Robert Ingram: Let's not manipulate science to fit purpose - The Union of Grass Valley
Chad Hanson’s May 23 opinion piece in The Union exposes his gibberish for the retention of vast expanses of dead trees, “snag forests,” for wildlife following high intensity fires. At least he now admits scientists conclude retaining “patches,” not huge areas, of high intensity burned forests benefits wildlife. But the dirty little secret Hanson won’t reveal: most U. S. Forest Service and other federally managed public lands severely burned remain as snag forests anyway. Hanson knows this, but he wants all harvesting on public lands stopped, even a mere 20 to 30 percent of the dead trees. For years Hanson tried to petition endangered species status for the Black-backed woodpecker, Picoides arcticus, (yes, arcticus as in arctic). Most of this species’ home range resides in Alaska and Canada but includes a band running down the Cascades and along the high elevations of the Sierra. Hanson alleges Black-backed woodpeckers are “dependent” on beetles munching dead trees following western slope Sierra wildfires. But if “dependent” on huge fires, how do they survive when no fires occur nearby. His singular motivation is to use the Black-backed woodpecker to stop all salvage logging on federally managed public forests. Hanson claims conifers and oaks quickly regenerate in areas of high intensity fires. Source: www.theunion.com
