Re: Everyone's thoughts on what's really causing fires
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:23 pm
After staying out of the Sierra for most of the summer due to the smoke, as well as enduring a prolonged period of smoke in San Francisco, I looked forward to a planned extended trip to Tasmania. I've been coming here for about ten years. When friends ask me what I like about it I tell them it's the mud. There are boggy areas that turn quite muddy, usually ankle to shin deep, but sometimes deeper. I once went in hip deep.
The thing is, each time I've visited in the last decade it has seemed drier. This year there is no mud. Areas typically soggy or half submerged are bone dry. And the weather has been continuously warmer than usual. It's very disturbing. While some species here depend on fire to reproduce there are rare types of trees that rely upon a wet, cool environment to not burn. When they do burn they are lost, replaced by other types of vegetation that are more likely to burn. So each fire whittles away irreversibly at the limited stands of these trees.
I just finished a 2 1/2 week bushwalk and had plans for more. But while I was out dry lightning essentially set fire to the whole island. Smoke is everywhere, stove use is banned, and all remote walks are closed until further notice. I will be ending my trip prematurely.
It's a very sad thing to witness.
It's odd to see large water bombing planes flying overhead. I rarely see any jet or small plane in the skies here. One interesting firefighting technique tried here this year with success is the deployment of sprinklers in the wilderness, pump fed from a nearby lake or stream. I've never heard of that tactic before.
Unfortunately nothing short of real rain will be entirely effective. And the forecast at present is for continued dry and hot.
What will this place look like in fifty years?
What will the Sierra look like in fifty years?
The thing is, each time I've visited in the last decade it has seemed drier. This year there is no mud. Areas typically soggy or half submerged are bone dry. And the weather has been continuously warmer than usual. It's very disturbing. While some species here depend on fire to reproduce there are rare types of trees that rely upon a wet, cool environment to not burn. When they do burn they are lost, replaced by other types of vegetation that are more likely to burn. So each fire whittles away irreversibly at the limited stands of these trees.
I just finished a 2 1/2 week bushwalk and had plans for more. But while I was out dry lightning essentially set fire to the whole island. Smoke is everywhere, stove use is banned, and all remote walks are closed until further notice. I will be ending my trip prematurely.
It's a very sad thing to witness.
It's odd to see large water bombing planes flying overhead. I rarely see any jet or small plane in the skies here. One interesting firefighting technique tried here this year with success is the deployment of sprinklers in the wilderness, pump fed from a nearby lake or stream. I've never heard of that tactic before.
Unfortunately nothing short of real rain will be entirely effective. And the forecast at present is for continued dry and hot.
What will this place look like in fifty years?
What will the Sierra look like in fifty years?