The wildfires in California have state residents choking on smoke, while our neighbors in Butte County are experiencing the deadliest and worst wildfire on record. Climate change is sure to blame: record droughts and heat, coupled with a lack of autumn rain, created the ingredients for this late-season inferno.
But poor forest management also plays a role. In this all-too-relevant Calmatters piece from back in March, reporter Julie Cart noted that a 19th-century California forest would have held fewer than 50 trees an acre. But due to extreme logging followed by fire suppression, today’s forests now contain an unsustainable 300 to 500 trees an acre. Meanwhile, Cal Fire (the state’s fire-fighting agency) removes trees on fewer than 40,000 acres a year, far short of the stated goal of clearing 500,000 acres per year.
Thinning trees isn’t cheap. Estimates are as much as $1,400 an acre, with the controlled burns to follow costing about $150 an acre. By comparison, fighting a wildfire costs over $800 an acre, not to mention the cost to property, public health and human lives.
But we need to find a way to thin and treat these forested lands, as well as to encourage property owners to reduce their fire risk on site by clearing vegetation. We also need to encourage improved local land use decisions that avoid building in the most fire-prone areas. All tasks for our Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom to handle, once in office.
Meanwhile, I’ll be off blogging for two weeks due to various travel and work commitments. See you after Thanksgiving, when hopefully these wildfires will be gone for the season.
