VARDAMAN VIRTUAL FORESTRY COMPANY

The Most Direct Link to Knowledge Workers in the Southeast Forest Economy

REMEMBER LOS ALAMOS!

The slogan in the headline will never be as famous as "Remember the Alamo!" of early Texas history, but it will be more memorable and far more important to landowners of SE U.S.  They should never forget the striking TV pictures as thousands of acres of forest and hundreds of homes in and near Los Alamos, New Mexico burned in May 2000.

The fire was a "prescribed burn" planned and set by professional forest managers of the National Park Service to reduce fuel accumulation in U. S. government forests.  Secretary Bruce Babbitt received much unwanted exposure from all news agencies when he explained the procedures for utilizing prescribed burns and the human errors that caused things to go so bad wrong.  Fortunately no one was killed.  The only redeeming feature of the episode was his promise that the government would reimburse all who suffered losses.

Prescribed burns are widely used and recommended by government agencies in the Southeast to reduce fuel, control hardwoods, and prepare cutovers for re-planting.  Here are excerpts from Maintenance Requirements for CRP Practices CP3, CP3A, CP11: "Prescribed burning will be necessary in longleaf pine stands infected with brown spot needle blight.  Where it can be safely performed, prescribed burning can and should be used as a beneficial management tool in loblolly, slash, and longleaf pine stands greater than 10 years old, especially after they have been thinned.  If recommended by a Registered Forester or Professional Wildlife Biologist, prescribed burning may be conducted, on CRP pine stands greater than 10 years old.  Beneficial uses include reducing fuel buildup in stands that have been thinned.  If prescribed burning is used, it should be conducted by a Certified Burn Prescriptionist who can determine if, when, and how the stand can be burned safely."

Because of the gentle slopes in and fragmentation of Southeastern forests, forest fires are much easier to control.  On the other hand, smoke from them is more objectionable and much more dangerous.  Nobody likes it, and when it settles on roads and Interstate Highways, visibility drops sharply, and traffic accidents, including fatalities, go up.

We don't know the professional designations of those who planned and executed the Los Alamos burn, but neither they nor the experts designated in the Mississippi paper have ever been able to control or predict the exact development of smoke from a forest fire.  Those in New Mexico at least had Secretary Babbitt to pay the bill for losses of homes; the value of trees killed and the effect of the fire on soils have yet to be calculated and will almost surely be absorbed by U.S. taxpayers.

Forest-management practices in forests owned or subsidized by government are none of our business.  On the other hand, we believe that fire has no place as a management tool in any private forest in the Southeast.  The risk from loss due to wildfire can be greatly reduced by several methods.  Use of fire for hardwood control or site preparation is usually ineffective and can be avoided altogether.  If you would like to talk more about these better ways to solve common problems, please give us a call.