What Has Created Megafires?

Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman says that you can't blame today's firefighters for today's landscape erasing,  endangered species habitat incinerating megafires.

Story:

http://tinyurl.com/htehcuk

This is the one and only point he raises with which I even partially agree. 

Pioneer Fire as seen from Garden Valley on 08/17/2016. Fire complex is already over 85,000 acres and expected to exponentially increase in size in the coming weeks. No to very little effort was made to contain the fire in the initial stages. It is believed to be human caused. Photo credit: Gary M.

*Updated 08/19/2016 at 15:55 MST: fire has increased 4500 acres in size during the last 24 hours. The Pioneer Fire is now the largest and most costly fire in the nation. $46 million has been spent "actively managing"(not fighting) the fire. The fire remains less than 50% contained and is now moving into the ironically named "Deadwood Roadless Area" where logging and thinning was essentially outlawed under Clinton-era passed legislation,  such as the 2001 Roadless Rule*

The problem isn't that firefighters don't know how to or aren't doing their jobs.

Sure, several wildfires have been intentionally started by contractor or federal firefighters such as one intentionally set by a US Forest Service employee during the Hayman Fire, or others hoping to cash in on the tens of millions of dollars that it routinely costs to fight megafires. But those incidents are rare and the exception. 

 The underlying problem is that the federal government reversed 150 years worth of forest management policies in one legislative session. 

Federal forest management ideology  went from a "10 am fire management policy"(putting fires out by 10 am the day after it was discovered) to a policy of "let it all burn unless it endangers life, limb or property". 

Nobody can reasonably argue that fire has not been an integral part of the landscape for millions of years before humans started playing with matches or planting trees.

However, the forests of America today are hardly the "historic" ecosystems the first land animals saw when they crawled out of the oceans for the first time.

Nor are they the historic forests indigenous peoples of America have survived in since they migrated around the outer perimeters of glaciers on their historic land bridge crossing from Asia and Europe.

Millions of trees which were packed into the countryside and planted by Civilian Conservation Corps workers during FDR's Great Society Initiative are now fully mature and prime fuel materials for mountainside obliterating, endangered species eradicating megafires.

More than 2.3 BILLION trees were packed into every opening, up to 10,000 per acre, over a ten year period.

(Colorado state Forest Service says lodgepole stands (doghair forests) can exceed 20,000 trees per acre. 

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http://csfs.colostate.edu/colorado-forests/forest-types/lodgepole-pine/ )

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So many trees were artificially introduced  in some areas that entire watersheds have virtually been sucked dry. 

Many of these non-native, now mature trees consume as much as 500 gallons of water per tree per day.

Geologic records and history preserved by native American people show that the landscape in question typically did not hold more than 300-500 trees per acre before European settlers showed up. Federal forest management policies increased that number 20 fold for the sake of increasing revenues from future timber harvests. A plan that we now know was shortsighted and a perfect recipe for disaster,  when coupled with current "watch it burn" policies the Forest Service is engaged in. 

The only smart way to return forests to more historical levels would be to actively manage and mechanically thin the  forests or do more prescribed burns during wetter spring conditions. Rather than just letting landscape erasing wildfires burn through prime endangered species habitat at up to 40 miles per hour during the driest and hottest parts of the year. 

 Blaming climate change is nonsense. Especially since there hasn't been any measureable temperature increases since 1994 when the current Forest Service management policies took effect.

In fact,  the 1980s decade was substantially hotter and drier than the past decade,  where bad forest management policies let more than 850,000 acres of wildfires destroy Idaho forests in 2007.

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http://usfspayettenationalforest.blogspot.com/2016/08/historic-water-quality.html?m=1

Forest Service Spends 52% of Annual Budget Fighting Fires

On August 4th, 2015 the US Forest Service released a report on fire fighting claiming fighting wildfires now consumes 52% of its annual budget.

2007 wildfires across Oregon, Idaho and Montana as viewed from the International Space Station. More than 850,000 acres in Idaho burned destroying more than  $10 billion in timber and lost revenue to the state and local communities. 

The report titled The Rising Cost of Fire Operations: Effects on the Forest Service’s Non-Fire Work states that in 2015, wildfires consumed more than half of the agency's budget. Compared to 16% of the Forest Service's total budget used to fight wildfires in 1994.

That same year,  the US Forest Service collected more money from timber sales ($3 billion) than it cost to operate the Forest Service  ($2.7 billion).

The agency contributed  $302 million to the general fund of the US Treasury,  according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. Making the Forest Service in 1994 to be one of the only federal agencies to put more back into the government than it costs the taxpayers to fund the agency.

Sadly,  the Forest Service now competes with other government programs and has become a net drain on society.

The report says that the costs for fighting wildfires is expected to devour a whopping 67% or more of Forest Service resources by the year 2025.

