Is there a Solution for the Smoke Problem?

Mr X and Bill Meyer discuss the recent meeting and announcement of Kate Brown, Governor of Oregon.  Here’s a link to an article describing her intention.  Make sure to listen, as Mr X and Bill discuss the fact there is a better way to handle this issue.

 https://www.opb.org/news/article/wildfire-response-council-oregon/

Here are a couple more links to documents discussed relating to the finding that smoke would have NO IMPACT on people in our area.  

 https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/79328_FSPLT2_051947.pdf

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/100092_FSPLT3_3077146.pdf 

It is very difficult to say that the smoke from surrounding wildfires has no impact on our community.  Smoke has negatively impacted our area for some time now during these summertime fires.  The health and welfare of the people here have been negatively affected in many ways.  

I have transcribed the last few minutes of the show, to share with you the important points Mr X is making about connecting the dots to understand what is taking place in our state.

Mr X responds to the idea the the fires are the result of climate change, and shares the appropriate mindset for having meaningful input to solve the problem.

Here’s Mr X,

Ok we have storms, we have changes in climate, we have different things. But the reality to our health, in our current existence is what I’m talking about. With these fires, we have to take climate change out of that aspect of it. To get a hold on fire is literally fuel, oxygen and a source of ignition.

Through this document, they talk about natural sources of ignition.That’s where they are stuck.  They are stuck in using that ok as a philosophy. You are restoration people, ok.  Fire has it’s uses, no one is arguing that.  It’s the timing, the timing of the time of year when you have the Chetco Effect bringing all of this smoke from a 200,000 acre fire right down into our valleys.  It kills and cripples the economy, it’s taking people and making them suffer, we have to stop it.

Encourage a rational thought about this, why are you allowing the conditions to prevail that allow this type of catastrophe to happen, and that’s how we have to look at it, or we are going to be the next news item.

Well you know the whole concept of the climate change rationale, the imposition of sustainable development has to occur with the people becoming complacent with the restrictions that hit them over this time. Ok, all of these things, I want to illustrate it.   

Purpose and need of this decision we were talking about.

(https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/79328_FSPLT2_051947.pdf This is a link to the document he is reading from page DN-4)

The needs to amend the forest plan are threefold…Current fire management direction in the two forest plans by emphasizing aggressive suppression actually driving forest conditions in a direction that is contrary to the desired conditions and management objectives in several land management allocations.  The current and expected rate of fuels, treatments and other vegetation management such as thinning and prescribed burning cannot  keep pace with the changes taking place in vegetation and fuel conditions.  The current direction of both forest plans does not allow the forest to take full advantage of the fire management options available under the federal wild land fire policy.  Leading to ever escalating wildfire costs and the continued decline of forest conditions and thus a divergence from the forest plans goals and objectives.

And that, I could end right there, it ties it all back to the origination of the 1995 policy (Click here to download a copy).  It tells you that the strategy is in place, and that we need to be vigilant and we need to keep pressure on Kate Brown, we need to support our county commission, who is taking very bold action in doing this and acknowledging this stuff.  And with that I’ll be done.