[PCA] [RWG] FIRE 07 Climate change Re: NEWS: Climate change likely to increase fires

[penny at pinenut.com]

I would certainly like to see some work being done on the impact of deforestation in The Great Basin and climate change. 

The pinon nut harvesters have been in those forests for 3 generations and longer. They tell me that they did not have to wait for rain from the Pacific in days gone by and that the forested mountains helped hold moisture in the region.
Penny Frazier


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Wayne Tyson 
  To: Olivia Kwong ; native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org ; apwg at lists.plantconservation.org ; rwg at lists.plantconservation.org 
  Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 10:02 PM
  Subject: [RWG] FIRE 07 Climate change Re: NEWS: Climate change likely to increase fires


  Invasive plants like the Sahara mustard are quite likely to be a factor in wildfires, as they fill spaces between widely-scattered shrubs, and climate change will no doubt affect fire behavior, but I yearn for more evidence and less opinion and conjecture regarding such sweeping conclusions.  It makes for good press, but what is needed is good research and solid data.  Fires have, and will continue to be, a factor in Great Basin ecosystems, but the real question is what precisely is the connection between the data and the conclusions, and what is the marginal difference.  Sensationalism destroys credibility, and "we" need credibility more than ever in these truly pivotal times.  

  WT

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