Tag Archives: CDF

Governor Schwarzenegger, AB 32, and Global Warming: Code Redd

“When the search for truth is confused with political advocacy, the pursuit of knowledge is reduced to the quest for power.“- Alston Chase, author of “Playing God in Yellowstone.” ‘Redd’ is another ort in the acronym soup of climate-speak from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); it stands for “Reducing Emissions fromContinue reading “Governor Schwarzenegger, AB 32, and Global Warming: Code Redd”

Timber’s Term of the Week: Skid Road

How did skid road morph into skid row? Webster’s Online Dictionary defines a “skid road” as: A road made of logs on which freshly cut timber can be hauled. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines a “skid road” as: A road along which logs are skidded. The California Board of Forestry defines skid roads (or tractor roads)Continue reading “Timber’s Term of the Week: Skid Road”

Timber's Term of the Week: Skid Road

How did skid road morph into skid row? Webster’s Online Dictionary defines a “skid road” as: A road made of logs on which freshly cut timber can be hauled. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines a “skid road” as: A road along which logs are skidded. The California Board of Forestry defines skid roads (or tractor roads)Continue reading “Timber's Term of the Week: Skid Road”

Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Del Walters as Director of CAL FIRE

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced his appointment of Del Walters as director of CAL FIRE. “With more than 30 years of service at CAL FIRE, Del Walters is the perfect person to head our state’s firefighting efforts,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “Playing a key role in combating the 2007 and 2008 firestorms, he has the experienceContinue reading “Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Del Walters as Director of CAL FIRE”

Copter 104

Yesterday was a pretty quiet and relaxing Sunday. The flock of pubescent girls that had been squawking Friday and Saturday, migrated back to roost elsewhere and we were allowed to listen to the lake lapping at the shore once more. Around 1:30 PM, we got a visit from my former neighbors. I used to workContinue reading “Copter 104”

Sections, Townships, and Range

A long time ago (call it 1983) in a place far, far, away (call it Mountain Home State Forest), a small band of courageous neophyte surveyors began a project that many in the California Department of Forestry hierarchy felt to be impossible. We started work on finding, and then marking, the precise boundaries of MountainContinue reading “Sections, Townships, and Range”

My Old Day Job

I worked as the assistant forest manager at Mountain Home State Forest from 1979-1986. The old joke asks, “Where do forest rangers go to ‘get away from it all?’” As if working in the forest was not, well, work. I remember days when I’d been stung by wasps, hiked cross-country through thorny buckbrush in theContinue reading “My Old Day Job”

Controlling, Preventing, Wildfire in California and Other Pipedreams

I listened to the 27 October podcast of KCRW’s Left, Right, and Center as I do every week. They discussed the recent fires in California (and other political wonkish stuff). In the program, the moderator Matt Miller (holding down the center) wondered whether preparations were adequate and whether money could have been better spent (ratherContinue reading “Controlling, Preventing, Wildfire in California and Other Pipedreams”