Re: The unspoken truth about wildfires

On 8/1/2026 11:08 AM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
> On Sat, 01 Aug 2026 13:36:08 -0400, Noah Sombrero <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> 
>> On Sat, 1 Aug 2026 13:27:31 -0400, Wilson <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 8/1/2026 1:07 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 1 Aug 2026 12:52:40 -0400, Wilson <[email protected]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 7/31/2026 6:44 PM, Creon wrote:
>>>>>> At Fri, 31 Jul 2026 16:20:28 -0400, Wilson <[email protected]>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 7/31/2026 2:06 PM, Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Jul 31, 2026 at 12:40:32?PM EDT, "Wilson"
>>>>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On 7/30/2026 3:50 PM, Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Julian <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> On 30/07/2026 19:56, Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Jul 30, 2026 at 2:53:09?PM EDT, "Julian"
>>>>>>>>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>> On 30/07/2026 19:29, Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Jul 30, 2026 at 2:04:17?PM EDT, "Julian"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sadly he was proved right. So was I. After I warned in these
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> very pages last year that government policy was worsening
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the fire risk on moorland, it gives me no pleasure to say:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ‘I told you so.’
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Matt Ridley
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Indigenous peoples in North America have been conrolling the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> threat of wild fires with prescribed/controlled burns for
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> centuries. Canada is looking to do the same in co-operation
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with our native people. We have a problem doing this however
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> because of the acessibility and vastness of our forests. But
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> in a country the size of Britain (and other European
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> countries), it seems to me that controlled fires are a no
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> brainer.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Are inaccessible fires in vast forests really a problem?
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I think they're as likely good for the land's long term health.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> There is that, but an uncontrolled fire can massively grow and
>>>>>>>>>>>> send a lot of smoke to people populated areas.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> A bit like a volcano.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Yeah like that.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The northeast US is hundreds of miles from the wildfires yet we've
>>>>>>>>> had serious air quality warnings this year and last. A few weeks
>>>>>>>>> ago it literally dimmed the sun for several days, making what was
>>>>>>>>> otherwise a clear day look cloudy.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wildfires-smoke-millions-exposed-midwest-northeast-us/
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Those pictures are not an exaggeration. That's what it really
>>>>>>>>> looked like.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Meanwhile the idiot treehuggers think they know what's best.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am an admitted tree hugger but I am also a realist and think that
>>>>>>>> one answer here is controlled burning. Another is education and
>>>>>>>> strictly enforced laws against those who are careless and start
>>>>>>>> fires through laziness and ignorance, clearing vegetation around
>>>>>>>> and near dwellings and building fire resistent homes.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yes I agree. The funny thing is, the idiot treehuggers I'm talking
>>>>>>> about are killing more trees by not allowing beneficial things like
>>>>>>> controlled burns.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not true.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You seem to be living about four decades behind, Sir.
>>>>>
>>>>> Because you say so?
>>>>>
>>>>> Who's stopping the controlled burns and brush clearing in California?
>>>>> It's not the foresters.
>>>>
>>>> Nobody, I suspect.
>>>
>>> The government of California is not allowing controlled burns.
>>
>> If that is (maybe) true, then I suspect that the decision was made by
>> somebody qualified to do that.  Not you, not me.
>>
>>> But as always, store clerks and truck drivers
>>>> think they need to tell professionals how to do their job.  How to
>>>> manage (where and when) controlled burning for instance.
>>>
>>> You seem quite happy to leave it to the politicians and functionaries
>>> who cosplay as experts.
>>
>> As I said, when you graduate with your degree in forestry management,
>> you discover that the store clerks and truck drivers still think they
>> need to tell you how to do your job.  That means the likes of us here
>> who lack such training.
> 
> One of my degrees, for instance, was Wildlife Management.  What they
> told us was that in spite of learning how to manage turkeys and deer,
> the actual decisions are made in terms of what hunters want.  Deer,
> for instance, like disturbed lands, not climax forest, so management
> for hunters means harvesting the forests and getting lots of regrowth
> with new low hanging leaves.  When deer start eating bark of trees
> with leaves out of reach, you know they are starving.
> 
> So, yeh, make lots of regrowth, get large deer populations so hunters
> can come in and in spite of being lousy shots, be mostly guaranteed a
> deer or two if the population is high enough.
> 
> You see where this is going.  Maybe you do.  Lots of short lived
> regrowth means lots of tinder for fires.
> 
> Oh, god damn, how did we do such a stupid thing?  Idonno, ask the
> clerks and truck drivers.
 >
That should be a wrap from our resident wildlife management experts, 
Nick and Noah, who both graduated from a university with a degrees in 
Forestry Management AND Fire Science.

What year? Was that an online course?