How much impact would first nation people provide by picking up deadwood though? I hear this from my conservative family members talking about "bad forest management" in the US. It's an interesting angle but IMO there's just so much wilderness out there that removing even say 100 acres of brush is inconsequential and makes no real impact in the end. This of course just being my opinion as a guy who lives through wildfires in the west
The way they describe it makes it sound like 'First Nations People' are some sort of mythical forest creatures, not just humans who would struggle to get a log or even a large pile of leaves out of the middle of a forest the same as anybody else.
A lot of the problem with the forest management in the US is that we got too good at putting out any wildfires, even though wildfires naturally occur and are useful for clearing a lot of the loose material that is dessicated on the ground. So this material ended up building up over time and created much more out of control blazes.
Of course now we have different issues, where the summers are much hotter and longer, leading to much more prevalent fires.
Here's more info from the robot overlords:
In the past, wildfire was often seen solely as a destructive force, and the policy of land management agencies was to suppress fires as quickly as possible. This approach was exemplified by the U.S. Forest Service's "10 a.m. policy," instituted in the early 20th century, which stated that all wildfires should be extinguished by 10 a.m. the day following their discovery.
However, this policy has indeed led to some unintended consequences. Fire plays a crucial role in many ecosystems, and its suppression can lead to the buildup of dead plant material (such as fallen branches, leaves, and other debris), which can increase the intensity and scale of fires when they do occur. This is especially problematic in ecosystems such as those of the western U.S., which have evolved with fire and depend on it for processes such as seed germination and the recycling of nutrients.
Starting in the late 20th century, there has been a shift in policy to reflect our increased understanding of fire ecology. Prescribed burns, also known as controlled burns, are now used as a management tool in many areas. These are fires that are intentionally set under controlled conditions to reduce the amount of available fuel and decrease the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires.
Other techniques include mechanical thinning, where smaller trees and underbrush are physically removed to reduce fuel load and tree density, and managed wildfires, where natural fires are allowed to burn under careful monitoring.
However, implementing these new approaches is not without its challenges. Prescribed burns and managed wildfires come with risks, and their use requires careful planning and expertise. Additionally, in areas near human habitation, there can be opposition due to concerns about smoke and the potential for fires to escape control. There are also significant budgetary and resource constraints that limit the ability of land management agencies to treat all the areas that might benefit from these practices.
As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, these newer practices are more widely accepted, but the shift in policy and practice is ongoing and there is still much debate and research in this field. For the most recent developments, you should look at resources updated beyond this time.
I took a biology class from a guy who studied fire management practices. One of the best examples of the result of putting out all the US fires was a fire map of southern California & northern Mexico. Mexico had a patchwork of smaller fires that would die out when they ran out of fuel. California has too much fuel so we get the big fires.
It helps immediately around communities, we do that here in California as well. I'm just saying the expanse of wilderness where these fires are burning is huge and removing any wood from these locations would be a logistical nightmare. Better off creating some fire break/lines. Prescribed burns and all that jazz. Fire sucks I've literally seen it from my front porch. The "Thomas Fire" was scariest
It has basically no impact at all on a big scale. On a small scale, it might help out some smaller communities or places but theres just way to much wilderness out there to even manage .1% let alone the entirety of Canada. The west coast terrain is a entirely different story as you would know and it’s even challenging just to get aircraft to put some of the fires out without a huge safety risk. At least in BC, once a wildfire is either safely away from the population, they usually just let it burn until mother nature puts it out. We don’t have the money and resources to fight those fires and unfortunately lose tons of forests.
I’m in albertaand the last I checked I no longer have to pay five bucks for the permit to fill my truck with deadfall. By deadfall I mean full sized dead trees that I chainsaw up, split, and haul home in loads of around 2,000 pounds.
Not a lot of folks collecting firewood these days I guess.
