Angora Fire at South Lake Tahoe
The Angora Fire at South Lake Tahoe is still fresh in the hearts and minds of the residents of the communities impacted by this devastating event. We believe that the hope of preventing such a disastrous loss of property in the future lies in advancing a fuels reduction program and community protection measures which are based on science not ill-conceived political considerations. We can prevent events like Angora, even with the increased volume of homes located in the wildland-urban interface, by focusing our attention and resources on removing the threat that the build-up of small trees and brush around communities presents while also advocating for the reduction of fuels around individual homes.
Wildfire is a natural part of the Sierra Nevada forest ecosystem and it is important that it remains so, but the communities of the Sierra Nevada can learn to live with wildfire and it is important that we all do so. We are facing a problem that has taken many decades to develop and is the result of a well-meaning policy of suppressing every wildfire for a half-century. Unfortunately this policy has resulted in forests in many parts of the region that are unnaturally dense and that have not been exposed to the fires that they regularly experienced and required for their health and regeneration. This regular fire regime also resulted in "cooler" fires that burned the surface fuels (small trees and brush), that are such a problem and threat to communities today.
Restoring the forests of the Lake Tahoe Basin requires thinning primarily smaller trees, treating brush and surface fuels, and supporting environmentally sustainable small-scale biomass facilities that will provide a safer end-point for thinned material. It is time to end the continuous creation of thousands of highly flammable burn piles throughout the Basin.
Defensible Space
According to the Angora Fire Assessment Report prepared by the Forest Service in response to the Angora Fire, homes burned because communities lacked defensible space and/or homes were ignited by blowing embers. Fire experts now recognize that one of the most effective ways to protect homes adjacent to wildlands is to reduce the fuel (small trees and brush) directly surrounding a home. When a fire lacks this fuel source, its intensity decreases, it burns slower and it will be less destructive. In California, current fire codes require defensible space around a home in fire prone areas. Unfortunately, there is still much work to be done to fully educate homeowners and enforce this provision. Many homeowners for example are not aware that in the Tahoe area they can obtain permits from the local fire department for necessary tree thinning. When it comes to the threat from wildfire communities are truly interconnected. One homeowner's non-compliance can quickly become their neighbor's fire hazard. Simple measures such as replacing roofs and home siding with non-flammable materials can dramatically increase the likelihood of a home surviving an approaching wildfire.
However, making homes more safe from fire will not be achieved with a heavy-handed approach. We need to all come together in a positive atmosphere and address the politically difficult issues of enforcing fire code compliance. We also need to focus on helping homeowners with permits for clearing, addressing development in fire prone areas, promoting fire-safe building materials and increasing multi-agency collaboration. When homes are built in places vulnerable to fire, with materials that are easily consumed, homeowners need to shoulder more of the responsibility for making their property and homes defensible.
Forest Service research has demonstrated that managing fuel around homes by creating adequate defensible space and using fire safe construction practices makes it likely that homes will survive wildfires that do occur. In the Angora fire, many homes burned while the vegetation around them survived indicating that the homes were more vulnerable than the vegetation around them. Many homes burned because the adjacent home was the fuel source indicating that this is a community imperative, not just an individual responsibility. Homeowners need the tools and knowledge to meet defensible space guidelines and modify their homes so that communities can withstand fire. One program that can assist homeowners and communities become fire safe is the Firewise Communities USA program, which encourages local partnerships with state and federal firefighting agencies to increase a homeowner's ability to help their house - and their neighbor's - survive a fire.
Thinning around Communities
Additional measures that can reduce the threat of wildfire to communities include removing small trees and brush from forests within one-quarter mile of communities. The Forest Service needs to focus its prevention efforts where they will do the most good, which is within this quarter-mile area, not out in the back country. And in terms of forest management, the goal should be to target the most dangerous fuels in the forest, and protect people and their homes.
Focusing fuels reduction work in the areas immediately surrounding a community not only helps protect communities for wildfire but it can also offer an economic benefit as well. Small-scale biomass efforts, including one at the South Lake Tahoe High School, can offer a market for turning the byproducts of these thinning efforts into biomass fuel and energy. If we continue to advocate for thinning the areas within a quarter-mile of communities and help develop the infrastructure to utilize the byproduct of that work, we can also all but eliminate the burning of these thinned piles within the Lake Tahoe Basin. In this win-win-win situation communities can be have the areas immediately surrounding them thinned, use the thinned material as an energy source, and reduce the impact of smoke on the air and water quality of the basin.
