Thread by @Lidsville

ICYMI, this is one of the best pieces of journalism I've read in a long time. David Broadland in Focus on Victoria, on the perilous BC forestry mess that the BC NDP steadfastly refuses to fix. Some key quotes to follow. focusonvictoria.ca/forests/90/ cc #oldgrowth #FairyCreek #bcpoli

.."Our investigation found the Ministry of Forests with its collective head in the sand and the logging industry feeding on the huge public expenditure of money used to fight the fires.." #bcwildfires #WhiteRockLakeFire #bcpoli

"..testimony provided to an Oregon court in 2019 revealed that clearcut logging, followed by replanting, creates fuel conditions that make fires easier to ignite and harder to control. These effects persist for decades..." #BCWildfires

.."Since the area being logged each year in the Interior has more than doubled since the 1970s, southern BC has become a Molotov cocktail of clearcuts and young plantations ready to explode into flames with the first lightning strikes of summer." #bcpoli #BCWildfires

This bit is key. Little known fact: a 'fire hazard' rating is independent of the effects of climate change. Bad forestry is creating potent fire hazards regardless of heatwaves/drought etc. Read the last line.. #BCWildfires #WhiteRockLakeFire

One method of judging the prevalence of clearcuts/ plantations is to view satellite imagery of Crown land. Satellite photos show the extent to which publicly owned forests have been converted to higher fire hazard clearcuts & plantations across BC. See Flat Lake Fire location:

"Satellite images show a lot of deceptively green areas. Unless you have been trained to interpret aerial imagery, it can be difficult to know what you are looking at. Many of the green areas in the image above are high-hazard plantations, many of which have now been burned."

.."The [BC Forest] ministry’s records show that several of BC’s largest fires this summer were ignited in a clearcut or plantation & then quickly grew out of control. The #WhiteRockLakeFire ignited in an area of logging that was replanted in 2007." #bcpoli focusonvictoria.ca/forests/90/

.."Patrick Byrne, district manager of the 100-Mile-House Natural Resource District, declined to answer questions about the role clearcuts and plantations are playing in the Flat Lake Fire, but Byrne did note that “the fires burn quite nicely through plantations.”

Just read this whole quote by renowned BC Forester Herb Hammond #bcwildfires #oldgrowth #FairyCreek

..“Forests, esp. as they grow older, conserve water..due to complex, multi-layer canopies & overall composition & structure all geared to slowing the movement of water thru the forest, while filtering & storing water at same time. Clearcuts..expose the land to rapid water loss"

..Image 1 shows clearcuts near the Brenda Creek Fire near Peachland on July 16.
Image 2 shows the relative moisture content on the ground that same day. Dark blue areas contain the most moisture; red areas are the driest. "Yes, those red-yellow-orange areas are all clearcuts."