How many shovels, rakes, and hoes will it take to clean up the wilderness areas of California, keep reading.

Our thoughts are on the refugees from the California fires,
may all of their loved ones be safe.

It is raining today, California woke up to a substantial amount of rain, it is gladly accepted by the vast majority of us as it's been a smokey dry two weeks. It adds to the suffering of the victims of the fires, Southern and Northern, as most of the state is getting washed by it. Six inches of rain is forecast for Friday, we have received 1/3 of an inch during the past 24 hour period, right now it feels like it is of biblical proportions, the relief is being celebrated.

It is in some ways startling how the weather can change so drastically in such a short amount of time, from witnessing the sheer terror and suffering of the people left homeless in tents breathing smoke, now the fear of flooding. It is not only flooding, but we are also back in the teeter-totter of fire/landslides. The one silver lining is the fires are almost extinguished, the dark lining is now the firefighters are preparing the barren hills to stop or at least slow down the erosion.

The concern of overflowing reservoirs is a matter, Six inches of rain is an incredible amount of precipitation to collect on top of the wildfires. It is snowing in the Sierra's, which is good, California receives 50% of its water from mountain run-off. Happening twice, once during the rain events, then again during the spring snowmelt. It is the third largest state in the union, Alaska holds the #1 spot, and Texas #2, all three have extensive wilderness areas.

California is #35 having 14% in regard to total acres of wilderness, it lies between Indiana with 19% and Colorado which has 17.5%, holding the #1 spot Maine with a whopping 89%.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 defined wilderness as: “An area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” An area of undeveloped federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation.”  ( Quoted copied from the "California Wilderness Coalition")

The BLM has a lot of areas to maintain.

California is a big state, 14,967,957 acres total with 2,095,514 sq. acres (3274.25 sq. miles, 5,427,357 sq. kilometers) designated wilderness, when the mountains are taken into consideration it is a wild and dynamic environment, 20% of the state is National Forest Lands. It is a diverse state which includes beautiful Southern warm Beaches and Northern cold rugged coastlines bordered by the Coastal Mountain Range from the Oregon border to Mexico. Inland 50 miles stands the Diablo Mountain Range stretching from the Cartenize Straights North and East of San Francisco Bay to the Tejon Pass (the Grapevine) 304 miles south, (489.24 kilometers), there three Mountain Ranges meet. The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range extends from the Tejon Pass North to the Oregon border, 792 miles distant, (1274.6 kilometers) Occupying the Southern part of the state are three main ranges, the San Bernardino Mountains spanning two counties an area of 2,063 square miles is covered, the San Jacinto Mountains bordering Palm Springs they are the northernmost of the Penisula Range.  Extending 930 miles (1500 kilometers) from Southern California to the South end of the Baja California Peninsula. Grasslands, Desert, and Wetlands complete the vast array of landscapes, it is a huge area, but not all of it is wilderness.

A common misconception is that the state is crowded, every spot is occupied with Movie Stars, Disneyland, and Silicon Valley, although there are a lot of residents (39.5 million) they are congregated in two major areas, San Francisco and Southern California (I'm including L.A. south to San Diego). There are smaller major cities scattered throughout, there remain wide open spaces between them. Bordering every area are wilderness areas prone to fires, landslides, and flooding, they are some of the most rugged and isolated spots in the country.

Isolated and inaccessible the wild areas are hard to manage, especially when dealing with the natural disasters that nearly overwhelm us every year. The 20% of Federal lands are managed and controlled by the Forest Service, National Park Service or the Bureau of Land Managment, and all are responsible for maintenance. The State of California has spent $250 million during the past ten years clearing, cutting and burning wilderness areas for fire prevention, the Federal Government's share was $5 million. That's about twenty dollars per acre to make the forest fire safe, with limited resources they are directed by priority. Of course, the priority is making the residential areas as safe as possible, the state is doing a good job. Even in areas of Wilderness Urban Interface, dubbed WUI for short, it is the places homes and structures are built near high-risk areas. WUI is defined as the zone in which structures (houses mainly) are built near or inside wild areas. Measured by the number of people and houses in the area, that number has increased over the years. The cost involved with fighting wildfires in these areas has increased steadily even though the number of fires has not risen significantly. Intensity, velocity, and area burned have been on a dramatic incline, fueled by high winds, drought, and an abundance of fuel.

