Is There a Link Between Forest Management Practices & Wildfire Proliferation & Accelerated Climate Response? A Thought Experiment

 

A Road in a Mountain Forest (photo by V.A.McMillan)

Title: Is There a Link Between Forest Management Practices & Wildfire Proliferation & Accelerated Climate Response? A Thought Experiment

07 December 2024

It has been too long since my last blog post. I am still flustered by the Google takeover of Blogger and the insidious over-reach that Google thinks is okay to place “cookies” on my source photos. So, again, I will initially post on my Steemit page [not this time] and then copy back to Blogger. Now to the real content of this post…

For every child who grew up during the late ‘60’s, ‘70’s, and ‘80’s in my part of Canuckistan had the pleasure to be introduced to Dr. Seuss and The Lorax (1971),

a cautionary tale of over consumption without due regard for proper resource management and you screw everything up. One might observe that we are in fact living that very tale…greed, that myopic lust for profits, taints decision-making for too many in the positions of power. So, we shall explore how poor management of our forests may be the link to where we are today.

Definitions:

The scientific method – in my own words – is the process of asking a question about the nature or man-made world, observing conditions, and proposing a theory of the cause/effect of the observation. Future observers notice an inconsistency and propose an alternate theory. These theories are then examined, debated, supported or refuted, and further experiments are conducted to provide the best answer to the original question. If a universally accepted answer is developed then a “law” is crafted…and until evidence to the contrary is found, is accepted as truth or fact.

Researcher Bias: I will be the first to admit the bastardization of the science to fit an ideology is a supreme antagonist. I find it hard to bite my tongue when such manipulations of the information are exploited to create propaganda to hoodwink the masses. The Global Warm propaganda is a case in point. The use of fear to beat the masses into accepting a flawed theory and call it science is disgusting. This is akin to Bible-thumping Preachers terrorizing a congregation with threats of God’s damnation if they don’t do “X”. God is angry, so we get earthquakes or forest fires. Correct your ways of you will be damned in this life and the afterlife!!! Mainstream science behaves in much the same way, except mainstream media have the power to amplify the message reaching a much larger audience. So, yes, I have bias. I know it. I have declared it, and now you know it.

The question we want to explore is:

Is There a Link Between Forest Management Practices & Wildfire Proliferation & Accelerated Climate Response?

While I will endeavour to be as concise as possible, I may require the odd tangent to attempt to show connections. I request your indulgence to allow these odd distractions. Wow, that was a protracted introduction…

 

Current Situational Summation:

For the last decade and a bit, say back to at least 2011, we in Canuckistan have had more than our fair share of wildfire/forest fires. We are not talking about the normal big forest fires we have always had. I am talking about very memorable fires that were HUGE! I guess as I sit here this list could include: the 2003 McLure Wildfire, the 2011 Slave Lake Wildfire, 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, 2017? White Rock Lake Wildfire, 2023 Donnie Creek Wildfire, 2023 Rainbow Lake Wildfire, and the recent 2024 Jasper Wildfire. I know I am missing lots of other big fires. But this list is representative of a pattern in recent years. We are told that due to 150 years of fighting wildfire and not letting the forests burn, we “humans” are messing with the natural forest process of death and rebirth/regeneration. So, the “new” wildfire process is to let fires burn until they endanger inhabited areas or assets worth protecting. And then we “humans” fail to extinguish those fires at critical points in time or space. So, how did we get this messed up?

We are also told human consumption of carbon-based fuel – aka gasoline, diesel, & coal; to provide electricity to power our world or transport us from location-to-location we are causing the planet to heat up and that is BAD! This increased heat is causing everything to go wrong. More droughts. More floods. More tornadoes. More hurricanes. More severe winter storms. More forest fires. In general, we are causing ourselves more grief. If we immediately return to living conditions of the 16th century or there abouts we will instantly reform the health of the planet and all will be good. What a crock of road apples!! Is there a problem in how humans interact with the planet Earth? Absolutely! When you do not respect your home, you are bound to create a foul mess. And that we have done and in the current leadership vacuum on the planet we are unlikely to find much less follow a path to correct our misdeeds. So, with few leaders to guide us to a positive solution, the negative leaders are more than willing to exploit the planet and people to make themselves wealthy and everyone else poor.

