RAGING TAHOE FIRE'S ROOTS: 150 YEARS OF FOREST ABUSE [View All]

[ORDagnabbit]

Great story here...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/26/MNGMDQLP6E1.DTL

RAGING TAHOE FIRE'S ROOTS: 150 YEARS OF FOREST ABUSE
HISTORY OF MISMANAGEMENT: From Gold Rush logging to modern development


People have interjected their homes into a system that has a natural tendency to burn very frequently, and where we have suppressed the frequency of those fires for so long, there's an ungodly amount of fuel there," Forest Service regional ecologist Hugh Safford said.

Mixed-growth forests of fire-tolerant species like the self-pruning Jeffrey pine were replaced by uniform stands of dense white fir and undergrowth, which grew rapidly in the unusually wet years of the early 20th century.

Then came the vacation homes and ski areas. As development spread, land managers focused on fire suppression, allowing the fuel load to build every year