The Fallacy of "Fuel" Treatments
BEFORE. Close up of the West Camino Cielo fuel break. The Frankenpine (non-native hybrid) tree plantation planted decades ago next to the masticated fuel break. The US Forest Service planted the trees in the chaparral plant community where a forest does not belong. The tree farm is in upper far right of the leading photo above.
AFTER. The fuel break after the Whittier Fire. Both the trees and masticated habitat material burned as the fire leaped over the fuel break. The area is now filled with highly flammable, invasive weeds, the post-fire consequence of removing native habitat and disturbing the soil with large grinding machines.
When chaparral is viewed as "fuel" and not as a valued ecosystem, it is threatened by poor land management practices
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BEFORE: The cover of the Fall 2007 issue of Fremontia, the quarterly journal of the California Native Plant Society, celebrated a remarkable stand of manzanita chaparral located in the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National Forest.
AFTER: The US Forest Service hoped to protect its artificial tree farm on the hill from fire by clear cutting the chaparral. Established in 1956, the farm is a mix of Coulter and a Frankenpine hybrids (Monterey x knobcone pines).
AFTER II: The 2018 Holy Fire burned completely through both the chaparral clear cut and the tree farm. Hopefully, the USFS learned its lesson - destroying native habitat in an attempt to control Nature typically fails.
Due to a sudden influx of money,
the US Forest Service, once showing promise
of becoming a protector of native chaparral habitat,
has become a destroyer.
The Los Padres National Forest is planning to clear a quarter million acres of habitat, most of which is chaparral. Why? Because Nature is now seen only as “fuel,” not as living habitat.
Below is the letter we wrote to the US Forest Service on September 26, 2022, about their destructive vision.
Our family is sitting on our backyard patio in Escondido, watching a pair of Spotted Towhees enjoying the habitat we’ve created over the past three years. They successfully raised at least one offspring this year. We saw it scampering about looking for food with the help of its parents.
Where once was lawn is now a rich chaparral, sage scrub wonderland. It’s all framed by several Refugio manzanitas (Arctostaphylos refugioensis) that have really taken to our place. They outgrow and out-flower any other Arctostaphylos species we’ve planted. That seems odd because they’re a relatively rare species native to the coastal ridge line above Gaviota, just west of Santa Barbara. We’re looking forward to this January when the white, urn-shaped blossoms will be covering the ground with chaparral snow.
I got to thinking about the temporary reprieve our lawsuit provided in 2017 to the Refugio manzanitas that were scheduled to be masticated by US Forest Service grinding machines along the Gaviota ridge. We knew at the time the reprieve would be transitory. That’s the way many environmental protection lawsuits work – they merely delay.
The inevitable occurred during the 2021 Alisal Fire. Dozers ripped out and crushed many of the manzanitas we had protected. Much of the destruction was for naught as the fire had already moved quickly toward the ocean. But dozers are not easily stopped once the fire brigade arrives. Ironically, the fire appears to have started along the old ridge line fuel break, likely in the flammable, weedy grasses that invade such disturbed places. The same situation occurred during the 2019 Cave Fire above Santa Barbara. We cited this key risk factor in our 2017 lawsuit – fuel breaks create conditions more conducive to ignitions.
And now the Refugio manzanitas that remain along the ridge face yet another threat, as do tens of thousands of acres of chaparral throughout the Los Padres National Forest, with the newly proposed LPNF Ecological Restoration Project; the use of Orwellian doublespeak is common in land management policy...
To read more, please go to our journal, Chaparral Wisdom.
"FUEL" TREATMENTS and WEEDS
The gradual invasion of non-native weeds into areas where chaparral has been "masticated" during three separate "fuel" treatment projects in the Painted Cave area, Santa Barbara, CA. Background shows the result of the effort to remove "fuel" - it has created more fire risk by encouraging the invasive of highly flammable, non-native weeds and grasses.
As shown in photo above, the spread of highly flammable, invasive, nonnative weeds can be the unfortunate consequence of "fuel" treatments whereby pristine chaparral stands are clear cut by large masticating machines. The older treatment area is in the background, now filled with weeds. The most recent treatment is in the foreground. Note the massive soil disturbance. Such disruption of the soil destroys the ancient soil crust that teams with life and allows the spread of weeds.
