Fire Season

As I sit here, I can hear a helicopter dipping out of the Wenatchee River, to make water drops on a fire up the Chumstick. Let's keep it safe out there when we go to the woods please!

I live there, not gonna be an issue this year. Way to green and wet and cold....

My bet is that we will go into a normal fire season this year, which means active with the potential for large fires. Just because we have had above average snowpack, doesn't mean no fire season. Higher moisture levels means more flashy fuel production in grass and brush. It is all going to depend on how quickly we dry out, how warm and dry July and August are, and lightning. If you recall 2012, we had a horrible time in September. I work for the FS, and we had no real significant fire activity all summer long. Then, on September 9th, I cell moved through and in one afternoon, I had 53 fires start on my district.

To tell you the truth, i would love a few fires to open up some more feed way up the chiawawa! Sounds kinda bad, but a few years later the deer would sure like it!

It doesn't sound bad if one understands the context. We were able to not suppress that fire up Buck Creek last year, for resource benefits. I try to do that as often as I can. As long as we don't get anyone killed, burn anyone's house down, or nuke out a bunch of country, we should be letting fire do it's thing. I catch a lot of hell for it, but it is the right thing to do. Deer and elk are mid-successional species, and disturbance like fire, logging, and thinning is beneficial to them.