Forest restoration and management needs to be taken seriously if we want to reduce the problem of large scale forest fires.
To Manage Forest Fires, We Need a Clear and Consistent Policy
The size and number of forest fires have changed in recent years because of inconsistent forest management strategies, the costs associated with thinning out high-density forests and confusion over federal compliance laws.
From the early 1900s to about 1980, forest management emphasized sawlog production, or the cutting down of trees that met acceptable trunk dimensions for sawmill processing. But this approach didn’t really address forest density. High-density forests place significant stresses on healthy trees. These stresses increase with extreme temperatures and drought, which can lead to disease and insect attacks that result in tree mortality over larger areas of landscape, facilitating the frequency, size and intensity of fires.
Treating forest density is expensive; much of the material that needs to be removed has little commercial value and hauling it has not proved to be cost effective for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. What’s more, the agency has been hampered by confusion over constantly changing procedural rules changes regarding forest planning. When combined with compliance issues required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, legal questions have created near paralysis within the agency.
Many forests are increasingly susceptible to large fires. If our desire is to keep these forests intact we must increase our resolve to eliminate the causes for inaction. We need to increase appropriations for forest restoration, provide training to agency personnel to navigate the regulatory environment and promote public involvement in forest management to limit legal challenges that hinder the completion of restoration projects.