Editorial: Residents, state must prepare for fire season

The forests of Eastern Washington will start drying up now. The rainy spring is behind us; searing temperatures are only days away.

And south of us, where dry, hot conditions have prevailed for weeks, fires are incinerating trees, range and neighborhoods much sooner than usual.

Now comes a study commissioned by the Washington Department of State Lands that can only heighten concerns about the potential for catastrophic fires in the Inland Northwest.

State Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark formed a technical advisory committee in January to assess the threat of fire to forests in Yakima, Klickitat, Okanogan and Ferry counties created by disease and insect infestation. The toll has already been horrific. The acreage of trees weakened or killed in the past decade was double that affected in the 1980s, for example. The extent of the damage in 2011 was above a 50-year running average for the 11th year in a row. Years of relatively mild winters are allowing insects that perish in cold temperatures to survive. Drought-weakened trees are easy victims.

The outlook is not encouraging. The state estimates trees across 3 million acres could be damaged over the next 15 years. Acreage burned could go up by 50 percent by the 2020s and double by the 2040s.

Every tree lost chips away at the money from timber sales that help sustain Washington schools. State lands generated more than $200 million in revenue in 2007.

With the report in hand, Goldmark is prepared to declare forest health hazard warnings for parts of Okanogan and Ferry counties due to pine beetle and spruce budworm infestations. Lower threats were identified in other areas. Hearings are scheduled in Tonasket on July 18 and Republic on July 19 to discuss the findings with residents.

Getting control of the problem will involve everything from pesticides to controlled burns. But the report focuses on thinning, with case histories – including one from Spokane County – illustrating the benefits of removing diseased and damaged trees, often so closely bunched fire would be unstoppable.

The problem, of course, is money. Thinning may not pay for itself, and the report contains no estimates of the potential costs.

Fortunately, the Legislature appropriated $4.3 million in jobs money for forest remediation. The funds are available to private landowners as well as the state. In fact, dedicating money to public-private projects in the late planning stages tops the advisory committee’s recommendations. Federal projects could also share the money.

Most of the remaining recommendations set targets for remediation levels significantly higher than the current pace.

The work cannot start too soon. If temperatures do reach the 100 degrees in some forecasts, Eastern Washington forests will rapidly become tinder dry. While the state goes about implementing its plans, the region’s residents can help by taking precautions in the woods and obeying fire warnings.

We have only to look at what’s happening in Colorado, Montana and Idaho to see the consequences of being unprepared.