WILDFIRES AND LOGGING - FIFTEEN FACTS

1. Wildfires are to western ecosystems what rain is to a tropical rainforest. They are necessary for the continued health and existence of these ecosystem. Wildfires do anything but destroy a landscape. Indeed, they are one of the major ecological forces that rejuvenate western ecosystems. Without fire, there would be no old growth forests of Ponderosa Pine and Western Larch. Wildfires cleanse the forest of disease and insects. They thin forest stands. They recycle nutrients. They create snags that are homes for thousands of species.
   
   

2. One timber industry advocate said, "I never saw a clearcut burn." Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course clearcuts burn. When long, hot summers dry out the grasses, brush, and logging wastes, they can flare explosively. When they grow thick with closely packed young trees, they present exactly the fire danger we are wrestling with now. The logging roads provide human access that is the source of the vast majority of forest fires. (from Dr. Thomas Power, University of Montana, August 15, 2000)
   

3. Two good examples of how fires seek clearcuts and logging roads, and ignore the moister old growth: the Raft River Fire on the Olympic Peninsula, and the Sundance Fire, in North Idaho--both in 1967. In the former, the fire literally raced from clearcut to clearcut down the logging road, completely skipping the old growth in between. In the latter (70,000 acres), the burned area was entirely in an area laced with logging roads and logging scars, once again largely ignoring the uncut areas.
   
   

4. In Western Montana, the fires are in are burning in the forests adjacent to some of the rapidly growing residential areas in the nation, the Bitterroot, Helena, and Clark Fork Valleys. At last count in Western Montana over 75 percent of the burned acreage lies outside of protected areas like National Parks and Wilderness. 96 percent of the firefighting effort is focused on roaded and developed areas where human lives, homes, and other structures are threatened. Spending tax dollars to protect isolated cabins and homes built in the midst of fire-prone landscapes is no different than building houses in the flood plains of rivers or condos on hurricane prone Atlantic coast barrier islands.
   
   

5. Commercial logging does not remove dangerous fuel loads. Instead it takes the largest, most valuable, and most fire resistant trees, leaving behind a firetrap. Commercial logging is not a prescription for forest health; it is one of the major causes of unhealthy forest conditions. Old trees and old growth are resistant to fire.
   
   

6. Logging Isn't Needed on Our National Forests. A recent scientific review team, led by Wenatchee Forest Service Research Station Scientists Paul Hessburg and John Lemkuhl, has found that on dry sites (which include much of the intermountain west), the use of prescribed fire alone would restore tree stocking levels and can be implemented on a broad range of cases without prior thinning.. Science Peer-Review Summary of the Wenatchee National forest's Dry Forest Strategy, June 1999.
   
   

7. Will Logging Prevent or reduce fire risk? "Timber harvest, through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate, and fuels accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity." -Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, 1996. Final Report to Congress.
   
   

8. "Logged areas generally showed a strong association with increased rate of spread and flame length, thereby suggesting that tree harvesting could affect the potential fire behavior within landscapes. In general, rate of spread and flame length were positively correlated with the proportion of area logged in the sample watersheds. "-Historical and Current Forest Landscapes in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Part II: Linking Vegetation Characteristics to Potential Fire Behavior and Related Smoke Production (PNW-GTR-355)
   
   

9. "As a by-product of clearcutting, thinning, and other tree-removal activities, activity fuels create both short- and long-term fire hazards to ecosystems. The potential rate of spread and intensity of fires associated with recently cut logging residues is high, especially the first year or two as the material decays. High fire-behavior hazards associated with the residues can extend, however, for many years depending on the tree. Even though these hazards diminish, their influence on fire behavior can linger for up to 30 years in the dry forest ecosystems of eastern Washington and Oregon. "-Historical and Current Forest Landscapes in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Part II: Linking Vegetation Characteristics to Potential Fire Behavior and Related Smoke Production (PNW-GTR-355)
   
   

10. "It appears significant that many large fires in the western United States have burned almost exclusively in slash. Some of these fires have stopped when they reached uncut timber; none has come to attention that started in green timber and stopped when it reached a slash area." -G.R. Fahnestock, 1968. "Fire hazard from pre-commercially thinning ponderosa pine." U.S. Forest Service.
    
    

11. "Fire severity has generally increased and fire frequency has generally decreased over the last 200 years. The primary causative factors behind fire regime changes are effective fire prevention and suppression strategies, selection and regeneration cutting, domestic livestock grazing, and the introduction of exotic plants. "-Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia Basin (PNW-GTR-382)
    
    

12. The high rate of human-caused fires has generally been associated with high recreational use in areas of higher road densities. "An Assessment of Ecosystem Components in the Interior Columbia Basin and Portions of the Klamath and Great Basins-Volume II (PNW-GTR-405).
    

13. According to Reed Noss in the Road Rippers Handbook (1995), research has shown that 78% of human-caused fires occurred within 265 feet of a road and in New Jersey it was determined that 75% of all forest fires were traced to roadsides. Other studies have estimated that humans cause 90% of wildfires and that over half are started from roadsides. (Noss, Reed F. 1995. The ecological effects of roads or the road to destruction. The Road Ripper's Handbook. 1995 Edition. Road Removal Implementation Project. Missoula, MT.)
    
    

14. The causes of wild fires are also widespread, including lightning strikes,barbeque briquettes, ATV exhaust, chainsaws, and logging crews. An exhaust pipe can start a fire. An automobile accident caused the Hanford Reservation fire.
    
    

15. Fire retardants: preservation at a price. Over the past five years, 409,721 fires in the United States have burned 18,382,397 acres. An annnual average of 15 million gallons of retardant have been used to contain the blazes in the past 20 years. It is estimated that in this fire season, a record year in which more than 4.3 million acres have already burned, nearly 40 million gallons of retardant and an unknown quantity of foam will be used.

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