Misconceptions about disruption of fire cycles

Posted on July 25, 2015 by GarryRogers

“I would like to point out a typical bias that I see and hear all the time. The Forest Service often promotes the idea that lodgepole pine stands are “overstocked”. Actually lodgepole and many other species always grow that way after a disturbance. There is frequently a significant amount of natural regeneration that is gradually whittled down by natural thinning agents like beetles or fire.

“It baffles me that the FS tries to prevent beetles from “thinning” the forest when indeed, they believe they are “overstocked”. Beetles, disease and fire will thin them naturally, and these agents are much better at selecting which trees should live and die than any forester.” —George Wuerthner Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.thewildlifenews.com

GR: Many excuses for logging are offered as scientific justifications just as hunting is said to be good wildlife management. This article offers several solid counterpoints to the Forest Service’s effort to justify logging as forest management. Recommended.

Extinction Resources: Information, Opinion, Ideas, & Questions

Posted on July 22, 2015 by GarryRogers

Extinction Information Resources

Passenger Pigeon

Stopping human-caused extinction of Earth’s plant and animal species is the greatest challenge of our time. This post provides access to the latest articles on extinction. The first item (Ceballos et al. 2015) is the latest detailed report on what we know and how we acquired the information.

Ceballos, Gerardo, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anthony D. Barnosky, Andrés García, Robert M. Pringle, and Todd M. Palmer. 19 June 2015. Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Science Advances Vol. 1, no. 5 (e1400253, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1400253). Corresponding author. E-mail: gceballo@ecologia.unam.mx.

More than a thousand recent articles are linked to my blog (https://garryrogers.com/blog):

Causes of Extinction

My blog covers the things that people do to cause extinctions and reduce biodiversity. These deeds of ours are woven into individual and our collective habits and beliefs. Stopping them will alter our society and our culture. It will be difficult. Our population must be reduced, our food choices must change, and our resource harvest must decline. Nothing less will succeed. Search the blog using the following terms for recent reports: Burning, Coal, Construction, Deforestation, Desertification, Energy, Farming, Fishing, Fracking, Grazing, Hunting, Invasive Species, Logging, Mining, Oil, Pesticides, Pet Trade, Pollution, Population, Roads, and Soil.

Climate change will become the major cause of extinction. Here’s its search link on my blog: Climate Change.

For more reading, my Internet newsletters include a wider variety of articles than my blog.

Unprecedented Fire Season Has Burned 11 Million Acres In Alaska and Canada

Posted on July 9, 2015 by GarryRogers

When fire frequency increases, habitats change and biodiversity usually tumbles.

robertscribbler

The land of ice is being transformed into the land of fire.

Greenhouse gas emissions are forcing the air to rapidly warm (half a degree Celsius each decade in some places). Frozen lands are thawing, liberating billions of tons of soil carbon as an ignition source for wildfires. And methane bubbling up from lakes, bogs, and wet zones in the soil itself provides yet more tinder for a rapidly developing Arctic fire trap.

(What the hell is wrong with this picture? Here we have a bog fire burning away in Saskatchewan, Canada on July 1st, 2015. The bright white color of the smoke is indicative of water vapor mixing in. Due to permafrost thaw, both bogs and related themokarst lakes have been emitting higher and higher volumes of methane over recent years. Methane that could well serve as a volatile fuel for fire ignition over wetlands like the one shown…

View original post 701 more words

Unprecedented Early Start to ‘Perma-Burn’ Fire Season — Deadly Wildfires Rage Through Siberia on April 12

Posted on April 14, 2015 by GarryRogers

The ecological consequence of frequent fires is permanent vegetation change to reduced diversity and productivity.

robertscribbler

Permafrost. Ground frozen for millennia. An enormous deposit of organic carbon forming a thick, peat-like under-layer.

Forced to warm at an unprecedented rate through the massive burning of heat-trapping gasses by human beings, this layer is now rapidly thawing, providing an amazing source of heat and fuel for wildfire ignition.

Joe Romm over at Climate Progress has long called this region ‘Permamelt.’ But, with a doubling of the number of wildfires for the high Arctic and an extension of the permafrost fire season into early April this year, we may well consider this to be a zone of now, near permanent, burning — Permaburn.

* * * * *

(Massive outbreak of permafrost wildfires in Russia this week have left up to 34 villages in smoldering ruins. Image from Khakassia, Russia via The Siberian Times.)

For Khakassia, Russia the story this week has been one of unprecedented fire disaster.

View original post 552 more words

Pejorative journalism spreads wildfire myths

Posted on April 8, 2015 by GarryRogers

This article is full of misinformation, untested assumptions, and pejorative language–it is so typical of the way the timber industry and FS have “framed” the issue of fire to justify more logging…

Source: www.thewildlifenews.com

GR: The U. S. Forest Service manages forests to benefit corporations not the land. They use misdirection to justify their unhealthy practices. Some of their BS is made clear in this article by George Wuerthner.

Critical fire weather forecast across big swath of Southwest

Posted on April 5, 2015 by GarryRogers

All of Arizona, New Mexico encompassed in weekend warning from National Weather Service Staff Report FRISCO — In what may signify an early start to the western wildfire season, the National Weather… Source: summitcountyvoice.com

Very early.

Wildfire critical in calculating carbon-payback time for biomass energy projects

Posted on March 30, 2015 by GarryRogers

Accounting for wildfire is essential in achieving an accurate and realistic calculation of the carbon payback period associated with converting forest biomass into energy, according to a new study.

Source: phys.org

GR: It seems to me that there are some hidden assumptions that make the results questionable. Perhaps the biggest IF is whether or not thinning to reduce fire danger is occurring. Thinning is often a prelude to tree harvest. IF it is, then the payback period would be increased by thinning.

Chilean Wildfires Ravage Rare Species

Posted on March 28, 2015 by GarryRogers

Chilean Wildfires Ravage Rare Species
Huge firestorms raging across parts of drought-stricken southern Chile have “wiped out” hundreds of rare plant species and threatened wildlife as well, according to environmental advocates.

Source: elispiritweaver.wordpress.com

The article points out that much more is spent on fighter jets than on protecting the country’s natural heritage. In almost every country, our intraspecific wars and fears of war get much more attention and resources than do our wild plants and animals. We have such small brains.

The Fate of Trees: How Climate Change May Alter Forests Worldwide

Posted on March 17, 2015 by GarryRogers

By the end of the century, the woodlands of the Southwest will likely be reduced to weeds and shrubs. And scientists worry that the rest of the planet may see similar effects