We need to evolve the way we live near forests too

By Patric Hedlund, TME

Wildlife tracking legend Jim Lowery of the local Mountain Neighbors group introduced the conservation director of Los Padres ForestWatch on Saturday, Dec. 14. About 20 people gathered at Frazier Park Library to hear Bryant Baker provide an overview of how paradigms for defining the relationship between fire and forest health are changing.

He presented a growing body of scientific research that challenges traditional U.S.

Forest Service land management definitions of what a “healthy forest” looks like.

This research is occurring as three other phenomena fuel a growing sense of public urgency: 1) The startling acceleration of climate change-related high intensity, wind-driven fires in California; 2) The politicization of forest management nationwide, with a push toward labeling commercial logging projects across the country as…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Google Earth shows only 31 acres of the proposed 1,600-acre Mt. Pinos treatment area are actually dense—next to the Chula Vista parking area.

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This is part of the December 20, 2019 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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