Ever heard of Systems Theory? It is about the connectedness or interconnectedness of all systems, such as in our biosphere. Impact this part and it will impact that part. Screw with this and you mess up that. Try to fix this without understanding how it connects to something else, and you break two components. Welcome to our current world where hairless apes have nuclear weapons but lack clean drinking water!!!

Observations:

First let me disclose my assumption. When the forests – temperate, tropic - including jungles, and rain forests were fully intact the planet was in a state balance. In the last millennium or so, after the discovery and perfection of iron then steel tools, we humans have been able to harvest forests of all kinds at our will. When challenged we crafted better and better tools to improve the harvest. Unfortunately, on too many occasions, the motivator for increased harvests was based on “profit” of some type – financial, militarily or political power. Thus, the forests and their health are the core to exacerbating the problem or solving the problem.

 

 

A Healthy Forest

Let us use simple terms and simple images, like the one above. A healthy forest with a double canopy, at a mature forest stage will have minimal significant growth in the understory (below the lower canopy). The spacing between the trees is optimized for tree growth, root development, and height, resulting in timber highly valued for harvesting.

The understory also maintains an effective water management system to hydrates subsurface as well as in the air/atmosphere. If you have ever walked or hiked through a big forest, which blocks out direct sunshine on a hot summer day, you may have noticed how heavy the air was. The heavy air is very humid which both moderate the understory temperature and hydrate the big trees. To a lesser extent, the forest also maintains an aura of moist air above the upper canopy, which cools the local air in the summer, as water drawn up from the roots is evaporated out the top of the tree. So, if Global Warming was to be a problem needing solving, intact forest canopies may contribute to the solution. More about that later. Thus, in the summer an intact forest canopy above a healthy forest will moderate local temperatures and humidity. Both characteristics discourage wildfire occurrence and intensity.

Possibly more important is the role played by healthy forests in managing the melt of winter snows in the spring. In a healthy forest, the snows that are trapped on the forest floor are shielded from melting from direct exposure to the sun’s rays. This has two immediate observable impacts, first, the slower melt allows for the ground to thaw and absorb the moisture into the deep layer(s) below the surface duff. This deep hydration provides moisture for the trees throughout the summer. The second impact, is that slow melting reduces or possibly eliminates rapid inundation of runoff into local waterways, reducing spring flood conditions locally and downstream. Without runoff, there is less opportunity for soil erosion, especially on side slopes. More about this soon.

So, to consolidate this example…a healthy forest manages hydration year-round, prevents spring floods, and generally maintains a cooler micro-climate in proximity to the forest.

Clear Cut Logging

Allow me to use a simple example to illustrate the connectedness of the forest systems and how messing with one can trigger troubles in others. The sample I wish to focus on is clear cur logging. This is a forest management practice which allows for a portion of the forest to be harvested of every tree within a designated space. This technique is favoured by large corporate wood processing firms. In their cost-benefit analysis, the damage done to the forest is offset by the huge profits gained. Later the corporation will send in tree planters to “re-stock” the forest. It is all business after all. In my blog post “The Ten-Ten-100 Plan” Link I explain how a forest can be harvested that increases profits in the long term and maintains a healthy forest ecology. Clear Cut Harvesting is NOT the only way to log a forest. For the record, I am not against logging, I am against logging that disregards how the harvest impacts everything else.

In the image above we have two examples – flat terrain and side slope terrain with a healthy forest (#1 & #3) and examples of clear-cut harvests (#2 & #4). As discussed in the Healthy Forest section, water management is a key function of a healthy forest. When you remove a large patch of the forest, it is like cutting a chuck out of a muscle. The supporting tissues are removed, the skin/shield is removed, and the wound bleeds. The impaired hydration management impacts both summer and winter cycles. When winter snows pile up on the forest floor they insulate the ground from thawing in the spring, allowing for the snows to melt before the ground thaws. If the ground is still frozen when the snows melt the resulting waters “run off” – either pooling in low areas or flowing downhill to ever larger streams or rivers. This is a process that takes days not weeks, like the understory of a healthy forest. The rapid spring melt and runoff contributes to spring flooding conditions referred to as freshets (a term I did not hear when I was growing up and going to school). Further aspirating things, this rapid melt also strips away soil, dirt, and exposes tree root systems. The loss of the duff protecting and feeding the tree root system also weakens the tree’s hold, resulting in more leaning trees and snags. Both are elements that help a wildfire burning up to the crown and standing deadwood fuels the wildfires’ intensity.

