FYI...
>Subject: Forwarded: Final Testimony on Forest Health/Fire
>
>Previous comments:
>Date: ## 08/29/94 14:12 ##
>I've gotten a couple of calls from people outside the FS asking about
>the "big announcement Jack is making on forest health/fire today"
>Here is a copy of his testimony he will be delivering today in Boise.
>I think this is the "big announcement" in case you get any calls.
>
>Previous comments:
>Date: ## 08/29/94 13:22 ##
>Jack has personally spend alot of time working on this testimony.
>His comment on the testimony is: "There's testimony and then there is
>testimony...this IS testimony."
>He wants the testimony given wide distribution.
>
>
STATEMENT OF
DR. JACK WARD THOMAS, CHIEF
FOREST SERVICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Before the
Subcommittee on Agricultural Research, Conservation, Forestry,
and General Legislation
Committee on Agriculture
United States Senate
Concerning the Health and Productivity of the Fire-Adapted
Forests of the Western United States
August 29, 1994
MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE:
Thank you for the opportunity to offer my views on the health
and productivity of the fire-adapted forests of the Western
United States. I am accompanied by Dale Bosworth, Regional
Forester for the Intermountain Region and Steve Mealey,
previously the Forest Supervisor for the Boise National Forest,
now the Team Leader for the Upper Columbia River Basin
Environmental Impact Statement Team. Also testifying for the
Forest Service today is Dr. John Lehmkuhl, Research Wildlife
Biologist from the Pacific Northwest Research Station.
Overview
This year's wildfires have brought to the public's attention a
forest health problem that had its beginnings over 100 years
ago. In Idaho, and in much of the West, the health of National
Forests, other Federal lands and private and State lands is
closely related to changes in the historic role of fire on
those lands.
The forest health problem and associated high intensity
wildfires are indicators of an ecosystem that is not in balance
and the concerns will not go away when cooler and wetter fall
weather arrives. The same problems will be with us next summer
and each summer in the future unless we recognize that some
actions are necessary to return fire to the environment in a
way that achieves desired outcomes, to improve forest health
and reduce the risk that fire will damage site productivity or
destroy human life and property.
Background
I would like to spend a few minutes talking about the
underlying causes of what has resulted in today's forest health
problems.
Low Elevation Forests
Prior to the 1880's, low intensity fires, both lightning caused
and those set by Native Americans, burned periodically through
summer and early autumn. In the extensive, dry forests where
ponderosa pine, and in some areas, western larch were the
predominant species, fires burned every 5 to 30 years. These
frequent fires maintained low levels of both standing and
ground fuels, burning mainly along the ground rather than in
the tree crowns. These ground fires perpetuated open, parklike
stands of fire resistant ponderosa pine and western larch with
minor components of Douglas-fir and white fir. These open,
mixed species stands were much more resistant to insects and
diseases.
High Elevation Forests
At higher elevation, where there is more moisture and growing
seasons are shorter, the historic fire pattern was more
complex. Fires occurred at longer intervals, between 50 to 300
years. Fires in this ecosystem had more variable effects, in
some cases killing all the trees. In other cases, low
intensity ground fires occurred. These fires produced a mosaic
of forests composed of various ages and densities of Englemann
spruce and subalpine fir. Forests in this mosaic were more
resistant to insects and disease than the dense fir stands
which dominate many of these sites today.
Lodgepole Pine
Another forest type that covers over 15 million acres in the
West is lodgepole pine. This type can tolerate a wide range of
climatic and soil conditions and is often found naturally in
dense stands. Fires occurred historically at intervals of 60
to 300 years and were related to mountain pine beetle epidemics
which periodically created vast areas of heavy fuel loads.
Such heavy fuel loads, combined with the current drought that
began in the 1980's, produced the large, stand replacement
fires that burned over 1 million acres in the Greater
Yellowstone Area in 1988.
Role of Fire Suppression and Timber Harvest
By the 1880's - with elimination of Native American burning and
the settlement of western valleys, and the advent of livestock
grazing - fire frequencies in many fire adapted forests
decreased dramatically. Fire suppression was routinely
employed to protect homes, grazing lands, and timber
resources.
These fire suppression efforts became more effective after
World War II due to increased access via roads, smokejumpers,
helicopters, and the use of fire-retardant drops from
aircraft.
The nature of the forests was also affected by timber
harvesting, beginning in the early 1900's, which concentrated
on the larger, more valuable species such as ponderosa pine and
western larch, leaving behind the lower value firs.
