Because of continued droughts and warming temperatures, our country is becoming more of a tinderbox every year. Wildfires are getting larger. More are occurring. The fire season starts earlier every year. Every year more lives and property are at risk. We need to do something about it now!
Please contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators. Ask them to support this bill.
Hear Prof. Alan Journet of Southern Oregon Climate Action Now present CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. at the Fruitdale Grange, Highway 99 and Parkdale Drive, Grants Pass, OR 97527.
Prof. Journet will discuss local climate trends, what is happening to address the problems, and identify some little discussed issues relating to this issue. These will include (as time allows): the status of legislative efforts in Salem to combat atmospheric greenhouse gas; why the military is concerned about climate change; how climate change relates to the fire and smoke we have experienced lately; trends towards becoming 100% renewable among U.S. cities; how the youth with Our Children’s Trust are addressing the issue.
Join them for an informative and interesting program.
As all of us in southern Oregon and northern California know, we live in fire country. Our skies are filled with smoke from dozens of blazes. Climate change has brought us a longer, hotter, drier fire season. Decades of clearcut logging have created millions of acres of dense timber plantations. And nearly a hundred years of fire suppression have altered the resiliency of some forest stands to fire.
So what can we do about it?
BEFORE FIRES HAPPEN
Let’s make our homes and communities “fire safe” by clearing flammable material from around structures. Let’s support efforts to thin dense young second-growth timber plantations. Let’s encourage land managers to carefully utilize prescribed fire at the right time and place to reduce fuels. Most of all we must collectively start to take climate change seriously.
WHILE FIRES ARE BURNING
We can focus on staying safe, supporting our neighbors and local businesses who may be struggling, aiding those displaced by fires, and avoiding finger pointing and extremism.
ONCE THE FIRES ARE OUT
Together we can advocate for post-fire management that restores, rather than exploits recovering forests and watersheds. We can ask forest managers to take actions that reduce fire hazards by retaining large fire-resilient trees and avoiding the creation of dense even-age tree plantations.
YOU MATTER
Not everyone needs to agree about every aspect of fire management. Fire behavior is a complex field and it’s okay to reach different conclusions and hold different beliefs. But even in crisis, there are many opportunities for us to pull together.
Please visit this site if you’d like to learn more about KS Wild positions on fire and fire policy.