Now, if the clear-cut blocks are on side slopes, the impacts are magnified even greater. The steeper slopes accelerate the velocity of the runoff water, which then erode even deeper into the soil system. This leads to mudslides which can then wipeout highways, roads, homes, or managed water ways. Once the hillsides are stripped of soil, dirt, & duff, it becomes very, very difficult to re-establish trees. This leads to a repeating cycle of fast spring melts and resulting flood conditions downhill and downstream. This also leads to repeating cycles of hot, dry forests that cannot protect themselves from wildfires. Unless the summers are wet with plenty of rainy conditions, the trees of the remaining forests cannot stay properly hydrated until the snows of winter arrive. Furthermore, these large, deforested tracts create more hot, dry air that rises and contributes to the increasing windy conditions. These winds further strip moisture from trees and soil alike. This becomes a new system that destroys healthy forests.

Wildland Firefighting:

Self-identifying that mistakes may have been made in forest management in the past is commendable. Trying to correct alleged errors of the past 150 years in a decade or two without a visible plan or shared goals is sheer folly. This change in management objectives is good, if it wasn’t in a silo. Like forest harvest management occurring in a silo, there needs to be a shared plan going forward to fix past forest mismanagement. Government cutbacks in wildfire technology does not help this either. If I did not know better, I would almost conclude that collusion was a foot. How can we defend rural communities and neighbourhoods from wildfire if the tools for rapid interdiction have been removed for service or inventory?? Why has the fleet of water bombers, airtankers, and similar assets seem to have been in short supply in the last few years?? Does the government, at whatever level, no longer care?? The Canadian Forces can no longer come to the rescue when forest fires are too huge…the CF has also been defunded and gutted into ineffectiveness by government mismanagement.

Wildland firefighting tactics also seem to reflect these new realities of a lack of heavy air assets to call upon. Less and less often do we see water bombers hammering wildfires with the traditional red mud – fire retardant. Now, airtankers and helicopters employ water or foam to suppress hot spots. I have been told that air assets do not win fights with wildfires, fires are put out on the ground. I have heard this before…it is the soldiers on the ground who hold the ground won by artillery and armour. Without boots on the ground, all the advances will be lost. I am getting ahead of myself…okay, healthy forests, forest harvesting practices, wildland firefighting practices, and government mismanagement…yah, I believe we are ready to shift to the solutions section.

Solutions

Identifying problems without providing a potential solution is whining, or words to that effect were once attributed to former President of the United States T. Roosevelt. That sentiment holds true today, although too often whining has been allowed in general concourse of life. So, let’s stop the whining and get on with finding the potential solutions…

First let us identify whom should be invited to craft the solutions to problems of this magnitude. Agents of the government and agents of industry should not hold decision making power. They are both too easily corrupted away from doing what is right or honourable. Government agents are more concerned with winning the next election to be truly concerned with what is best for the long-term success of the nation or the forests. Industry agents are too concerned with short-term profits and paying dividends to their shareholders than they will ever be to protecting the resource that provides their wealth nor the health of the forest or the people whose lives are impacted by unhealthy forests. In the instance of making good decisions, I support the First Nations practice of thinking seven generations ahead when contemplating what is the right (correct) decision. Chief Clarence Louie in his book Rez Rules (2021) link speaks to this concept. Also, eco-terrorists and extremists from the protest world would not be invited to the discussion, as they cannot seem to behave long enough to hold a conversation, much less participate in a constructive conversation with others who hold views different from their own. Professional foresters and academic scientists would be invited, if they can participate in a manner that benefits the greater good and not push some ideological agenda. Thinkers, designers, contrarians, and self-educated folks who know the forest should be invited, too.

