WHAT ABOUT THE FOREST?
Cambria and this area of the Central Coast
has been recently treated to a sometimes loud and
an animated debate about the clearing of a
a firebreak. There are differing ideas about
how best to do that. This post
raises the issue only as a point of context.
I wonder why some of our Monterey Pine forest
is allowed to become a kind of tinder box?
has been recently treated to a sometimes loud and
an animated debate about the clearing of a
a firebreak. There are differing ideas about
how best to do that. This post
raises the issue only as a point of context.
I wonder why some of our Monterey Pine forest
is allowed to become a kind of tinder box?
A recent hike across the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve
and into a portion of the forest
revealed what, to this blogger, looked like a dangerous situation.
There are plenty more situations like those captured in these few frames. A lot of downed branches, limbs and even trees-
simply left to age, dry and become potential kindling.
I know experts who argue that it is best
to leave the forests untouched and natural. A strain of
naturalist or environmentalist will agree but others differ.
It seems common sense alone would lead to know that
less debris like this, kindling, makes for a reduced fire hazard. Chumash and Salinan tribes practiced controlled
burns to preen the wilderness and eliminate the potential for greater danger. It also allowed for healthy soil and native
plant growth.
As I hike the area, I need to suppress the urge to
clean up the forest floor.
Maybe some of the local hobbits will carry away
the debris and use it in their fireplaces!
In the meantime I wonder why there is such a
difference of opinion.
See you down the trail.
clean up the forest floor.
Maybe some of the local hobbits will carry away
the debris and use it in their fireplaces!
In the meantime I wonder why there is such a
difference of opinion.
See you down the trail.
If you tidy up the forest you end up with a tree park. It might weather a fire better but it isn't a forest.
ReplyDeleteTom:
ReplyDeleteWhat do the fire prevention experts recommend. It is the firemen and the people who live on the perimeters of these forests that are at risk and in danger.
Here in Arizona, the forests are thinned every year. Prescott came too close to a huge forest fire a few years ago. Several homes were lost but the town was saved when firemen were able to control the blaze virtually at the city limits. But in primitive areas, fire is a natural cleanser of the forest.
ReplyDelete