[MCN] Subdivision & climate: People still moving into fire's way

Thu Sep 10 16:32:47 EDT 2015

Ironically, as was pointed out in an email by ecologist George Wuerthner:

“This report points out that *county commissioners who continue to approve
new development in fire prone areas* are responsible for the growing cost
of fire fighting. They get to approve the development, but don’t pay the
cost of protecting those homes. *All taxpayers are subsidizing the home
owners and developers who push for more and more construction in these
areas.* And as the article points out this trend towards more development
in the WUI also impacts wildlife, spread of weeds and other values.”

But hey, we can always blame the environmentalists and our nation’s
environmental laws right?!

Another irony is that many of these same county commissioners who are
approving all the development and new homes in the Wildland Urban Interface
also are very vocal calling for politicians to mandate huge increases in
public lands logging throughout the west, supposedly to reduce fire risk to
the very new homes and development they recently approved.

On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 2:28 PM, Lance Olsen via Missoula-Community-News <
missoula-community-news at bigskynet.org> wrote:

> USDA Office of Communications. Sept. 10, 2015
>
> Release No. 0250.15
> Contact:
> Office of Communications* (202)720-4623 <%28202%29720-4623>*
>
> As Wildfires Continue to Burn, New Maps Shows Expansion of Wildland-Urban
> Interface
>
> *Growth in development raises costs and danger of fighting wildfires,*
> *highlights need for funding fix*
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------------------------------------
> To download a copy of this publication, visit the* Northern Research
> Station's* website.
> *http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/48642 <http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/48642>*
> "The expanding wildland urban interface is a critical issue for wildland
> firefighting and for the conservation of our forests," said Robert Bonnie.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2015 - A new U.S. Forest Service report shows the
> continued expansion of housing development near forests, an area referred
> to as the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), with direct implications for the
> cost of wildfire fighting. Increasing densities of people and
> infrastructure in the WUI makes wildfire management more complex and
> requires more firefighting assets to ensure an appropriate, safe and
> effective response, which in turn drives up the cost of fighting wildfires.
> Expansion of the WUI has direct implications for wildfire management as
> more of the Forest Service's resources are spent each year to provide the
> firefighters, aircraft and other assets necessary to protect lives,
> property and natural resources in the wildland urban interface regions. In
> addition, overall fire seasons have grown longer, and the frequency, size
> and severity of wildland fires has increased.
>
> In recent decades, research has shown a steady increase in the area that
> is part of the WUI, as documented and visually depicted in a new
> publication titled, "*The 2010 Wildland-Urban Interface of the
> Conterminous United States*." The percent of homes in the WUI increased
> by over five percent between 2000 and 2010 (latest data available). As of
> 2010, the WUI of the lower 48 states includes about 44 million houses,
> equivalent to one in every three houses in the country, with the highest
> concentrations of houses in the WUI in California, Texas and Florida. The
> publication includes new, high-resolution maps showing housing density,
> land ownership, land cover and wildland vegetation cover for each state.
>
> "The expanding wildland urban interface is a critical issue for wildland
> firefighting and for the conservation of our forests," said Robert Bonnie.
> "More people, homes, and infrastructure are at risk than ever before. As
> the WUI grows, our fire fighters must commit greater resources to protect
> homes and property which dramatically increases the cost of fire
> suppression."
>
> The cost of wildfire suppression reached a record $243 in a one week
> period during the height of suppression activity in late August. In 2015,
> 52% of the Forest Service budget was set aside for fire suppression, up
> from 16% in 1995. By September 2015, the Forest Service had already
> exceeded the funding set aside for fire suppression and was forced to
> borrow funds meant for other Forest Service activities. The bipartisan
> Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, already introduced in the House and Senate,
> is an important step forward in addressing the funding problems. The
> proposed legislation, which mirrors a similar proposal in President Obama's
> Fiscal Year 2016 Budget, would provide a fiscally responsible mechanism to
> treat wildfires more like other natural disasters, end "fire transfers" and
> partially replenish the ability to restore resilient forests and protect
> against future fire outbreaks.
>
> While WUI expansion has increased the likelihood that wildfire will
> threaten structures and people and increase the number of people affected
> by wildfire, not all WUI acres are at high risk of wildfire or the only
> management concern. Increased risk of invasive species and disruption of
> wildlife and ecosystem processes often accompany human habitation, making
> the WUI maps an important guide in conservation work.
>
> To download a copy of this publication, visit the* Northern Research
> Station's* website.
>
> The mission of the Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of
> Agriculture, is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the
> Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future
> generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides
> assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest
> forestry research organization in the world. Public lands the Forest
> Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year
> through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the
> Nation's clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year.
> The agency has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 80
> percent of the 850 million forested acres within the U.S., of which 100
> million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.
> #
> --
>
>
> *^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Behind complexity, there is always simplicity to be revealed. Inside
> simplicity, there is always complexity to be discovered." *-Gang Yu
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> "? energy consumption in 1960 was about half what it is now ?. Surely we
> had a civilized country then, with roads, electricity, entertainment, and
> so on. ?. Have we, by doubling our energy consumption, doubled our
> happiness?"
> Kimon Valaskakis, Peter S. Sindell, J. Graham Smith, and Iris
> Fitzpatrick-Martin.* The Conserver Society.* 1970. Harper & Row.
>
> --
>
>
> *^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> *
> *Behind complexity, there is always simplicity to be revealed. Inside
> simplicity, there is always complexity to be discovered." *-Gang Yu
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> "Š energy consumption in 1960 was about half what it is now Š. Surely we
> had a civilized country then, with roads, electricity, entertainment, and
> so on. Š. Have we, by doubling our energy consumption, doubled our
> happiness?"
> Kimon Valaskakis, Peter S. Sindell, J. Graham Smith, and Iris
> Fitzpatrick-Martin.* The Conserver Society.* 1970. Harper & Row.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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