@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.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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