The Fires

The Fires

   Earlier I had posted about the need to get away once in awhile, to break out of a routine and touch nature once again.  This could be as simple as digging your hands in the dirt, or watching the sun setting from a new location, or driving up to the mountains.  The quote I mentioned came from Anne Lamott: "Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."  At times, however, it is easy to forget this.  So many things to do around the house, things that you've put off; and of course there's work, and the family, and the unexpected appointments, and the small things breaking, and the bills to pay, and well, you're tired.  This is where I found myself, making an inordinate amount of excuses as to why I simply had other things to do and couldn't get away, things that were more important...and my wife would have none of it.  So out we went, a hike scheduled, a time to escape.  This is one of the lakes (Lake Catherine) we stopped at to have our lunch, the tracks of moose visible in the foreground (their poop, if you haven't come across it, is somewhat dog-like in appearance vs. the tiny pellets of a deer, but plentiful like a cow pattie)...

   There's another saying, that one never explores one's own backyard until one leaves.  Sometimes, the people living in the most beautiful spots end up taking it for granted far too often, missing the cooler weather or the scenic views or the variety of new vegetation not seen nearby.  And then, in a flash, it's gone.  This can be something that might happen on your end, your leg gets injured, you get ill, you get called away for an extended period...or a forest fire hits.

   The arrival of forest fires in the western part of the U.S. has caught many states off guard.  It's not that the states weren't expecting the fires, but rather that they weren't expecting such a high number of them, nor did they expect the ferocity of many of them...nor did they expect the drones.  The general rule is that once a drone (even a small, personal drone draped with a tiny camera) is spotted, all fire fighting aircraft must land.  This is a rule meant for the safety of the fire crews (especially those in the air), and drones have caused many a large fire to continue unabated, the fire fighting planes filled with retardant and forced to return back to the airstrip.  Those purchasing drones of any sort are expected to know the rules upfront, and one of the most prominent rules is that of avoiding restricted airspace which includes areas of forest fires.  Currently, flying drones into restricted airspace is only a misdemeanor in California; and the problem is so prevalent that firefighters have shot down drones (the owners of the drones, despite violating the law, have demanded compensation for the loss of their drones).  Now, despite a flurry of posters showing the words "If You Fly, We Can't" nestled among images of air fire-fighting equipment, the drones keep showing up and California has upped the ante...jail time, a possible $5,000 fine, and no compensation (all such bills, however, are currently still in the consideration stage in the state legislature).  A quick glimpse at the statistics shows the imbalance such a small fine produces...$5,000 for the loss of the firefighters' lives, $5,000 for the homes lost or damaged from the fires, $5,000 for the millions of acres destroyed (over 8 million)...as of August 13th or about three weeks ago, 56 major fires were spreading, only one of which had been contained.  And the drones continue to fly.

   What's less known about the forest fires of the West is the number of such fires raging in Alaska, often in areas so remote that the fires are simply left to burn out.  To date, of the 8 million acres burning, 5 million of those are in Alaska.  And while lightning strikes have caused nearly 500 of those fires, close to another 400 have been started by people.  But in some ways, Alaska is lucky.  For the most part, the state hasn't been hit by the pine beetle.   Indeed, the increasing heat, the drought, and now the pine beetle, are colliding to make earlier predictions come true, predictions that say 50% of the forests in the southwest portion of the U.S. will vanish within a few decades.

   The western pine beetle has an interesting history and a host of enemies, first and foremost being the pine trees themselves.  A sticky resin is  emitted that attempts to stop the invading borer.  Says s story in National Geographic by Hillary Rosner: The tree doesn’t give up easily.  As soon as the burrowing beetles reach living cells, the cells commit suicide.  As they die, they rupture, releasing a substance that’s supertoxic and beetle annihilating.  If there aren’t a lot of beetles, says Carroll,(Allan Carroll, an insect ecologist at the University of British Columbia) “generally the tree wins.”   But if the beetles invade with an army, not just a few scraggly mercenaries, they overwhelm the tree.  Depending on the tree’s condition, it can take many thousands or just a few hundred beetles to kill it...The drought and warmer temperatures that have struck western forests in recent years have helped the beetles in two ways: by stressing the trees so much that they succumb more readily and by giving the beetles more time to attack them.  But the article tells of the beetles adapting to the resin, and releasing a pheromone which tells other beetles that this is a healthy tree, a healthy source of food, a good place to lay their eggs and grow even more pine beetles.   And once the tree dies, the beetles move to the next tree.  And the numbers are phenomenal.  This map from the National Park Service shows the extent of the damage so far...60 million acres, an area the size of all of the United Kingdom.  And the beetles are moving further north (in the Canadian province of Alberta, over a million trees have been cut and burned as a sort of "fire line" to try and stop the beetles spread...fears are that the beetles will march across the continent since they are already as far north as the Yukon and as far east as Saskatchewan).

    Driving back from Wyoming, one could drive for miles and miles and see a forest ravaged by the beetles, as gray and barren as the aftereffects of a forest fire, not a single tree spared no matter the altitude.  In our area, many of the forests have been spared, and many of us living here (we're in the Wasatch Mountain area of the state of Utah) are still fortunate enough to see the pines healthy and green, clustering themselves over the mountains and providing plentiful food and habitat for the wildlife and ground plants, and beautiful scenery for us.  On our way back from our hike, we stopped at another small pond called Dog Lake (again, frequented by moose and easily accessed by skiers since it parallels the ski runs of Brighton Ski Resort), the water still around for this late in the year and the trees still dotting the cracks and grooves in the granite...

   This is our backyard of sorts, but it mimics the backyard of anyone.  We are fortunate enough to be able to access so much wilderness so close to our homes, but the idea is to get out there and see your own backyard before it's gone...no one expected the fires to be so strong, no one expected the pine beetles to continue their march so far northward, no one expected the forests to disappear so quickly.  No one expected such beauty to be ignored.  Do your soul good and take a hike, take a drive, take a walk in the woods...now, before it's gone.