What's the real connection between Droughts & Wildfires ?

"There are three things that are never satisfied. There are really four that never say, ‘I’ve had enough!’  These things are the cemetery, the childless mother, the land that never gets enough rain, and Fire that never says, ‘I’ve had enough!’  

Proverbs 30:15-16 (International Children's Bible)

David McNew / Getty Images

I used a children's simplified wording in the above text to help readers understand what was written centuries ago was not only true back then, but even more so today. It describes a reality of certain realities in lifes faced by human beings which are inescapable. You don't even have to accept the bible to agree with what is clearly stated. The common grave of mankind is always hungry and never satisfied for more occupants. Child barreness would be a welcome circumstance to those obsessed with scientific population control by means of eugenics. In a later text at Luke 23:29, a future time of distress is foretold, and the “barren women” it states would be happy, relieved, not having the anguish of seeing their children suffer. I suppose that would be true of our times. Today drought and lack of rain are plaguing many lands all around the globe and the problem is growing and growing as if it's never satisfied. And of course we are experiencing a time of extreme wildfire which is worse today than at any time in the past and fire's hunger (figuratively speaking) seems to never be satisfied. But focussing on the last two subjects, drought (land with no rain) & wildfire, is there really a connection ? Wow, who knew ? Earlier this year, Jennifer Balch, a wildfire ecologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and other researchers published findings that 84% of wildfires are now started by humans as opposed to natural causes (lightning, volcanoes, etc). But wait, it gets worse folks. They also emphatically said this:

"In California, the eastern United States, and the coastal Northwest, people are behind more than 90% of wildfires. And, by starting so many fires, humans are essentially lengthening the fire season, into times of the year when natural causes—such as lightning—don’t play a major role."

Really, the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington & British Columbia) is at 90% human caused wildfires ??? 😕

Science Magazine: "Who is starting all those wildfires? We are"

During these past four or five years, the world's fire ecology experts have been making connections between these furious wildfires and severe droughts which they insist are making wildfires even worse. Droughts can occur in any climate, whether it's hot or cold, dry or humid. So is that true or false ? Yup, it's true. Same thing is true of wildfires. But have you ever noticed in the literature when these two words are almost always surgically linked together by the fire ecologists, that the word "Drought" almost always preceeds the other word "Wildfire" ? The idea conveyed here being that the droughts are responsible for causing the extreme wildfire events we experience today. But you might be interested to know that surprisingly the words should really be in the reverse. Some of NASA's latest research finds that it is most likely the wildfires and diliberate prescribed burning that have helped to bring on the droughts. On the surface, to average folks it might seem only logical that the higher temperatures & lack of rainfall brought on by climate change are expected to increase the amount of moisture that evaporates from land, vegetation and lakes (basically sucking everything dry), which would also cause rainfall patterns to shift to more drought conditions. Hot temperatures coupled with dry conditions would also seem to increase the likelihood of more extreme wildfires. But now the reverse seems to be the cause and folks should not be surprised. Earlier this year,  January 2017, some researchers from NASA provided proof that it's the Wildfires, especially those whose origin has a human causasation are responsible for less rainfall, hotter temperatures & Climate Change. 

"A periodic temperature shift in the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation, plays a role, as does overgrazing, which reduces vegetative cover, and therefore the ability of the soil to retain moisture. By replacing vegetative cover’s moist soil, which contributes water vapor to the atmosphere to help generate rainfall, with bare, shiny desert soil that merely reflects sunlight directly back into space, the capacity for rainfall is diminished."  

"Another human-caused culprit is biomass burning, as herders burn land to stimulate grass growth, and farmers burn the landscape to convert terrain into farming land and to get rid of unwanted biomass after the harvest season."

Now this I have found fascinating, the idea of herders burning the land to stimulate grass growth to increase grazing productivity for harvesting the animals for food. Where have we heard this before ? One of the major justifications often cited for prescribed burns is that the ecological Native Americans (considered by many experts as the original environmentalist) burned the landscape to create better grazing for animals they made a living off of. But in view of the new information we've received from NASA, are we to believe this was still a good thing environmentally in view of the consequences referenced below as we continue reading ?

As with overgrazing, fires dry out the soil and stymie the convection that brings rainfall. Small particles called aerosols that are released into the air by smoke may also reduce the likelihood of rainfall. This can happen because water vapor in the atmosphere condenses on certain types and sizes of aerosols called cloud condensation nuclei to form clouds; when enough water vapor accumulates, rain droplets are formed. But have too many aerosols and the water vapor is spread out more diffusely to the point where rain droplets don’t materialize."  

