Somewhat clear skies this morning as recent rain has
scrubbed a lot of smoke and ash. The numerous fires are still burning so the
peaks weren’t glistening.
Inspection tomorrow in Rawlins, WY and the route is under
Red Flag advisory today but not tomorrow.
The four major fires haven’t grown and are slowly being
contained. One news source reports the costs to fight them, to date, is $77
Million.
In response, Emperor, excuse me, Governor Polis has
concentrated on impoverishing the state with various COVID-19 dictates.
9 comments:
Does Colorado do controlled burn during the winter? Do they get rid of the undergrowth? Read an article yesterday on the California fires and how they have been preaching to the choir to do the necessary burns but the politicians won't let them do more than a couple of thousand acres and at this point they said they would need to do a least a million acres just to get a good start. And of course the people with no expertise except books make the bad decisions so for now California burns.
Much the same here. In addition, we have millions of acres of beetle kill lodge-pole pine..
Priorities... sigh... And it's not Denver, so who cares, right?
We had rain here last night and today, and the temp dropped by around 10+ degrees.
BLISS.
I feel Indian Summer creeping. Mornings walking the dog are getting chilly.
The light sprinkles/showers we had a few days ago cleared the air, and allowed me to skip three days of watering.
WSF - I keep seeing references to "Beetle Killed Pine" as a decorative wood in the real estate listings I get. Did they harvest some of the wood in the past? I thought the USFS had better management policies here than in Kommiefornia, or am I mistaken?
Or maybe Kommiefornia really is that bad...Been three years, and the memories had faded a bit.....
DrJim
Some of the pine is harvested and made into lumber. Standing dead, the wood turns various shades of blue. Striking.
The USFS is dysfunctional. In the mountains they seem to concentrate on closing the old mining roads (without a legal mandate to do so). Yet, those operating out of Ault managing the Pawnee Grasslands do a great job, IMO.
Logging dead lodgepole is a hardscrabble way to make a living. Both the USFS ad the state have bureaucratic hurdles and the market is uncertain. Places like Walden (North Park) with limited employment opportunities are where you find the loggers. Old well used equipment is the norm.
Yeah, I've seen the wood, and it's quite pretty. Never knew it got that way from standing dead, though.
Sounds like the "Grassland" people have their act together better than the "Forest" people.
Haven't been to Walden yet. I hear it's pretty there, and the geology of the North park looks very interesting.
Next time I'm on Stove Prairie, maybe I should make a left turn on 14, instead of the right turn I usually make.....
Interesting drive on 14 over the pass. North Park is flat and dry. Was once the bottom of an inland sea/lake. Walden has two decent restaurants and gets a crowd on weekends.
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