Fire hazard concerns

A field is located in west Central Point between Mae Richardson Elementary School on West Pine Street and Taylor Street, edged by North Haskell Street on the east. The same field had been re-zoned for building affordable family housing several months ago by the city of Central Point. Along North Haskell Street there are several old trees, including black walnut, chestnut and others. The plan was to cut them down when the building began.

About a month or so ago, the trees were trimmed. I thought that was interesting, because they were going to be cut down. Maybe they had decided not to remove them — good news. Today, the trimmings are still there in the field. They weren’t removed the day they were trimmed, because the city didn’t require it — strange.

I have since learned from the city and police department that the trimmings are to stay until the winter, when they will be burnt up. They seem to care only about the weeds growing in the field, which are mowed down when they’re too high. There are weeds growing within and around the trimmings, but they’re OK? What if animals have found places to live there? I also feel they’re a fire hazard, but was told they’re like a pile of sticks in someone’s yard, not a fire hazard. I feel that they need to keep the field as an open space for this neighborhood due to the tall apartments built along North. Haskell.

Cheryl Young / Central Point

Forest management and eco lawsuits

Regarding Mr. Zybach’s Guest Column (June 30) that eco lawsuits are the root cause of our increase in wildfires; I find that he has spent a great effort in documenting the adverse health effects of said fires, however his support of eco lawsuits being the cause is rather thin and seems to be more opinion based.

For starters, he cites the Biscuit Fire in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness (and subsequent fires in the same area) as initial evidence. The Biscuit Fire was one of several caused by a series of lighting storms. As noted it burned mostly in a wilderness area, which would not have been affected by any change in logging practices.

Standard logging practice has been to clear cut, burn the slash and replant. That only affects those areas that have been logged. Thinning and select cutting is another story.

He states that Oregon climate has been the same for centuries. I would like to see the data to support that, especially since in the last two decades we have seen some of the hottest years on record.

In Southern Oregon, we are seeing large die-offs of fir trees due to warmer temps and drought stress. That is not just a local phenomenon.

Turning off logging in our forests that were being over-cut is an issue with many unintended consequences. And yes, there are obstructionist environmental lawsuits that waste money and hinder good forest management at times. But it’s a worn-out argument to try to tie that to increase in wildfires.

Chris Adams / Ashland

Large fires & climate change

Bob Zybach had a Guest Column on June 30 in the RV Times titled “Environmental lawsuits have direct effect on mortality.”

Zybach wrote that climate change is a “misleading excuse not supported by facts” and “the climate in western Oregon has been pretty much the same for centuries.”

Zybach states that the reason we have more fires now is that fuels have built up because of anti-logging environmentalists and as a direct result, we no longer have clean, healthy air.

Good news, Bob. There are some major fuel reduction projects going on right now. The Park Fire in Northern California has reduced 350,000 acres of fuels and continues to grow. Eastern Oregon currently has several mega fires over 100,000 acres reducing fuels and wiping out grazing land for cattle and wildlife. We had a major fuel reduction event right here in Talent and Phoenix in September of 2020.

Pete Toogood / Talent