Yup, even in the Earth's great oceans, microscopic organisms, along with other organic particles and salt, are thrown into the atmosphere every time an ocean wave breaks. Identifying the chemical composition of sea spray sheds light on how there is an  ocean-cloud connection, and how ocean biology may impact how clouds form and the climate. So too with the natural volatile organic compounds given off by vegetation. Disrupt any of the natural components which enrich our atmosphere with organic compound particles which act as nuclei for water molecules to form droplets and we get less rainfall and more drought. That apparently is what too much fire does.

For example, in years that had more than average burning during the dry season, measurements of soil moisture, evaporation and vegetation greenness—all of which help to trigger rain—decreased in the following wet season. Even within dry seasons, the amount of water decreased in areas with more humid climates as the burning became more severe.  

Illustration - ScienceDirect.com

Back during the early 1980s in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California when we had the heavy winter rainfall seasons caused by the El Niño & Hawaian Pineapple Express moist wind jet stream, I noticed that cloud formation during the following Summer's monsoon season was exceptionally heavy and complete. The main reason was heavy moist ground sturation on the surface from winter storms which lasted for months. It was a very green period where nothing turned brown or dry. After this time with normal or drier winters, summer monsoon cloud formation was more isolated as opposed to solid formation over all land mass. The areas where cloud formation was consistent had to do with an untouched area from development and contained old growth vegetation whether it was forest trees or solid old growth chaparral shrubs. The fragrance of aerosol release was also more powerful in those areas as well. Knowing what we do about aerosol importance as a nuclei particle for droplet formation, it makes perfect sense how mechanical or wildfire removal of such natural biological mechanism would stifle cloud formation and rainfall and if large enough effect, create droughts. If enough localized and regional droughts around the globe come together, then we get climate change. But in all the ideological debates we are fed out there by Climate Change champions, almost no one mentions what the NASA folks have provided here as evidence for climate change. Such information just never seems to be mainstream, but always on the fringes. It's much more sexy talking about factories and Coal/Oil in order to score some political points against one's political enemies, than telling the truth by providing a more complete picture of the present situation.

“The removal of vegetal cover through burning would likely increase water runoff when it rains, potentially reducing their water retention capacity and invariably the soil moisture,” Ichoku said. “The resulting farming would likely deplete rather than conserve the residual moisture, and in some cases, may even require irrigation. Therefore, such land cover conversions can potentially exacerbate the drought.”

NASA Study Finds a Connection Between Wildfires and Drought

Illustration - ScienceDriect.com

The illustration above has been adapted from Luiz E. O. C. Aragão's, “The rainforest’s Water Pump” which teaches us that like many ecosystems where much of the rainfall over tropical forests comes from water vapour that is carried by the atmosphere from elsewhere like oceans and falls over land during the rainy season, there is also a large component of mositure which is ‘recycled’ after the rainy season has passed. During what would normally be the dry season, rainwater is pumped by trees from soil into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. This water exits the forest trees as evapotranspirated vapour infused with aerosols are pumped into the atmosphere where cloud formation is able to take place and again fall as rain in monsoonal thunderstorms. So the water sources does not necessarily have to come from oceans, but rather the land itself. The atmospheric transport of water vapour into the forest is balanced by the exit of water in the form of vapour and run-off. It has been discovered that the world's present mechanized deforestation reduces this important evapotranspiration and inhibits this water recycling. This decreases the amount of moisture carried away by the atmosphere, reducing rainfall in regions to which the moisture is transported. Decreasing evapotranspiration also leads to increase localized run-off and raises river water levels which increases water loss back to the seas.

Some of us (like me for example) generally take certain things for granted until some excellent responsible research comes along and shakes us out of our soft warm and fuzzy blanket comfort zone of ignorance. I always thought drought made fires worse and climate change makes droughts worse. But clearly (& this makes total sense) humans have brought on the very the climate disruptions and severe drought conditions through their incessant agricultural burning (not to mention the stupidity factor in causing wildfires) and irresponsible land stewardship in general that are the result of healthy old growth vegetation removal. BTW, for a long time now, many trees in the western United States have been putting most of their resources into defensive measures to just survive. Very little offensive strategy has been employed into putting available resources into the production of seeds. But that's the way it is with any organism. When times are good for food & water, then we have population explosions. When times are bad, it's all about survival. Oddly enough regions further north have been experiencing what has happened in Southern California since the 1990s. I used to collect seed and back in the late 90s, many pine nuts were hollow.  In recent years researchers have noticed after most of these major fires, very little in the way of pine seedling reappearances were observed after these fires.

