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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 30, 2021)
Wednesday, June 30, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon FORESTS: Prescribed burning helped defend Sisters Continued from page 1 preached an unpopular mes- sage to those who advocated full-on fire suppression, he is seen not as crazy but someone whose ideas could save the U.S. West9s forests and ease wildfire dangers. Millions of acres have become overgrown, prone to wildfires that have devas- tated towns, triggered mas- sive evacuations, and blan- keted the West Coast in thick smoke. Today, officials want to sharply increase prescribed fires 4 those set intentionally and under carefully controlled conditions to clear under- brush, pine needle beds, and other surface fuels. Last month, four Democratic U.S. senators 4 Ron Wyden of Oregon, J o e M a n c h i n o f We s t Virginia, Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Dianne Feinstein of California 4 introduced legislation that requires federal land manag- ers to significantly increase the number and size of pre- scribed fires on federal lands. Wyden said it would more than double funding for pre- scribed burns. <We would have a techni- cally skilled prescribed fire workforce,99 Wyden said in a phone interview. <We would streamline the smoke regula- tions in winter months.= Wyden and the Biden administration are also seek- ing creation of a 21st-century Civilian Conservation Corps, to provide more boots on the ground to work on forest health. In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation on March 18 that will clear the way for more prescribed fires by establishing liability standards for landowners who conduct them and creating a certifica- tion program. In Oregon, a bill from state Sen. Jeff Golden would enact rules for prescribed fires and a certified burn manager pro- gram. He envisions Oregon having as many as hundreds of trained managers to super- vise prescribed fires. <I don9t see that we have any option other than to increase the prescribed burns,= said Golden, who is from the Rogue Valley, where wildfires tore into two towns last year. <We9ve got, across the Western U.S., a buildup of decades of fuels, and it9s going to burn. <So do you want to burn in a planned, strategic way that has an element of con- trol to it, or do you want it to burn in megafires, with all the costs 4 human, animal, envi- ronmental costs 4 that that entails?99 It took years for forest managers to come around to accept and then finally embrace prescribed burning. In the first half of the 20th century, fire was seen as the enemy, with federal and state forest managers believing pre- scribed burning damaged the environment, particularly tim- ber, a commercial resource. But in the late 1960s and 1970s, federal forest man- agers began employing pre- scribed burns. Yet scaling up the prac- tice has been slow. From 1995 through 2000, an aver- age of 1.4 million federal acres (566,560 hectares) were treated with prescribed fire each year, far short of the 70 million acres (28 million hect- ares) that in 2001 were in crit- ical need of fuel reduction to avoid high-severity wildfires, biologist David Carle said in his 2002 book <Burning Questions: America9s Fight with Nature9s Fire.= Another 141 million acres (57 mil- lion hectares) also needed treatment. Several cold realities are stacked against the latest plans: The periods between wildfire seasons when pre- scribed burning can happen safely are shrinking; some forests are too overgrown to ignite without thinning; and prescribed fires can shroud nearby towns. <We have to be mindful of not pouring smoke into com- munities because that9s a vio- lation of the Clean Air Act,99 said Tim Holschbach, deputy chief of policy and planning with Oregon9s Department of Forestry. Furthermore, many land- owners are reluctant to use prescribed fire because of fears of getting hit with steep costs. Some states can hold burn- ers liable for any property damage caused by an escaped prescribed fire. Others use so-called simple negligence standards, which require the burner to practice reason- able care. A plaintiff would need to prove negligence for the burner to be responsible for damages and firefight- ing suppression costs. Gross negligence standards make it harder to hold people account- able, requiring plaintiffs to show burners acted with reck- less disregard if fires get out of control. To encourage prescribed burning on private lands, Oregon will explore shifting from simple to gross neg- ligence. Gov. Kate Brown signed legislation on June 11 that directs a state agency, in consultation with stakehold- ers, to study whether states with such standards experi- ence more prescribed fires and more out-of-control fires. The review must also examine the accessibility of insurance coverage for prescribed fires. Prescribed burning has prevented disasters and high rebuilding costs. In 2017, a wildfire threatened the resort town of Sisters, but firefight- ers were able to control it because, months earlier, crews rs, e t s i S you, k n a h s! T u g n i t por for sup 541-549-4349 260 N. Pine, Sisters Have a safe & happy 4 th of July Licensed • Bonded • Insured • CCB#87587 removed trees and brush with machines, then ignited pre- scribed burns. <The fire came to a halt, both because it had less fuels and also because in the thinned, more natural forest, there was a lot more space for the firefighters,= noted Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who is pushing for more funding for forest treatment. Scott Stephens, a profes- sor of wildland fire science at the University of California, Berkeley, wants a big increase in prescribed burns, along with mechanical forest thin- ning, but predicts it will be gradual due to both a lack of people trained in it and of political and societal support. That prescribed burning is now widely seen as a remedy would have been welcome news to Biswell, who died in 1992 at age 86. Harold Weaver, a forester 21 for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was also an early advocate. In 1955, Weaver published an article titled <Fire as an enemy, friend and tool in forest management.= Like Biswell, he was cold- shouldered. The two sup- ported each other. The West, which is more susceptible to wildfires because of its vast wildlands and dry climate, has been stepping up prescribed burns. In 2019, 3.7 million acres were treated by prescribed fire in the West, a 268% increase from 2011, the National Association of State Foresters and the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils said in a report. Stephens said prescribed fire and restoration thinning should increase at least five- fold to turn things around and create healthy forests as Biswell, his predecessor at Berkeley, envisioned. The Law Offi ce of JOHN H. MYERS, LLC — Downtown Sisters — WILLS & TRUSTS Make it easy for you and your loved ones. Call for a free 30-minute consultation. Protect what you’ve worked for. 541-588-2414 204 W. 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