Today, if you own your own land in California and want to use a practice for regenerating trees accepted by professional foresters and the law - clear-cutting - you can do so on no more than 20 to 30 acres even after gaining approval from state regulatory agencies.
Foresters learned that nature clears small parts of a forest with fires, tornadoes, insects, and many other ways. This creates openings where pioneer trees such as pine can grow because they need bare soil and plenty of sunshine.
Other practices are also opposed.
Prescribed burns help remove low-level brush that can feed wildfires, yet some oppose it because of the smoke caused by the burns - forgetting that monster fires cause far more air pollution if not prevented.
Others oppose thinning projects deep in our forests, somehow thinking that healthy, fire-resistant forests are only needed near communities. They seem willing to let the rest of the forest burn.
As we approach this fire season, it's time for Californians to take a lesson from history and allow professional foresters to retain a complete set of tools to manage forests, including prescribed burning, thinning, and many proven methods for regenerating trees.
California is at a crossroads. We must choose our path now because time is running out. We can accept responsible forest management and have healthy, fire resistant forests and prosperous rural communities or we can continue down the path of bigger and more destructive wildfires that take human lives, destroy homes, and convert forests to brush fields.
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Thomas M. Bonnicksen, Ph.D., is an historian of North American forests and the originator of "restoration forestry." He is professor emeritus of forest science at Texas A&M University, visiting scholar at The Forest Foundation,and author of "America's Ancient Forests" (John Wiley, 2000).