Comments on: The Politics of Fire Suppression: Did Bush Administration Budget Cuts Cause Bigger Wildfires?

By: Smokey Gets Burned : Red, Green, and Blue

Smokey Gets Burned : Red, Green, and Blue — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:32:03 +0000

[...] The Politics of Fire Suppression: Did Bush Administration Budget Cuts Cause Bigger Wildfires? [...]

By: Fire Ecology Part 4: Salvage Logging Hinders Natural Regeneration and Makes Burn Areas More Fire Prone : Planetsave

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:47:44 +0000

[...] The Politics of Fire Suppression: Did Bush Administration Budget Cuts Cause Bigger Wildfires? Tags: fire, fire ecology, forest health, forest rehabilitation, forests, natural regeneration, salvage logging, wildfire Add a comment or question Recommend this post Share/Email Stumble It green_options321:http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/08/06/fire-ecology-part-4-salvage-logging-hinders-natural-regeneration-and-makes-burn-areas-more-fire-prone/ « Previous post aj_server = ‘http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/'; aj_tagver = ’1.0′; aj_zone = ‘green’; aj_adspot = ’392542′; aj_page = ’0′; aj_dim =’300798′; aj_ch = ’378944′; aj_ct = ”; aj_kw = ”; aj_pv = true; aj_click = ”; [...]

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:42:01 +0000

Please. 11% budget cut or 100+ yesrs of fire suppression. What was Cal Fires budget cut? Nada. All these fires burn in areas that have not burned in over 50 years. We can't continnue to love our forests to death. Fire is essential to forest health like pruning is to roses. Global climate change, President (Insert name here) budgets, and acts of God are all easy solutions to complex problems. Unions, loggers, environmentalists all have agendas. The health of the natural systems and the welbeing of the general public are not on there agendas.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:33:49 +0000

The Bush administration's forest policy in the West has been one of catering to the logging industry. There's no profit to be made in controlled burning to clear undergrowth; there is profit to be made in "salvage logging" after wildfires. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but when Bush came out to view the massive Biscuit fire in Oregon in 2002, the policy proposals he put forth with fellow Republican legislators were all about "salvaging" and not about preventive measures to avoid a repeat catastrophe. As a result, environmentalists spent the next four years battling logging companies over leases to log sensitive burned areas that were recovering quite well on their own. Obviously Bush has no experience of the practical question in forest management, To Burn Or Not To Burn?

By: Kurt Kamm

Kurt Kamm — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:01:13 +0000

I guess I need to add a couple of comments. Initially the USFS had one budget, and each year the Parks portion was used to fund the increased costs of fire, which is difficult to budget. Now

the recent FLAME legislation DOES separate the cost of firefighting from the National Parks budget. That prevents the Parks budget being used every year for firefighting.

Second, I'm not sure what funding "fire prevention" means. With all the air quality regulations, no one will let anything burn for long anywhere. Controlled burns means fire prevention to me.

By: Kurt Kamm

Kurt Kamm — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:41:08 +0000

Much as I dislike the current administration and blame them for most of our ills, I don't think they are responsible for worse fires out west or that they have fiddled with the USFS budget in a way that hurts our fire protection.

There are several basic issues interrelated with the problem of global warming-

> Accumulated brush which hasn't burned in 20+ years. Lack of controlled burns, and failure to let natural fires burn enough to clear out the forests

> Increased development on the urban-wildland interface

> Power poles over weighted with fiber-optic cable

> Everyone everywhere expecting full fire protection at no cost

>Even some arsonists, the lunatics who think it would be fun to set something on fire.

It's a complicated equation. More money for more firefighters is a help, but everyone has to buy in and do their share.

Wish I could blame it on Bush, I do blame it on bush.

I have also written a novel about wildland firefighters in California. If you are interested, please visit http://www.kurtkamm.com

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:21:56 +0000

Why do the wildfire agencies refuse or under utilize fresh technologies to assist in wildfire control?

Does cal Fire have a R&D office to search for new technologies? NO! Do they have a pathway to investigate new technologies? NO!

What incentive is there to control a wildfire early if you are paid overtime for weeks.