Forestry Friday …Thinning Forest Fuels

With all the fires burning in California there has been a lot of discussion about logging to reduce forest fuel. Doing so makes our forests more fire resilient. There is fear among many people that logging of any kind will destroy our forest. The truth is the the fires are destroying our forests. This is a short video of such a logging operation from last year on the Lassen National Forest. The Forest Service prepared this project. Our company bought and logged the timber sale. The result is a healthier more resilient forest.

Wild Wednesday … Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

While looking at a timber sale last week with a fellow forester, we walked past this big northern Pacific rattlesnake. His dog walked within inches in front of the rattlesnake and it buzzed like crazy. The dog didn’t react to the snake at all. That’s probably why the snake didn’t strike the dog. I took the picture and video with my cell phone so it’s not the greatest quality. Be careful if you hear this sound.

Forestry Friday … 60 Second Forester- Fire History in California

Here is another installment of the 60 Second Forester by Frank Barron.Today, he’s talking about Fire History in California and what he says is true for most of our western forests. Managing the fire ecology of these forests is tricky business especially now when our forests are so out of balance ecologically. Overgrown forest resulting from over 100 years of all or nothing wildfire suppression have set the stage for the massive bark beetle infestations and enormous conflagrations. Only through the use of forest management can we bring back fire resiliency to our forests.