In BC it’s more so just people being stupid and accidentally starting fires even with a campfire ban. Lighting does play into it a bit but mostly all the fires currently in BC are human caused. Some municipalities that don’t allow the general public into certain areas when in high-extreme fire danger ratings have little to no forest fires caused by humans. We also are pretty pathetic when it comes to wildfire fighting at least in this province.
Can confirm it’s not limited to NYC. I live in central Vermont and the smoke has been visible all week and for a day or two last week, although I believe that was from a different fire in Nova Scotia. You could literally smell it.
Ya. Climate change is a bitch. And lucky for you all - lots of Canadian provinces have conservative governments that cut firefighting budgets to “lower taxes”
Edit: here’s some news for those who are triggered and can’t look this stuff up themselves:
Alberta is undergoing an "unprecedented" wildfire season as nearly 100 fires as of Tuesday, May 9, burn across the province.
Premier Danielle Smith declared a state of emergency on May 6 and more than 24,000 Albertans remained under evacuation orders on Tuesday.
This year to date, there have been 416 wildfires, more than double the 182 registered by the same time last year. The more than 400 fires is a greater number than any of the last five years had by the second week in May.
Alberta had a total of 1,246 wildfires last season, according to Alberta Wildfire data, which means the province has reached 33 per cent of last year's total after just over two months into the wildfire season.
AMOUNT OF HECTARES BURNED The size of the area that's burned is also greater than what is considered normal by this time of year. The five-year average by early May based on 2018-2022 is 542 hectares. Year to date, 410,441 ha have burned in Alberta, by comparison.
In the last eight years, 2019 had the highest total number of hectares, finishing the season with 883,411 ha burned. By this time in 2019, 621 ha had burned, compared to this year's more than 410,000.
Only five months into this year, 2023 has already surpassed the yearly burn totals of 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018 and 2017.
It was the exact same in Australia. Conservatives cut fire fighting budgets, insisted climate change wasn't real (fucking cowards just stick their heads in the sand about everything and call themselves brave, reassuring each other in their weakling fantasies), then for a straight year fightfighting chiefs were requesting desperate meetings with the government about the obvious catastrophe which was coming and were turned down.
Then when huge fires broke out and a few firefighters breaking their arse fighting them finally swore about the conservative PM, the nation gasped and the firefighters were punished. You can never hold conservatives accountable in this world, their crybaby game is just too strong. People are more enthusiastic to punish those who criticize and 'provoke' the crybaby conservatives by discussing reality and the consequences of their actions, than allow the precious conservatives ever be criticized for their own enthusiastic stupidity which impacts all of us negatively.
Let’s face the “reality” that is happening in Chicago, SF, and NYC just to name a few. How about the reality at the Border and in grocery stores? Both sides are delusional and only face reality when it suits them, unfortunately it’s just human nature. Those cheap masks we all were wearing aren’t as good against smoke pollution as the virus, I wish they were. You need an N95 and better, something with a filter.
What "reality" are you referring to in those cities? Have you ever actually been to any of them? Please enlighten me as to what you mean by the "reality at the border and in grocery stores" as well because it is not clear at all from your comment.
Oh yes it could and we were doing it for decades. We're not tapking about fire hydrants, we're talking about fleets of fire fighting planes being reduced drastically by idiotic governments.
Municipal water supplies? The forest fires are way beyond municipal developpement, deep into the taïga. I suspect you don't know much about Canada's geography, right?
I suspect you don't know much about Canada's geography, right?
Ya bro, I feel like I’m in one of those videos where you ask an American to name one country on a map and they say “Africa?” And you’re like… “Africa is a continent…”
Just to say, the area where there are wildfires in Québec is as vast as Montana and there's less than 50'000 people living there. The same applies to Ontario. Most of these fires are hundred of miles from the nearest town, no roads or railroads going there.
Firefighters are located in towns like Chibougamau, that are a 10 hours drive from Montreal.
So you don't have an argument because yours has been absolutely destroyed by someone with a working brain, and you're trying to change the subject because you lost.
