Looks like another long summer for the fire crews out west. Catastrophic large fires are scattered from California to Washington with new ignitions occurring almost daily. Sadly, we will be left with a significant lose of vegetative diversity as these fires ravish thousands of acres before they can be suppressed. Yes, these lands will regenerate and we will have eliminated, for a few years, the fuel build-up that has resulted from lack of management actions designed to keep these communities healthy and vigorous. The problem is that the lose of diversity will likely set the stage for similar large catastrophic events in the future. We will inevitably find ourselves embroiled in major disagreements over salvage opportunities, access needs and other management actions that the scientists might suggest to help improve the diversity of new vegetation to these massive burned areas. If we are smart, we will come together and formulate meaningful goals for the recovery of these areas early on. With these previously established goals, we can begin the process of determining how best to acheive our desired future for these valuable areas. With over 7 billion people on this planet, we can no longer ignore mother nature's need for human help. Science must also adjust, by dropping it's emphasis on economic return, and focus on assisting nature with the establishment of healthy diverse communities which will reduce the likelihood of future large scale events. Ask a fire crew line boss how they identify locations for fire line construction, and they will describe a search for vegetative and topographic changes where the fire behavior will change. Here we have a chance to effect suppression efforts. It is this kind of wisdom that the scientist needs to apply to forestland management prescriptions. This is the same wisdom our Native American ancestors developed to survive in their harsh environment.
We are about to send our manuscript to the publisher for a new book entitled " Finding the Treasures Left Along the Trail - My Cherokee Heritage ". This book will provide historical information that will open the door to the important role Native Americans played in early American history. Will let you know when it is available.
We are about to send our manuscript to the publisher for a new book entitled " Finding the Treasures Left Along the Trail - My Cherokee Heritage ". This book will provide historical information that will open the door to the important role Native Americans played in early American history. Will let you know when it is available.
