Re: Fires, Pine Beatles, and Logging
Recently, a report came out about the Four-Mile fire in Boulder County that destroyed 160 homes. The study showed that fire mitigation around structures help save homes; but, fire mitigation in the forests surrounding those homes only made the fire hotter and faster. It didn't help that piles of slash were left behind after the mitigation work.
Also, in another recent fire in the Front Range, the beetle killed trees did not burn as hot or as fast as the trees that had needles. Once the needles fall off the dead tree it just doesn't burn as well as a tree full of needles dried with drought and 100 degree temperatures.
Forests burn. It is part of the cycle.