Climate and Weather Federal forest policy Restoring cultural landscapes Saving Forests
by admin
leave a comment
The Meaning of Restoration
Did USFS Chief Tom Tidwell say what journalist Rocky Barger said he said? One can never tell with these two word twisting characters. It’s worth a look-see.
According to Rocky [here], Tidwell said:
… when Tidwell talks of restoration he isn’t talking about restoring the forest to the way it was in the past.
What? Let’s look at the definition of the word “restoration”:
res·to·ra·tion [rèste ráysh'n] res·to·ra·tions (plural)
NOUN
1. restoring of something removed: the return of something that was removed or abolished — “calls for the restoration of curfews”
2. restoring of something to former condition: the restoring of something such as buildings or furniture to an earlier and usually better condition — “Restoration work will begin next week.”
3. thing restored: something, especially a building, that has been brought back to an earlier and usually better condition
4. model: a model made to resemble or represent something in its original condition — “a restoration of a Neanderthal dwelling”
Synonyms: reinstatement, reestablishment, return, restitution, reinstallation
Synonyms: refurbishment, renovation, repair, renewal, rebuilding
The prefix “re” means back, against, again, anew.
Forest restoration is, without any doubt, to return the forest to the way it was in the past, to bring it back to an earlier and better condition. There is no other meaning to the word “restoration”.
If Chief Tidwell wants to make forests into something they have never been before, he should not use the word “restoration”.
He could use the word “transmogrify” as in, “Our objective is to transmogrify our priceless heritage forests into something completely different, unlike anything they have ever been before.”
That would be honest, if that was what he really means, and according to Rocky that IS what Tidwell really means when he uses the word “restoration” unartfully and incorrectly.
Rocky notes in the article linked to above that Tidwell went to Idaho schools. Maybe in Idaho they don’t speaka da English too gouda. Maybe the schools there teach kids the wrong meanings of words. Maybe they teach that up means down and hot means cold, and that “restoration” has nothing whatsoever to do with past conditions.
If so, then Idaho schools should be transmogrified into something they have never been before — decent places to educate kids.
But regarding the restoration of forests, the meaning and goal of the practice is to return forests to the structures and conditions of prior eras. Restoration has everything to do with the past.
Holocausters Sue to Stop Another Healthy Forest Thinning
This kind of story comes in through the digital grapevine every week. Usually I just sigh and skip them. I weary of the constant barrage. But once in awhile I throw a post out there about the demise of rational forest management, just so the holocausters know that we know what they are doing.
Which is their damnedest to burn America’s forests down.
With the stupified knee-jerk Dead Tree Press as their mouthpieces.
Here’s the story:
Suit: USFS skirted law on timber sale
By EVE BYRON, Helena Independent Record, May 6, 2010 [here]
Two environmental groups are claiming in a lawsuit that officials with the Helena National Forest coaxed a state agency into changing the designation of an area as elk winter range in order to get a timber sale near Elliston under way.
In the complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council say they have copies of e-mails that show the federal agency pressured Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials to “help them evade the law” by changing the elk designation from winter range to summer range. …
Note the headline. The Helena IR has tried and convicted the USFS of criminal activity, based spurious claims made in yet another lawsuit by radical enviros. The rads allegedly have “emails” to prove their charges.
Interestingly, when the Climategate emails were splashed across the world press in the greatest scandal in the history of science, the Helena IR didn’t mention them. In fact, a search of their archives reveals zero mention of Climategate. But no matter.
What matters is that the Elliston Face Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project is a thinning designed to removed hazardous fuels, including beetle-killed pine, from areas on the Helena National Forest directly upwind from the town of Elliston, MT. If a fire was to ignite in those fuels on a windy summer day, a holocaust could result that would incinerate public and private land and quite possibly burn down the town.
Which is exactly what the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council want to have happen. They are fully aware of the fire danger. They want it actualized. They want the town to burn to ashes, and the forest, too.
So does the Helena IR. Massive disaster and tragedy, especially if people are killed, sells newspapers.
