Arizona Forest Restoration Article

[BigHornRam]

Article does a good job of explaining the challenges, and options for successfully implementing restoration and fuel reduction goals.

Chip-And-Ship Forest Clearing May Help Prevent Wildfire Disasters

Large-scale forest thinning in northern Arizona to prevent wildfires is behind schedule. But a new program is taking low-value logs and shipping them across the Pacific to markets in Asia.

www.npr.org

 

[Gr8bawana]

That makes perfect sense. Just cut down the trees and then we won't have to worry about any forest fires.

 

[BigHornRam]

That makes perfect sense. Just cut down the trees and then we won't have to worry about any forest fires.

Not what is being discussed here. Read this link within the above link if you are interested in learning more.

What Effects Tree Thinning Has On Wildfires

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Matthew Hurteau, a forest ecologist at University of New Mexico, about the effectiveness of tree clearing and thinning in preventing wildfires or mitigating their intensity.

www.npr.org

Here is a ponderosa pine forest that has recently been thinned in the way described above. Hardly a clearcut.

 

[MTGomer]

Read

Not likely.

 

[BigHornRam]

Reading is good. Comprehension is better.

 

[Crimeny]

Judge: Feds Failed To Monitor Mexican Spotted Owl

A judge has ruled that federal agencies have failed to monitor the threatened Mexican Spotted Owl population. The ruling stops prescribed burns and forest…

www.kunm.org

And there goes the program? Not sure how we protect old growth without thinning or controlled burns. Probably bad deal for the owl as well.

 

[BigHornRam]

The ruling applies to the Gila National Forest. The chipping program mentioned here is on the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Seems that the ruling applies to the Tonto NF also.

 

[hank4elk]

Seems that the ruling applies to the Tonto NF also.

Ruling applies ONLY to Tonto NF in AZ.

 

[Crimeny]

I beleive it covers all of USFS region 3, which is all of NM and AZ.

 

[BigHornRam]

From the Silver City news article........

The judge ruled that in order for each of the five national forests in New Mexico — the Gila, Carson, Cibola, Santa Fe, and Lincoln — to fulfill its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act, they must undertake new biological consultations on the threatened owl and its habitats. Five national forests in Arizona that are also home to the spotted owl were exempted from the judge’s ruling, because they had already incorporated new biological opinions into the forest plans that each forest uses to guide land management.