Time for some prescribed burns and a little forest thinning. These super hot fires are incredibly damaging to the environment, there is a big need to reduce the intensity. What is optimal is unknown to me, and probably to most others. We need some studies.
The windows for prescribed burns are getting smaller and rarer, and the people who would be doing them are already (NPI) burnt out from fighting fires all over the place.
The basic problem is that the trees are stressed by the heat and dryness. They’re no longer getting night-time relief from low temperatures (nights are warming up faster than daytime), and they’re faced with recurrent drought conditions everywhere out west.
Vast swathes of boreal forests are completely unmanaged, mainly due to remoteness and lack of manpower available/invested – the extreme heat waves being experienced in higher latitudes are encouraging larger wildfires that nature has to deal with alone. Despite that CO2 atmospheric readings are still only steadily rising between 2 -3 ppm per annum, depending on ENSO cycle. Native tribes have been looking after/managing forests throughout the Holocene and the knowledge exists to a point, modern society manages forests in their local domains the best they can, with temperatures rising and rainfall patterns changing, there is no magic wand solution. If we continue on our carbon emitting path the steady rise will accelerate and wildfires will just get worse, until the fuel is gone.
Same message – stop burning fossils. Give our young a chance. TODAY
An extreme heatwave coupled with an historic drought seemingly resulted in 10 times more fires in the Yakutia area than usual. Record levels of carbon dioxide were released as smoke from the raging forest fires travelled 3,000 km (1,800 miles) reaching the north pole for the first time in recorded history.
As the largest storehouse of carbon after the oceans, forests already absorb and store about 30 per cent
of current levels of carbon emissions from fossil fuels and industry into their biomass, soils and wood
products, and have the potential to store much more.
September 22, 2021 at 4:39 pm
Time for some prescribed burns and a little forest thinning. These super hot fires are incredibly damaging to the environment, there is a big need to reduce the intensity. What is optimal is unknown to me, and probably to most others. We need some studies.
September 26, 2021 at 2:06 am
The windows for prescribed burns are getting smaller and rarer, and the people who would be doing them are already (NPI) burnt out from fighting fires all over the place.
The basic problem is that the trees are stressed by the heat and dryness. They’re no longer getting night-time relief from low temperatures (nights are warming up faster than daytime), and they’re faced with recurrent drought conditions everywhere out west.
September 24, 2021 at 6:44 am
Vast swathes of boreal forests are completely unmanaged, mainly due to remoteness and lack of manpower available/invested – the extreme heat waves being experienced in higher latitudes are encouraging larger wildfires that nature has to deal with alone. Despite that CO2 atmospheric readings are still only steadily rising between 2 -3 ppm per annum, depending on ENSO cycle. Native tribes have been looking after/managing forests throughout the Holocene and the knowledge exists to a point, modern society manages forests in their local domains the best they can, with temperatures rising and rainfall patterns changing, there is no magic wand solution. If we continue on our carbon emitting path the steady rise will accelerate and wildfires will just get worse, until the fuel is gone.
Same message – stop burning fossils. Give our young a chance. TODAY
September 24, 2021 at 6:47 am
An extreme heatwave coupled with an historic drought seemingly resulted in 10 times more fires in the Yakutia area than usual. Record levels of carbon dioxide were released as smoke from the raging forest fires travelled 3,000 km (1,800 miles) reaching the north pole for the first time in recorded history.
https://envirotecmagazine.com/2021/09/06/earth-observation-images-reveal-extent-of-ferocious-forest-fires-in-siberia/
As the largest storehouse of carbon after the oceans, forests already absorb and store about 30 per cent
of current levels of carbon emissions from fossil fuels and industry into their biomass, soils and wood
products, and have the potential to store much more.
Click to access UNFF14-BkgdStudy-SDG13-March2019.pdf