Many Urgent Priorities - Global Warming Not One of Them
Testimony of The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley Before Congress May 6, 2010
Full text [here]
The Select Committee, in its letter inviting testimony for the present hearing, cites various scientific bodies as having concluded that:
1. The global climate has warmed;
2. Human activities account for most of the warming since the mid-20th century;
3. Climate change is already causing a broad range of impacts in the United States;
4. The impacts of climate change are expected to grow in the coming decades.
The first statement requires heavy qualification and, since the second is wrong, the third and fourth are without foundation and must fall. …
NWSA On AMR
Note: The National Wildfire Suppression Association (NWSA) [here] represents over 150 private wildland fire services contractors who operate on an as-needed basis to provide federal/state and local agencies with a variety of resources for wildland fire and other emergency incidents. Resources include twenty-person firefighting crews, timber faller modules, engines, tenders, dozers and other specialized fire equipment as well as a full complement of fire/emergency incident camp services.
Today, approximately 40 percent of the resources across the United States are provided by private wildland fire services. NWSA represents more than 150 private sector contract companies in 16 states that can field a work force of around 12,000 during the height of fire season.
NWSA Board President Rick Dice emphasizes that the role of the private sector is to complement, rather than compete with existing agency resources when fire activity and other emergency incidents, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Shuttle recovery operation, exceed organizational capacity.
The following White Paper on Appropriate Management Response was prepared by NWSA Executive Director Deborah Miley.
*****
National Wildfire Suppression Association
“Preserving and Protecting Our Environment”
POSITION PAPER RE: APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENT RESPONSE
The Department of Agriculture’s current program for the management objectives regarding wild fire suppression are referred to as Appropriate Management Response (AMR). In 2003, the Interagency Strategy for the Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Policy fundamentally altered the AMR philosophy of the Federal Wildland Fire Policy. In 2008, proposed amendments that embraced a broader interpretation of AMR and were in alignment with the 2001 Federal Fire Policy, were piloted and evaluated. Upon evaluation of the 2008 piloted changes, a plan of action was created and implemented for the 2009 fire season. The broad application of AMR has led to the selection of management responses on some fires that have resulted in increased impacts to humans and natural resources. After seeing the 2009 plan implemented, we have several key concerns with the current “broad” application of AMR.
1. Broad application of AMR has potential environmental and ecological effects. These effects include, but are not limited to:
A. The amount of environmentally damaging particles released in the air due to the broad application of AMR.
Wildfires are natural events which are not subject to National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) or subject to standards for human health and welfare. The focus of smoke monitoring is fine particulate matter, particles less than 10 (PM-10) or 2.5 (PM-2.5), or 150 micrograms per cubic meter average over a 24 hour period, which impacts human health and visibility. The fires in Montana in August of 2000 were more than the NAAQS for several days at Stevensville and Missoula.
High smoke concentrations can last for several weeks. Generally the larger the fire, the higher the smoke concentration and larger the area impacted. A broader application of AMR will therefore lead to a dramatic increase of smoke concentration affecting a larger area and higher population of people and wildlife. Additionally, the particles released into the air from larger fires burning for longer periods of time have a detrimental effect on our atmosphere.
B. Damage to and loss of natural resources, endangered species, watersheds, and old growth timber.
The Tumblebug Complex (September 2009) near Oakridge, Oregon burned 14,370 acres, which included hundreds of acres of old growth timber and spotted owl habitat. This was a fire where the broader application of AMR was used and implemented. It appears suppression expenditures were not commensurate with the values at risk on this complex of fires. The Willamette N.F. and Umpqua Land Management plans were updated to reflect the tactics employed and resource loss incurred. The tactics used specifically involved: a) point protection, and b) large scale burnout.
