Thread by @bedwardstiek, Bit late to the party on this, but I think it's worth [...]

Bit late to the party on this, but I think it& #39;s worth disentangling the *very broad* set of practices that get called "forest management." 1/ https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1305575210872168448">https://twitter.com/Acosta/st...

https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1305575210872168448

IE, the timber lobby can use "forest management" to mean clear-cutting, which can actually make fires worse.
Every forest system& #39;s different, but in general:
-logging slash=dessicating fuel
-regrowth after logging=short, thick, fire-vulnerable growth 2/
https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr208en/psw_gtr208en_525-534_stone.pdf">https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publi...

"Forest management" can also mean prescribed burns, a practice widely used the indigenous peoples of California before anglo authorities outlawed it. 3/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/21/wildfire-prescribed-burns-california-native-americans">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...

'Fire is medicine': the tribes burning California forests to save them

For millennia, native people have used small burns to protect the land. The US government outlawed the process for a century before recognizing its value

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/21/wildfire-prescribed-burns-california-native-americans

It can mean "thinning"--which ranges from back-door logging (bad because the big, valuable trees loggers want are also the older, fire-resilient ones best kept growing), to minor treatment to make overgrown forests safer for prescribed burns. 4/ https://daily.jstor.org/does-forest-thinning-work/">https://daily.jstor.org/does-fore...

Does Forest Thinning Work? | JSTOR Daily

Does forest thinning, a land management strategy, offer an effective solution to the problem of forest fires?

https://daily.jstor.org/does-forest-thinning-work/

More "forest management" is something California and the feds have already agreed on (important, because the feds controls 57% of our forested land, and led the century-long fire suppression regime that contributed to our present problems) 5/ https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/13/california-u-s-forest-service-establish-shared-long-term-strategy-to-manage-forests-and-rangelands/#:~:text=sub%20menu%20toggle-,California%2C%20U.S.%20Forest%20Service%20Establish%20Shared%20Long%2DTerm%20Strategy,to%20Manage%20Forests%20and%20Rangelands&text=The%20Agreement%20for%20Shared%20Stewardship,of%20forest%20land%20per%20year.">https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/1...

California, U.S. Forest Service Establish Shared Long-Term Strategy to Manage Forests and Rangela...

Agreement will improve coordination to reduce wildfire risks on federal and state lands Funding included in the federal Great American Outdoors Act Agreement comes as Lake Fire burns in Angeles…

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/13/california-u-s-forest-service-establish-shared-long-term-strategy-to-manage-forests-and-rangelands/#:~:text=sub%20menu%20toggle-,California%2C%20U.S.%20Forest%20Service%20Establish%20Shared%20Long%2DTerm%20Strategy,to%20Manage%20Forests%20and%20Rangelands&text=The%20Agreement%20for%20Shared%20Stewardship,of%20forest%20land%20per%20year

. . . but "forest management," done well, is a way of relieving the fire burden from past *mis*management.
It& #39;s not a substitute for climate action.
Up in the PNW there are rainforests burning RN that are *not* fire-adapted ecosystems. 6/ https://twitter.com/ErinEARoss/status/1305309358192914433?s=20">https://twitter.com/ErinEARos...

https://twitter.com/ErinEARoss/status/1305309358192914433?s=20

Climate change is real, and it is effing up our forests in tons of ways:
-warmer winters=more reproductive cycles per year for pinebeetles
-worse droughts=more dead trees
-record-breaking heat waves = more-intense, damaging fires. 7/

All those climate impacts make the case for forest management (of the non-clearcutting kind) more urgent. But they don& #39;t mean we don& #39;t have to also stop climate change if we want to keep a planet capable of supporting human civilization. 8/

Also, good forest management takes $:
-thoughtful, site-specific planning (different forests have different needs)
-tons of skilled, dangerous labor in remote areas
It isn& #39;t about unleashing the timber industry--it& #39;s about building public capacity for ecological restoration. 9/9

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