Sad state of national parks and public lands.
On our way to Lassen Volcanic National Park. On a national forest rest stop and vista point, wifey went to the rest room. But it was posted "Closed due to lack of funding." And down on these...
Forum Discussion
There is a lot of folklore and misinformation regarding forestry, especially in National Parks. Yellowstone was the first national park in the world, and has been protected since the 1870s. No logging, no hunting, no grazing and plenty of fire suppression. Lodgepole pine is the main species on the Plateau which is a fire adapted species. It readily reseeds after fires.
All of that protection and no logging has created overstocked dense stands of lodgepole pine ripe for fires. We saw it in 1988 when 2/3 of the Park burned and the NPS did little to stop it during the driest summer in a century. Overstocked stands of lodgepole are subject to insect outbreaks, especially during dry years. The insects readily spread from tree to tree, which have little defense in dry years with too many trees per acre. Slightly warming temperatures, 1.5 degrees C on average, have little to do with the spread of insects in a part of the coutnry that is -40 degrees F in the winter.
Problems with the forests in the Park are a direct result of fire suppression for over 100 years and the elimination of logging as a management tool. The NPS has done a poor job of wildfire management historically. Now they are starting to understand the role of fire in managing lodgepole pine.
All of that protection and no logging has created overstocked dense stands of lodgepole pine ripe for fires. We saw it in 1988 when 2/3 of the Park burned and the NPS did little to stop it during the driest summer in a century. Overstocked stands of lodgepole are subject to insect outbreaks, especially during dry years. The insects readily spread from tree to tree, which have little defense in dry years with too many trees per acre. Slightly warming temperatures, 1.5 degrees C on average, have little to do with the spread of insects in a part of the coutnry that is -40 degrees F in the winter.
Problems with the forests in the Park are a direct result of fire suppression for over 100 years and the elimination of logging as a management tool. The NPS has done a poor job of wildfire management historically. Now they are starting to understand the role of fire in managing lodgepole pine.