This fire resulted in damage to and loss of years of natural resource enhancement including significant investments in reforestation projects. From 1993 through 2002, reforestation treatments by the US Forest Service encompassed 3,133,514 acres. Timber Stand Improvement program activities during the same time frame, which include precommercial thinning, pruning, and fertilizing, encompassed another approximately 2,520,000 acres. The investment by the US Forest Service alone in natural resource enhancement is in the billions of dollars. A broader application of AMR, allowing fires to burn for longer durations and potentially bigger in size puts this investment at risk.
The Year Elite Radical Environmentalism Died
There are among us but a few truly capable authors, master wordsmiths with something to say. Chatter is easy, fine spun literature is a rare art.
Victor Davis Hansen is one of those worthy few who have something to say and know how to say it. Hansen is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Standford University and the author of books including The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization (1999), The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern (2010), The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece (2009), Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq (2004), and Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (2007).
Between writing insightful historical tomes, Victor Davis Hansen also pens popular essays for the National Review [here]. He is a pundit’s pundit, topical yet stylish in a way that no matter whether you agree with him or not, he’s fun to read. And he’s smart, so that it’s a challenge to disagree with him, most of the time.
Generally his essays concern politics, but on very rare occasions Hansen dashes off a quick piece on an environmental topic. Like yesterday, for instance, when he essayed Gorism.
Gorism, for the uninitiated, is the eco-philosophy of Al Gore, global warming alarmist supreme, author of Earth In the Balance, and poobah of environmental sanctimony.
What makes Gorism so amusingly grotesque is the profligate lifestyle of the Enviro Poobah. Al Gore is a cartoonish reverse caricature of his teachings, a bloated super-consumer who has become a billionaire by bad-mouthing materialist greed and consumerism.
more »
Forest Cover Loss Story Full of Holes
A recent journalistic gloss appeared in USA Today that claimed the world lost 3.1 percent of forest cover from 2000 to 2005. That story is a twisted misinterpretation of a single scientific report, and as such is typical of the yellow journalism that infects the alarmist Mainstream Media.
Reaction to USA Today slanted article has been swift. The Society of American Foresters called the story “overgeneralized,” “inaccurate,” and based on false assumptions:
Forest study article raises concerns from foresters nationwide
By David Smith, Siskiyou Daily News, May 03, 2010 [here]
Yreka, Calif. — A recent study report and an article revealing some of its findings sparked reactions from Siskiyou County and across the nation last week as foresters looked to address a message about the status of American forests.
Siskiyou County Natural Resource Policy Specialist Ric Costales stated on Wednesday that he had notified a number of individuals and organizations of a USA Today article titled “U.S. losing trees faster than other heavily forested nations,”an article based on the recently-released results of a study that quantified global gross forest cover loss (GFCL).
The study, conducted by representatives from South Dakota State University and the State University of New York, utilized satellite imagery to assess GFCL on an international scale. According to the study report, the GFCL was quantified by using satellite mapping techniques in the year 2000 and again in 2005 to detect areas where forest cover had been lost.
The issue that has arisen for some in the forestry discipline is the characterization in the news article that forests in the United States are fading. Erica Rhoad, director of forest policy for the Society of American Foresters, sent a letter to the editor of USA Today, which she shared with the Siskiyou Daily News Wednesday.
“The recent article titled ‘Fading Forests’ grossly over-generalized and assumed the state of U.S. forests based on satellite photos. One need not be a forester to realize that many of the assumptions in the article are false,” Rhoad says in her letter, stating that “this study only looks at gross forest loss and disregards offsetting forest gains, giving an inaccurate picture of forest cover.”
Lucky for us, SOS Forest operatives are on top of this story and we can clear up all the confusion here and now.
State boards deliver third strike to timberland owners
By Dennis Possehn, California Registered Professional Forester
From the Redding Record Searchlight, May 2, 2010 [here]
Two state boards and a federal agency have recently passed regulations and policy that cumulatively, in my opinion, could result in the largest timberland conversion in state history.
This is a conversion, because timber and the value thereof, owned by small private forest landowners, is no longer the highest and best use of the land — even though they own approximately 50 percent of the state’s private timberland. The cost of regulatory compliance, to most small timberland owners, is more than the timber is worth.