Forest Restoration is not about big trees
Forest managers and scientists agree that the most hazardous fuels in the forest are dry grasses, pine needles, tree limbs and brush, and that eliminating them should be the first priority. The focus of a good fuels management plan must be on reducing those fuels that ignite and spread wildfire, while keeping the large, older trees that are resistant to fire. Those big trees provide shade, keep the forest floor moist and the wind speed down. Indiscriminate logging is not a viable solution to reducing wildfire risk. Logging can actually increase fire danger by leaving flammable debris on the forest floor. Loss of tree canopy lets the sun in, encouraging the growth of brush, increases wind speed and air temperature, and decreases the humidity in the forest, making fire conditions even worse.
The Forest Service is targeting the bigger trees because the Bush administration has put them in the position where the only way they can get funded is with the revenue from cutting larger trees. Decades of fire suppression, grazing and logging have changed the condition of Sierra Nevada forests - including those around Lake Tahoe - causing large wildfires to occur more frequently, burn hotter and spread farther and faster than they would naturally.
Salvage logging and its impacts
The most current scientific suggests that salvage logging burned forests and replanting tree farms needs to be re-examined as a restoration concept. The results of these research papers demonstrate that salvage logging and replanting destroys natural regeneration of trees, increases fire risk and lowers wildlife diversity.
Additionally, the threat to the water clarity of Lake Tahoe is greatly increased due to the impacts of salvage logging. The cleared landscape that this practice creates leads to increased runoff of soils during rain events. Local streams and rivers are typically inundated with this runoff and the watercourses leading to Lake Tahoe will likewise find themselves thus polluted.
Key findings from recent research:
(1) In J.P.A. Shatford et al. 2007 Conifer Regeneration After Forest Fire in the Klamath-Siskiyous: How Much, How Soon? Journal of Forestry (Society of American Foresters) a recent paper discussing the success of conifer regeneration after forest fires in northern California with no salvage logging and only natural regeneration (regrowth of forests).
"...our findings suggest that the prognosis for achieving reasonable conifer densities is fair to excellent, even on sites with high cover of broad-leaved shrubs and hardwoods. Although conifer growth may be delayed by competition over the short term, benefits in terms of wildlife habitat and site-fertility should be considered."
"...assertions that burned areas, left unmanaged will remain unproductive for some indefinite period seems unwarranted."
"In contrast to expectations, generally, we found natural conifer regeneration abundant across a variety of settings."
(2) In Danato et al. 2006. Post-Fire Logging Hinders Regeneration and Increases Fire Risk. Science January 5, 2006 published online.
"Our data show that postfire logging by removing naturally seeded conifers and increasing surface fuel loads, can be counterproductive to goals of forest regeneration and fuels reduction. The results presented suggest that post logging may conflict with ecosystem recovery goals."
"Postfire logging subsequently reduced regeneration by 71% (767 seedlings per hectare to 224 seedlings per hectare) due to soil disturbance and physical burial by woody material during logging operations."
"Postfire logging significantly increased both fine and coarse woody fuel loads...this pulse far exceeded expectations for postfire logging generated fuel loads."
Protecting water quality
The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (Lahontan Board) has the responsibility to protect the pristine waters of the Lake Tahoe basin under California's Clean Water Act. There is no place in California where that mandate is more relevant. Protecting water clarity means protecting the Basin that feeds into the Lake from the impacts of damaging and degrading projects and their equipment.
Logging interests are eager to get their large equipment into the stream environment zones (SEZ’s) before the Lahontan Board can evaluate the impacts that this heavy equipment will have on these fragile ecosystems. An action such as this will violate the Clean Water Act, the recently renewed Lahontan timber waiver, and potentially damage the clarity of Lake Tahoe. In order to ensure that these SEZ’s are protected from these high-impact methods, a better approach in needed and a sincere look at prevailing science is required.
As stated in the previous section, salvage logging also has a detrimental impact on the water quality and water clarity of Lake Tahoe. By simply following what the best available science says regarding the impacts of salvage logging, the Forest Service can lead the way to ensure that an effective fuels reduction program is enacted without advancing projects that degrade riparian ecosystems, forest health, and water quality.
What we are doing to help
- Sierra Forest Legacy is implementing the Firewise Communities USA Program in the Sierra Nevada and has completed the Firewise Assessment for the Alpine Meadows Community. This program helps communities protect themselves at their home with defensible space and community–wide planning. Contact Jennifer to learn more about what you can do to help your community become Firewise.
- We wrote the grant for the South Tahoe High School Biomass Boiler which will replace the school’s diesel heating system with a biofuel (woody biomass and natural gas) boiler. The High School was on the perimeter of the Angora Fire. The South Tahoe Boiler will create a destination point for biomass chips in the Basin and help make biomass treatments more cost-effective while also reducing air pollution from burn piles.
- We have co-authored the new Conservation Community Wildfire Protection Plan for Sierra Nevada Communities…the plan is a “how-to” guide for protecting homes and restoring forested lands near communities. To learn more go to: www.forevergreenforestry.com/SierraConservationCWPP.html