News of the Arroyo
Title: | Perspectives: Life in the valley of smokes |
Subtitle: | While threatening, fire helps mountains |
Date: | 2009-09-05 |
Summary: | September 5, 2009 - Naturalist Christopher Nyerges muses on the meaning of the fierce fires that have torn through the local mountains. |
Author: | Christopher Nyerges |
Publication: | Pasadena Star-News |
Content: | Fire was all we spoke of last week. I was camped near Silverwood Lake area in the northern San Bernardino Mountains as news of various fires trickled in. Waterman Canyon. Azusa Canyon. Along the Angeles Crest Highway. That last one bothered me a bit, but I figured it would never make it to my home in the Meadows of Northwest Altadena. But by last Friday as I was driving home, I could see a huge plume all the way from San Bernardino. That couldn\'t be the fire along the Angeles Crest, could it? And as I drove north on Lincoln Avenue, I saw menacing flames on the hilltops all around my home. I could barely believe that this fire was already uncomfortably close. Was I in any danger? Fire. A force to be reckoned with. I saw the threatening flames grow closer on Friday night, with smoke everywhere. It was difficult to breathe. We were told in the late evening that evacuation was a possibility. I quickly took a truckload of photos and other irreplaceables to a safe place, and returned to the Meadows to spend a fitful night. By 9:30 in the morning we were told to evacuate. I was already a bit prepared, having been still loaded up from my camping trip. I felt that I really had friends after I\'d gotten eight calls offering me a place to stay. So I first helped my neighbors remove their goats to a safe place, and I left my home and neighborhood in the hands of firefighters from all over the state. Fire. Is it \"bad?\" We can look at the big picture. But if your home gets burned to the ground, how can you smile? Chaparral covers about two-thirds of the Angeles National Forest. It is an eco-system in which fire is an integral part of its health and rejuvenation. Fire germinates certain seeds of plants that live in this environment. Fire creates the conditions for rejuvenation and allows certain flora and fauna to thrive. I spoke with Paul Campbell, author of \"Survival Skills of Native California,\" whose home is in La Crescenta. With encroaching flames to his north and with some neighbors evacuated, he told me, \"Of course I\'m worried and I don\'t want my home to burn. But in the bigger perspective, this is a good thing. Parts of these hills haven\'t burned for 70 years, and the fire will clean out all the underbrush. This fire will be good for the plant life and animals in the long term. After all, fire is part of this environment. We just need to learn to live with it.\" Fire. So is it \"good?\" In the pre-Mission days, the various indigenous people who lived here practiced what we now call passive agriculture and land management. Fire was a major feature, as documented by the incredible work by M. Kat Anderson called \"Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California\'s Natural Resources.\" \"Fire was the most significant, effective, efficient, and widely employed vegetation management tool of California Indian tribes,\" she writes. Shoots for weaving and basketry grew back better after fires. Roots and tubers were more prolific after fires. Bugs and diseases were burned out of the environment. If the fires were set at the right time, the shells of acorns hardened so the acorns would last up to 10 years without spoilage. Otherwise, acorns will go moldy or be bug-infested within about six months of picking. In general, fires would be set every year so there would never be massive fires. Underbrush and dead wood would be burned out each year. Open spaces thus produced would be more productive. A layer of ash served as a fertilizer for new growth. We can\'t go back to old days and burn down the San Gabriel Valley every year, but how can we learn to live with fire? Homeowners on the edge of the wilderness should surround their homes and properties with moist vegetation, like walls of cactus and jade, which help to retard the spread of the fire. Flame-retardant materials can be added to paints. Roofs can be equipped with sprinkler systems that wet the house and environs. Wood shingles should not be allowed. Pool owners would be wise to have pumps handy in order to use the to douse the fire. And fire agencies should practice controlled burns at appropriate times. Lots of little things can go a long way to saving our neighborhoods. Fire is not our enemy. When we point our finger at these forces of nature and call them \"bad,\" we ignore our own culpability in the disastrous situation. It is up to us to learn those principles of nature that affect our environment, and to live by them. www.ChristopherNyerges.com Nyerges is a naturalist and editor of Wilderness Way magazine whose most recent book, \"Self-Sufficient Home,\" is available this month. |
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