Unfortunately, many continue to deny the fact that chaparral can be type-converted into a weed lot by such activity. For example, here is a quote from a Santa Barbara New Press editorial on 9/11/10 that criticized those who are concerned about the excessive removal of native habitat in the Painted Cave area:"Nowhere in my local experience have I seen any type conversion (one plant community replacing another in an area) or permanent noxious weed invasion directly attributed to fire hazard reduction."
The evidence shows otherwise.
For additional photos of the Painted Cave chaparral removal project in Santa Barbara and other nearby areas being damaged by the excessive removal of native habitat, please go to the Los Padres NF album. We also have more information on the Painted Cave situation here.
For photos of similar damage in the Cleveland National Forest, please see our Trabuco Ranger District album.
Unfortunately, many continue to deny the fact that chaparral can be type-converted into a weed lot by such activity. For example, here is a quote from a Santa Barbara New Press editorial on 9/11/10 that criticized those who are concerned about the excessive removal of native habitat in the Painted Cave area:"Nowhere in my local experience have I seen any type conversion (one plant community replacing another in an area) or permanent noxious weed invasion directly attributed to fire hazard reduction."
The evidence shows otherwise.
For additional photos of the Painted Cave chaparral removal project in Santa Barbara and other nearby areas being damaged by the excessive removal of native habitat, please go to the Los Padres NF album. We also have more information on the Painted Cave situation here.
For photos of similar damage in the Cleveland National Forest, please see our Trabuco Ranger District album.
"Fuel" Treatments Fail When it Matters Most
The 2007 Grass Valley Fire, Lake Arrowhead, California. Map on the left show fuel treatments as orange and green polygons (Rogers et al. 2008). Map on the right shows location of 174 homes burned in the fire (Cohen and Stratton 2008).
In the 2007 Grass Valley Fire, the US Forest Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service conducted several fuel treatments around the community of Lake Arrowhead (see left hand map above). Reportedly, the fuel treatments performed as expected by allowing firefighters to engage the fire directly and reducing the rate of spread and intensity (Rogers et al. 2008). However, the end result for the community was much less positive. One hundred and seventy-four homes were lost (See right hand map above).
The comprehensive analysis of the Grass Valley Fire by US Forest Service scientists (Cohen and Stratton 2008) concluded that,"Our post-burn examination revealed that most of the destroyed homes had green or unconsumed vegetation bordering the area of destruction. Often the area of home destruction involved more than one house. This indicates that home ignitions did not result from high intensity fire spread through vegetation that engulfed homes. The home ignitions primarily occurred within the HIZ due to surface fire contacting the home, firebrands accumulating on the home, or an adjacent burning structure. Home ignitions due to the wildfire were primarily from firebrands igniting homes directly and producing spot fires across roads in vegetation that could subsequently spread to homes."
The comprehensive analysis of the Grass Valley Fire by US Forest Service scientists (Cohen and Stratton 2008) concluded that,"Our post-burn examination revealed that most of the destroyed homes had green or unconsumed vegetation bordering the area of destruction. Often the area of home destruction involved more than one house. This indicates that home ignitions did not result from high intensity fire spread through vegetation that engulfed homes. The home ignitions primarily occurred within the HIZ due to surface fire contacting the home, firebrands accumulating on the home, or an adjacent burning structure. Home ignitions due to the wildfire were primarily from firebrands igniting homes directly and producing spot fires across roads in vegetation that could subsequently spread to homes."
California Wildlands are Not the Unmanaged, Unburned Landscapes You are Led to Believe
California wildlands are far from unmanaged areas that haven’t burned in a century as is being implied in the media. Map shows areas cleared by logging, habitat clearance, and prescribed fires, in addition to fire history and with a 2020 wildfire overlay. This is not a comprehensive map because it is missing a lot of clearance projects that have taken place on private and non-federal lands that weren’t through timber harvest plans. Data assembled and map produced by Bryant Baker, Research Associate, California Chaparral Institute.