I'm having trouble finding good information about this. I'm in a US state currently being affected by pm2.5 that is being blamed on smoke from the Canadian wildfires.
Can someone give me a little background? I'm really wondering if there is a "story behind the story" here. I'm finding that US outlets are at the point of reporting like this is our new normal, and not much is being said in the way of a causal story other than severe drought combined with lightning strikes. I'm very skeptical of things given the climate nonsense, and it just strikes me as very strange that as of last year, spring and summer in Canada just mean 400 raging wildfires sufficient to cover the northern US in smoke and AQI +60 for an entire season of the year.
I'm also noting a conspicuous lack of coverage about this in our news. I don't mean that it isn't being talked about frequently. It's mentioned every day, but never with any journalistic scrutiny. It's just a constant march of planned talking points.
Well, I can write what my father explained to me, he was a forestry engineer. A few problems come into play. About 100+ years ago, large areas of Canada where clear cut, with no plan for regrowth. Nature just grew back itself, but with trees too close together, making a very dense forest. With a dense forest and thick underbrush, forest fires spread very fast and are very intense. Another problem, causing the thick underbrush is Canada's fire management. For many years, if any fire was detected it was put out as fast as possible. Fires are a natural rejuvenating process in the forest, thinning out the underbrush. With fires put out very fast, the underbrush got so thick, adding so much fuel, that the forest are now in a condition to cause very devastating large forest fires.
germ22 2 points 2 weeks ago
Well, I can write what my father explained to me, he was a forestry engineer.
A few problems come into play.
About 100+ years ago, large areas of Canada where clear cut, with no plan for regrowth. Nature just grew back itself, but with trees too close together, making a very dense forest. With a dense forest and thick underbrush, forest fires spread very fast and are very intense.
Another problem, causing the thick underbrush is Canada's fire management. For many years, if any fire was detected it was put out as fast as possible. Fires are a natural rejuvenating process in the forest, thinning out the underbrush. With fires put out very fast, the underbrush got so thick, adding so much fuel, that the forest are now in a condition to cause very devastating large forest fires.