Second, what type of solution are we seeking?? I am seeking a solution to a healthy forest and all the benefits that trickle down from that. When the forest is healthy and well managed, the forest provides food, clean water, less forest fires, and lots of wealth in the form of timber products. As I stated earlier, I am not against harvesting timber, I am against harvesting timber in a harmful manner. The solutions that are NOT acceptable would be maintaining the status quo or worse denying any interactions with the forest – keeping people out of the forest will not be a viable long-term solution, in my biased opinion. The current system of profits over forest health is obviously not working. The ideological propaganda about Global Warming and scaring the crap out of people is also not working. Emotional based problem solving is a poor technique as it eliminates the use of logic and proper problem solving and solution creation. Finally, the solution needed must be systems based to interlock and solve the systems currently broken and bring back the harmony that has been lost. The fixing of one part in isolation of the other parts is destined to fail. That is how we got here in the first place. These are interconnected systems or ecosystems, if you prefer. The solution must be developed and planned. The plan needs to be communicated to the community, and they must buy-in to the solution.

Finally, the solution MUST be based on the best long-term outcomes. If the Province of British Columbia had adopted a timber harvest management plan like the Ten-Ten-100 Plan in the 1950’s BC would be the world’s richest and most profitable forest harvesting region in the world. AND they would never runout of the most valuable timber to harvest. Currently, BC is a wealthy forest harvesting region, but they have squandered their position with short-sightedness and now they are harvesting lower quality timber and destroying their forests to “ek out” a profit. This has also resulted in increased freshets, mudslides, landslides, and forest fires. The costs of doing business wrong are coming to the forefront. Seven generations benefit as a minimum determination of long-term. Also, best outcome for whom? The forests…if they are beneficiary, we all win.

One easily identifiable challenge to even the best solution will be the transition from the status quo to something better. There will be short-term pains to see long-term returns. By short-term I mean less than one hundred years for the forests to repair themselves. During this time a disciplined and well managed harvest regime will need to be in place. Shall we now focus on the specifics…

Leadership:

Above all else, for any solution to achieve the success it deserves it must be guided by leaders who are the champions of the success. This is a currently a challenge as there seems to be a distinct lack of leaders in the world, at any level (Link). I guess we need the return of hard times to be the crucible from which true leaders will emerge. Another of the short-term pains.

A Unified Forest Harvest & Forest Management Plan:

Some form of select harvest must be the preferred forest harvest policy in all managed forests. The formula for each forest will be determined by the type of trees and the area available to harvest. With exception of maybe Bamboo, now other forest could sustain more than a 10% harvest in any given season. Furthermore, the harvest could not be in clear cut blocks. That was already discussed, but to reiterate the long-term damage to the forest ecology by such harvest techniques is too harmful. My Ten-Ten-100 Plan works for trees that mature around 100-years of growth. If trees in a specific forest require 250 or 400 or 900 years to reach maturity, the formula will change maybe 5-Twenty-250. 5% harvest when dividing the timber license into twenty zones with a 250-year growth until mature.

In addition, to selective harvest a healthy forest needs help to remove ladder fuels, deadwood, and branches in the understory. These removed nutrients could be chipped/mulched and returned to the soil in the forest or burned. Both of these methods have the potential to have negative outcomes if conducted incorrectly or at the incorrect time of year. Chipping/mulching is best done in late autumn or early winter, so the material can be soaked by winter snows and spring rains before the next fire season. Hopefully, this would be enough time most years for the mulch to begin breaking down and not contribute to more fuel on the duff layer of the forest floor. In contrast, chipping/mulching in the late spring or summer would be foolhardy and too risky, as the mulch would be dry and quite flammable, thus adding to the fuel load in the forest.

The other considerations with managing a healthy forest would be harvesting or thinning of side slopes and the border around waterways. Side slope harvesting would need to be conducted along horizontal axis not on the vertical to prevent erosion. Small scale with low-ground disturbance equipment or even horse logging. Waterways would need a protection zone to prevent erosion by maintaining strong tree root entanglement of banks near the waterway. However, these protective zones could not be exclusive, as a tangled forest is not a healthy forest. Limbing, thinning, and removal of ladder fuels and deadwood would still need to occur. Again, these high vulnerability areas need to be harvested using sensitive methods – low ground pressure, horse logging, balloon logging, or other technique that protects the forest floor.

