Thanks for your article released today concerning prescribed burning. I do believe that your article would have been more powerful had you included some discussion regarding the role of large-scale severe forest ecosystem disturbance due to logging over the past decade. That previous logging has caused the southern Sierra forest to become hotter and drier, which, in turn, has facilitated unprecedented beetle-induced mortality, in conjunction with drought. That logging has also facilitated historic large-scale wildfires, and, most recently, 100-year+ level storm damage. And yet, in spite of all these unintended past-logging-related consequences, the USFS still intends to implement a prescribed burn project that entails yet more severe forest disturbance (i.e. more plans to remove vegetation) in the form of “pre-treatment actions (which includes mechanical and hand-thinning, pruning and limbing trees, mechanical chipping and mastication, machine hand-piling and felling some hazard trees!)
Thanks for your article released today concerning prescribed burning. I do believe that your article would have been more powerful had you included some discussion regarding the role of large-scale severe forest ecosystem disturbance due to logging over the past decade. That previous logging has caused the southern Sierra forest to become hotter and drier, which, in turn, has facilitated unprecedented beetle-induced mortality, in conjunction with drought. That logging has also facilitated historic large-scale wildfires, and, most recently, 100-year+ level storm damage. And yet, in spite of all these unintended past-logging-related consequences, the USFS still intends to implement a prescribed burn project that entails yet more severe forest disturbance (i.e. more plans to remove vegetation) in the form of “pre-treatment actions (which includes mechanical and hand-thinning, pruning and limbing trees, mechanical chipping and mastication, machine hand-piling and felling some hazard trees!)
Sincerely,
Todd Shuman, Tehachapi,
Excellent coverage, as always!