{"id":11140,"date":"2022-03-11t14:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-11t14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/a-tale-of-two-mountains-battling-climate-change-and-wildfires-at-home-and-abroad\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07t19:39:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07t19:39:25","slug":"a-tale-of-two-mountains-battling-climate-change-and-wildfires-at-home-and-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/a-tale-of-two-mountains-battling-climate-change-and-wildfires-at-home-and-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"a tale of two mountains: battling climate change and wildfires at home and abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"
if you live in the united states, you probably associate the sierra nevada mountains with california. but if you live in europe, you probably think of the sierra nevada mountains located in granada, spain. yes, if you weren\u2019t already aware \u2013\u2013 there are two huge mountain ranges, on two different continents, both of the same name.<\/p>\n
the similarities don\u2019t end there either. both are being increasingly affected by climate change.<\/p>\n
in california, wildfires are one of the biggest problems plaguing sierra nevada. heat and dryness resulting from drought and increased temperatures have caused wildfires to increase in intensity, quantity and frequency. according to california\u2019s department of forestry and fire protection (cal fire), nine out of ten<\/a> <\/strong>of the state\u2019s largest wildfires have occurred in the last decade. the trend is likely to continue, as one study<\/a> suggests the number of fires could increase by about 20 percent or more by 2040.<\/p>\n jessica morse, deputy secretary for forest and wildland resilience within california\u2019s natural resource agency and board member of sierra nevada conservancy, put it simply.<\/p>\n \u201cyou’re seeing drought plus heat precipitate catastrophic fire,\u201d she said. \u201cyou have like 200 days without rain and in some of these areas you’re getting no moisture and it’s causing the fire season to get longer and longer and longer to the point that now it’s basically become year round.\u201d<\/p>\n wildfires actually play a crucial role in sierra nevada\u2019s ecosystem and have done so naturally for centuries. fires can clear out dead organic material. allowing nutrients to return to the soil and new plants to grow. yet, more recent fires have gotten out of hand \u2013\u2013 in large part due to human interference. <\/p>\n there are a number of factors here, from the forced removal<\/a> of indigenous people who practiced vital cultural burnings, to the clear-cutting<\/a> during the gold-rush era that wiped out many fire-resilient trees. this was further compounded by a policy of fire suppression<\/a> by the forest service for most of the 20th century. now, a strand of overly dense and weak trees that burn easily and fast is all that remains.<\/p>\n spain\u2019s sierra nevada has a similar history of human interference, with mass deforestation resulting from factors such as mining activities and privatization of forest land, which was then converted to pastures or arable land once sold.<\/p>\n in the late 1930\u2019s, a major reforestation plan <\/a>was formulated during the final years of the spanish civil war. while it was recognized that forest regeneration was urgently needed, the plan also provided much needed jobs in a time where hunger and unemployment were rampant in the face of the dictatorial regime that emerged in the post-war era.<\/p>\n the program proved successful on a number of levels \u2013\u2013 nearly 275,000 hectares were planted in the first decade of the program and in total 2.9 million hectares<\/a> of trees were planted between 1940-1983. rainfall was higher than average during this time and the wide scale planting helped deal with ongoing issues of soil erosion. as intended, many jobs were created in the process, as the work did not require much specialization.<\/p>\n yet, there was a problem; nearly 85% of the trees planted were pine species. though not known at the time, the lack of diversity in plant life and thick density of the forests would make for increased risk of fire as the years progressed. <\/p>\n as blanca ramos, member of sierra nevada\u2019s global change observatory<\/a> put it, \u201cit is a totally homogenous territory with no diversity in terms of age or structure or species. these systems are extremely vulnerable, for instance to fire.\u201d<\/p>\n this has proved overwhelmingly true. from 1961 to 2005, almost 2.75 million hectares<\/a> were burned, which represents 93% of the area reforested between 1940 and 1983, meaning a majority of the work has been undone. <\/p>\n it might seem obvious in hindsight that a lack of biodiversity could lead to issues down the road. yet, as jorge castro, a professor of ecology at the university of granada pointed out, these trees were planted far before science or forest studies found the flaws in planting a monoculture.<\/p>\n \u201cthese pines were selected according to the dramatic conditions that were prevalent 60 or 70 years ago and, at that moment nobody talked about climate change,\u201d castro said. \u201cthese trees are adults now and they are very dense, so there are not enough resources for them. these plantations are debilitated; it is not a very healthy situation. <\/p>\n spain\u2019s wildfires occur on a much smaller scale than in the united states. for instance, spain\u2019s biggest wildfire<\/a> in 2021 scorched around 10,000 hectares of land while california\u2019s 2021 dixie fire burned through over 350,000 hectares. <\/p>\n as castro explained, the forests in spain are much smaller so there is less to burn \u2013\u2013 but, on a relative scale, wildfires are still ravaging ecosystems.<\/p>\n \u201cif you have 1 million kilometers of forest and half is burnt, you still lose half of the forest, so it\u2019s a big issue.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n in the face of increasing wildfires, both california and spain are now trying to reverse these effects. <\/p>\n in september 2021, california’s governor gavin newsom signed a $15 billion package<\/a> to tackle the climate crisis, $1.5 billion dollars of which will go toward wildlife and forest resilience efforts. the effort marks the largest investment in the climate crisis in the state\u2019s history. <\/p>\n according to morse, the $1.5 billion investment package will largely be distributed to the california natural resources agency and will be spread across 21 different departments, including the california department of forestry and fire protection and the sierra nevada conservancy.<\/p>\n morse said the cnra plans to implement the funds on three fronts: putting in defensible space and home hardening so communities and their homes can potentially withstand fires; strategic fuel break around these communities so firefighters have a place to steer the fires away from homes; and finally working to return fire to it\u2019s natural ecological role through forest restoration.<\/p>\nfighting fire with fire<\/strong><\/h2>\n