While listening to Democracy Now! on my way home to grab a bite to eat from class before the next one - I was lucky enough to realize how much the majority of people are completely lack of common sense. The topic of the day was the Wildfires in California, as well as droughts in the southwest region of the states. A lady from Tampa called in - saying how horrible it was, and that it's all because of Global Warming this, and Global Warming that - but had no data to back up her statements. She kept saying - "Well, I heard on the news that this is happening because of this" or "My friend told me it was because of this." I have a feeling that she failed to actually do some of her own research - and it's like a story that a good friend has shared with me multiple times where he presented as fact that all of the pre-fabricated houses had video camera's built in so that the government could watch you at all times (after she presented as fact some other information that she had merely heard from somebody else), in order to prove that you can talk all you want, and present something all you want - but when you get down to it, you really need to do your own research.

The basic point of this bulletin - however - is to give out some information on the subject, as well as rant a little bit on the apparent lack of the ability to think on the nations part as a whole. So many people today are deeply concerned with these fires in California; while failing to realize that they are completely at fault. Society seems to have the desire to create a photograph of the environment around them - and do the best that they can to keep it that way - for now and the rest of time - while failing to admit that nature is supposed to change. It is on a natural cycle of it's own - although I won't get into that much - that we need to grow up and realize already. So with that said - here goes:


Various plant species depend upon fire as a means to reproduce, while others have adapted to survive in the presence of fire. However, the process by which species have adapted varies greatly. Species such as Monterey, Bishop, and Knobcone pines have adapted to produce pine cones which hold seeds locked by a resinous coating that is melted away by fire (Baker 1971). Following a fire the seeds are released and benefit from improved growing conditions such as available sunlight, a seedbed of bare mineral soil, and nutrients released from organic matter cleared by the fire. Other species of plants produce seeds which lie dormant in the seedbed and will germinate only after a fire heat-treats their seed coat and removes duff from the top soil.

In the case of Coast Live Oaks, stump sprouting, or the generation of new stems and growth from brunt trunks and branches, occurs following a blaze. In similar manner species such as Our Lord's Candle, Yucca whipplei, produce new growth from the root crown of a burnt plant in a process known as crown sprouting. Although all plant communities have developed a response to fire, the chaparral community associated with the Mediterranean climates of the world may be the most fire responsive.

The pattern of vegetation on the coastal ranges is influence by factors such as exposure, geology, and of course fire. In the Santa Monica Mountains these patterns are clearly observed from Agoura Hills to Point Mugu. Rarely are slopes covered entirely with a pure stand of chaparral, grassland, oak woodland or other vegetation type in which all the vegetation is of the same age or vegetation group. Exposure, climate, and geology dictate what will grow where, and fire acts as agent to clear old growth and germinate new vegetation. In the Santa Monica Mountains, coastal sage scrub is the dominate vegetation type on the seaward slopes due to a strong marine influence, whereas chaparral tends to prevail in the northern land ward section of the range. Oak and walnut woodlands, as well as grasslands, can also be found in the interior sections of the mountains adjacent to or intermixed with chaparral vegetation and in the riparian corridors in located at the bottom of canyons which drain into the sea.

Soils and exposure create different growing conditions on southern and western facing slopes, than exist on northern and east facing slopes. In areas covered by oak and walnut woodland, slopes facing southwest may tend to be dominated by oaks, whereas the northeastern slopes will contain a mix of oaks and walnuts which appear to prefer moist shale types of soils. On the coastal sections of the mountains, southwestern slopes will tend to have shrubs such as Buckwheat, Toyon, or Rhus, whereas adjacent northeastern facing slopes may tend to be dominated by Black and White Sage, and other herbaceous shrubs which need more moisture than their xerophytic neighbors across the canyon. It should be noted that a mix of both vegetation types, coastal sage scrub and chaparral, may be found within opposite canyon walls due the presence of micro climates under the canopies of larger shrubs or trees, or in the shade of rock outcroppings.