At the top end of the forest management plan would be determining sustainable harvests. I would recommend lower harvests for the first couple decades to allow the forest time to heal. As more and more forests regain their health, then harvests could be increased. This will require forest managers in industry and government to be shielded from corruption or held accountable with consequences so dire they would not risk violating the public trust.

Wildfire Defence Plan

Until the forest can heal themselves, a robust wildfire defence plan needs to be utilized. This plan must be integrated between landowners, communities, industry, and wildfire services. Currently, two widely accepted doctrines on wildfire defence are in place across North America – FireSmart and Firewise. Canada has adopted the FireSmart model based on the efforts of individuals, whereas the Firewise program employed in the United States focuses on community efforts to combat wildfire hazards. Both models require adequate buy-in from the population of a given community to achieve maximum success. Both models endorse similar tactics to achieve success by breaking done the action levels into zones measure from Zone 0 – immediately adjacent to the dwelling or structure to Zone 3 – about 100’ from the home or structure. By creating this 100’ buffer, the defensibility of the home from wildfire is greatly increased and deemed worthy of firefighter assistance to protect. Homes where fuel loads are immediately adjacent to or on the home are deemed to hazardous for firefighting efforts if wildfire proximity is too close. Homeowners or renters in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) zone which occurs between the forest and a built-up residential area should be intimately aware of either the FireSmart or Firewise program.

Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more options you have. This is true in wilderness survival or living in the WUI. Know FireSmart and Firewise! But knowing is not enough, WUI wildfire prevention tactics need to be practiced! To the homeowners out there, I would also encourage (I mean strongly encourage!) ensuring that every effort is made to ensure your dwelling is as fireproof as you can afford. Metal roofing. Fire brand proof vent screens. Double or triple pane windows. Fire shutters over doors and windows. Fire resistant siding – like cement board or Hardie Plank. Mineral wool (Rockwool) fireproof insulation. Fire rated Gyproc as an interior finish. Decks build or designed to mitigate wildfire. Fences and gates that are either fireproof (aka metal or concrete) or utilize firebreaks. If necessary, use dry-mounted sprinklers attached to homes to wet the structure before the advancing fire brand storm in front of the wildfire. With minor research homeowners can harden their homes and better defend against wildfire. Of course, smoke detectors and CO2 detectors to give you early warning when you are in danger. And have a family evacuation plan to leave if the fire is too close for comfort.

At the community level, mitigation for wildfires is simple and straightforward…do not create an environment that encourages fire initiation or growth. Simple is not the same as easy. An effective and simple fire mitigation plan could take years of hard work to achieve success…and then more years of maintenance to keep the protections operational. Fire mitigation starts with an understanding of fire and wildfire behaviour. Start with the fire triangle – fuel, heat, & oxygen -break any link and the fire goes out.

At the community level you want to have fuel breaks to limit ground creep of any fire, but especially a wildfire. In a forest fire the flames approaching your community will be preceded by a shower of fire brands or embers that fly up to two miles in front of the fire. If these embers cannot take hold and kindle into flames and fires, your community has a better chance than others to survive the encroaching wildfire. Start with educating your community members to be FireSmart with their own property and homes. Follow-up with creating a fire-resistant perimeter around your community. This can be a “ring” road, or a managed landscaped zone that includes fireproof fencing, gravel biking/hiking/walking path(s), close cropped vegetation, and a managed mix forest thinned/spaced (10’ to 15’ apart), and delimbed for the first 10’. Removal of deadwood and ladder fuels goes without saying. This could be fortified with a dry sprinkler system that can be attached to the community fire water system via hoses and hydrants to wet the perimeter. If not needed, these sprinklers stay “dry” and ready for immediate use. Without water, they can be left in place over the winter with little concern for damage. The perimeter wants to extend a minimum of 100’ beyond the fence. Trees in the next 500’ beyond want to be thinned/spaced 6’ to 10’ apart and be delimbed to the 10’ height.

Also, at the community level is to consider an ordinance to require homes to be FireSmart or Firewise compliant, built to resist or withstand wildfire. Provide property tax breaks to incentivize compliance with the ordinance. Structures built with non-flammable materials or designed to resist wildfires will be easier to defend with limited community resources. Spacing or housing density will also contribute to defending against fire spread from structure to structure. Public lands within the community should be equally protected following the guidance of the FireSmart or Firewise program recommendations. At the very least having a volunteer fire brigade trained and equipped for both structure fires and wildfires would be a good investment.

