Land of the smokey bears

[Chris Corben <>]

In the USA, I have heard many people speak about the importance of regular burning to improve and protect habitats. As an Australian, this has always felt odd to me, though recently I have read some material suggesting that in the USA this view is changing. In any case, the Australian landscape is very different, even if you just think about the extreme importance of hollows in old trees for wildlife, which is far more significant in Australia than elsewhere. And Australia doesn't have Woodpeckers! I also note that in the USA, many habitats we see have been hugely modified by Native American burning, so that there is perceived value in returning it to that state, not to any prehuman state. It is a complicated mess, but at least in Australia, if you just think of the loss of hollow trees, which happens as a result of ANY burning, (not to mention hazard tree removal!), it is easy to conclude that fire needs to be thought through very carefully and not controlled by knee-jerk reactions to particular events.

Cheers, Chris.

On 2/8/2020 6:36 PM, Geoffrey Dabb wrote:

I found the below link about the now slightly contentious , perhaps outdated, Smokey Bear, an emblem of the agency in the United States that manages National Parks  -  real national parks, that is, not like our State-managed parks that are labelled ‘National’ in imitation of those Americans.  Some entertain the idea that some quite large wildfires should be allowed to burn unchecked to avoid really serious fires.  I don’t believe the ‘thinking’ in Australia has gone quite that far, but we are going to hear quite a lot about beneficial controlled fires, a subject complicated by the absence of a national agency with any responsibility in this area. 

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/smokey-bear-75th-birthday-legacy_n_5dc5cf48e4b0fcfb7f662fda?ri18n=true

 

 

 

<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR> m("birding-aus.org","Birding-Aus");">
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>

-- 

Chris Corben.

  

<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR> 
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>