Unwilling to admit failure or to put the blame where it belongs: Washington DC, the Forest Service blames a boogeyman it calls "climate change".

What has really "changed" since 1994 is not the climate. But instead: the Forest Service's belief that a thinned forest is a healthy forest. And that letting dying, disease infested ladder fuels stand 10,000 trees per acre thick beneath a canopy of old growth forests is far better than letting human hands take advantage of a renewable resource. Plus,  the Forest Service apparently believes it is better to buy lumber from clear cutting sources in rain forests and to let American forests literally go up in smoke.

The real theme of the Forest Service report is that they need more money to do the job that they haven't been doing.

Which is a far cry from the Forest Service of yesteryear, that netted a positive cash flow into the US Treasury. Back when American forests used to be healthy,  dead trees were hard to find, and the Forest Service focused more on serving people and caring for the land.

Instead of today's Forest Service,  which focuses on burning down family cabins, destroying long used public roads, and figuring out more ways than not to lock the American people out of the forests they own.

Historic Water Quality

Historically, Stibnite water quality resulting from past and present mining activities  of the surface water has nearly always surpassed Forest Service goals.

Rock crusher at Stibnite in 1994. Photo courtesy of PNF.

I found this chart provided by the Payette National Forest from 1994 which shows the results of their sampling for the years shown.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/h358lzb

For Hg (atomic symbol for mercury), their limit was 0.0024 parts per million  (ppm). No Forest Service tests show any results surpassing 0.0008, or one third of the set limit. 

I personally conducted water samples from the East Fork and the confluence with Sugar Creek  (to keep the Forest Service honest) on behalf of the mining company I worked for at the time. 

We had our water samples independently tested at an independent laboratory in Garden City, Idaho.

 It was quite common for the independent lab tests to be substantially lower than the Forest Service's stated results. However,  both tests agreed that mine discharge into the local watershed was far below acceptable levels. 

Unfortunately, this data and that conducted by mining companies of that era focus less directly on Sugar Creek. But it does show that anything dumping from Sugar Creek into the East Fork for the stated years had minimal impact.

This should give you a good basis to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the Payette National Forest, to document that there is minimal mine discharge into the local river system. 

I have done a post 2007 wildfire Freedom of Information Act request for water quality results to compare how much toxic filth wildfires are responsible for as compared to how much mining contributed in the absence of wildfires.

 Ironically, one of my FOIA requests about information pertaining to degraded water quality due to wildfires was put on hold. Of all things,  due to ....wait for it.....another intense landscape erasing out of control wildfire the Payette National Forest has little hopes of containing anytime soon.

Instead of the useful helpful cheerful response,  I got an automatically generated email from Payette National Forest Freedom of Information Officer Laurie Pillars stating

 "Thank you for your message. I am out of the office on a fire assignment. I will most likely not have access to my mail so I will respond as soon as possible after I return. Thanks for your patience!"

Not surprising, since it seems  the Forest Service has always been less than forthcoming with that data.

After multiple FOIA requests over the last few years,  the partial list they gave me did show substantial increases in toxic metal releases through natural causes. Which is to be expected since mercury is liberated from the mineral Cinnabar once it surpasses 430°F.

The fires of 2007 burned so hot that several firefighters stated that the ground was heated to almost 500 degrees up to four feet into the earth where many tree roots burned underground far into the winter months. 

Mercury and arsenic containing sediments free flowing into Profile Creek in 2010, three years after a catastrophic wildfire ravaged the hillsides unabated in 2007. To date,  the Forest Service has made zero effort to contain this or other massive mudslides resulting from poorly managed wildfires. 

Mudflow pictured crossing Profile Road and dumping directly into Profile Creek. 

 Profile Gap Road to Big Creek was buried under 30 feet of sediment. The four feet diameter culvert was never found. The stream crossing this section of roadway has to be forded which disturbs the sediments and accelerates the creeping mud flows,  volcanic in origin,  still dumping into Profile Creek. 

 The confluence of Profile Creek approximately 8 miles downstream of Sugar Creek. Profile Creek  (left) looks like flowing sewage from the above pictured mudslide the Forest Service is doing nothing about. Estimated 1/2 million cubic yards (.97 million tons) of filth and debris dumped into the stream and adjacent riparian areas during this one catastrophic mudflow in 2010. Compare that to the 28 tons the Forest Service is trying to abate on Sugar Creek Road,  which is the estimated sediment annually flowing into the river from an historic roadway and popular recreational route which the Forest Service has now closed  (due to 28 tons of sediment per year estimated).

*No government wastes jokes needed*

Active wildfires burning unabated during 2008. Not a firefighter in sight. Fire near Salt Creek, four miles downstream of Sugar Creek and its confluence with the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River. Area shown here is high in natural mercury,  arsenic,  lead, zinc, antimony and within or just outside  the boundaries of the Stibnite Mining District. An area the Forest Service says is of great concern for dumping toxic sludge into "critical endangered species habitat".

