-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Walker [mailto:jlwalk@...]
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 11:57 PM
To: guymanbro@...;
DSN_klr650@egroups.com; Conall O'Brien; Calis
Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] Smokey the Bear NKLR
I just BBQ'd with friends from church. He is the head fireman for the BLM
in this region, and he told me that after Los Alamos, the Secretary of the
Interior has now decreed that they are no longer allowed to do ANY
controlled burns, so the underbrush is just going to pile up and up now.
Great plan. I helped fight the fire a Yellowstone back in 88, and that was
a fiasco.
Jeff
>>
The Los Alamos fire was caused by two factors.
1. An abundance of fuel, the direct result of years of fire suppression policy and closing the areas to logging thanks to the environemntalists
2. The arrogance of the National Parks (the fire started in the Bandelier National Monument)for starting the "prescribed burn" when humidity indexes and moisture content numbers were way to low and winds were forcasted.
You would think that the Cerro Grande fire (Los Alamos) would have been a wake up call, but guess again. The greenies are at it again. A commercial firm has offered to come in and cut down timber in the burned out areas and begin to score the ground which is now covered with almost 2' of ash. This will help greatly to enhance the reseeding effort and prevent flash flooding whe our rainy season starts. But guess who's against it. You got it. Forest Guardians. The Cerro Grande fire, by the way, is 98% contained, but will not be controlled until mid July and will still be hot will into August.
We now have the Viveash fire in the Pecos. Was 2000 acres on Monday, today its 24,000 acres. Trees are candling to the tune of 700ft up. Again, an area where logging was prohibited and tree density is now at about 1000 trees per acre, not the healthy 22 trees per acre it should be.
Down south, near Reserve, we have a very dangerous situation, low rainfall, same tree density or "Dog Hair" as its called, in an area that gets the most lightning caused fire in New Mexico. Another commercial firm wants to come in and thin the immediate area around Reserve so that in the event of fire, a defensible area can be established. The timber taken will be used for wood pellets -a very effecient and enviromental method of heating. But you know who is threatening a law suit if the contract is awarded. You got. The environmentalists. These twerps need to be stopped or made liable for the damage they cause.
Gino