Forest fires cause a lot of damage, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) the ten year average in California alone is 9,649 fires per year consuming over 299,458 acres. That’s not to say that fires themselves are bad, in fact they are necessary for the germination of certain kinds of trees and there are even some species in California, such as the giant redwood and sequoia, that are fire resistant. When people interact with the environment however, they sometimes upset the natural cycle of small forest fires – creating prolonged “no burn” periods which allow biomass fuel to build up leading to catastrophic fires. People can also disrupt the natural fire buffer zones that might have protected the region in previous generations by building houses and clear cutting forests. This is a problem that is harmful to the environment in many ways. At the single home level, when a house is burned, toxic fumes from unnatural products such as plastic are released into the atmosphere. Over an extended period of time larger fires are able to consume barriers and an entire ecosystem can be destroyed.
The problem of raging forest fires, habitat loss and home destruction isn’t just limited to California. Slash and burn agriculture throughout the tropical rain forest regions around the world can also spur on seasonal wild fires capable of mass destruction. What begins as a way to release nutrients from tropical plants in order to produce bean crops quickly (slash and burn) turns into blight and starvation as vast grasslands overrun the lands as nutrients are lost. This all leads to wild fires. In recent years the problem has grown, forcing thousands of farmers in lesser developed countries around the world to move deeper and deeper into the rain forest destroying more and more habitats and animals as they progress.
In February 2009 Willie Smits was featured on Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) which is a network much like YouTube focused on educational videos presented in 18 minute segments. His talk entitled A 20-year tale of hope: How we re-grew a rainforest addresses the problem of forest fires and deforestation. Many of the discoveries made during his experiments in Borneo may be applicable to California and other places in the US where forest fires are a real problem. His initial goal was not to stop fires but rather to save orangutans. This goal in a way resembles the challenge of saving homes in California and his solution can be applied similarly.
What Mr. Smits found is that reforestation can take place, even in the most remote and hostile environments. By creating a perimeter of thorny Salak Palms he was able to keep people separate from orangutans and regrow rain forest zone which attracted moisture and rainfall. Around the Salak Palms he created a “people zone” where villagers could resettle and grow beans and sugar cane (used for ethanol in some cases). A final perimeter was created around the settlements made from fire resistant trees and shrubs to protect from seasonal forest fires. All of this was tracked using Google Earth and as the reforestation and planting work was being done a culture of sustainability, based on protecting the inner forest and orangutans, was fostered in the native culture of villagers who chose to join the project.
With this same type of environmental engineering and community involvement Californians should be able to create fire boundaries for their own communities. Advanced irrigation techniques that are not available in Borneo could be used to grow back swaths of Redwoods and other fire resistant trees along with new vegetation might also attract moisture release.
