Surely someone has considered building codes that would include fireproof materials? I'm sure cost is a factor. Insurance might be lower? Am I missing something?
Geoff Patton Wheaten, MD Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Moore <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:55:31 To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] bats-WNS & CA wildfire Raphael and Wendee, I think that it is important to note that large-scale, high-intensity fires are a part of California's natural fire regime. The fires that we are experiencing today differ from a "natural" or "historical" fire regimes because of fire suppression efforts, alteration of fuels, and other landscape modifications (e.g., fragmentation). See Keeley and Zedler's (2009) Large, high-intensity fire events in southern California shrublands: debunking the fine-grain age patch model from Ecological Applications vol. 19 pp. 66 to 94. Cheers! Chris Christopher Moore, Ph.D. student Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Department of Biology University of Nevada, Reno Office: Fleishman Agriculture Building 140 Webpage: http://www.unr.edu/~cmmoore Email: [email protected] On Aug 30, 2009, at 9:09 AM, Raphael Mazor wrote: > The San Gabriel mountains support some of the greatest biodiversity in > the USA. Tons of micro-endemic plants up there. As for animals: ca > red- > legged frog, Santa Ana sucker, arroyo chub, bighorn sheep, two-lined > garter snake, San Gabriel salamander, and I'm sure several rodents and > bat species. > > Please don't confuse the types of fires that you're hearing about now > with a natural fire regime. These fires are much bigger and hotter, > lead to much greater mudslides and sedimentation in streams, and are > followed by aggressive invasions by invasive plants like mustard. Some > wildlife may benefit but not necessarily. These aren't the fires they > adapted to. > > On Aug 30, 2009, at 8:08 AM, Wendee Holtcamp <[email protected] >> wrote: > >> A couple things. >> >> I'm doing a feature on White Nose Syndrome in bats, but for a Texas >> magazine. I'm curious what proactive conservation measures are being >> taken >> in states that haven't yet been affected by WNS? I know the Forest >> Service >> closed several caves. Anything else? I did one blog post for Animal >> Planet >> about this on some cool research but in the states that are affected >> rather >> than those not affected yet. It affects hibernating bats, and so it's >> possible it may not affect bats that don't hibernate at all. then >> again as >> it appears to be an exotic species, who knows what can happen in >> terms of >> ecological release etc. >> >> Second - the wildfires in Cali now are a great time now to talk >> about the >> ways wildfires impact forests positively. I had previously written >> about the >> impacts on individual animals and animal rescue efforts, and now I >> want to >> talk about forest regeneration. Anyone out there working in the >> vicinity of >> the Angeles Nat Forest, and also know what wildlife lives there - any >> endangered species or species of concern? >> >> Wendee >> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Wildlife Ecology ~ @bohemianone >> Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian >> http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com <http:// >> www.wendeeholtcamp.com/> >> http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com >> <http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com/> >> ~~6-wk Online Writing Course Starts Oct 17, 2009~~ >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> I'm Animal Planet's news blogger - http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news >>
