California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report

   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #21  
It would take a mighty powerful incentive to make me live in s place famous for catching fire every year that comes.
It is a big state, with lots of wild lands and national forest. So the fact it might have 50 times more fires than Conneticut might just be area alone....I think that it is quite pretty in many places, and I think that there are lots of pretty places elsewhere, too!

The five largest wildfires in US history happened in California(4.5M acres, 2020), Texas(4M acres, 2011+), Idaho/Montana(3Million acres, 1910), Michigan(2.5Million, 1871).
Given the current drought around the country at the moment, I would say that unfortunately fires are in the cards for much of the country.

Here is a map of wildfires from 1980-2014;
WildfiresUS.pdf

The management of forests has favored large fire conditions for decades, and it will take awhile to change forest management practices to favor lower intensity fires through ground level brush clearance by fire or mechanical means. That would mean more frequent fires, but smaller, and more easily contained.

I think that firefighting is a tough tough job, and I am thankful for all of the people who are willing and able to do it. I know that the few times I have hauled fire fighting hoses have been about the most strenuous job on the ranch. I couldn't do it in a Nomex suit, in heavy smoke for 24 hours at a stretch.

Stay safe out there.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #22  
How is anyone going to be able to clear forests of brush and vegetation? Where’s the money going to come from? I have a pretty dense 20 acre forest. I don’t see that as possible. Translate that to hundreds of millions of acres of forest lands across the country. Again, I don’t see it as possible to have a healthy forest with no brush, decaying plant matter, etc.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #23  
Around here the when they log national forest they are not asked to clean up at all. They drop what looks good or is marked for cutting. If the tree has defects it just lays there. All tops and bad wood is left where it is cut. Then they hire someone to slash the place clean. You wind up with few trees not damaged by the skidder and the ground covered 2' deep with dry wood. Pretty good fuel for fires with no fire breaks at all.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #24  
You don't own a damn thing anyhow; stop paying property taxes and see how quickly you're booted off 'your' property. So just bend over, relax, bite down on a small block of wood, and let Big Daddy Government track and tax your water usage. It's better for all of us in the long run, right? So just take it.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #25  
It is a big state, with lots of wild lands and national forest. So the fact it might have 50 times more fires than Conneticut might just be area alone....I think that it is quite pretty in many places, and I think that there are lots of pretty places elsewhere, too!

The five largest wildfires in US history happened in California(4.5M acres, 2020), Texas(4M acres, 2011+), Idaho/Montana(3Million acres, 1910), Michigan(2.5Million, 1871).
Given the current drought around the country at the moment, I would say that unfortunately fires are in the cards for much of the country.

Here is a map of wildfires from 1980-2014;
WildfiresUS.pdf

The management of forests has favored large fire conditions for decades, and it will take awhile to change forest management practices to favor lower intensity fires through ground level brush clearance by fire or mechanical means. That would mean more frequent fires, but smaller, and more easily contained.

I think that firefighting is a tough tough job, and I am thankful for all of the people who are willing and able to do it. I know that the few times I have hauled fire fighting hoses have been about the most strenuous job on the ranch. I couldn't do it in a Nomex suit, in heavy smoke for 24 hours at a stretch.

Stay safe out there.

All the best,

Peter
Plus poison oak both contact and smoke can be serious...

The northern CA/Oregon fire had temps around 100F

Grueling and hazardous no matter how you look at it.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #26  
Plus poison oak both contact and smoke can be serious...

The northern CA/Oregon fire had temps around 100F

Grueling and hazardous no matter how you look at it.
:ROFLMAO: I literally had the signup form in my hand to be a volunteer firefighter when the local captain said something about poison oak smoke, and I realized that I really wasn't a good fit. Like a really bad fit. I am incredibly allergic to poison oak.

@MossRoad Yes, the Forest service is rethinking their spending and grappling with harder to raise funds for prevention rather than disaster or fire fighting. But the hurdle is redoing the budget, and transitioning from preventing fires at all costs to reducing the intensity of fires. Personally, I would expect a mix of mechanical and human underbrush clearing, and controlled burns in the wet season for brush reduction.
e.g. Fire Management - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)


Don't hold your breath, but I think it is clear that the current practices aren't working well.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #27  
I lived about 70 miles east of LA about 25 years ago and was amazed at how careless everyone was with water. When I was lived in southern California between April and October there was typically no rain so the only vegetation that was green was water by people and people were watering what I thought was quite a bit.

I also remember watching a program on PBS about the bristlecone pine trees which live in the sierra mountains at higher elevations. They are some of the oldest tress in the world and if I'm remembering correctly they were able to overlap the tree rings from currently living tress with ones that were dead to go back in time 8,000 years. In doing so they noted that the last 200 years were some of the wettest years that the tress had ever experienced! My first thought was wow, so if you think its dry in California now, just imagen how dry it was before everyone moved there in the last 200 years!

It was also difficult to convince "locals" that on the east coast water and vegetation are constant threats to your property/house. If you don't cut a filed in a relatively short time (20-30 years) it will be a forest and you better have the ground around your house sloped properly or its always going to be soaking wet.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #28  
Many of the tree species out west thrive because of periodic fires. Recent practices of suppression have actually made conditions worse. It's so much different out there than here, I wouldn't attempt to understand how to make the area less prone to fires.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #29  
How is anyone going to be able to clear forests of brush and vegetation? Where’s the money going to come from? I have a pretty dense 20 acre forest. I don’t see that as possible. Translate that to hundreds of millions of acres of forest lands across the country. Again, I don’t see it as possible to have a healthy forest with no brush, decaying plant matter, etc.
How is anyone going to be able to clear forests of brush and vegetation? Where’s the money going to come from? I have a pretty dense 20 acre forest. I don’t see that as possible. Translate that to hundreds of millions of acres of forest lands across the country. Again, I don’t see it as possible to have a healthy forest with no brush, decaying plant matter, etc.

patience: As the forest matures ground level growth diminishes.
 
   / California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report #30  
I’m not going to say water is in endless supply in Illinois, we do get dry periods. As a rule it’s easy to get water with a well but not always cheap. Sulfur smelling water is the only problem around here.

With this situation, are they trying to encourage people to use less water or are they just going for a cash grab? Are they going to start charging for use of the sun for people with solar panels?
 
 
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