Two years later, here is that same area experiencing toxic metal containing mudflows dumping into the East Fork of the South Fork River approximately two miles downstream of Sugar Creek and its confluence with the East Fork. 

*Photo 2010, by Scott Amos*

In the wildfire seasons of 2007-2008, my brother and I witnessed tree stumps on fire in the area on our snowmobile trips,  with more than two feet of snow on the ground. 

Much of the mercury which was undoubtedly turned to liquid by the heat was trapped underground and is being liberated slowly into the watershed as mud flows and ground seepage from burned areas continues to make its way to the river. 

Although mercury evaporates readily into the air at room temperature,  water prevents the evaporation of mercury. Mercury trapped in holes or pockets underwater can remain there for years if not centuries until a flood or other means flushes it downstream. 

Vegetation Stores Toxic Metals

Trees and other carbon based vegetation soak up and retain high levels of mercury and arsenic. When those plants die or get incinerated, they release the toxic metals into local aquifers or into the smoke and soot released by wildfires. 

In the 850,000 acres of wildfires that ravaged Idaho in 2007, several thousand tons of mercury and arsenic were sent billowing into the stratosphere on a level that was photographed by the International Space Station. 

NASA satellite photos of Montana and Idaho forest fires on August 17, 2007.

Millions more tons of mercury and arsenic containing sediments were liberated on steep hillsides and are just waiting for the next big flood before the toxic metals they contain get dumped into the Salmon River and its tributaries which is the drinking water for millions of people living downstream.

Unnatural Landscapes

The Forest Service calls wildfires "natural". Geologic records and history preserved by native American people show that the landscape cleansing wildfires of the last two decades are anything but... "natural".

Historically, the forests surrounding Yellow Pine never held more than a few hundred trees per acre. 

150 years ago the US Government began a massive campaign to put out all wildfires.

Under FDR's leadership, the Civilian Conservation Corps  (CCC) began an aggressive campaign planting up to 10,000 trees per acre as an investment in America,  intended for future cash crop harvests. More than 2.3 billion trees were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps. 

Not only did this massively increase the fuel load to help propagate cataclysmic   wildfires,  it sucked up most of the moisture in the soil and starved historic forests of both nutrients and life giving water. So much so, that planted forests in Arizona and parts of New Mexico  have sucked entire river systems dry.

    Forest thinning can mimic natural wildfire, with similar effects. Coupled with seasonal controlled burns, thinning has been shown to improve overall forest health and reduces the damage being done by current Forest Service management policies.

A study from Northern Arizona University found that reducing the amount of flammable fuels cooled fire’s severity. More trees lived through wildfires in places that had been thinned than acres that hadn’t, the study found.

These problems were multiplied with the passage of the Northwest Forest Management Act and other anti-use bills such as the 2001 Roadless Rule which essentially locks every taxpaying American out of the forest they own.

Today America imports 1/3 of its lumber from rain forests and other sources halfway around the globe while the Forest Service leaves standing dead and dying timber to rot, while simultaneously begging Congress for more billions to fight expected wildfires. Every year being increasingly worse than the last. 

Scott Amos 208.297.0634

Up in Smoke

Start a fire accidentally or deliberately on private land, which spreads to BLM or Forest Service land: you will go to jail and/or be forced to pay for the cleanup and cost of fighting the fire.

But if you are a Forest Service employee who deliberately sets fires on public lands (or even private lands, as corrupt Payette National Forest Management are known for), you will face zero repercussions and not be forced to pay one dime in restitution.

Nor will you apparently face any criminal charges for willfully misusing public resources to destroy private property. 

Such as in the case of the Cerro Grande fire, which  caused hundreds of families in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to lose their homes and more than 18,000 residents of the state to be evacuated.
Over 1,000 fire fighters were required to bring the fire under control. Estimates have
placed total damages at about $1 billion. This tragedy was the result of a prescribed fire ignited by incompetent officials of the National Park Service. Who were undoubtedly rewarded with even more taxpayer dollars to clean up the mess which they created in the first place.

"Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government, but ILLEGAL for the citizenry"-- Thomas Jefferson 

The Forest Service is driven by one basic factor: increasing the agency budget. Its policies and management techniques have been proven to be detrimental to the forest and all human habitation within a stone's throw of the forest. In addition to the millions of endangered species habitat which is torched as a direct result of failed forest management policies.

In fact it would seem that today's Forest Service managers would rather see the entire forest and surrounding communities go up in smoke and be left to rot,

than they would see a single stick of timber be put to good use. Letting our nation's forests be turned into barren wastelands while adjacent homes get built with timber clearcut from rain forests more than half a continent away.
     

Federal Forest management officials don't care, as long as the American people are locked out of the forest which they own. Or as long as the checks from the US Treasury to the federal management agencies in charge continue flowing in.