Northwest Forests: Nature’s Hoarder Houses
by John Kelley, The Beck Group Consulting
Service Spotlight: Project Case Study - Happy Camp, CA
Ever seen inside a hoarder house or apartment? Not much can be done about houses, but there’s a reason why apartment management will not tolerate hoarding behavior, and it goes beyond potential hygienic and pest control issues: fire danger. That risk is especially bad because it endangers the living spaces of every tenant in the building. Hoarder apartments are a common sign of tenants in mental health crises, and one might feel badly for persons in such situations, but one fact remains: If for reasons related to hoarding and mental health, one’s living space burns down with everything one owns, it’d be a rare person who would say, “Well, in that case it’s all right.”
Owing to fire hazards, we don’t tolerate large uncontrolled accumulations of flammable material in most of our urban spaces. They are the norm in the forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canadian West. Lack of judicious thinning and harvesting, and other negligent management practices, can’t help but lead to overstocked forestland that becomes especially vulnerable to wildfire. Whether it’s misguided young people using fireworks where they shouldn’t, lightning strikes, cars idling over dead grass, or even arson – the end result is that people lose homes and livelihoods to wildfire.
The chain works this way. Lack of management leads to overcrowded thickets. In such forests, all the trees are more stressed and vulnerable to fire; accumulated deadfall is a frightening fuel source that can spread fire rapidly. These fast-moving, intense wildfires are more difficult to control and can quickly overwhelm firefighting resources; this is even more true the farther a fire is from large population centers. Small population centers can be badly damaged, even destroyed. With fewer local people, there are fewer people available to work in facilities that would use forest treatment biomass for productive purposes, so businesses can’t count upon the labor supply. This circle is vicious, and makes nature’s hoarder ‘houses’ ever more dangerous. Small wonder the forests grow more overstocked and fire-prone.
One hopeful feature is that small rural towns, such as Happy Camp, California (devastated in 2020 by the Slater Fire), are showing signs of willingness to fight for their homes. This trend entails forming small local industries to utilize forest management-harvested biomass to produce renewable forest products and generate power. We at BECK consider this a laudable trend, and have assisted several rural municipalities and associations in such processes.
We are currently helping RISE Collaborative and Happy Camp Community Action, Inc. with a study to learn how much biomass (raw forest materials) is available near Happy Camp, California and at what cost. They seek to assess the most feasible technology to consume the biomass, where that facility could locate, and to understand the methodology behind the information—with an eye toward a business plan that would support anti-wildfire forest treatment around Happy Camp. Click here to scroll thru the BECK updates on the Happy Camp project including meeting recordings and draft report.
If your community is concerned about fire danger and is unwilling to wait on state or Federal prevention initiatives, BECK consultants can examine your region and help you map out a fire prevention strategy that creates jobs and pays for itself. Just call (503)684-3406 or email info@beckgroupconsulting.com to tap into our combined 130+ years of forestry expertise.
The Beck Group, Inc.
Forest Products Planning and Consulting Services
Telephone (503) 684-3406
Email: info@beckgroupconsulting.com
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