So far this year 47,463 wildfires have burned 6,838,826 acres, according to a report released from the National Interagency Coordination Center on August 31. Although that’s 8 percent fewer fires than average, it’s about 20 percent more acres burned. Interesting statistics though they be, they don’t tell the human cost. We get a better sense of that when we bring it closer to home. The Britania Mountain fire near Wheatland, Wyoming, is just one of these 47,000 fires, and a rather modest one at that. Still, it has consumed more than 26,000 acres, 18 structures, and cost $2.6 million. As I write, it still threatens further homes, sage grouse habitats, and energy infrastructure. Don’t forget the smoke. While the loss of property can be localized, the smoke blows where it will. It makes eyes water and throats burn far away from the fire itself. It obscures the beautiful vistas of Wyoming and is the visible residue of a massive injection of CO2 into the atmosphere. A 2007 study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimated that one wildfire season alone produces 4 to 6 percent of America’s entire carbon footprint. Everybody has a stake in reducing wildfires, from the CEO of an oil conglomerate to the soccer mom at the pump, hunters and bird-watchers, the elderly and parents of small children, those concerned with global warming and those not. No matter how distant the fires are from us personally, they affect us all. They waste public resources, threaten wildlife, ruin beautiful vistas, and destroy the homes of people we care about and the infrastructure that we have all paid for with hard-earned money. They create an atmosphere that no one wants to breathe but that we all must. As we consider the cost of wildfires on our public lands, we should notice the parallels to the wildfires in our culture. These, too, may be raging in places that seem far distant from your own home and family...MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment