There鈥檚 broad agreement that fire plays a vital role in forest ecology in the West. Many of our problems with severe wildfires can be traced, at least in part, to a century of putting fires out, rather than letting them clean up excess forest fuels.
Now, there鈥檚 a need to deliberately set controlled fires to help re-establish a more natural fire pattern.
But after a summer in which residents and tourists alike choked on foul air and many events were canceled due to heavy smoke, are people ready to put up with more smoke from prescribed burns?
Jon Larson is standing on a steep northern slope in the Applegate Valley of southwestern Oregon, above the town of Ruch 鈥� He鈥檚 overseeing a prescribed fire that鈥檚 slowly burning through woody debris on the forest floor.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e looking at here is a really light, cool sort of underburn to reduce the finer fuels,鈥� he says.
The fire isn鈥檛 very hot, but it鈥檚 plenty smoky and Larson daubs stinging eyes and runny noses as he walks the edge of the 138 acre burn.
Larson is a fire management specialist with the Bureau of Land Management in Medford. He says that 鈥� given the proximity to local communities 鈥� it鈥檚 important not only to keep the fire under control, but also to minimize impacts from the smoke.
鈥淵ou have to look at really where the smoke is going to go, and mainly that concern is at nighttime and in the morning hours,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he smoke wants to tend to settle into the low drainage areas.鈥�
Larson says that, for the most part, the locals know why his crew is adding fire to the valley and don鈥檛 register many complaints about the additional smoke.
In other communities in the West, land managers aren鈥檛 so lucky.
Jen Hensiek is the Missoula District Ranger at the Lolo National Forest in western Montana.
鈥淭he last time we had prescribed burning 鈥� besides piles 鈥� in the Rattlesnake was in the 鈥�90s. And the public was really unhappy with us,鈥� she says.
Hensiek says the negative public reaction to prescribed burning 20 years ago is one reason that officials are only recently putting fire back on the ground in the Rattlesnake Creek area near Missoula. A lingering 鈥渟moke fatigue鈥� in the community after weeks of unhealthy air from wildfires last summer doesn鈥檛 help, either.
Hensiek says the new push is accompanied by an intense public outreach and education effort.
鈥淯tilizing social media tools, utilizing all our mailing lists for mountain bike and running clubs, things like that. We are also knocking on neighbors鈥� door all over the place. Leaving them maps, hanging flyers 鈥� It鈥檚 a lot of work.鈥�
Hensiek is trying to build what she calls 鈥渟ocial capital鈥� to get locals onboard with the growing consensus that one way to have less destructive wildfire is to use controlled burning to help re-establish fire鈥檚 natural place in the forest ecosystem.
Recent research bolsters that case. The Fire Sciences Laboratory of the U-S Forest Service has found that thinning overstocked forests isn鈥檛 by itself enough to significantly reduce wildfire severity. Only when fuel reduction is followed by prescribed burning does treated acreage burn more moderately.
Robert Yokelson, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Montana, co-authored a study published last June that suggests smoke from prescribed burns is more benign than wildfire smoke.
鈥淲ith prescribed fires you鈥檒l make less pollution for the same area burned,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd you can also burn those fires under conditions that you can control where the smoke goes better.鈥�
Still, Missoula Ranger Jen Hensiek says, it鈥檚 a heavy lift to get a program of prescribed burning established.
鈥淵ou take on a lot of liability,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 smoke management or impact to private lands, those kinds of things, so outside of the fact that we want to do this and we鈥檙e passionate about it for our community and this is what science tells us needs to be done 鈥� There鈥檚 really not a lot of incentive to do it.鈥�
Chris Chambers can feel her pain 鈥� Chambers is with the Ashland, Oregon Fire Department. He has a major role in Ashland鈥檚 ongoing program to restore much of the 15,000-acre watershed on the city鈥檚 doorstep. And he says a lot of meticulous planning goes into timing a prescribed burn.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not doing it in the middle of the summer, we鈥檙e not doing it at times of the year where we know smoke is going to be a significant issue for the community or at least not on days when we know it will be. So that we鈥檙e trying to keep as much smoke away from the community as we possibly can,鈥� he says.
Chambers says over the years, that careful approach has led to community acceptance of the program. But, he says, it also makes it hard to do as much burning as needs to be done. He says prepared burn piles on about a thousand acres of the watershed will go unburned this year.
鈥淲e鈥檙e held back by the smoke management program at the state level and also just the fear that we鈥檙e gonna get smoke into town and it鈥檚 gonna cause issues.鈥�
Chambers says that as a more natural fire ecology is re-established 鈥� and as the climate continues to warm -- people across the West are going to have to choose whether to accept a little smoke from prescribed burns now, or endure entire summers of wildfire smoke later.