Next, ensure the community has an all-hazards emergency response plan (ERP), that is exercised at least annually. Ensure WUI fire scenarios are “tabletopped” before each fire season. Inspect fire protection devices in the community at least annually. Consider placing water elements (ponds, pools, golf course water hazards) in strategic locations around the community to be ready sources of firefighting water to defend against wildfires or multiple structure fires. Have exercises include not just fire staff, include police or protective services, public works, hospital or medical facilities, EMS, and your citizens. Does you community ERP include an evacuation plan with identified evacuation routes? Pre-designated reception centres? Does your community have an emergency notification system? Basically, as a community have all your ducks in a row, stay engaged and communicate.

If the wildfire service is going to be shackled to a policy of “let it burn”, then strategies and tactics need to be developed to ensure rapid and effective fire neutralization before communities or valued assets are impacted. Now I wish to return to my discussion of the effective tactical employment of mud to protect communities imminently endangered by an advancing wildfire. The red fire-retardant mud dropped by waterbombers is an effective resource in my experience to slow a rapidly advancing wildfire long enough for a community to be bypassed by the worst of the fire, if deployed in-depth. Of course, I could be 100% wrong on what I am about to suggest. In which case, I would like to be educated on why it would not work.

Reflecting back to the fire that advanced upon Jasper, Alberta this past summer (2024), it would seem feasible to protect the community, even if the policy for the National Park was to let the fire burn “naturally”. So, using my sample map of Anytowne, I would employ defensive mud drops to create a shield around the town. Assuming the town has taken fire mitigation activities to create a 100m defendable zone around the perimeter, the inside drop would be just outside that zone, the second line of mud would be 250m outside the first line and 250m further outside would be the third line of mud. In essence creating about a 750m ring that would slow the momentum of the advancing fire. Fire like water would flow to the areas that burn easiest, thereby leaving the town to resolve ground creep and multiple spot fires, not a wall of flames 100’ tall advancing at 10 mph. Further depth could be added by using sprinklers or misting devices to create a water fog about the community. Continued dependence on ego/arrogance or incompetence as the de facto management system will get people killed. One last point on community wildfire defence is the shedding of the recent practice of arresting community members for aiding in wildfire firefighting. Not only should this never have been a practice, it would be prudent for community leaders to embrace the assistance of community members, but also to seek out and catalogue these community resources before an emergency incident is occurring. Many communities in Canuckistan have highly training and deeply resourced private contractors who are more than skilled and experienced in battling wildfires. Allow them to defend their homes and the homes of their neighbours…it reduces the assets required by municipal and provincial agencies. Work together!!

Speaking of wildfire assets. We need to ensure the collective resources – air, ground, and water-based assets for fighting wildfires are adequate. If not, we need a plan to fix this, ASAP! In my last blog post I broached the idea of having a national wildfire service to augment the provincial or territorial services. I will not repeat the details here (see the blog post here). Suffice to say, that added depth extends to the federal level, to ensure that until the forest management system is fixed, and wildfires return to past levels of normalcy added resources will be needed. No, the Canadian Forces cannot be the primary resource the feds draw upon. The CF has a different primary job, defending the country from threats foreign and domestic.

Well, I believe we have captured many of the ideas I wanted to share. With the solutions section fleshed out a bit, let’s advance to conclusions…

Conclusions

I will try to keep this more concise.

If we address what we can and effectively execute the new plan, working together as members of a larger community with a common set of goals and objectives, I believe we have an above average likelihood of success. If we focus on fixing our forest management practices and develop an effective wildfire management strategy, in a decade or two we will see a positive response in climatic conditions on this ole planet Earth. At least with healthy forests – temperate, rain, and tropical, we would have the lungs of the planet working again producing the oxygen we all need to survive. As for any concern for a warmer planet…I seem to recall that in the history of our planet, it was tropical from pole to pole…so I for one do not run around saying the sky is falling just because of a few soft winters. Fix our forests and we can heal the planet.

 

Until next time…think deeply, be brave, and share your ideas!

Mountainman.

 

Classic Cartoon from Raeside – A Lorax Like Warning