Community Chat

[suzyQ3]

---

@gardenman wrote:

---

@denisemb wrote:

Not getting into the debates, but found it interesting that GOATS had a part in helping prevent the destruction of the Reagan Library.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/goats-help-save-reagan-library-from-destruction-as-california-wild...

(Saw ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger on Kimmel talking about how AS had to evacuate his home with his miniature pony.  Think he might be trading it in on goats??)

---

I suspect you'll find that the lack of wildlife plays a huge role in the current fire scene. Wildlife tends to migrate to where the food (lush green growth) is. If there are herds of elk, bison, deer chomping down the fresh green growth and continuing to nibble on it as it dries out, there's less brush to get involved in fires. As we take over former wildlands, we drive away the wildlife and disrupt their migratory patterns. When the wildlife isn't there to eat the lush green growth, it dies, dries up and becomes tinder. It then can accumulate over the years until a huge problem exists.

California's weather is ideally suited for wildfires. You get quite a few months of good rain, nice temps, and essentially perfect growing conditions. Then a long dry summer where all of that growth dries out and becomes tinder creating a fire season that will last into December when the winter rains start all over again. 

When you look at relatively untouched areas, you find huge migrations (wildebeest being one example along with zebras, elephants, and others) of herbivores moving to where the growth is fresh and lush. California still has that fresh, lush growth, but far fewer herbivores eating it, which allows more and more tinder to build up until a spark comes along and you've got a big fire.

If you go back to the 1600's you'd likely find millions of bison chomping away on that lush green growth and enjoying the bounty it offered during the wet/rainy season then moving on when things started to dry out. I'd dare say it's been a while now since millions of bison have roamed California. 

It's hard to have any natural herbivores just turned out loose to graze on the bounty due to the near-certainty of them getting hit by vehicles. During the rainy season California would make great pasture land for cattle, but fencing them in and containing them, then moving them to greener pastures or feeding them during the dry months would make it financially troublesome.

Goats can save the day, but how do you confine them, control them, and keep them safe to do their job, then care for them during the dry season?

I strongly suspect much of California's fire issues are less climate-related and more wildlife, or lack thereof, related. Rainy seasons and dry seasons aren't unique to California. Wherever they happen you tend to get huge migrations of herbivores coming in to feed on that lush green growth. The more populated portions of California no longer really allow for those mass migrations, so the lush green growth goes largely uneaten, dries out and builds up until a source of ignition comes along to light it up.

---

At this point, @gardenman, I strongly suspect that we don't know which issues are dominant. What we do know is that climate change is one of them.

[patbz]

One reason that Reagan library and (especially) the Getty did so well is that they were designed to survive this kind of event.  Goats, succulents, oak trees with their canapies trimmed up high, fire doors, lots of sprinklers, million gallon underground water tank (Getty), cement buildings, travertine marble, rock roofs etc.  If California changed construction methods, if insurance companies wouldn't insure non conforming structures, even during routinely higher temperatures (caused by whatever you believe is causing this), we wouldn't have this huge problem looming into the indefinite future.

[MorningLover]

abc10 dot com/firepowermoney

Found this documentary interesting, (especially for people,

like myself, who do not live in California). Three episodes

to watch. 

California’s burning crisis and how it’s going to cost us all

Brandon Rittiman is a reporter at ABC10 in Sacramento, Calif.,

specializing in investigative reporting.

One year in the making, this ABC10 Originals documentary

series by Brandon Rittiman breaks California’s wildfire crisis

into its core elements: fire, power and money.

In these episodes, we explain why wildfires are deadlier than

ever, expose how PG&E influences state politics, despite its

felony convictions and share what it will cost to pay for the

damage and keep Californians safe from future fires.

https://www.abc10.com/firepowermoney

[Teddixat]

Climate change. Climate Change. Climate change. Dr pets will be the death of all of us. Climate change doesn’t only affect California. Devastating hurricanes tornados and floods are all stronger and more frequent than ever before all across the country. The polar ice caps have melted. Polar Bears eating each other. Fires in Alaska. Keep burying your heads in the sands and listening to propaganda

[Teddixat]

Correction. Dry Pets should read Climate Deniers

[Teddixat]

Sorry but auto correct is evil. Correction should read “Climate Deniers will be the death of all of us. Denying climate change is denying science which is dangerous

[HB glamma]

So many people who don’t live in California (I do in case you wonder) seem to have all the answers & seemingly know so much about our state & government.

[suzyQ3]

In today's Los Angeles Times, columnist Steve Lopez takes on the gleeful Cali haters. I can't copy the whole piece or give a link because it would breach standards here, so I'll just post the conclusion:

Why would anyone live here?

Gee, I don’t know. The 40 million or so people who call California home might have an answer or two, but let me offer a few of my own.

The beaches, the mountains, the deserts, the sunsets, the rural, the urban, the red, the blue, the people, the wildlife, the languages, the history, the diversity, the endless curiosities, the energy, the universities, the music, the art, the food, the culture, the climate, the risks that worked, the experiments that failed, the long tradition of break-away politics and the collective agreement that you can say or think of us what you will — we don’t really care one way or another — just shelter in place (unless you’re a firefighter) and please don’t move here.

It is unmanageable and unlivable, I’m telling you.

Designed and guaranteed to fail.

[shoekitty]

More homes are being consumed than earlier years because  land that was once open space, farmland, wetland, or deemed unlivable was annexed in and made livable.  Then it was built on.  I myslelf  moved to my town 32 years ago when the poplulation was 24,000.  There was a building moratorium at the time, for lack of sewer lines, schools, and enough police, fire to service any more homes.  Well, they  fixed all that..except there is never enough police fire, etc.

here we are 32 years later.  Sewers built, homes built on the hillside, on land once concidered flood land,.  On land once concidered historic.  On land that was county land.  Fixed that too...city just annexes county land into the city and builds.  The population is close to 60,000.  Cities need the money new homes bring.  They  need the builders to provide roads. Horrible in my opinion.  We wouldnt need all those extra roads if they didn't put in several subdivisions.  Then the money is gone, so they need more new homes for new tax money.. vicious circle.  Where i used to look at rural hillsides I now look at homes.  So if a fire breaks out in the woods, it doesnt take long to get to civilization.  Homes provide fuel for fire....and so it goes.

in the old days the fire burned itself out in the wilderness". But now, we are living in the wilderness.  The weather is so erratic and unpredictable with more extremes doesnt take much to fuel the fire

[MarnieRez3]

@suzyQ3

I must Google this column and find it! Fantastic! Thank you for the heads-up...and for reposting your informative piece.

@cherry
You are so lovely and kind and compassionate. Thank you for always moving us back to LOVE. 💜

Whatever crisis any state faces, we are all in this together. My tax dollars go to FEMA, which was used to help victims of Hurricane Sandy, the floods in Houston and the tornados in Oklahoma. My tax dollars also go to the Department of Agriculture, which routinely subsidizes American farmers throughout the Midwest.
That's right...no matter how you vote, where you live and who you are, this is the UNITED States of America. Don't let anyone tear us apart.