Strike 1: The State Board of Forestry passed new timber harvesting regulations for many watersheds adding protection for salmon and steelhead, effective this January 1. The regulation was a kneejerk reaction to actual or threatened lawsuits from environmentalists, and the benefit to the fish will largely be imagined. The new regulation included a controversial taking of 20- to 60-foot strips of private timber along larger streams — without compensation to landowners. These are no-cut zones, and landowners are prohibited from forever harvesting trees in these areas. They are, however, required to pay taxes on the underlying land. The Board of Forestry also broadened winter regulations to include the period October 15 through April 30, then banned any tire ruts during this period. Many rural folks cannot drive out their driveway during the winter and meet this rule.
Strike 2: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service changed its northern spotted owl survey standards from six night surveys in one year to seven surveys each year for two years, effective this March 1. Net effect: small private landowners have to “hoot” for two years prior to cutting and selling any trees, doubling their cost and severely limiting their ability to respond to market conditions or personal financial needs.
Strike 3: The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board has adopted a new $1,226.40 fee to all landowners harvesting timber, effective April 1. Landowner “A” harvesting on 20 acres has to pay the same $1,226.40 as landowner “B” logging on a 1,500-acre tract. The water quality fee is in addition to an already existing $941.25 fee charged by the Department of Fish and Game.
State boards are created to add expertise and science into the regulations, something the Legislature would find difficult to do. Board members serve at the pleasure of the governor, and historically state boards are highly political positions, as members can be replaced anytime by a simple phone call or confirmed — or not — by the state Senate. Thus, “political science” is the only science involved in many of the decisions. One wonders if board members would better serve the public by sticking to their principles, rather than voting for a regulation that is clearly destructive.
Large industrial owners can better weather the regulation storms, adapt and keep operating, but small private landowners are being pushed out of business.
The environmentalists’ main goal appears to be applying pressure and limiting clearcutting, but the net effect is putting out of business small landowners who have prudently been practicing selective harvesting.
Many times it takes honey rather than vinegar to get things done, thus the solution may be for Sacramento to encourage and reward landowners who selectively harvest, rather than driving them out of business.
Dennis Possehn, CA RPF #1759, lives in Anderson, CA.
Seven Theories of Climate Change
The Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) has posted an excellent essay [here] entitled Seven Theories of Climate Change written by Joseph Bast of The Heartland Institute [here].
In Seven Theories of Climate Change [pdf here] Joseph Bast reports on AGW and six other theories regarding climate change that are not caused by human beings. Those are:
1. Anthropogenic Global Warming
2. Bio-thermostat
3. Cloud Formation and Albedo
4. Human Forcings Besides Greenhouse Gases
5. Ocean Currents
6. Planetary Motion
7. Solar Variability
Bast states in his introduction:
The theory of climate change that most people are familiar with is commonly called anthropogenic (man-made) global warming, or AGW for short. That theory holds that man-made greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), are the predominant cause of the global warming that occurred during the past 50 years.
In the past few years, confidence in the AGW theory has declined dramatically. New research points to natural causes of the modern warming, and stabilizing (by some measures, falling) global temperatures have called attention to long-recognized shortcomings of the AGW theory. Tens of thousands of scientists have signed petitions expressing their dissent from the so-called “consensus” in favor of AGW. Opinion polls show a majority of the public in the U.S. and in other countries no longer believes human activity is causing global warming. Evidence of the decline of the AGW theory is presented in the postscript to this booklet.
The demise of the AGW theory makes this a good time to look at other theories of climate change put forward by prominent scientists but overlooked in the rush to judgment. This booklet identifies seven theories – AGW plus six others that do not claim man-made CO2 is a major cause of climate change. Each theory is plausible and sheds light on some aspects of climate change that were hidden or obscured by too great a focus on the AGW theory.
Forestry education Restoring cultural landscapes Saving Forests
by admin
leave a comment
Rocks of ages: Tour explores local American Indian art
Note: The following news article refers to Native American cultural reconstruction and revitalization. This is a topic we have discussed before [here].
