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Fostering Better Forest Policy With Science
By Cameron Naficy
A widespread notion is that fire suppression has greatly altered fire regimes across
the West and is therefore largely responsible for the large, severe wildfires
witnessed in recent years. This logic even lies at the base of national policies
such as the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) and Healthy Forests Initiative
(HFI) which emphasize widespread logging and prescribed fire to ameliorate the
effects of fire suppression and reduce the likelihood of large fires. However,
significant scientific debate exists about the extent and historical causes of forest change as well as the best management responses to these changes.
Recent studies have begun to highlight many potential dangers of rushing
headfirst into widespread logging and burning practices, as is currently advocated
by national policies. Just as fire suppression was thought to be a beneficial policy
for forest health and public safety and yet we now find ourselves in part the victim
of a century of fire suppression policies, we need to be sure that current thinning
and burning policies do not, in the long run, actually worsen the very problem they
aim to solve. In order to avoid such an outcome, solid scientific principles must
exist as the foundation of management policy and practice. Over the last several
years, the WildWest Institute has been working with forest ecologists at the
University of Montana to help fill the scientific gap at the base of current national forest policies. The following is a brief review of our research and other relevant scientific findings that should help to form the basis for forest management policies and practices on public lands.
Cascadia Rising Tide joined forces with Stumptown Earth First! to hold an action and rally at the downtown Portland office of NW Natural (local gas utility), for their involvement in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) related pipelines, which threaten to clear-cut strips of forest throughout Oregon for new fossil fuel infrastructure.