[Vision2020] Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity

[J Ford]

Ok - how about the possibility and likely PROBABILITY that the increase in forest fires (which happen EVERY SINGLE YEAR in California) is due to an increase of people moving into an area that once was "wilderness"?  THAT is what should be looked at.  Repeatedly yesterday, the news sources and experts interviewed (including the fire-fighters) all said the same thing - people are building in areas they have no business being.  The fires were man-made in that a welders spark, a transformer and someone playing with matches were all blamed for the start of the fires.  Yes, the fuel is all dry and tender is everywhere, but without exception, everyone said that if man was not building there, the destruction would not be anywhere near what it is.

This happens every year, Ted.  I remember hearing and seeing and smelling the fires when I was 5 and living in/around L.A. - it's just a part of living in that part of California.

Period!

J  :]


Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:44:12 -0700
From: starbliss at gmail.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity

All-
 
Given what is happening in California...
---------------
THOMAS W. SWETNAM 
 

tswetnam at ltrr.arizona.edu 
 
http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~tswetnam 

   Co-author of the piece "Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity" in Science magazine, Swetnam is director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and Dendrochronology at the University of Arizona. He said today: "Increasing numbers of large forest fires and total area burned in the western United States are significantly correlated with warming and drying trends. ... There is a clear upward trend in the area burned and numbers of large forest fires in the western 
U.S., especially since the mid-1980s." 
   This Sunday, Swetnam was interviewed on "60 Minutes," where he said: "As the spring is arriving earlier because of warming conditions, the snow on these high mountain areas is melting and running off. So the logs and the branches and the tree needles all can dry out more quickly and have a longer time period to be dry. And so there's a longer time period and opportunity for fires to start. ... We're dealing with a period of climate, in terms of temperature and humidity and drought, that's different than anything people have seen in our lifetimes." 

 
Swetnam's piece in Science is at:
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml
 
"60 Minutes" "The Age Of Mega-Fires" segment from Sunday is available on video:
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml 

 
and transcript: 
 
http://heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=6671&Method=Full

 
-----------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

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