I’ve figured out why “Global Warming” is so popular with liberals. It is impossible to point the finger at an individual or a policy and say: “that’s it, that’s the cause.” Nobody is guilty everybody is guilty! Forest fires must be global warming. The link below offers another explanation.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/08/mismanagement-forests-time-bombs/

Here is an exercise for you. Google Maine and forest fires, 2018. I’ll wait. I found a report for a hundred acre brush fire. Admittedly, Maine does not experience the temperatures of Southern California. Maine also experiences more rain fall. 

There is another thing Maine doesn’t have, National Forests. I worked on a trail crew doing maintenance on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. I learned that the interior of the state is heavily forested and owned mostly by logging and paper companies. There is a stretch of the Appalachian Trail that is 100 miles long. It crosses one dirt road. No other trail has that distinction.

These evil, money-grubbing companies occupy all of this land and keep the public from enjoying nature.  Actually, admission to the company forests is free. Visitors are required to check in at the various access points, provide an itinerary, and duration of stay. 

I was standing on a ridgeline looking at an area that had been clearcut. One of my fellow trail maintainers bemoaned the fact that clearcutting was allowed. A part-time ranger, who was also on the crew spoke up. According to him, the whole interior of Maine had been clearcut at least three times since the state had been settled. The only “old growth” trees one would find were on property lines or in town squares. 

The situation in the west is vastly different. The land is owned and controlled by the government. Responsible land management and forestry activities are forbidden. People who have never been in a forest, know nothing about wildfires, timber harvesting, and forest fire prevention have decided that pristine is good. These same idiots build houses in the forested areas so that they can commune with nature. They bring their barbeque pits and construct campfire rings so that they can be at one with nature. Since their only competence is incompetence, it is a recipe for disaster. They are amazed when all that fuel for a fire actually becomes fuel for a fire.

Timber harvesting operations remove the fuel for fires. The process builds fire breaks that limit the ability of a fire to spread. Some fires in a managed forest are allowed to burn. A small fire, under control, removes tinder and fuel for a larger fire.

The reader may feel that I have swallowed the logger’s propaganda and they would be wrong. After my sojourn in Maine, I made my way back to Texas. This included a stop in Boston to visit “Old Ironsides” the US Constitution the oldest continuously commissioned warship in the world. It was built in the 1790’s as one of six frigates for the United States Navy. 

As a British colony, it was illegal to harvest trees of a certain circumference. The Constitution’s main mast certainly qualified.  With freedom, the prohibition on harvesting trees was lifted.  The builders of the Constitution used a single piece (tree) for the main mast, it measured 172 feet above the spar deck. When the ship came in for a retrofit, in preparation for the war of 1812, the main mast was to be replaced.

Trees of sufficient length and girth available 10-12 years before were not to be found. The builders resorted to a sectioned mast, multiple timbers, to reach the necessary height. This is an illustration of the logging activities in the 18th and 19th centuries.

As I continued my journey south, I stopped at the Vicksburg National Military Park. Anybody under the age of fifty probably doesn’t know so let me explain. Vicksburg, Mississippi backs up to the Mississippi River. Union forces controlled the river except for the stretch overlooked by Vicksburg. The river was a vital supply line that would become even more important if Vicksburg were removed as an obstacle. 

General Ulysses S Grant laid siege to Vicksburg and bombarded it from all angles. The majority of the current day park is east of the old town. A tour of the battlefield reveals monuments erected by the various units that participated in the siege. Park signs supplement the monuments identifying the placement of various gun batteries. One has to imagine the fields of fire because what was probably an unobstructed view, is now blocked by dense thickets of trees. Those trees weren’t there at the time of the battle. News flash trees grow and forests replenish themselves.

I can’t say that I have any sympathy for the folks out west. They brought it on themselves. I’m not wishing a fire on anybody. With a rational policy this didn’t have to happen. Besides fire is too hit or miss, I’m still holding out hope that the whole mess will slide into the Pacific.

I guess the old adage holds true,” A liberal can fuck up a box of rocks with a rubber mallet.”