Re: RC: Re: RE: Politics, Fires and Trails

[RDCARRIE@aol.com]

In a message dated 00-08-29 01:17:22 EDT, dfletche@gte.net writes:

<< I stated they tend to spend money on pre commercial thinning. I am not
 certain any timber company does any controlled burns - it would not suprise
 me if they were legally prohibited from doing so. >>

Yes, private timber companies do a lot of pre-commercial thinning (thinning 
out young stands so that they don't get too dense and so that they grow 
faster).  The Forest Service does a lot of pre-commercial thinning as well.

As for controlled burning, I know that timber companies in the SE do a lot of 
controlled burning, as does the Forest Service.  Both the USFS and private 
entities who want to burn face a lot of regulations and guidelines regarding 
the conditions underwhich they can burn, but a lot of acres go up in 
controlled smoke every year.  In fact, my husband is a wildlife/forestry 
consultant who does a lot of burning for timber companies in Texas and 
Louisiana, in addition to wildlife/endangered species work.

One of the biggest fires we've had here in E. Texas this summer was last 
week.  It got a little over 2000 ac. I think - which is big for here (lots of 
roads, rural volunteer fire depts to "jump" on fires, etc. - so they don't 
usually get that big).  It was east of Nacogdoches, TX, in a timber 
company-owned young pine plantation.  Even with thinning, these stands are 
very vulnerable to fire.  This past Sat. afternoon I was riding with an 
endurance friend of mine near here who leases some timber company land for 
riding...we were talking about how scary it would be if it caught on fire 
while we were in it.  Given the breeze that was blowing, I doubt that we 
could have gotten out in time.  We don't have those huge plantations on 
Forest Service land in Texas - our cuts are smaller (20-25 ac.), so we're 
less likely to have a fast-moving fire burn that many acres of FS land in TX. 
 But we still have a 144 ac. fire in mature forest about a month ago.

Dawn

Dawn in Texas