Forest Health Concerns
Insects, disease, and wildfire are normal compoments of
ecological processes in these areas. When the ecological state
of the forest is dramatically altered by fire suppression, and
other management practices, the role of insects, disease, and
wildfire are likewise altered. The frequent, low intensity
fires of the past created forests that were ecologically more
stable than the forests of today. The current forest
conditions, particularly in low elevation areas, are more
susceptible to insects, diseases, and stand replacement fires
than have been observed and recorded before.
For example, Douglas-fir and white fir now dominate these sites
in densities far greater than when ground fires burned at
frequent intervals. Hence the habitat for defoliating insects
that attack fir species is enriched. The problem has been
exacerbated by the recent and continuing 10-year drought which
has increased the stress on the densely stocked trees, making
them even more susceptible to insects and disease.
Taken together, the interaction of human influence and natural
events resulted in an ecological condition that is frequently
described as a "forest health" problem.
Forest health problems are now widespread across the inland
West where open stands of ponderosa pine and, in some areas,
western larch once dominated. These ecosystems make up a major
portion of the forests in Idaho, the eastern Cascades, portions
of California, and the Blue Mountains in Oregon. In addition,
some high elevation and lodgepole pine forests have forest
health problems.
The problem culminates when such stands, with very heavy fuel
loadings resulting from tree mortality, burn at very high
temperatures and over extensive areas. Such high energy fires
are much more damaging than former fires, because the dense fir
stands, containing or dominated by dead trees killed by insects
and disease, provide a means whereby fires can "ladder" into
the tree crowns, including old growth trees. These "crown"
fires produce higher-intensity, rapidly-spreading fires that
are difficult or impossible to control. Such fires can heat
soils so excessively, that for some years afterwards, nutrient
levels are drastically lowered and the soils actually repel
water, causing significant watershed and water quality impacts
as well as with problems with tree regeneration.
Once stand replacement fires occur, all forest resources are
dramatically altered. Even with aggressive restoration and
rehabilitation, it commonly takes years to restore productive
forest stands and ecosystems.
Urban/Wildland Interface
Everyone has seen the daily news reports that show the loss in
lives and personal property caused by this year's fires in the
West.
In these areas, called the "urban/wildland interface," there
are also significant forest health problems and concern with
wildfire effects. These problems are dramatically magnified
when more and more people build homes in natural settings where
fires historically burned every 5-to-30 years. Wildfires on
these lands produce enhanced risks for local, State, and
Federal fire protection personnel. In deciding where to use
our firefighting resources, current policy is to first protect
life and property. However, the training given to wildland
firefighting agencies is protection of natural resources.
Therefore, they do not have the equipment to fight structural
fires. In large wildland fires on urban-interface lands, city
and county fire departments cannot protect every home.
What I am saying is that all of us concerned with wildfires and
the loss of life and property must begin addressing basic,
common sense, fire prevention and fuels reduction guidelines
for these areas. For example, State and local governments need
to address building codes necessary for "firewise" construction
and for providing adequate access into these interface areas
for evacuations and fire equipment. And, all of us involved
with firefighting in this urban/wildland interface need to
increase our public education and involvement to assure
"firewise landscaping."
The Forest Service can only take direct actions to reduce this
wildfire risk on National Forest System lands. It is for
others to decide whether or how to address this risk on private
lands.
However, we need to begin to find ways to reduce the wildfire
risks at the urban/wildland interface. If this is not done, we
will continue to find ourselves having to deploy our fire
suppression resources in the urban-interface that dramatically
diminishes our capacity to protect natural resource values and
prescribes the fire fighting strategy which may well not be the
most effective, or safest, in the overall context of natural
resource protection.
Solving the Forest Health Problem
Our strategic plan, "Healthy Forests for America's Future,"
completed in April 1993, recognized the seriousness of the
forest health problem in the West. In this plan, a broader
view of the interactions of fire, insects, disease, and
ecological succession is taken as we move to the consideration
and management of forests as ecosystems.
We cannot and should not wait until this broad view is
described in every detail before initiating activities to
reduce the wildfire risk on selected areas. For example, in
areas where human safety and private property are at
significant risk, salvage harvests, thinnings, and mechanical
reduction of fuel loading can reduce the likelihood of high
intensity wildfires. In other areas, careful use of prescribed
fire after fuel loadings are reduced to acceptable levels to
allow controlled burns, will be needed to reduce fuel loads.
However, in moving to address the long-term forest health
problem, no single approach or action will fully address the
fundamental forest health problems. This will require matching
up management practices to achieve the desired future condition
for each site and, in turn, the overall forest mosaic. The
best foundation for determining this desired future condition
is to complete a comprehensive scientific study of the
processes that maintained a given forest type over time. An
example of such a study presently underway is the Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management's Eastside Ecosystem
Management Project for the forests of the Columbia Basin.
[continued...]
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