Yosemite's burned areas are alive
It was entirely predictable. Even before the ashes have cooled on the 257,000-acre Rim fire in and around Yosemite this year, the timber industry and its allies in Congress were using the fire as an excuse for suspending environmental laws and expanding logging operations on federal land.
"The Yosemite Rim fire is a tragedy that has destroyed 400 square miles of our forests," said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) in announcing a bill he introduced late last month that would expedite massive taxpayer-subsidized clear-cutting on federal public lands in the fire area. "If any good can come of this tragedy, it would be the timely salvage of fire-killed timber that could provide employment to local mills and desperately needed economic activity to mountain communities."
But McClintock's reasoning is flawed. Massive clear-cutting now would inflict significant damage and negate the many ecological benefits that fire brings.
Ecologists agree that the post-fire habitat created by patches of high-intensity fire, known as "snag forest habitat," is one of the most ecologically important of all forest habitat types, and it supports levels of native biodiversity and wildlife abundance equal to or greater than unburned old-growth forest. Moreover, snag forest habitat is even rarer than old-growth forest, and is more threatened by commercial logging than any other forest type.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hanson-yosemite-fire-logging-20131003,0,75875.story
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