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| A crop plane flies over a burned area of the Milford Flat Fire near Cove Fort, reseeding the area. |
SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News) - Global warming and past forest management are making forests in the
western United States more susceptible to fire, while large wildfires,
like two in Utah last year, are blamed for making climate change worse
and putting unnatural stress on ecosystems, according to a report
released Thursday.
In the National Wildlife Federation's 2008 "Increased Risk of
Catastrophic Wildfires: Global Warming's Wake-Up Call for the Western
United States," the report claims global warming is increasing the risk
of fires via rising temperatures, drier conditions, more lightning from
stronger storms, added dry fuel for fires and a longer fire season.
Those factors, combined with "decades of fire suppression that allowed
unsafe fuel loads to accumulate, severe bark beetle infestations that
are rapidly decimating trees, and ever expanding human settlements in
and near forests, the result is increasing vulnerability to major
fires," the report states.
During a teleconference Thursday, National Wildlife Federation climate
scientist Amanda Staudt said the number of wildfires has increased
fourfold each year since the mid 1980s. Their impact on global warming
is considered significant throughout the country and in Utah.
Last year's 363,000-acre Milford Flat fire alone, for example, burned
for about two weeks in July and is estimated to have released into the
atmosphere more than 186,400 tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, considered
the most abundant of greenhouse gas emissions impacting climate change.
"I think CO2 emissions from fires are significant," said Brock LeBaron,
technical analysis manager for the Utah Division of Air Quality. "It's
something that needs to be considered in greenhouse gas emissions
inventory as we go forward."
Comparatively, the DAQ reported that in 2005, vehicles on Utah roads
emitted about 15.1 million tons of CO2 (methane gases are factored into
that amount) into the air throughout the state. There is a developing
regional effort by members of the Western Climate Initiative who are
calling for more regulation of carbon emitters, including industrial
polluters.
Watchdogs say hotter and longer summers in the West aren't helping matters.
University of Montana College of Forestry and Conservation's Steven
Running said during the teleconference how forests are starting their
summer "dry down" early in the spring, melting away snow that he called
"the best fire retardant ever invented." He recalled a wildfire that
burned near Billings last January. Summer rains throughout the West,
however, are doing little to hydrate forest ecosystems, while areas
that have burned don't get enough water and come back as grasslands or
landscapes defined by shrubs.
Missoula-based National Wildlife Federation regional executive director
Tom France on Thursday said there needs to be more efforts to keep
people from increasing the wildland-urban interface.
"Unfortunately, many of our policymakers don't seem to have taken that
message to heart," France said. "We need to be looking at new policies
that look to reduce the human footprint in forest landscapes."
The trend is that more structures are being claimed by wildfires,
according to San Bernardino City Fire Department disaster preparedness
coordinator Don Feser. "It's not just California that's experiencing
these problems, it's throughout the western United States," he said.
Among recent fires listed in the report, Utah's 2007 Milford Flat fire
is mentioned, noting how it cost $4 million to fight the blaze that
burned 363,000 acres. The report does not mention last year's Neola
fire, which burned more than 43,000 acres in Utah.
This year's wildfire season in Utah has been comparatively mild, but in
California this year alone, more than 1 million acres has burned, and
there has been, so far, $300 million in state lands costs.
Although naturally occurring fires can be beneficial to forests and
grasslands, the report notes that drought-fueled wildfires can
"dramatically" alter habitat for fish and wildlife.
Forests do a fine job of accruing carbon dioxide, and in the 1990s they
removed one-third of the global warming pollution released into the air
during those 10 years, the report states. Catastrophic wildfires like
those listed in the report, however, release "tremendous" amounts of
CO2 into the atmosphere, requiring decades before enough forest can
grow back and provide the same benefit again.
The National Wildlife Federation recommends that policymakers, industry
and individuals "take steps to reduce global warming pollution from
today's levels by at least 2 percent each year and by 20 percent by
2020. Science tells us that this is the only way to hold warming to no
more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century."
The group's report also advises jump-starting forest regrowth after
catastrophic fires that leave an area susceptible to wind- and
rain-driven erosion.
(link to source)
