With the incidence of wildfires following a rising trend in recent decades the purpose of this blog is to create a forum for the thoughtful and considerate discussion of the causes and solutions to this problem. The blog host has a background in forestry and has written numerous papers on the subject. Recently, with the completion of the North American Tree Ring Fire Scar Network and scientific papers based on the data, the role of the Indigenous People in very effectively managing the landscape has become very apparent. This has made it evident that many of our perceptions of the history of our forest lands have been erroneous as was our understanding of the actions of the Native Americans.
Please click on the button above to access the full paper “The Forest Management Conundrum in the United States”.
This is the source document that contains the references, charts and graphs to support the positions taken in the Commentary Pieces appearing in the Everett Herald and possibly other locations in the future.
The Commentaries appear weekly, and as they are published in The Herald, they will be added to Commentary Page on the site menu.
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The two graphs following provide updated information regarding our forest resources. In the past, the USFS published inventory information once every ten years, in years ending in 7. I just became aware that they have now adopted a five-year interval. A very welcome addition considering the more rapid changes occurring within our nation’s forests. I’ve included a cover shot of the recent document. Of note, our nation’s measure of growing stock has continued to enlarge; increasing by 7.9% since 2017 for an annual average increase of 1.58% per year. Since 1953, the increase in merchantable timber is 72.6%. The downside is that the increase in the fuel load, which includes all the shrubs, grasses and smaller vegetations is much greater. This is amazing considering the fire losses we have incurred. Obviously, we have no shortage of trees; what we have is a shortage of forest management.
The graph below illustrates the relative importance of the two major controllable factors concerning forest fires, fuel load and temperature. Yes, climate change is an issue, but a very minor one in this situation. Fuel load is obviously the 900-pound gorilla in the room. Fortunately, it is the factor we can address if we choose to do so. While reducing CO2 emissions receives a great deal of press, the reality is that not much is really changing globally. We need to focus on the issue we can control which is fuel load. Please note the strong correlation between increasing fuel load and acres burned. There is virtually no correlation between fires and temperature.
For those who like to mine data, the report below will keep you occupied for some time. The link is https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/80035.
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We are now in the midst of the fire season and 2026 thus far has the greatest number of fires and the greatest acreage burned for the past decade at this point in the fire year.
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This site was created by Don Healy.
Email: dr.liz@frontier.com
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