Restoration means restoring humanity to the landscape, creating anew the ancient connection between people and the land. Some related aspects of forest restoration are preservation of cultural heritage, restoration of cultural landscape patterns, and respect for and reintroduction of traditional ecological knowledge.
At the Native American Ecological Education Symposium last year in Ashland, Bob Tom, Tribal elder of the Siletz and Grand Ronde Tribes, spoke of the need for communication bridges between scientists and traditional practitioners, between old and young, and between cultures.
The article below reports that archaelologist Alan Garfinkle will be leading a class and tours of American Indian rock drawings and rock paintings in Kern County, CA. Dr. Garfinkel has written two research papers that have been included in the W.I.S.E. Colloquia and Library [here, here].
Appreciation of ancient indigenous art is one doorway to true restoration and a much welcomed and needed cultural renaissance for all local residents, regardless of parentage. Heritage is a shared resource.
The Bakersfield Californian, Apr 30 2010 [here]
An upcoming tour offers a rare opportunity to view Kern County’s collection of American Indian rock drawings and rock paintings, one of the richest records in the Western Hemisphere of prehistoric American Indian graphics.
The field trip and a companion workshop and lectures will provide an in-depth understanding of the meaning and religious importance attached to such sites. The rock art tour will view the protected and well-preserved Rocky Hill Yokuts Indian cave paintings.
The lecture and tours are led by two scholars on American Indian rock art, Dr. Alan Garfinkel and Donald Austin.
The Rock Art 101 course teaches attendees respect for the sites and educates them on their age, what the paintings may mean, and how the images functioned in Indian society. Significantly, a number of these rock art sites are still being used today for American Indian rituals and worship.
Garfinkel, an archaeologist, lecturer and tour leader, has been studying Kern County prehistory and Native American lifeways for three decades. In an e-mail to The Californian, Garfinkel wrote:
“These paintings were fashioned by ritualists who painted their visions of the supernatural world,” Garfinkel said. “They are fashioned in vibrant colors of orange, white, red and black and depict dream-trance experiences of the spirit world. They are other-worldly masterpieces that incorporate the fusion of animal forms — mystical and mythical gigantic birds, colorful animal shapes of bear, deer and antelope. Paintings feature depictions of spirit helpers of medicine men and women (shamans) — rattlesnake, eagle, and other supernatural animals. This painted rock art is some of the most elaborate, detailed, and creative in California and is exceptionally fluid and sophisticated in its use of color and complex imagery.”
Austin, retired engineer, rock art replicator and co-founder of the Rock Art 101 program, said via e-mail:
“One rarely has the opportunity to step into a time machine and view the world from the perspective of people who lived a Stone Age life. … To Native Californians the world was and still is full of spirit beings that merge animal and human traits and were active agents in the world. These representations on rocks and even the rocks themselves are often believed to be living beings, alive with power.”
A daylong experience is available to students who attend the multimedia program through www.rockart101.com. Live lectures, PowerPoint presentations, class exercises, television documentary and an evening keynote speaker (Jack Sprague) fill out the weekend’s events. The highlight of the class is an instructor-led field trip to the Rocky Hill Yokuts paintings.
Garfinkel is working with several American Indian groups, including local Indian tribes (Kawaiisu, Yokuts, Tubatulabal and Panamint Shoshone), archaeologists and historians and the interested general public to foster awareness of the cultural resources of local Kern County Indians.
Many American Indians, including members of local tribes with direct ancestry in Kern County, are in the midst of an extended cultural reconstruction and are poised for a new chapter of revitalization. Exemplifying this trend are local groups of Tubatulabal (South Fork Kern River Valley — Lake Isabella), Kawaiisu (Tehachapi Mountains) and Yokuts (Le Moore — Tule River Reservation). Indian people are now teaching their native languages to the old and young, relearning oral traditions, and providing their members with opportunities to harvest and share native foods, acquire traditional medicine, practice native arts (basketry), music and conduct religious ceremonies.
