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posted by takyon on Monday November 13 2017, @02:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the flame-on dept.

According to The Missoulian (archive):

Several of Missoula's top federal fire scientists have been denied permission to attend the International Fire Congress later this month, leading conference organizers to suspect censorship of climate-related research.

"Anyone who has anything related to climate-change research — right away was rejected," said Timothy Ingalsbee of the Association for Fire Ecology, a nonprofit group putting on the gathering. Ingalsbee noted that was his personal opinion, and that the AFE [Association for Fire Ecology] is concerned that a federal travel restriction policy may be more to blame.

The Missoulian also said (archive):

The scientists no longer attending include Matt Jolly, who was to present new work on "Climate-induced variations in global severe weather fire conditions," Karin Riley on "Fuel treatment effects at the landscape level: burn probabilities, flame lengths and fire suppression costs," Mike Battaglia on "Adaptive silviculture for climate change: Preparing dry mixed conifer forests for a more frequent fire regime," and Dave Calkin, who was working on ways to manage the human response to wildfire.

takyon: Also at Scientific American (thanks to another Anonymous Coward).


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Techwolf on Monday November 13 2017, @02:50AM (15 children)

    by Techwolf (87) on Monday November 13 2017, @02:50AM (#596043)

    While climate change may be a contributing factor, the real cause for those damaging fires is Smokey The Bear. By suppressing what mother nature has done regularity for millions of years, we suppress that natural fire and allow buildup of flammable materials over the past 50 or so years. And now we are paying the price for messing with mother nature.

    My grammar logic is very bad. Werewolves are not the smartest english language creatures in the world.

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 13 2017, @02:55AM (4 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday November 13 2017, @02:55AM (#596044)

    You're right, they have the same problem in Australia where the eucalyptus forest actually needs fire to seed properly.

    People have moved into the bush however, in their lifestyle blocks and so the fire service is obliged to put the fires out.

    It's a real problem.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 13 2017, @03:39AM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday November 13 2017, @03:39AM (#596052)

      In Florida there are increasing areas of prescribed burns, keeping the (semi)native pine trees happy, the way they were 300 years ago. The sand pine needs fire to release its seed, and almost all pines are more fire resistant than their competition, so it gives them a competitive advantage.

      Still, not highly compatible with houses, so you don't see a lot of pine forest around the homes, mostly oak with tinderbox undergrowth... keeps the firefighters on their toes.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 13 2017, @04:21AM (1 child)

        by Gaaark (41) on Monday November 13 2017, @04:21AM (#596058) Journal

        Driving down to Florida, I noticed long swaths of forested areas that could have used some fire breaks.

        Waiting for God's smiting hand!?!

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 13 2017, @04:42AM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday November 13 2017, @04:42AM (#596070)

          We have plenty of firebreaks, we call them highways.

          Before European settlement, a single lightning strike could start a statewide blaze, and apparently they were frequent. Pines are very fire adapted, and with regular burns, they will survive a fire. However, if you let the fuel load build up for 30 years before a burn happens, then not even pines can survive a burn that hot.

          If you want to see firebreaks, drive through the Ocala National tree farm (yes, officially a forest, but actually feedstock for the lumber industry grown and maintained using federal tax dollars.) They take them pretty seriously there. Forest management varies pretty significantly by owner, most private owners seem to try to maximize yield from their land - either from harvest or loss-recovery insurance payout.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @08:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @08:49AM (#596105)

      Solution: stop monitoring it, end all research into it, MAGA.

  • (Score: 2) by BK on Monday November 13 2017, @03:05AM (3 children)

    by BK (4868) on Monday November 13 2017, @03:05AM (#596046)

    /I've always wanted to do this.

    It's Smokey Bear, not Smokey THE Bear.
    And, for the record:
    Santa Claus, not Santa THE Clause.
    etc.

    --
    ...but you HAVE heard of me.
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday November 13 2017, @04:26AM

      by Gaaark (41) on Monday November 13 2017, @04:26AM (#596062) Journal

      Is it BK pedant, or BK THE pedant?
      :)
      OMG! I pedanted a pedant. Does that make me a pedo?

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @04:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @04:29AM (#596064)

      In 1952, Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins wrote the popular anthem that would launch a continuous debate about Smokey’s name. To maintain the rhythm of the song, they added “the” between “Smokey” and “Bear.” Due to the song’s popularity, Smokey Bear has been called “Smokey the Bear” by many adoring fans, but, in actuality, his name never changed. He’s still Smokey Bear.

      ( https://smokeybear.com/en/smokeys-history/story-of-smokey [smokeybear.com] )

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @02:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @02:04PM (#596182)

      There is no Sanity Clause.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Monday November 13 2017, @03:15AM (4 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Monday November 13 2017, @03:15AM (#596049) Journal

    Smokey was put out to pasture almost 20 years ago.

    The goal and theme of the Smokey Bear campaign was adjusted in the 2000s, from "Only you can prevent forest fires" to "Only you can prevent wildfires".

    I don't think we can blame things like the Napa Valley fire on excess forest floor fuel in an area that is mostly farm land. Especially when 17 fires start the same night the Santa Anna winds were widely predicted and everybody knew what that meant, all in a south to north line through three counties. There was somebody besides smokey to blame.
    http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/pge-power-lines-linked-to-wine-country-fires/ [mercurynews.com]

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Mykl on Monday November 13 2017, @05:40AM

    by Mykl (1112) on Monday November 13 2017, @05:40AM (#596079)

    On the positive side, the increasing water levels brought on by climate change will reduce the land mass susceptible to fire. Win!