I believe the Sierra Club makes a distinction between where these fires take place and fuel accumulation risks should be remidiated. From their web-site:
Fire is a natural part of the forest and has a role to play in any forest's lifecycle by clearing out brush and restoring nutrients to the soil. But years of overly aggressive fire suppression have left many of our National Forests cluttered with small, highly flammable brush. Overly aggressive fire suppression and extensive logging have created unnatural conditions that lead to huge, hard-to-control fires."
In doing some research on the 'Net (as I am no expert), there seems to be some disagreement on all the conditions that contribute to hard-to-control fires. Both the Sierra Club and the Forest Service mention aggressive fire supression. The Sierra Club mentions logging as an additional cause. The Forest Service also mentions "a lack of active forest and rangeland management". The Forest Service also mentions tree densities per acre that has increased in many forests.
The Sierra Club continues:
"The Sierra Club strongly supports prescribed burns as a way to restore fire's natural role to the forest. Sierra Club supports fuel reduction projects near homes and communities. For a decade the Sierra Club has been urging the Forest Service to do more prescribed burning, reduce flammable brush near communities and we've been asking Congress to devote more money to do the job right. The Forest Service should stop pushing for commercial logging and put more resources towards protecting lives and communities."
So, the Sierra Club supports controlled burns near homes and communities (what they call "Protect Communities First"). That leaves forested areas that don't meet that criteria in somewhat of an unmanaged state, concerning remidiation of areas with high fuel loads. I'm not sure when forested areas not near communities get protected. In fact, I am still looking on the Sierra Club to see where they outline a plan to reduce fire risks in areas that are not near local communities. I have yet to find it, so any help would be appreciated.
The Sierra Club does mention roadless rules. These appear to be very popular.
In doing some additional reading, it seems that scientific research is used as the basis to litigate many decisions made by the Forest Service in regards to fuel load reduction, logging of forests, etc. It's sometimes hard to argue when someone has scientific facts and data in a matter.
It's a cynical distinction.
Unprecedented stand densities have multiple contributing factors. Besides fire suppression, many of these forests were planted, with the expectation of a thinning operation that the Sierra Club worked to prevent. Another is that carbon dioxide reduces drought stress in seedlings, permitting larger numbers to survive.
The point isn't how the forests got to where they are, it is that we don't have a choice but to mechanically thin them now that they are at current stocking levels. To say that they can be thinned by fire is, in most cases, an ignorant or cynical fatasy. Take your pick.
In doing some research on the 'Net (as I am no expert), there seems to be some disagreement on all the conditions that contribute to hard-to-control fires. Both the Sierra Club and the Forest Service mention aggressive fire supression. The Sierra Club mentions logging as an additional cause. The Forest Service also mentions "a lack of active forest and rangeland management". The Forest Service also mentions tree densities per acre that has increased in many forests.
Well of course there is disagreement, but unfortunately, a lot of that is a consequence of who paid for the science. Many of these biologists are kids who've never fought a fire or thinned a forest which now includes a raft of new Forest Service bureaucrats ideologically conditioned against logging, especially the AFSEEE. The subjectivity of such work has become so bad that you would have to see a forest that got a thinning treatment and burned in otder to appreciate the difference it can make.
The importance of Dr. Bonnicksen's work, and you should buy his book even if it is $75, is that he has researched historic stand densities before man ever took an ax to these forests. The Sierra Club stands squarely opposed to even approaching these historic stand densities. You should go to the Quincy Library Group site and read some of the debate.
So, the Sierra Club supports controlled burns near homes and communities (what they call "Protect Communities First"). That leaves forested areas that don't meet that criteria in somewhat of an unmanaged state, concerning remidiation of areas with high fuel loads. I'm not sure when forested areas not near communities get protected. In fact, I am still looking on the Sierra Club to see where they outline a plan to reduce fire risks in areas that are not near local communities. I have yet to find it, so any help would be appreciated.
To support controlled burns near these communities with current fuel accumulations is to expect to burn them to an ash heap. The way the enviros go about holding up meetings in the field to decide if a fire that is getting out of hand needs control needs to be witnessed to be appreciated.
The Sierra Club does mention roadless rules. These appear to be very popular.
The roadless gambit came after this policy was published; the Sierra Club hasn't updated it since 1989. You can read more of my concerns about this policy here.