[Mamzelle]

Who pays to clear?

Gee, doesn't anyone think of chainsaws as fun anymore? Seems like the neighbors could get together and have a good time cutting --then pile it up, wait for rain, and torch it. GW thinks brush clearing is recreation.

[MineralMan]

"Gee, doesn't anyone think of chainsaws as fun anymore? Seems like the neighbors could get together and have a good time cutting --then pile it up, wait for rain, and torch it. GW thinks brush clearing is recreation."

Ever cleared chapparal? A chainsaw's not much use, since you can't even see the center of any of the bushes. A dozer works pretty well, if it can handle the terrain. And then there's the poison oak. And there are the rattlesnakes.

It sounds like you don't live in California. On the hillsides that are burning here, the brush is so thick it is literally impossible to walk up a hill covered with chapparal (a mix of a number of different plants). There are a couple of the fires that do have some trees and might be called forests, but most of the burned area is just brush.

But what brush it is! Clearing chapparal is no fun at all.