More signs of stupidity in California.

[DanWalker]

For those of you who've been watching the news, you're undoubtedly aware that catalina island is burning. I lived and worked as a biologist on catalina for a while in 2002-2003. What I find to be so stupid is how much effort and money is being spent to fight a fire that NEEDS to burn. Catalina is overrun with invasive nonnative plant species. As long as no one is harmed, and the town doesn't burn, why not just let the fire burn? Fire is a natural part of many ecosystems. Once the flames char the choking vegetation, the native species begin to reemerge. After the fire a few years ago, they found a couple species of plants that they had thought to be extinct. As for the foxes and eagles, they'll take care of themselves, they always do.
I guess I'm getting onery in my old age. Every time I see footage of the fire, burning it's way through the tangled hellholes I had to claw my way through when I was hunting pigs there, I want to cheer for the fire.

[45nut]

"think of the children"

"I am from the Govt. and I am here to help"


IMHO,we are in view of the end of our republic. The nanny state regulations are applied in force where they are not needed and the reverse is also a fact.
I just hope Shakespeare's wish is applied with all due force.

[rvpilot76]

[QUOTE=45nut;181949
I just hope Shakespeare's wish is applied with all due force.[/QUOTE]

OK, I'm not up to speed on Shakespeare. What exactly is Shakespeare's wish?

Kevin

[Duckiller]

Be kind to us poor Californians. There are a few in some sort of power with a few brains. LA Co Fire is one such org. They are REALLY dedicated to protecting homes. Last night the entire town of Avalon (based on the news) could have been in real danger of burning down. The two fire stations on the island are there to put out house fires. In early 1980's local flood control district was mapping potential mud flow hazzards. Bosses got to fly over to Catalina. At that time (25+yrs ago) no one had any record of large wild fires on Island. We presumed that ocean moisture kept everything too wet to get a bid fire going. Dan Walker is right, brush is too heavy for wildlife. I am assuming that if FD can let fire burn without endangering structures they will. Firemen know all about reduced fuel loads and fire breaks. This years wild fire is a fuel/fire break for the next 5-10 yrs.

[Scrounger]

OK, I'm not up to speed on Shakespeare. What exactly is Shakespeare's wish?

Kevin

First kill all the lawyers... By the way, in the venacular of the times, 'lawyers' refers to politicians.

[45nut]

First kill all the lawyers... By the way, in the vernacular of the times, 'lawyers' refers to politicians.

Exactly correct, the scum in the beltway selling all of our futures.

[DanWalker]

The brush in those canyons is unreal. I was chasing a hog (and my dog) through wild cucumber vines that were waist to chest deep. They covered the entire end of the box canyon directly behind the botanical gardens. The pig and the dog could just tunnel through the stuff. I had to hack and claw my way through 400 yards of the stuff to get to where the hog bayed up.
The bushes you see burning are called lemonadeberry bushes. They're so thick that we couldn't go through them, we'd jump on top of them and roll accross them until we fell through, then get up and jump agand roll again. Hopefully the worst of these areas will be burnt. It looks like the fire started just a couple miles from my old house. I didn't live in avalon. I had a house in the middle of the island, right by thompsons reservoir. Sounds like the fire might be headed towards my old place.

[rvpilot76]

Aha. For some reason I thought that Julius Ceasar had said that. Glad you guys straightened me out. I refer to that quote often; now I can give credit where it's due. And you're right, by the way.

[Bigscot]

Then after the fires are out, later on in the summer the rains will come and then they will have the mud slides. Seems like it happens out there every year.

Bigscot

[Char-Gar]

Everytime I read on of these threads "geladen" with social commentary, I must remind myself what humans hate most.....change.

There was a time when a person was born into, lived in and died in the same world. Today, we see society turn over several times during our lifespan. The angst this produces can be overwhelming. Change, any change just must be bad, or so we think.

However, like the critters on Catalina, we will muddle through and survive. We are not on the edge of end of the world or even of the American Republic. ( Yes, I know we are not a true Republic). We will be OK! We might even be a little better in some regards.

I have a daughter who is an Industrial Psychologist with the largest electric power generating company in the US. Her principal job is to help everybody in the entire company, from to[ to bottom, cope with change in a postive way. Change, rapid change has become a way of life for all of us and it can be a real drag on life and productivity.

"Times, they are a changing"