Wyoming B.S. Thread

Lol ya those. Some much D in my life just ask @SjTacoSharks

 

New fire here today, ash falling from the sky, it's super smokey.


Fires are natural and do the forest's good. The Forests have been all messed up from human intervention with fires IMO. It's all the Beetle kill that's causing issues around here, which I think was attributable to an overpopulation of pine trees and an unbalanced forest. Let em burn.

 

beatle kill is huge here. But in the Big horns they logged alot of it out. Worked great.

But yes, totally natural. I think the thing we are talking about is how forests aren't managed well so the fires are just worse then then should be. That's all.

Sucks there's another one down by you though.

 

I have seen a lot of Facebook posts bashing forest service and photos of "groomed" forests by logging etc.

I am not knowledgeable on fire ecology so I won't pretend to know the answers. I can tell you I spent a decent amount of time this summer looking for this plant.


That plant is commonly called candystick and it's a parasitic plant that requires fungus. It's at risk in our area because of past logging. Fallen logs are required for the fungus that it feeds off of. Logging essentially removes fallen timber and destroys the habitat for them.

I believe Lewis's woodpecker use post-fire forests heavily but I also believe they like logging as well. They are an at risk species for us as well.

One thing I have seen out here is that areas that burned 2 years ago are covered in berries. One of the streams I monitored had tons of black bear scat. Fire may be beneficial in the sense of providing food for black bears.

Bottom line is the environment will recover, the forests will grow back and life will go on. Fire is a natural disturbance (when naturally caused). Those are just a few examples above, but logging has negative and positive consequences. Some trees, plants, and probably animals require fire to compete. There is no easy answer and no perfect fix.

A large part of my job will deal with timber sales/logging. So I will be the environmental nut job telling foresters what they can and can't do based on research. I'll make the decisions for fish, not wildlife or botany.

 

Cool input.

NO doubt in my mind about weed spread with logging. I dealt with that first hand for 3 years. WE as people are the biggest spreader of invasive species by far.

Not sure what the right way to handle the forest are. I just hope we still have them open and available in the future to enjoy.

 

I would prefer a way that doesn't make my summer days smokey and people's life and property at risk. Is that too much to ask lol

 

because most of ID that is on fire is the Bitterroot Wilderness. Its wilderness..

Montana's fires are larger and impacting people more.

No different then how the new feed i follow never mentioned MT even though a million? acres have burned untill a 3000 acre fire started outside of LA. Then they gave a report on LA and said "and MT is suffering too" and that was it haha

If you look on arcgis fire map..the whole NW though is lit up.

 

Largest wilderness in the lower 48. Only thing bigger is Alaska..because...well...alaska is huge haha

 

It's really bad all our cars are coated in ash and visibility is crap. Cool red moon at night though.

 

Was on the NBC news tonight that one of those fires ( can't remember exactly which ) was started by fireworks ..... that's Not a natural fire
Stupidity is now the norm it seems ?

 

yeah, pretty sad.

I know some are by just exhaust or brakes even its been so dry.

But that is stupid. And sad.

 

The 'Smoky the Bear: Only YOU can prevent forest fires' was a major cause of the build up of excessive fuels in the forest. It came with a lasting legacy. Of course the pine bark beetle killed trees doesn't help. Beetle larvae can't survive in -24 deg F that that lasts for a minimum of 3 days (this is anecdotal from me, but repeated by foresters that I've talked to). I've lived in SE WY for 40+ years with the early years being really cold, but in the last 20 yrs I witnessed just a few nights that were below -20, mostly not even getting to -10. An indicator of global warming maybe.

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...sf/2017/09/witness_teens_giggled_as_they.html

Fireworks

 

God damn it...what is with people these days?

 

@IDtrucks

What's the hiring process for the resort in the winter. Cousin is interested in finding a job there for this season. Is it all online or come in person and fill out an application? Thanks

 

It's all online. Though there is always a benefit to walking in and dropping off a resume ontop of filling it online.

 

I just drove from SLC back to Butte yesterday. Its bad the whole way. Montana is smokier than ID , at least where I was at. Its bad all over tho. A big issues has definately been all the reduction in logging. The pine beetle came in, lots of dead timber hanger around. there is a happy medium for logging vs non logging, but it got pushed to the far end this last few years it seems with the enviormentalists.

 

Pretty sure this a reaction to the extreme clear-cutting that was going unchecked. I mean, have you seen western washington from the air? Looks like a fucking checkerboard. Greed got us into this mess. All the industry saw was wealth to be harvested.

 

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
-Aldo Leopold

 

I haven't, but a coworker has family who are loggers there and he said they did have a busier last few years. I just would have rather seen logging occurring vs the trees dying from pine beetles