been chasing lightning fires in OR all day
This morning’s Lookout Livestream covers new spread and tactics on the Anvil Fire, near Port Orford, looks at the progress of strategic firing operations on the Six Rivers National Forest, and checks in on the Pearch Fire, which continues to spread near Orleans, Ca. Anvil Fire and NW California Fires - 9/17/2023 - The Lookout
Question: Last summer a prescribed burn escaped and resulted in a small wildfire east of Eugene. This past month, a Forest Service burn boss was arraigned on charges of reckless burning after a prescribed fire escaped and burned private land in Eastern Oregon in 2022. Are you confident in the Forest Service’s ability to carry out prescribed burns considering these significant challenges?
Moore: Yeah, of course, I’m confident that we have the ability. And if you remember, I called a 90 day pause (on prescribed burns in 2022 after two in New Mexico got out of control and resulted in the state’s largest wildfire) … And really, it was to do a check on how we were doing prescribed burning, but also to look at what has changed.
You know, people are on different sides of the aisle with climate change. But one thing is for sure, our climate is different today than what it has been. And because it’s different it’s creating conditions that we have never seen before, particularly as it relates to fire behavior. And so, as we look at the prescribed burning, we do have the ability.
Now here’s the issue, I think. We also have a lot of material out on the ground, and you can’t just put fire in a fire adapted ecosystem, you have to remove the material first, thin it out enough so we can hold the fire. But the real challenge is that the type of material out there is small diameter, low value material, which we don’t have the infrastructure to utilize that. And so we’re investing in wood innovation to look at cross laminated timber to look at biochar, biofuel, nanocellulose material to create opportunities for this new type of material that’s really prevalent on the landscape now.
Question: You said recently all signals point to lower funds for the Forest Service wildfire budget in 2024. Will Oregon have similar levels of firefighter and firefighting resources on the ground this year or can we expect it to be scaled back somewhat this coming season?
Moore: Going in now, of course, you know, we don’t have a budget. The federal government doesn’t have a budget. Our expectation is to have the same level of firefighters we had last year. And so, we’re looking at roughly 11,700 firefighters. … Now, with an uncertainty around budget, could that be potentially compromised? Of course. We also have a housing issue, a mental health issue, with our firefighters. So, all of that plays into whether we’ll be able to recruit and retain firefighters.
Question: The Northwest Forest Plan was originally born three decades ago in large part because of decades of controversy over salmon, old-growth forest and logging in Oregon. Now the Forest Service is planning to revise and update that document. What changes might Oregonians expect to see in the way their federal forests are being managed?
Moore: I think that’s to be discovered. I think that we need sit down and have public meetings. We need to look at what are the expectations that our publics are having for their national forests and then how can we provide that within the context of the laws that guide us.