Forests need swift, decisive, strategic intervention ByDaveDaley
analysis intended to prevent negative out- comes haddelayedcritical activities. Restoring ecologies and making land- scapesmoreresilientmeanscultivatingex- perts in environmental analysis. It means supporting ranchers who are bringing home the next generation of agriculture and land managers. It means ensuring therearehealthy landscapes for futuregen- erations by investing in those who can do theboots-on-the-groundworkof reseeding and prescribed fire management. It is an all-of-the-aboveapproachthat rural stake- holdershavebeenbringing toCongress for years, inhopes thatCongresswould listen. Congress has been focused on the big picture, wallowing in the intransigence of theissue, rather thanpickingasolutionand makingitwork.Youimprovethehealthand resilienceofmillionsof acresof forest a few acresat a time, replicatedovermanyareas. There are options available to Congress andto federal agencies, if onlyyouwill avail yourselvesof them.Using“good” fire—pre- scribedfire—todecreasefuel loadingisone. Where conditions prevent the use of fire, prescribedgrazing should insteadbeused. I leave you with some of the closing words I shared during the worst days of recovery efforts on the Bear Fire: “And nowwe go on. What will happen? This is devastating emotionally and finan- cially. And I amnot sure of the next steps. I do know this: We must change our land management practices if we expect the West to survive.” (Excerpted from testimony before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands by Dave Daley, Butte County cat- tle rancher, chairman of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Federal Lands Committee and former California Cattlemen’s Association president.)
My family has spent five generations living, working and caring for the lands, waters andwildlife that inhabit our area— whilealsoensuringour communitieshave access to high-quality protein. From the beginning, stewardship of the landandactiveengagementwiththenatural
resources around mewas anecessary and inevitable out- come of our cattle operation. On pri- vate land, resource stewardship is ex- pected: You take care of the ground you own, not only because of pride in ownership, but also
The Bear Fire tore through Dave Daley’s grazing allotment in the Plumas National Forest last year. He says lack of active forest management has left forests vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires.
Dave Daley
The consequences of poor manage- ment, of poor adaptation tochangingcon- ditions have brought us to a place where weneedswift, decisive, strategic interven- tion to interrupt the current fire cycle that perpetuates negative impacts of drought, fire, loss of biodiversity, decrease inwater- shed health andmore. Unfortunately, this is not an academic exercise forme. In 2020, the Bear Fire consumed the mountains I have called home for my en- tire life. With it, the fire tookmy cattle, the hundred-year-old trees and the soil storeof nativeseedsforgrassesandshrubsthathold the topsoil, securestreambanksandare the forests’ lifesource. It tookdeerandbirdsand foxes. It destroyed homes and fences and outbuildings. For a time, it destroyedhope. I walked through smoldering trees and over hot ground, knowing the eco- system that had once been a thriving and complex system was now a hells- cape of ash and sterile dirt. Wemust do better, and often the ques-
tion is “how?” Those who want to protect forests, rangelands and grasslands have sought to do so at any cost. That protection has too oftenmeant preservation, which lim- its human interaction in an effort to keep ecosystems pristine. But that’s not how natureworks. Ecosystems are ever changing, influ- enced by actions and factors that may be miles—or years—away. Tokeepanecosys- temhealthy, it needs constant interaction and cultivation, the kind that takes coordi- nation among state, federal and non-gov- ernmental entities. This is the kindof coor- dinationandcooperationweseeongrazing allotments. It needs tobe replicated. After last year’s catastrophic fire season, California political officials, fire experts, natural resourcemanagersandprivateciti- zensfinallyagreedonafewbasicprinciples: Catastrophic fire conditions are pervasive, intervention isn’t optional, and thecurrent managementsystemhasfailed.Federaland state bureaucracy intended to be protec- tivehadbecomerestrictive.Environmental
becauseyourinputsdetermineyouroutput. Thesame is true forpublic landsgrazing allotments. Across theWest, federal agen- cies manage more than 250million acres for livestock grazing, with various levels authorized. These authorizations are based on robust environmental analysis and are adapted to ecosystemconditions. Livestock grazing is the only multiple use thatpays to improve the landscapeson which it occurs, leaving the resourcemore resilient.Moreover, thesegrazingactivities are the first line of defense against threats facing incredibly expansive ecosystems. Wildfire is chief among those threats. West-wide, ecosystems have changed. Overcautious policy to correct real or per- ceived wrongs in stewardship resulted in decreased active management of forests, grasslands and rangelands. The result : dense canopiesmore prone to fire, range- lands overgrown by invasive species after abnormally hot fires, and fires that seem impossible to stop.
VOL. 48, NO. 19
May 19, 2021
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