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Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project on KMUD, 09/23/20

ISF hosts an in-depth discussion with Humboldt County tribal representatives. Topics include sustainable forest management, wildfire, forest certification, and Rainbow Ridge.

KMUD radio, 91.1 FM / kmud.org

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Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project on KMUD, 09/14/20

Yana Valachovic and Lenya Quinn-Davidson, from the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, host a discussion about wildfire in the western states and the current wildfires in Northern California.

KMUD radio, 91.1 FM / kmud.org

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Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project on KMUD, 08/31/20

Chip Tittmann and Richard Gienger host a discussion: Sustainable Forest Certification, Successes and Failures from the 1980s to the present, including the origins of ISF and its quest for sustainable forestry certification.

KMUD radio, 91.1 FM / kmud.org

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Fire and Vegetation Change in the Yolla Bolly

by Susan Nolan

A recent backpack trip to the Yolla Bolly Wilderness gave an immersion in fire ecology. In Indian times Cedar Basin must have been frequently burned. Someone pointed out that Indians burned to manage vegetation, not for fire control, and that would certainly be true in Cedar Basin, a place that would have been used for summer gathering and hunting, not a place to live year round. (Both the Wailaki and the Wintun used that area.) The early ranchers who ran cattle up there continued the burning regime to keep pastures clear.

But as the young Forest Service gained traction it suppressed fire to preserve timber resources. Protected from their greatest natural enemy, trees began filling in the grassland. It was quite striking to me on this trip that so many of the trees are young, short and pointy-topped.

Yolla Bolly Wilderness. Photo by Susan Nolan.
Yolla Bolly Wilderness. Photo by Susan Nolan.

There are scattered old growth trees. Their progency crowd around them:

Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Stand of Douglas Fir, Yolla Bolly Wilderness

You can see this tree grew up without near neighbors by the dead lower branches remaining on the trunk—those would have been shed much earlier in shade. With more frequent fires, the little trees would have been killed off.

An interesting spot is Saunder’s Place, a small stand of old growth next to an unusual meadow, very near a creek, a natural campsite. Note size of red backpack. Looking south.

Saunder’s Place, Looking South
Saunder’s Place, Looking South

Looking north across the meadow from within the small grove, you can see dense young trees filling in:

Saunder’s Place, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Saunder’s Place, Yolla Bolly Wilderness

I bet the Wintu had a name for Saunder’s Place too; it is definitely a place. And reading the forest, it looks like in their day this little grove stood by itself in a mostly open grassland.

Here’s an opening filling in with young trees. Very common.
Young Trees, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Young Trees, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Frequent fires would wipe most of these out, but with fire suppression they turn into thickets, then dense stands, which burn hard, leaving lots of standing dead wood.
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There was also a lot of deadfall. Here is a firebreak, I think the original fire was in 2008 and the firebreak made more recently, defending against a different fire:
Firebreak, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Firebreak, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Lots of fuel standing and on the ground. This could become a catastrophic fire, killing the big surviving trees.
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Also, not one but two trails on my route in burned areas had been neglected by the Forest Service, and become blocked by deadfall and brush until they disappeared. This meant a change of plan for me, but more seriously, hinders access for future firefighting. I would guess that the Forest Service has half the trail mileage they did 50 years ago.
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So lots of time to consider fire on this trip. After a century of fire suppression, it will take more than one or two prescribed burns to restore some places to a healthy balance. And it can’t happen fast enough, we can’t do the work fast enough, so a great deal of catastrophic fire lies ahead—and that’s no solution either. Climate change complicates the problem as this ecosystem adapts to new conditions. We can expect that a new equilibrium will establish itself, likely more like biomes further south.
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Sorry if this sounds glum. It was a wonderful trip, with bears and grouse and wild lilies, so much of interest and beauty. And that place will be there, whatever the changes.

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Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project on KMUD, 07/30/20

Jenny Burnstad speaks with Eric Lassodovitch and Brenda Quintero about utilizing timber from forest-thinning. All three are members of the Forest Reciprocity Group, or “Frogs.” Burnstad is a co-founder of Cloud Forest Institute, Lassodovitch is a co-founder of Polecraft Solutions, and Quintero is the founder of the Trees Project.

KMUD radio, 91.1 FM / kmud.org

www.forestreciprocity.org

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Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project on KMUD, 07/28/20

Jenny Burnstad and Govinda Dalton of the Forest Reciprocity Group discuss thinning forests  and fuel-load reduction for fire safety and wildlife restoration, utilizing the small-diameter trees for construction.

KMUD radio, 91.1 FM / kmud.org

www.forestreciprocity.org