During the 1940s, clever humans came up with the idea that we can stop forest fires by putting a bear in trousers.
Fire is a normal and essential part of the pine forest cycle. Without regular fires, the forest gets overgrown with thin, unhealthy trees that are susceptible to disease and insects. Most forest fires used to burn primarily along the ground, but now they frequently burn up into the crowns of the trees – because there is so much fuel on the ground and the fires burn very hot.
The combination of fire suppression and clever people building houses right next to stands of trees waiting to burn, now costs taxpayers huge amounts of money. Instead of blaming decades of human interference with the fire cycle and the stupidity of home owners, they blame climate change. A key factor in the belief in catastrophic global warming is a total lack of understanding about how nature works.
Speaking of bears in trousers. In the foothills of Pasadena CA and thereabouts there are increasing numbers of encroaching black bears making a mess of trash, putting people on edge, and providing a real threat to public safety. The authorities do nothing.
And one of my liberal brothers waxed happily about how he’s overjoyed to have the native wildlife returning to the area. It’s true that over a century ago, in the vicinity, grizzlies were here, but I said to my brother that black bears are not native, which is true, as they were artificially introduced in the San Gabriel Mountains in 1933, sans the trousers. Does that matter to my brother, that they in fact are not native, like the huge aggressive non-native Canadian Wolves they artificially introduced into Idaho? No. If cobras were introduced here in great numbers he would probably also be thrilled to have the “native wildlife” return. It’s not right.
In fact bear meat is very tasty. Kind of like rich beef in flavor and if you blend bear with elk or deer it makes a great burger. As to forest fires , I have seen that a properly managed stand of timber that is harvested in a planned manner is sustainable as to production on a 35 or 40 year cycle and will pay for itself and make the owner a profit. Oh, but profit from nature is a nasty idea and the thought that someone might actually make a decent living is against everything the wackjob greens stand for. By the way, what do greens stand for?
You forgot ARTIC SEE ICE. Without ARTIC SEE ICE the fires burn 0.00438% hotter, which is an increase of 400% over the increases in fire temperatures in the 18th century.
Trust me on this one, I’m a climate science.
What does a bear have to do with climate. Well, I’ll tell ya…
Temperatures used to be higher in the past, and the bear-in-trousers name used to be “Smokey The Bear”, not SmokeyBear. A little legislation went a long way toward corrupting both…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goEozOAQ6yI
“Eddy Arnold sings “Smokey the Bear” for an old public service announcement. Purists will tell you that his name is “Smokey Bear” – without the “the”. It was this song, which was quite popular with kids in the 1950’s, that changed his name in common use. It’s not Eddy’s fault, the song was written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. However, the Smokey Bear Act of 1952 (16 U.S.C. 580 (p-2); 18 U.S.C. 711) that shortly followed the release of this song, mandates that he only be referred to as “Smokey Bear”.”
Steven, you are exactly right. I work in the field of prescribed burning and I cringe every time I hear supposedly intelligent “authorities” in my field talk about AGW being responsible for increasing and/or more intense wildfires. The fact of the matter is, almost 75 years of fire suppression has caused much of the North American continent to become a tinderbox just waiting for the right (or wrong) circumstances to arise to set off a conflagration. I’m going to link a decades-old, incredibly condescending article, written by one Dr. John Shea, that shows out EXACTLY how incredibly bone-headed it can be to be a blind follower of “consensus science”. It’s a PDF, but well worth the read and it is a dire warning to those who would use the “authority” meme when denigrating those who question the fraudulent claims of the Church of the Holy Goreacle.
http://www.wildfirelessons.net/documents/Shea_1940_pappies_burned_woods.pdf
Yes, I worked as a USFS wilderness ranger in New Mexico for a couple of summers in the 1980s, and it was easy to see where the forest was headed – thanks to Smokey
couldn’t of said it any better Steve, you just can’t fix stupid! a few years ago the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge caught on fire(careless cig butt)it was quite a scene, people were outraged and thought it was ruined. A year later you couldn’t tell anything happened