Crimes Against Nature - Part One

Discussion in 'Front Page Stories' started by ZenKarma, Oct 26, 2016.

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  1. ~Zen~

    ~Zen~ Ancient Mariner Administrator

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    In California they say that there are at least 66 million dead standing trees. They found that by satellite research.

    It is a huge problem in this time of prolonged drought, as it does increase the danger of mega-style wildfires such as we have seen in recent years. In northern California, just one mega-fire, the Valley Fire of 2015, torched 170,000 acres.Recent forest management practices leaving millions of dead trees throughout the western US has made the situation much worse.

    Not only leading to the danger of extreme fires, the practice of 'girdling' a tree and leaving it to die isn't fast enough for the timber companies. They drill holes into the trees and add herbicides to kill it, leading to environmental damage and pollution of the watershed.

    Their goal is to selectively clear out any unwanted varieties of trees in the forest, making it easier for eventual clear-cutting in future. This mono-cropping has degraded the ecology by destroying the diversity of the forest. Not only do certain tree species disappear, but the other plants, fungi and wildlife that live in symbiosis are also lost.
    ...we concluded the most effective way to bring back a healthy conifer forest in our lifetime was to treat tan oak, selectively, carefully, in the woods, literally tree by tree. Treating tan oak involves using herbicide (about two cups per acre) that is injected directly into the trunk of tan oak trees, following a cut made in the bark.
    The treatment results in trees dropping most leaves in six to nine months (depending on the time of year), and beginning to fall down within three to four years. After several years, the treated trees largely decompose and their biomass is added to the duff layer of the forest. The treatment of tan oak reduces competition for sunlight and water allowing redwood and Douglas fir trees to thrive.
    ~Mendocino Redwood Company of Ukiah,

    [​IMG]

    Free Firewood Signs Are Everywhere
    Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle
    Bill Harsh has stacks of wood salvaged from dying trees on his property in Mariposa.
    Now California has a huge problem, dead trees everywhere. More than anyone can use.
    Officials who are cutting down and stacking the most dangerous trees in piles across six counties, however, say they are stumped by how to get rid of them all.
    One solution is to fire up a fleet of 10 large, mechanized incinerators the state recently purchased. Promoters say they burn so hot that they spew little if any smoke, making them environmentally friendly.
    Environmentalists contend the burners undercut an emergency order by Gov. Jerry Brown — considered a global leader in the fight against climate change — who called for sending the trees to biomass plants and converting them into energy.
    https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/world-policy/article/2016/06/19/calif-battle-dead-tree-epidemic

    Each machine can burn eight trees an hour. It's not going to do the job.
    "This is bad," said Jim McDougald, a CalFire division chief in Fresno County, "It'll never come back — not in our lifetime."

    Governor Brown has started a Tree Mortality Task Force — headed up by Cal Fire, the statewide firefighting agency to come up with solutions to this problem.

    Seems a little late to the game, and is he just fiddling around while California burns?

    Wikipedia has much more information about sustainable forestry management. Read about it here.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_forest_management

    Click here to view the article
     
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