The Camp Fire was the first sign that our fire practices were not up to protecting our communities. Years of mismanagement by politicians created the perfect storm! Had we listened to our Fire Marshals and Chiefs we would be in a very different place.
In the past the Native Americans would migrate from place to place hunting and gathering like they had for centuries. When the season was done they would, many cases, set fire to the land to renew the forest and land for next years gathering and hunting. In this manner they would reduce the latter fuels, and wild fire was mitigated for the most part!
That concept does not work today! We like to stay in our little slice of heaven and letting it burn is not a solution anymore. We must find a better way, simply suppressing wild fires is not the answer.
We believe that we have found a better approach in the current atmosphere of fire mitigation.
The Camp Fire Destroys Paradise!
That will never happen here!
That’s what many thought here in Southern Oregon! Then there was the Alameda Fire and like the Camp Fire the perfect storm was here. Only this storm was started by arson and 70mhr winds! Even though it was started by arson the fire spread down the creek beds and pushed and fueled by the dense foliage of the creek bed, and dead and downed trees. The forested areas still played a role in the fire.
Through out the years we have implemented controlled burn policies, let burn policies and a hybrid approach as well. The fact is that in many case of wild fire in the past it was able to suppressed because of large fire breaks created by logging. Logging took the place of what the Native American’s did in their past.
The Native American’s burn off the areas they migrated in and out of burning off latter fuels, and competition of smaller trees, and brush so the forest could stay healthy and strong enough to resist droughts. That is what logging in the modern times did! As unsightly as it is it’s only ugly because we see it that way. The Native Americans left and didn’t see that land they burned until the next season when if was lush, green and healthy. Now that we have eliminated logging for the most part we are having to find other ways to do the same process.
We believe we have that process and approach through our foundation!