Global warming impacts wildfires ????

[HAY MAKER]

Global warming impacts wildfires
Friday, August 11, 2006, 4:41 PM

by Amanda Davenport, student intern

A significant increase in both the number and intensity of wildfires has left some scientists worried and initiated a recent study. The research looked for an explanation of these increases, specifically the possibility of global warming being the cause.

The study published in "Science" magazine says on average, there are currently more than four times more wildfires throughout the West than there were twenty years ago. Not only has the quantity increased, but the fires also tend to be larger and burn hotter, and the forest fire season is lasting longer.

Bill Hohenstein, director of the Agriculture Department Global Change Office, says if global warming is truly to blame for forest fires, the trees and brush burning are actually continuing to make the situation worse.

Forests are a significant source of carbon, Hohenstein explained. With an increase in fires, carbon previously stored in the forest is released into the atmosphere, and eventually climate change is accelerated. This, Hohenstein says, has made the connection between wildfires and global warming especially interesting to scientists, and something they will continue to study.

According to Hohenstein, more climate changes, such as those brought on by additional carbon in the atmosphere, could ultimately initiate even more wildfires. This, he added, could create both a vicious and dangerous cycle in the future.

 

[Ranchy]

The study published in "Science" magazine says on average, there are currently more than four times more wildfires throughout the West than there were twenty years ago. Not only has the quantity increased, but the fires also tend to be larger and burn hotter, and the forest fire season is lasting longer.

Well, I don't know about what Global Warming has to do with it...........

Out here, we know exactly what has caused the bigger and more frequent fires. It stems directly from a century of the Forest Serivce mismanaging the forests. Back in the early 1900s and before the Forest Reserve came into being, fires burned...........Hubby's grandfather (who Al was named after) said that any time you were up on the mountain, there was a fire going in the summer. But.........with fires burning every summer, there wasn't the over abundance of undergrowth, debris and such, to make a fire get completely out of hand. It burned through the trees (and there were a lot fewer then than now) and cleaned up the ground.........good grass grew, and life was great.

Now, if something catches on fire, there's so much fuel for it to burn (a direct consequence of the FS's strict fire policy of putting out every fire asap) that it just explodes. Once it gets a start like that, there's not much chance of stopping it, and so far as I know, they never have. It's always been an act of nature that has put a fire out, such as rain coming, or it running into a less-fueled area, or even a change of wind direction that blew the fire back on itself.

Global warming could be a factor in the situation, but I don't think we can blame it all on that............

 

[IL Rancher]

The policy started because of some hurrendous fires in the arly part of the 20th century.. It was something called the sunset policy or something and it basiclly said th sun was not to set on a fire or something like that. But the end result is the same. Up north it could be placed easily on the dealth of the lodgepole pine forests as they have about an 80 year survival period until the pine borors kill them and than they become kindling for fires...

that policy is now over supposedly but they have to fight the fires to protect the homes that otherwise would be burned into the ground.. It is very interesting to see the pictures of areas in the firt half on the 20th centrury ves the end of it... The timber reallly advanced won the hills during the noburn period..

There were some tremendous fires in Wisconsin during the 1800's when that state had a huge timber industry (Yellow pine and other hardwoods).. I can't remember how big their one fire was but it was huge... Back around the time of the Chicago fire.

 

[Northern Rancher]

There's been wildfires that have been worse on drier years for centuries. takes a p[retty educated guy to figure out that a hot dry summer might make fires worse. twenty years of fire data isn't a whole lot in earth life terms.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Our forest service does controlled burns every 3 or 4 years. I"m thankful for that. The underbrush doesn't get so bad that it gets way out of hand if there is a fire that's not planned. They do happen, but are contained pretty quickly.

I've often wondered our Nat'l Forest Service does this here and doesn't in other areas of the country.

 

[Ranchy]

Lilly, I think they kinda put a stop to the "controlled" burns in NM about the time that one got away from the BLM and pretty much burned Los Alamos up. :roll:

Same thing happened here last spring, they got out and started burning and the wind picked up.............burned a lot more than they were planning on burning! :shock:

Sometimes I think we just have a bunch of over-educated idiots in charge of the FS........... :roll: At least, that's how they seem to act.