[HN Gopher] Fire Slow, Fire Fast, Fire Deep (2016)
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       Fire Slow, Fire Fast, Fire Deep (2016)
        
       Author : simonebrunozzi
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2021-09-06 06:25 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (longnow.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (longnow.org)
        
       | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
       | I used to live in Africa, and the park rangers would do
       | controlled grassland burns, every year.
       | 
       | I now live on Long Island (New York). We have the Pine Barrens,
       | out east. They are an important filter for our aquifer, and are
       | (rightly) protected. I have family that was heavily involved in
       | establishing said protection.
       | 
       | Scrub pines (what makes up the Pine Barrens) are supposed to
       | burn, from time to time. It's actually something that is
       | required, in order to ensure the trees continue reproducing.
       | 
       | A few years after I moved here, (early 1990s), we had a major
       | Pine Barrens fire (accidental). We have not had one, since, and I
       | don't think anyone has the political stomach to do a controlled
       | burn.
        
         | nerdponx wrote:
         | Are small fires being actively put out in the Pine Barrens? Or
         | have they just not had a natural fire yet?
        
           | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
           | I'm not sure. I suspect any fires that pop up, are doused by
           | the local vollies.
        
       | cameldrv wrote:
       | I mention this talk whenever the subject of fire in California
       | comes up. It's an amazing explanation of how we wound up in this
       | situation and some reasonable ways out. The role of the Native
       | American's practices being abandoned is seriously under
       | understood.
        
         | mistrial9 wrote:
         | for comparison -- below is current, public policy in California
         | 2021
         | 
         | https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/ps4p2vck/californiawildfireand...
        
           | nradov wrote:
           | That is public policy in California's state controlled lands.
           | Many of our largest wildfires have burned on federal land.
           | There is some cooperation between state and federal
           | authorities but there are significant differences in forest
           | management policies.
        
             | mistrial9 wrote:
             | US Dept of Agriculture is the authority over the US Forest
             | Service; one recent statement here:
             | 
             | https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/climate-
             | s...
        
           | cameldrv wrote:
           | They're definitely starting to pay lip service to the idea of
           | prescribed fire, but the goal is 100,000 acres by 2025. Last
           | year, just the August Complex fire was 1,000,000 acres.
        
           | HPsquared wrote:
           | And here's an interesting article on the subject with lots of
           | visuals:
           | 
           | https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bb7fe74c1f9f4fec8910a1b.
           | ..
        
         | 1-more wrote:
         | Mike Davis (author of Late Victorian Holocausts) had a great
         | interview on the podcast Trueanon about California fire policy.
         | While the fire situation is definitely exacerbated by global
         | warming, there are tons of state level land management policies
         | that are making the situation worse.
        
           | nerdponx wrote:
           | I've never heard of this book before. It looks very
           | interesting (albeit probably very depressing).
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts
           | 
           | https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/11/historybooks.m.
           | ..
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-07 23:01 UTC)