Fire is a Natural Part of Minnesota’s Forests
Forest Service decisions to prevent fire should protect communities first
Every community at risk deserves to be protected.We can protect homes by removing brush and small trees within 500 yards of communities. When a fire racing through a forest hits this Community Protection Zone, the flames get knocked low to the ground, where firefighters are able to control the fire and save homes.
But the Forest Service is reducing funding for community protection.
More than half of the fire prevention funding in 2003 was earmarked for projects far from homes, where timber companies stand to make money on logging the wild, beautiful parts of our National Forests. In its recent budget request, the Forest Service proposed to cut the number of permanent firefighters from nearly 9000 to fewer than 5000.
Forest fires in Minnesota:
The Forest Service has controlled fires well in Minnesota. In the last two years, 220 wildfires burned only 574 acres in CNF &
SNF. Nearly all were caused by lightning, arson, campfires, or debris burning.
Restore forests through prescribed burning.
Superior and Chippewa National Forests perform controlled fires each year to reduce overgrown undergrowth and restore forest ecosystems. The Forest Service has accomplished over 25,000 acres of prescribed burns in the last three years.
We don’t need logging for fuel reduction.
Federal agencies performed 340 fuel reduction projects in Minnesota from 1998 to 2002. Less than 4% used thinning or logging on National Forests. None of these projects have noted any controversy. Less than 20% of fuel reduction projects were done in areas near communities.
We can do better.
The Forest Service should make protecting communities the number one priority of the agency, and stop diverting resources to commercial logging subsidies. They should focus dollars and manpower on the job, and set a timeline for achieving results.
The Benefits of Fire
Natural, periodic fires play a crucial role in forests:
- Restore minerals to the soil
- Create habitat for fish and wildlife
- Release seeds from large trees like the Giant Sequoia, which have evolved to rely on fire's life-giving qualities
- Halt insect infestations
- Eliminate smaller brush and saplings that compete with the forests' large fire-resistant trees
Threats and Realities in Our Forests
- Fifty years of aggressive fire suppression by the U.S. government has hindered fire's natural and beneficial processes; many areas have become choked with brush, and other kinds of trees are competing with the large species that formerly dominated the forest.
- Recognizing increasing fire threats, the U.S. Forest Service tried to solve the problem by allowing timber companies to log more of our National Forests. However, the logging companies take only the high-value timber -- the largest trees whose thick bark naturally resists the small periodic fires that sweep through forests.
- In addition to removing the fire-resistant trees, the logging operations leave behind saplings and massive piles of sticks and debris called "slash." Deprived of shade provided by the larger trees, the forest floor dries out more quickly and temperatures can get much hotter, turning slash piles and debris-strewn clearings to fire-friendly tinder.
- With fuels having accumulated from years of suppression and logging, some forest fires can burn far hotter and faster than the smaller fires that periodically swept through the forests before we tried to "control" forest fires. These fires consume the accumulated brush and climb saplings to reach the limbs of the larger trees -- becoming a much larger "crown fire." Thus, as leading scientists have found, "Timber harvest, through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate, and fuels accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity."
The Solutions
The following recommendations from forest scientists and fire
experts can protect homes, save taxpayers money, defuse fire
threats, and restore our forests' health:
Protect homes by focusing forest management around homes and communities and by providing education and resources to homeowners. By clearing flammable materials within 30-60 feet of your home, landscaping appropriately and taking other responsible precautions, homeowners living in forests can help keep their property safe.
Restore the natural role of fire to forest ecosystems with prescribed burns. Because prescribed burning produces no timber commodity, it offers no short-term economic incentive. However, restoring the natural role of fire to a landscape often provides the best results and pays off with long-term financial savings.
Protect National Forests from commercial logging and focus resources on active forest restoration. Prescribed burning, appropriate road maintenance and decommissioning and restoring natural forest processes will defuse catastrophic fire risks, provide healthier forests, increase economic benefits, and protect communities better.
Ten Ways to Make a Home Firesafe Today!
- Clean roof surfaces and gutters of needles, leaves, and branches regularly to avoid buildup of flammable materials.
- Remove portions of any tree extending within 10 feet of the flue opening of any wood stove or chimney.
- Landscape vegetation should be spaced so that fire cannot be carried to the structure or surrounding vegetation.
- Dispose of stove or fireplace ashes and charcoal briquettes only after soaking them in a metal pail of water.
- Store all combustibles such as firewood, picnic tables, and boats well away from structures.
- Garden hoses should be connected to an outlet.
- Remove branches from trees close to homes to a height of 15 feet.
- Keep these fire tools handy: a ladder long enough to reach the roof, shovel, rake and water bucket.
- Propane tanks should be far enough away from buildings for valves to be shut off in case of fire. Keep area around tanks clear of flammable vegetation.
- Each home should have at least two different entrance and exit routes.