Last Wednesday I testified at a
hearing at the State Capitol entitled “California
Burning–It’s Time to Clear the Air.” The event was sponsored by the
California Rural Caucus, a group of State legislators who represent rural areas. Senator
Aanestad and Assemblyman LaMalfa were there, as well as Wally Herger and some other north
state Congressmen. Several people from our local Fire Safe Councils came down to Sacramento
to attend. There were nineteen speakers, including scientists, agency people, elected
officials, and people who had been evacuated and had lost property to the northern California
fires.
My testimony included the number of acres burned in Siskiyou County
this year and the amount of federal money spent. I talked about how no suppression efforts
are being taken on a portion of these fires and that some will likely burn until the fall
rains extinguish them. I talked about the number of days people had experienced unhealthy
or hazardous air quality – that people were being advised to stay inside or go to
respite facilities where there was cleaner air. I point out that burned areas are prone to
winter erosion, which can impact salmon habitat.
I spoke about our 20 fire safe councils and their work with the
National Forests under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act. Shaded fuel breaks are being
created around communities that will slow the momentum of fast moving crown fires by
dropping them to the ground where they can be fought. I called for thinning and fuel
treatments further into the forest. I talked about the Meteor Timber Sale that had been
halted by environmentalists in court for concerns about “old growth forest.”
This part of the forest was among acreage burned in this year’s fire. In addition,
fires took most of two thinning projects that were ready to begin this summer. Suits and
bureaucratic delays are preventing work necessary to improve forest health.
Finally, I talked about the three Resolutions unanimously passed by
our Board of Supervisors aimed at encouraging accelerated fuel reduction. The first
Resolution in 2007 declared the condition of local National Forests to constitute a public
nuisance and a risk to public health and safety. It directed the USDA to abate the
nuisance through comprehensive and widespread hazardous fuel reduction. The second
Resolution stated that air quality conditions from fires on the national Forest harmed
public health. It directed that the National Forest provide an annual report of carbon
emissions caused by fires on their land, as well as a progress report on treatments to
improve the fire condition classes of Forests around communities. The third Resolution
declared an ongoing emergency due to the threat of wildfire in California and requested
the Governor take an active role to demand the U.S. Forest Service do the prevention and
maintenance work required to mitigate the risk of catastrophic fires.
Among other speakers, Fire ecologist Jo Anne Fites, who was
among those years ago who first recommended a diameter limit on trees to be removed for
fuel reduction. She spoke about how subsequent experience had shown that they were wrong
to impose such a limit. Resultant thinnings had not removed enough material to create
resiliency in our northern California type forests. They are now recommending flexibility
in the diameters of trees to be taken and thinning to a 40% canopy cover to reduce crown
fires.
Environmentalist Linda Bloom of the Quincy Library group talked about
how fires in the last decade had destroyed a great deal of spotted owl habitat. In order
for critical habitat to be protected, fuels must be removed to create fire resilient
forests. According to the American Forest Resource
Council, “in a little over
a decade, catastrophic wildfire has consumed approximately 300,000 acres of spotted owl
habitat on federal lands, which far exceeds any habitat lost to timber harvest activities.
At the current rate of loss, it has been estimated that 70% of the spotted owl
habitat in drier forests will be gone within a century.”
The State legislators
promised to write a joint letter to the Governor requesting action to address fuel
conditions in the north state. At the end of the meeting, Senator Aanestad told attendees
that while we were testifying, a representative of the Sierra Club was out in the hall
with tv cameras telling them that the hearing was a circus. |
