Prescribed Fire Use in Spain
Spanish forests are similar to U.S. forests in an important way - neglecting to use prescribed fires and suppressing wildland fires has resulted in a huge build up of fuel. Well, firefighters from Spain regularly visit Baker City, Oregon, to receive training on the use of prescribed fire. This from the Baker City Herald:
This is the ninth straight autumn he has escorted a group of his colleagues to the West to study how American foresters wield fire — planned, controlled fire, like Monday's blaze near Sumpter — as a tool that can reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires in the future."At home they say to me, ‘when fall comes, the birds fly south and you fly west,' " Castellnou said as he smiled.
His annual migrations have proved to be worthwhile, he said.
"We are adapting the skills we learn here to our own prescribed fire program," Castellnou said.
This is the part that got my attention:
Until the early 20th century, for instance, the country's Basque sheepherders burned forests every year to clear the ground and to invigorate the grass that fattened their flocks.Castellnou said his grandfather used fire for the same purpose.
But starting in the 19th century many Basques emigrated to the United States, including Eastern Oregon, where they looked after some of the hundreds of thousands of sheep that roamed the region in those days before the federal government managed livestock grazing.
Also, many Catalonian farmers moved to cities, Castellnou said.
"As a result, we lost our forest culture and our fire culture," he said. "Our grandfathers knew about prescribed fire, but we lost that knowledge."
Emphasis is mine.
This is exactly what has happened in the U.S. and over the last few years the fire service and researchers have been trying to redevelop our own fire culture and fire knowledge.
