Report compiled by Douglas Bevington, PhD,
Forest Program Director, Environment Now, summarized by Marcy Axness, TME

Kern County is in a state of drought emergency, declared Governor Gavin Newsom Monday, May 10. Kern and 40 other California counties are facing a severe water crisis. According to state officials, climate change-induced early warm temperatures and extremely dry soils have further depleted the expected runoff water from the Sierra-Cascade snowpack, resulting in historic, unanticipated reductions in the amount of water flowing to major reservoirs.

Last month, Newsom committed $536 million to California wildfire preventive measures. What is the most cost-effective, life-saving way to allocate those funds?

A new multidisciplinary report—“Working from the Home Outward: Lessons from California for Federal Wildlife Policy”—was published May 5. This handbook may bridge the painful divide between…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above and left: Embers cast from home to home created a domino effect of destruction in Paradise, CA, during the November 2018 Camp fire. Home-to-home ember storms also destroyed much of Talent, Oregon, in September 2019. Both these destroyed towns were surrounded by healthy stands of thick trees that were barely touched by the fire. Where should we spend money first to prepare our own Mountain Communities to resist wildfire? Start from the home out, scientists now say: Home-hardening is the first priority to save our community.

In 2006 the Day fire jumped across Lockwood Valley Road, illustrating that a firebreak is not a cure-all for stopping a fast-moving, wind-driven fire. Lockwood Valley’s residents all had to evacuate.

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This is part of the May 14, 2021 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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