Managing forest fuel key in reducing wildfire risk

This opinion piece is in response to John Zinke’s recent Cambrian Viewpoint (Aug. 17) titled “Weather, Not Tree Density Determines Fire Behavior.”

Fire agencies and academic institutions have been studying wildfire behavior for decades and have found three primary factors that influence fire behavior — fuels, weather and topography. These factors make up the Fire Behavior Triangle that most firefighters are trained to understand as a basic tenet of wildland fire behavior. The fuels leg of this fire triangle is the only factor that can be managed. Clearly weather and topography are critical factors, but both are unmanageable.

Managing forest fuels is key to fire resilient landscapes and fire defensible communities.

In order for communities adjacent to forested landscapes to become fire safe, (think Cambria), managing forest fuel must be a key objective. The past five years have been exceedingly dry here in California, and this has severely impacted rates of tree mortality. As trees (primarily Monterey pine) die here on the Central Coast, the prudent, fire safe practice is to remove these trees before they deteriorate and drop to the ground. If left in place and allowed to accumulate on the ground, these trees become what is known as surface fuels, and high concentrations of surface fuels make for very dangerous conditions that contribute to catastrophic wildfire behavior. High concentrations of surface fuels place both firefighters and the communities that they are trying to protect at very serious risk.

The forests of California are experiencing unprecedented levels of tree mortality because of a variety of factors. Here on the Central Coast, pitch canker disease, bark beetles and wildfire have killed thousands of trees. Most private landowners have been proactive in removing dead and dying trees, thus restoring forest landscapes to a more vibrant, healthy condition. Over the past 50 years, tree removals on publicly managed lands have been stopped or severely curtailed. In addition, fire suppression efforts have been quite successful in extinguishing wildfires (including naturally ignited lightning fires).

Between the reduction in tree removal and successful fire suppression, much of the forested landscapes here in California have unnaturally dense forests with high accumulations of brush and surface fuels. These unnatural conditions need to be addressed through active forest management including forest thinning, dead tree removal and the introduction of prescribed, managed fire. California’s forests are fire dependent ecosystems with a fire return interval (pre-settlement) of between five and 60 years. Managed fire, introduced correctly, can have a cleansing effect on forests by removing excess accumulations of brush and surface fuels.

Safeguards are in place to ensure sustainable management of forest resources.

In California, both public and private forest managers are held to very high standards. On private property, foresters must pass a very rigorous state-sponsored process to become licensed to practice forestry. Once licensed, they must adhere to regulations consistent with the 1973 California Forest Practice Act. On public lands, foresters must manage based on rules and regulations as stipulated in the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act. Between these two acts and the licensing of professional foresters, it is safe to say that California has the most stringent forest practice rules of any state in the nation.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 8:59 AM with the headline "Managing forest fuel key in reducing wildfire risk."