Typical undergrowth, it burns.

The WUI (Link) between 1990 and 2010 has increased to 190 million acres nationwide, an increase of 33 percent, the number of homes has inflated by 41%. Nearly 31 million new homes have been constructed adding to the cost of damage wildfires cause due to the increasing difficulty in fighting them as well as raising the risk of more breaking out. Humans are the cause of 90% of all fires, we do well to remember Smokey Bears motto, "Only you can prevent wildfires."  It's not all bad because these areas are also the best-maintained areas, most of the property owners are well aware of the threat. Normally taking responsibility for the area surrounding their structures the advice from the various agencies responsible for maintenance is taken seriously. Constructing a safe zone around the property is common practice in most isolated areas, consisting of clearing a 100-foot area free of flammable debris and keeping undergrowth cut and trimmed goes a long way in prevention. In every place I have lived in this state the local fire department will once a year inspect and leave notices on properties that are in need of cleaning up, it works well. WUI is an issue, but it is one that can be managed and improved by implementing more programs and assistance to those in high-risk areas.

The real problem is what to do with the remaining acreage designated as wilderness, most of those areas are inaccessible. Logging and thinning of the forest are one step forward, but it has it's challenging as well. First, it has to be a long-term commitment, the logging companies, to begin with, will not commit themselves to a one or two year program. There is a lot of infrastructures that must be in place prior to beginning and the companies must be able to recoup their investment. Second, when trees are cut down the branches are stripped and left in huge piles adding to the fuel for the fires, to their credit the lumber industry is working on making use of a lot of the debris when making particle board and other chip products. But they cannot use all of it. The last challenge with thinning is if done incorrectly allowing too much sunlight onto the forest floor small trees emerge close together creating a densely populated small forest which burns intensely during a fire. But that is all manageable, it is this last issue that causes the most problems.

The reason I began by describing the area of the state is to become aware of how large it is and to point out how inaccessible it is.  The timber industry is able to cut logging roads and build the infrastructure but most of the wilderness areas are very remote and impossible to service with vehicles. It would do no good to drop woodcutters off and have them start cutting trees down, it would merely add to the fuel. In areas where there is access are a problem as well, there is no profit in cleaning the forest floor as far as the companies are concerned, they cannot do it for free. It is impossible to remove this stuff manually, and too expensive with equipment.

There are spots such as a canyon by the name of "Jose Basin" in Fresno County, in the Sierra Nevada's, it is a 500-foot deep canyon about a mile long. The depth of the crevice gets shallower as it progresses downhill, but it is full to the top with dried manzanita. With more growing on top of the dead material over the decades the fuel has been adding up. It's still there, the last time I was up there was in the mid-1980s. There is no way to clear that jumbled mess except to burn it, manual, mechanical, or any other means would be a useless attempt. There is not a company on the planet, or any amount of shovels, rakes, and hoes that can remove it. Jose Basin is an accessible spot, an old logging road runs 1/2 way around it, easy to get to, impossible to clear.

Controlled burns are one way to clear the debris.

What can we do? Nothing isn't the answer, we have to start with priorities, protect the people. To begin the focus should be on making sure the wilderness areas surrounding the small cities and towns have all of the support from the Federal and State Governments possible. The budgets for maintenance, prevention, and firefighting needs to be increased, as well as the realization that we are in a virtual war with these monsters. The finger pointing needs to stop, all of these entities that have been created to deal with this catastrophe need to realize we are all in this boat together and pull together. The Utility Company should not be a for-profit company where profits for the shareholders outweigh the concerns of our population, they should be state-run, abolishing the Public Utilities Commision should be on the list.

Luckily the environmental groups, Federal and State Governments, and Lumber companies are all realizing we have been addressing the fires wrong for a long time and are beginning to work together. Money is only part of the solution, we would be able to make a considerable amount of headway if state commissions were to be formed with the intent to investigate, and offer some ideas as to the best practices to reduce these incidents, they will never be completely eliminated.

In the short term, we will cherish the rain, curse the floods and landslides, the unfortunate victims of the latest fires will begin to rebuild, and the politicians will be politicians. Thanks for reading and sharing, if you have anything to add leave a comment. Thanks again, it's a big area to maintain.

jacquesLebec  emergencykitsplus.com