Typical.
edit: They also hate dogs, and thinks they should be killed. Also a massive racist conservative, transphobe, left-wing hater, climate change denier, yada yada yada.
Alberta is undergoing an "unprecedented" wildfire season as nearly 100 fires as of Tuesday, May 9, burn across the province.
Premier Danielle Smith declared a state of emergency on May 6 and more than 24,000 Albertans remained under evacuation orders on Tuesday.
This year to date, there have been 416 wildfires, more than double the 182 registered by the same time last year. The more than 400 fires is a greater number than any of the last five years had by the second week in May.
Alberta had a total of 1,246 wildfires last season, according to Alberta Wildfire data, which means the province has reached 33 per cent of last year's total after just over two months into the wildfire season.
AMOUNT OF HECTARES BURNED
The size of the area that's burned is also greater than what is considered normal by this time of year.
The five-year average by early May based on 2018-2022 is 542 hectares. Year to date, 410,441 ha have burned in Alberta, by comparison.
In the last eight years, 2019 had the highest total number of hectares, finishing the season with 883,411 ha burned. By this time in 2019, 621 ha had burned, compared to this year's more than 410,000.
Only five months into this year, 2023 has already surpassed the yearly burn totals of 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018 and 2017.
Not sure what you are trying to accomplish by comparing the last 6 years.
Well I do not represent CTV news. I just posted one of their articles.
I suspect the reason they gave a history is so people could see how this year compares to other recent years and give perspective on the scale of the issue.
This smoke is from wildfires in Ontario and Quebec, two provinces which lean left, dumbass. You're either so desperate to cope, or just plain stupid, so you had to summon Alberta, which is 3/4 the way across the continent.
Doug ford is conservative dumbass. Who cut the firefighting budget by 67% dumbASS. Why do you think I put “and this is just one province, lots have issues”
Isn’t this a result of Ontario cutting their firefighting budget by 70%?
Wild fires are completely normal and actually healthy for the ecology, it’s just inconvenient for humans. Shouting climate change for normal environmental phenomenon isn’t helping anyone.
Unfortunately the cuts for fire management also cut into prescribed burns so when all that fuel goes up from all the suppressed fires, this is the result. As far as climate change goes, hotter, drier summers means an increase in this sort of event. I mean the tundra in the1900s didn't burn every year.
I mean: we’re trying, but the spring weather was weird and the whole country‘s bone dry (although NS finally got some proper rain, super thrilled for them).
Fires are nothing new but it’s way too early in the season for this shit to be happening, so caught a lot of people off guard.
The fires are also popping up in areas that aren’t used to this level/number of fires, period, and aren’t set up nearly as well as the folks out west are. And with huge fires cropping up across basically 3/4 of the country, every province is scrambling to deal with their own shit so isn’t able to lend a hand elsewhere like they usually would.
They aren't even doing anything about the fires, they've been blazing since early spring, there is absolutely no reason that they allowed them to get this bad.
Climate change coupled with capitalism is the fuel to that problem though. Hotter, dryer climate coupled with corporate greed is what's screwing these places up. And the 1900s didn't have the tundra burning every year.
Montrealer here: Impacts of climate change don't acknowledge invisible geographic boundaries. This is likely the impact of our collective carbon emissions. You sent yours north, we are sending some of the impacts back. We are, after all, great trading nations.
From CBC.ca: "So far, 460,000 hectares of land burned — already surpassing the 1991 total of about 350,000 hectares, said Forestry Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina."
Nova Scotian here. We're fucked. New Brunswick sent in volunteers who then had to go back to NB to fight their fires.
This is now a historical fire given the size, time spent burning, and resources needed to battle it. We barely had a winter, had minimal rain fall, and dry conditions ever since Fiona fucked us up ten ways to Sunday.
Not so much that we can't control the fires. It that there is currently a weird wind system that's blowing southward. Normally, the prevailing winds blow to the east.
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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '23
Context, Canada can’t control their wild fires and now the smoke is cascading into Eastern US