Although a combination of soil, geology, exposure and climate may be the chief factors controlling vegetation type, fire plays an important role in the life cycle of these plant communities - and by denying or suppressing fires in their natural state - these huge unstoppable wildfires are forced to come about. When driving through California's coast ranges the pattern of fire can be observed as most landscapes are either burning, or in a pre-burn or post-burn state. This pattern can be observed where thick fields of wildflowers cover slopes adjacent to thick stands of chaparral, where a carpet of green grasses and flowers lay beneath a stand of branch sprouting oaks, or where a mosaic of grasslands, wildflowers and coastal sage scrub cover a hill top above a confer forest.

As development has extended, or exploded as it has in some areas, into the chaparral environment, residents and government agencies have had to respond to the hazards associated with living in the urban/wildland interface. The majority of urban settlers who moved into these wildland areas are ignorant of the environment they are moving into and ill equipped to live in this wildland environment. Too often home buyers fail to realize that fire protection agencies may not be able to save their home from fire, and that agencies charged with building and safety and flood control may be powerless to save them from floods, mudflows, and landslides.

The primary response from government has been to initiation aggressive fire suppression and management in an attempt to eliminate fire from native lands. In spite of these aggressive fire suppression efforts large wildfires continue to consume vast acreages of chaparral in Southern California. After nearly a century of suppression, there has been increasing debate that fire control efforts have altered chaparral fire regimes in ways that magnify the treat of burning, erosion, sedimentation, and flooding at the urban/wildland interface (Pyne 1982). Fire suppression in Southern California appears to be producing older growth stands of chaparral which result in larger more intense fires. Younger chaparral stands (less than 20 years) are less likely to burn due to lower ratios of dead fuel to live fuels and reduced horizontal and vertical continuity of fuels. In northern Baja California where fire suppression has not been practiced to the extent it has in Southern California a mosaic pattern of differing age stands of chaparral appears to have developed resulting in smaller fire events of less intensity. Minnich (1983) comparing the chaparral fire regimes in southern California and Baja California found that in Baja California numerous small fire events fragment stands into a fine mixture of age classes, a process which appears to help preclude large fires. While the pattern of large fires in Southern California appears to be an artifact of suppression.

There are also a number of very poorly planned subdivisions which were divided in the late 1920s and 30s with lot sizes of less than an acre and many more typically 5,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. in size. These subdivisions were primarily designed for weekend cabin type of use. However, today the expensive homes built on these parcels are occupied on a year round basis. There are approximately 6,000 of these ill-conceived small parcels in the Santa Monica Mountains. These subdivisions have very narrow winding roads which cannot accommodate fire equipment and are for the most part very heavily wooded with both natural and exotic plant species. These types of subdivisions are disasters just waiting to happen.

Proper site design on a large parcel can reduce fire danger to some extent, however, in these small lot subdivisions it is impossible in many cases to significantly reduce the fire hazards given the very steep site topography, lack of adequate water supply, proximity to other structures and limited access for fire equipment.

Given that the threat of fire alone has not provide an adequate basis to prohibit development on these parcels and given the more rigorous requirements placed on regulatory agencies by recent court decisions regarding constitutional takings of private property, these parcels are and will continue building out. Furthermore, as most of us know today regulatory agencies are facing even more severe limitations and restrictive requirements regarding regulation of private property. Therefore, the over simplified argument, which is voiced quite often is "just deny all development of homes on these parcels" is just not realistic or legally justifiable.

So the point? If you can't take the heat - get out of high fire based areas. Stop fucking with the natural cycle and live with nature already - instead of attempting a constant battle with her. Mankind seems to always have the desire to command everything he does - forgetting the possibility of living in harmony with it; whether that is ecosystems, other organisms, or even himself. And I have to ask - why? Why fight a loosing battle when you can forget the fight and just live. There is something to be said for a person who will simply be - without the need to constantly battle others, or to one-up the biome, or even Gaia.

I realize that I alone can not create the change I wish to see so much - but at least I attempt at all that I can. What are you doing?

Love and Peace,
Kaitlin.