California: Los Padres NF & Enviros work to minimize impacts of fire & firefighting

The Wilderness Society forester (Rich Fairbanks) in this article has a
habit of getting hired by the forest service to execute the most
prominently harmful of timber sales and then after he gets paid for
the work he rejects the forest service and claims that he’s retired
and become an eviro. And then he’ll turn around and get hired again by
the Forest Service to plan another ill-concieved timber sale. He did
this when he gave up teaching at the University of Oregon to write
illegal timber sales for the Willamette NF. Then retires, then rehired
again on the Biscuit Fire in Southern Oregon. This guy sure get his
share of destroying and preserving work done! I remember once when I
was filing comments on the Winberry Timber sale on the Willamette NF
in 1996. Back then I was almost convinced that he was deliberately
sabotaging the flora and fauna surveys so the timber sale would get
shut down in court, which it eventually did. Anyways, Here’s his
Latest:

Members of The Wilderness Society and Ventana Wilderness Alliance
approached Los Padres National Forest managers to discuss a new
direction in managing the catastrophic wildfires that rip through the
region every few decades. The groups propose maintaining strategic
fire lines year-round and doing small controlled burns in the wet
season. By prepping existing breaks around the wilderness, they aim to
protect surrounding homes while reducing the number of additional
lines cut in emergencies. The agency’s status quo puts more money into
reaction than prevention. Since 1935 the Forest Service has followed
the “10am policy,” which requires the agency to attempt to control new
wildfires by 10am the next day. Fire suppression in California
reportedly cost more than $1.7 billion in 2008. It also punched
countless fire lines into the wilderness, introducing noxious weeds
and tempting ATV users. A preventive approach would create high-wage
jobs at a fraction of the cost of fighting wildfires, according to TWS
Fire Program Associate Rich Fairbanks, who spent 32 years in the
Forest Service. “Bulldozers do a lot of damage, and to repeatedly use
them in a wild area in times of fire begs for a solution,” he says.
Monterey District Ranger John Bradford is supportive, but he says the
Forest Service will need TWS’s help to sell it to the public. “Folks
that have very strong wilderness ethics might not like this idea,” he
says. “I was pleasantly surprised when they talked to me about it.
This is stuff that we’ve tried to work on for years, and never gotten
support.” Both Fairbanks and Bradford emphasize that the talks are
preliminary and non-specific. But so far, the concept of maintaining
firebreaks around the wilderness seems surprisingly palatable to both
camps, which historically have butted heads. The December meeting was
only the first step in a process that may catch on– or fizzle out.
Davis says he and Fairbanks are working on recommendations for the
scoping document, due Jan. 15. With approval from both Bradford and
Forest Supervisor Peggy Hernandez, it will inch toward the public
process. http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/archives/2009/2009-Jan-08/enviros-and-forest-service-forge-new-alliance-in-fire-management/1/@@index

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