"For decades, Oregon’s timber industry has promoted the idea that private, logged lands are less prone to wildfires. The problem? Science doesn’t support that."

For decades, Oregon’s timber industry has promoted the idea that private, logged lands are less prone to wildfires. The problem? Science doesn’t support that. Despite what logging industry says, cutting down trees isn't stopping catastrophic fires. October 31, 2020 Tony Schick (OPB) and Jes Burns (OPB)

Rob Davis of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed reporting.

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This article was produced in partnership with OPB and The Oregonian/OregonLive. You can sign up for The Oregonian/OregonLive special projects newsletter here and OPB’s newsletter here. OPB is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.

4 Replies
Sandra Koch
13 Posts

@Deborah Clark

This article seems to undermine the science behind the fix our forests act.
What am I missing?

Fix Our Forests doesn't just promote logging, @Sandra Koch. It supports comprehensive wildfire mitigation efforts including thinning (not just of trees but also underbrush) and prescribed fires, which the article notes are important. There's lots of good research on the efficacy of these practices, for example:

Sandra Koch
13 Posts

@Dana Nuccitelli

Dana- as always your voice is much appreciated. As I read through the article it seemed to be contradiction to what I have read- have you had a chance to review the paper that was posted?

I was just going by the summaries in the article, @Sandra Koch. I tried to check on one of the relevant papers but the link didn't work. But it's all generally consistent with what we've been saying. “Logging” is very different from wildfire management, although forest thinning is a component of it.

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