Talk:Forest fire

"Drought and the prevention of small forest fires are major contributors to extreme forest fires." It is difficult to extract any meaning of this. S.


 * 1) Drought = lack of water -> plants dry out -> more fuel for fire
 * 2) Prevention of small forest fires -> fuel accumulates rather than being occasionally burned off -> more fuel for fire
 * 3) More fuel for fire -> bigger fire that's harder to put out
 * Clearer?--Brion

This article is pretty seriously one-sided and short on verifiable facts. A lot of good scientists will tell you that the major cause of large forest fires is the fact that environmentalists these days won't let experienced foresters manage forest land anymore, to cull dead trees and clear firebreaks and so on. The devastation of Yellowstone may have been a "natural" event to some, but it was simply needless destruction to others. The idea that there's some ethical difference between "natural" fires and man-made ones is nonsense that hardly deserves respectable hearing, much less the fealty that the green freaks give it. --LDC


 * So, what's a good source for the "other side"? I've heard that culling dead trees is an argument for logging; is there some source or authority that can be cited? Wesley