New website advocates for science-based solutions to wildfires

bryanBLOG

A coalition of forestry companies and organizations (including the Washington Forest Protection Association) have launched a new website dedicated to solutions on how to reduce our country’s number of catrastrophic wildfires and make our forests healthier.

HealthyForestFacts.org includes four principles for a healthy forest:

1. Fuel reduction promotes healthy, fire-resilient forests.

2. Attacking fires with early suppression pays off.

3. An ounce of fire prevention can save property, habitat and lives.

4. Post-fire environmental recovery is a hands-on process we need to do more of.

The new website includes a series of four short videos – one from a firefighter, one from a forest owner, one from a parent, and one from a millennial – about the importance of active forest management, forest health and forest fire prevention.

A healthy forest – like a healthy body – requires routine maintenance and preventive care, and in forestry those efforts fall under the heading of active forest management. Fuel reduction and carefully managed prescribed fires set during mild weather conditions help to control the extent to which small fires grow into runaway catastrophic blazes.

When fires do break out, state, federal and private owners must be able to coordinate early suppression efforts. And, science, not politics, will always be the best guide for figuring out how to restore fire-damaged fires.

If you haven’t already, be sure to join the Washington’s Working Forests Action Network to learn more about how to advocate for healthy, working forests and science-based solutions to our nation’s growing number of catastrophic wildfires.