Acting Fast to Save Forests and Money
Retired Eldorado National Forest District Ranger on what must be done to restore forests burned in fires.
Last October, the Power and Freds Fires burned more than 23,000 acres of the Eldorado National Forest and rained ash down on Sacramento. Predictably, with the fires out and a Forest Service plan in place to restore the burned areas, a lawsuit was filed to stop the harvesting of dead trees.
For more than a decade, the same cycle has played out after major fires: The Forest Service develops a plan to rapidly harvest dead trees. Appeals are filed to block those actions and delay restoration. A judge eventually rules that restoration projects can proceed as planned, but those plans are no longer viable since the dead trees no longer have value. Ultimately taxpayers fund lesser restoration or important fuel hazard reduction work goes undone.
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The struggle to restore severely burned forestland is frequently portrayed as the classic logger versus environmentalist battle. The public does not see they have a dog in the fight, but they do.
The Forest Service makes difficult and scientific decisions when proposing restoration. It considers the ecological advantages of quickly reestablishing a healthy forest, economic challenges and the heightened fire danger that results from not harvesting dead trees. It works with the communities and incorporates water quality protections, wildlife considerations, and appropriate fuels treatments.
But timing is everything. There is a limited window of opportunity to remove charred trees. Dead trees lose their value quickly. They rot, and insects and fungi move in. Dead trees are also expensive to remove - once they lose their commercial value, tax dollars become the primary source of restoration funding.
Leaving dead trees standing creates a very real fire danger. I have seen ample evidence in my 46 years fighting wildland fires that dead trees eventually fall, fuel new fires and hinder firefighters in their efforts to containment those fires. The term "resistance to control" is a measurement of how difficult it is to build a fire line. When large downed fuels from a previous fire cover the landscape, resistance to control is high and it is almost impossible for fire crews to be effective.
Following the Gap and Star Fires, both in the Tahoe National Forest in 2001, the Forest Service's restoration plans were appealed. According to the Forest Service, after the Gap Fire, which burned 2,400 acres, delays cost the public about million. After the 16,000-acre Star Fire, delays cost $8 million. In each case, the appeals were denied, the science in the Forest Service plan upheld. In each case, the revenue lost due to delays would have more then funded restoration.
Constant post-fire restoration lawsuits are costing taxpayers dearly and causing a significant change in the Sierra Nevada landscape. Vast tracts of brush are rapidly dominating what was once a fire-resistant ecosystem comprised of forests of all ages and trees of all sizes. If we want our grandchildren to enjoy the majestic forests that we do, we must restore burned forestland and reduce the heavy fuel loads that litter the landscape.
Harvesting dead trees must be part of caring for forests. Incessant lawsuits need not.
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Bob Smart is a retired Eldorado National Forest District Ranger and former Incident Commander with the U.S. Forest Service who helped coordinate firefighting activities at the Freds and Power Fire sites. He is a Registered Professional Forester and an El Dorado County Parks and Recreation Commissioner.