Letter to the Editor:
I see a few lessons from the Teare Creek Fire of last week. A couple of pretty obvious ones are how careful we need to be when burning brush or grass, especially in hot, dry conditions and how generous, caring and capable our community is when needed. But a third less obvious lesson is what a great firebreak green aspen provides. Not to take anything away from the efforts of the fire fighting crews, but looking from a distance, there is a wall of green aspen on the east and bottom edges of the fire. No doubt there is ground fire that penetrated the aspen somewhat, but the trees themselves are intact and prevented a spreading crown fire in those directions.
Admittedly, some aspen stands within the centre of the fire succumbed and were totally incinerated, but the larger stands at the edges withstood it. If aspen works this well as a firebreak, why are industry and the forest service making such an extreme effort to eradicate it? It seems like this is yet another reason to not use Roundup/ glyphosate in the forest, in addition to all of the non-targeted life it kills, berries it contaminates, and cancers it causes.
Roy Howard
Dunster BC
