Climate change outpacing most predictions
by Howard Hallman and Brad Piehl
It doesn’t take a scientist to understand the connection between climate change and forest fires. Last spring was hot and dry, which resulted in a dry forest that easily burns. This should not surprise us. What is surprising is the pace of climate change and the damage it has already caused to our forests and communities.
A vast majority of American scientists now recognize climate change as a threat to our nation’s well-being. Their findings are supported by decades of top-notch research. The climate is changing at the pace of many of the worst-case predictions from five to 10 years ago. Last year there were thousands of new record high temperatures across America. Severe drought conditions devastated millions of acres of crop and grazing land. Acres burned by catastrophic wildfire have increased significantly over the last several decades.
Catastrophic wildfires are not the only threat. Water-starved trees are more sensitive to natural infestations such as the mountain pine beetle. With warmer winter temperatures and longer summers, the pine beetle population exploded. What historically has been a good thing — the natural kill off of older trees in limited locations — has turned into a continent-wide disaster, with tens of millions of acres impacted. Locally we can see the impact of climate change on the health of our forests, our water supply, and our recreation economy.
In Colorado, our lives, homes, water supply and economy are all stake. Not only do our forest lands provide beauty, they are, in fact, our most critical economic resource. Colorado is defined by its mountains and forests. Not only do people come here to ski, they move their businesses and families here because of scenic beauty and outdoor lifestyle. They stay, eat, and buy lift tickets and houses.
Colorado is a dry place. We cannot survive without fresh, clean water from our forests. Large wildfires and forest health declines now threaten our reservoirs, streams and watersheds. Faced with a changing climate, the job of managing our forest lands is made much more difficult. Money to fund forest monitoring, management, and reforestation is increasingly spent fighting wildfires — protecting homes and property. Resources that should go to recreation and ecological enhancement are now diverted to protect trail users and campers from falling dead trees. With increased development in forest lands the situation only gets worse.
Where will the money come from? The US Forest Service’s share of the federal budget is tiny and decreasing. The US Forest Service has performed its mandate of managing our public lands with remarkable focus and dedication. Absent a strong and adequately funded US Forest Service to properly manage our common public lands there will be no bigger losers than the people of Colorado.
We cannot stop climate change in the short-term. What we can do is provide more resources and greater funding to manage our public forests, and by doing so protect our environment, economy and our homes. In the long-term, we must decrease carbon emissions by means of cleaner energy sources and greater energy conservation. There should be no debate about this. The solution is clear.