California wildfires - Pitchstone Waters

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California wildfires

A collection of 14 posts

When Native Grazers Disappear, The Land Burns: How the Collapse of Deer and Wild Horses Turned Small Fires into Megafires — and Why Livestock Alone Cannot Fix It

Wild Horse Fire Brigade

When Native Grazers Disappear, The Land Burns: How the Collapse of Deer and Wild Horses Turned Small Fires into Megafires — and Why Livestock Alone Cannot Fix It

Siskiyou County's wildfire crisis raises a fundamental question: what happens when a landscape loses the large herbivores that once helped shape it?

Gavin Newsom’s “Zone 0” Disaster: The Governor’s Latest Wildfire “Solution” Is a Deadly Farce

Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Gavin Newsom’s “Zone 0” Disaster: The Governor’s Latest Wildfire “Solution” Is a Deadly Farce

California Governor Gavin Newsom has just signed one of the most arrogant, ignorant, and outright dangerous executive orders in recent memory: the so-called “Zone 0” mandate.

Increased Wildfires, Toxic Smoke & Imbalanced Ecosystems Leading to Depredation of Livestock by Apex Predators

Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Increased Wildfires, Toxic Smoke & Imbalanced Ecosystems Leading to Depredation of Livestock by Apex Predators

The loss of millions of critically important herbivores (deer, elk and wild horses) has resulted in several serious adverse impacts costing American taxpayers hundreds of $-billions annually.

How L.A. Bureaucracy Made It Harder to Clear Flammable Brush

California wildfires

How L.A. Bureaucracy Made It Harder to Clear Flammable Brush

A mishmash of government agencies failed to keep public lands safe from deadly wildfires, residents say

PG&E Scraps Tree-Trimming Program Once Seen as Key to Fire Prevention

forest thinning

PG&E Scraps Tree-Trimming Program Once Seen as Key to Fire Prevention

California utility spent more than $2 billion on effort it says was ineffective; focus now is on power-line settings

At Yosemite, a Preservation Plan That Calls for Chain Saws

California wildfires

At Yosemite, a Preservation Plan That Calls for Chain Saws

As discussed below, most experts now agree that logging and prescribed burning are necessary to improve forest health. Other practices which are not discussed in this article – but equally needed – are hunting and domestic livestock grazing. All of these are fiercely opposed. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.

The Big Burn of 1910 and the Choking of America’s Forests

California wildfires

The Big Burn of 1910 and the Choking of America’s Forests

This article from PERC (Property and Environment Research Center), the free market environmental think tank based in Bozeman, discusses the origin of the public forest management policy that has turned out to be so bad for our national forests. NOTE: this article was originally published to PERC.org on June

Masters of Desert Survival, Can Saguaros Survive Wildfires?

California wildfires

Masters of Desert Survival, Can Saguaros Survive Wildfires?

According to the article below, saguaros are being harmed by buffelgrass wildfires. “The biggest threat for saguaros in climate change isn’t the heat or the drought. It’s fire that sweeps in and burns extremely hot.” As with forest fires, it is not weather but fine fuel accumulation that

California wildfires

Wildfires Threaten Urban Water Supplies, Long After the Flames Are Out

The article below discusses the long term effect of catastrophic forest fires on drinking water. The authors say that 2/3 of America’s drinking water comes from forests. The fires greatly increase soil erosion and this harms water quality. It fails to mention the environmental harm done by the

California wildfires

Goat Stories

“At Pitchstone Waters we have found that properly managed goats are the easiest form of fire-control brush management in overgrown forests. The negative is that this a service which must be paid for. NOTE: this collection of goat-related stories was originally published to Flipboard.com. It was curated

Trump Administration Seeks Authority for More Logging to Fight Fire Danger

Trump Administration Seeks Authority for More Logging to Fight Fire Danger

Decades of neglect have turned much of America’s forests into fire traps. Many need immediate attention to reduce brush, dead trees and overcrowding. Excess trees could be logged to help pay for the cleanup. Aesthetics matter because ugly logging – leaving behind brush piles and stump fields – reduces public support