...This whole country is dry...If you don't have to burn it, don't burn it" said the fire marshal from the area (Shay & Johnson 2008). Fire damage at Yellowstone such as the damage that occurred in 1988 and 2008 has come at a tremendous cost: "Since 1984, the annual average number of fires that burn 1,000 acres or more has increased from 25 to 80...and the total average number of acres burned by each of these fires has increased from 164,000 to 765,000. Naturally, the costs of controlling such fires also have escalated exponentially -- from $134 million in 1986 to $335 million in 1994 -- which does not include the higher costs of preparedness, not to mention health consequences, environmental impact and property damage" (Paige 1998). Fire is not only damaging to life and property but also to water quality and air quality, which can hurt the wildlife the practice is attempting to preserve. If controlled burning spirals into an uncontrolled fire, it can damage rather than aid the general ecosystem of flora and fauna. However, the reason for the severity of such recent fires, as occurred in 2008, some allege, is the lack of small, controlled burnings, not an excess of them. "Smaller, more frequent fires consume the dead wood and underbrush that otherwise accumulate to dangerous levels, resulting in more catastrophic fires when they occur" (Paige 1998). In other words, by not allowing small fires to burn, cheaply and safely during the 1980s and 1990s, as was urged by many environmentalists, the current unsafe conditions that often result from controlled burnings were spawned. In "1995 the Forest Service estimated that about one-third, or 39 million acres, of the lands it manages in the interior West were at risk...
Furthermore, the debate often feels circular -- a lack of proper management of the environment in the past has filled the forests with unpredictable tinder, and the climate changing of global warming is growing increasingly dangerous for fires of any kind, making notions of controlled burning oxymoronic. Yet while what some call the Park Service mentality of "let it burn" "a disgrace" when it reaches proportions of uncontrolled conflagrations, without some small controlled fires to burn the undergrowth larger forest fires of the future are likely to be even more uncontrollable and dangerous (Albright 2000).
After instituting a controlled burn, forest managers can determine what areas are ripe for vegetation and which are not. Because this article contains one of the many effects of burning, its inclusion in the cannon of literature is important. Houston, Douglas B. (1971). Ecosystems of National Parks. Science. 127 (3984), 648- Though Douglas B. Houston's article is older than some, its topic is one that does not necessarily require a modern
What are the pros and cons of controlled burning in Yellowstone? The pros and cons of controlled burning in Yellowstone National Park have the same consequences -- uncontrollable fire. The pros of controlled burning are twofold. First, studies have proven the positive effects of controlled burning with regards to fire management. As previously stated, controlled burns remove debris from the forest floor that can be considered fodder for larger fires. In
He also mentions how the lack of fire has affected whitebark pine, a species that supports a variety of high mountain flora and fauna, and attributes this to the fact that there is not sufficient fire to eradicate competing species. H.E. McLean, writing in 1995 in American Forests, covers a handful of relevant topics. These include stating that there is an inherent risk in using prescribed fires because they are
It was then important to see the degree at which technology and training played a role in combating each fire. 1.2.4.Rationale of the Study What is that can be gained from this study? The reasoning behind such a study is born out of a need to provide better training for fire fighters so that fire management systems will improve and reduce the amount of loss due to the fire. By studying
Regulating Oil and Gas Drilling and Transport The American economy runs on energy produced from oil, coal, natural gas, hydroelectric power, nuclear power and renewable sources like solar and wind energies. In fact according to a report in the Congressional Research Service, oil provides the United States with 40% of its total energy needs. It is used in myriad ways, providing "…fuel for the transportation, industrial, and residential sectors" (Ramseur, 2012).
Environmental Ethics US Government and Environmental Ethics The United States government has had a long history with the environment, beginning with the very beginning of the settlement of the Pilgrims, through the industrialization era, forming the beginning principles of having national parks, and to today with the onset of climate change and the environmental hazards of the 21st century. (National Park Service, 2012) Compared to other countries, the U.S. has had a
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