Colorado's wildfire-stricken forests showing limited recovery

Image - University of Colorado Boulder

“It is alarming, but we were not surprised by the results given what you see when you hike through these areas,” said Rother, who earned her doctorate from CU Boulder in 2015 and works as a fire ecologist at Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, Florida.   

Among the most barren sites were those of the 2000 Walker Ranch fire in Boulder County and the 2000 Bobcat Gulch fire in Larimer County, where approximately 80 percent of plots surveyed contained no new young trees.   

“This should be a wake-up call, that under the warming trends associated with human-caused climate change, significant shifts in forest extent and vegetation types are already occurring,” said Veblen. “We are seeing the initiation of a retreat of forests to higher elevations.”   

Previous research has suggested that hotter, more severe fires make it harder for the forest to bounce back by killing mature trees and reducing seed stock. But the study found that even after lower-intensity fires, presumed to have had less effect on mature trees and seed stock, seedlings were still scarce. Hotter, drier areas at lower elevations or on south-facing slopes had the fewest seedlings.

(Source)

animated image - gutenberg.org

The prevailing paradigm in fire ecology within the Scientific Orthodoxy reminds me of those evil stepsisters from the story of Cinderella where they tried cutting their toes off to fit in that Prince's glass slipper. They insist their narrative version must be true despite what the data says to the contrary. As a general rule, what data they do present for their case is often theory ladened, which means that any claimed observations have been inffected by the theoretical presuppositions held by the fire ecology investigator. There's no shaking the blind faith of a determined fire ecologist who insists life evolved in such and such a way through it's Creator fire or that fire is a kind of hallowed tool used by Indians (Native Americans) who are often considered the ultimate in ecosystem conservation. Facts are Native indigenous peoples of the past and their descendents today were and still are equal in every way to the Europeans they first encountered. This includes not only the capacity for love and goodness, but also the inherited tendency towards flaws and imperfection common to every human on the planet. Yes they used fire. A few may have used it as a type of conservation tool, but they had no more control over it than we do now. There is evidence that they also misused and abused fire for war against their bitter enemies (other Natives, not white men), used fire for hunting down prey chasing 100s of them over a cliff at a time, unattended campfires etc. They also used it for agriculture on a smaller scale which brought about localized or regional droughts centuries ago which doomed some ancient empires in Central and South America (Nazca, Maya & Aztecs). Now take a look below at some satellite photos of cloud formation which clearly exists because of the presence of healthy vegetation, no matter what the plant community ecosystem it is. But seriously, note where and over what the clouds form. Trees & Shrubs!

Image - scantours.net

The photo above is Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. This at one time was a true desert (in the true sense) island with almost most no vegetation other than some mosses, lichens, ferns, and small annuals and/or perennials. I reprinted parts of an article about Ascension Island which came out in 2013 by journalist, Fred Pearce, from Yale Environment 360, where he wrote about how a true desert island was basically transformed by19th cebtury British Sailors who brought in plants for gardens and escaped into the wild and by a Bristish Colonial Botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker, who wanted to actually terraform the island and infuence the increase for rain which was almost zero and provided no water supply. That's all changed now as rainstorms come in and even heavy clouds of mist precipitation provide water for natural ponds and streams.

Image - islandholidays.co.uk

Incredibly, not everyone has been pleased with this islands amazing transformation. The political activist environmental group, Center for Biological Diversity, is strongly opposed to such terraforming because the claim of invasive plants taking over and destroying the tiny native ferns and lichens would be wiped out. This has been proven false. I have kept in contact with the island's conservation officer, Stedson Stroud, who has provided photographs of these rare ferns and lichens actually doing much better by growing on the braches and trunks of this non-native vegetation. The non-native have created a healthier environment which has caused such specimens to grow bigger than they did previously on the desert island environment. People on this planet are going to start questioning who and what so-called non-profit organizations they are putting their trust and money into. Here are two links for which I have written about this remarkable island and it's turn around which has valuable climate change solution teaching lessons for us.

Climate Change and Ascension Island

Ascension Island's Green Mountain Cloud Forest Created by Mist ?

NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens

Image - Yann Arthus-Bertrand 

Orinoco River near the Esmeralda,
Amazonas region, Venezuela

Image: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

The various aerial and satellite images over the past couple of years have fascinated me as to how vegetative land surfaces encourare cloud formation as opposed to bare land or even seas. The picture above shows cloud formation over forest, but not the river. The picture to the right shows cloud formation over these Indonesian islands, but not the surrounding sea. Back in the 1980's a brazilian physicist, Eneas Salati, proved that the rainfall in the Amazon had consequences that are felt across the globe. Only 20–30 % of the rainfall actually stays in the region. Mostly, it evaporates back to the air to be carried by currents to regions such as the Andes, the Atlantic, and the South Atlantic towards South-Africa through phenomena such as cloud formation. If you've followed the news over the past few years, countries bordering Brazil have lost rainfall because of the forest deforestation which has resulted in the dismantling of these cloud formation mechanisms. When large areas are deforested or the forest becomes fragmented, the system of cloud formation breaks down. Put simply, no cloud formation, no rainfall, no rainforest or any other type of vegetated ecosystem.

Some more interesting references:

Science Direct: "Anthropocene" - The significance of land-atmosphere interactions in the Earth system—iLEAPS achievements and perspectives

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: "Born by Bubbles, Destined for Clouds"

Then there's always that one anomalous Ponderosa Pine discovery somewhere out in Nature observed giving live birth to a Sapling that throws all those sacred Fire Ecology Paradigms out the window & into a tailspin

Image - Jennifer DeMente

Okay I'm only kidding 😆

I'm not exactly keen on this obsession with celebrating fire or justifying it because the Indians (Native Americans or other non-white indigenous peoples) did it. Like modern humans today, they may have responsibly used some fire, but they also misused and abused it which makes them equal to human beings today. I was corrected by a scientist when I referenced my sadness about what has happened with all the human caused fires throughout the mountains surrounding Tucson Arizona. Her response was puzzling as she parroted the modern day secular religious paradigm of all fires being natural. This planet is clearly in trouble if the present failed leadership continues.

Burn Baby Burn - Fire Ecologist Celebrate Fire Season

Building Healthy Soils with not so primitive Biological Mechanical Components

File Under: Bad Religious Dogma - or would that be Fogma ?

What if Agriculture after World War II had the same blank Cheque funding for it's own 'Manhattan Project', instead of going down the Green Revolution path brought to us by today's Toxic Know-It-Alls ?

image: USBG.GOV

See this guy over here on the right ? He is Agricultural Ecologist, Dr Jerry Glover who with the help of photographer Jim Richardson of the National Geographic Society and Sculptor Steve Tobin known for his nature exhibits put together a beautiful underground visual of what root systems  in healthy pristine prairie soils actually look like. In so doing, they revealed an unknown hidden world and understanding of a complex root infrastructure that the average person above ground couldn't possibly otherwise visualize or imagine. But for the moment, I'd like to explain why most soils don't actually look like this in nature anymore. Mostly, the reason soils today are in poor condition has to do with the so-called scientific modern day enlightenment which has since 1914 -WWI (but especially since 1950), tried indoctrinate all of us into accepting how & why nature is so horribly flawed, badly designed, terribly inefficient and that only their technological innovations of this world's elites will save us from it's primitive foundations. But are the microbiological things of our natural world really all that primitive ? Interestingly other responsible scientific research is beginning to find out that this type of flawed worldview is itself untrue and in many cases caused irreparable damage in some areas. At the end of this post I'll talk a little more on the above exhibit. But here is a short introductory clip:

"Plant roots are vital components of the earth's ecosystem. They are necessary for all plant growth, including the production of food and nutrients for humans and many other organisms. However, as root systems are out off sight, their beauty and importance often go unnoticed. Exposed: The Secret Life of Roots showcases the presence and importance of roots through visually stunning root representations using the work of agricultural ecologist Dr. Jerry Glover, sculptor Steve Tobin, and photographer Jim Richardson."

(Source)

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So where did Humans go wrong when it comes to Soils & Land Management ?

Image typical of deep soil chiseling of Imperial Valley fields

(Imperial Valley Subsoil Chiseling)

For 20+ years I traveled from my mile high home in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs California all the way to Imperial Valley at least once a week, sometimes twice. Often while driving to work in early mornings in summer when I'd pass a field like the one above and world see the farmland subsoil deeply cut into and chiseled as the one above in the photograph. I'd also see parked next to the plowed field the very farm implement or deep plow apparatus responsible for the large gouges in the Earth sitting idle like the one at right here. The landscape down there is an ancient sea bed where the soils are a very fine almost clay-like in structure. Periodically if such deep tillage isn't undertaken, this ground remains hard packed like adobe. The water percolation is almost nil in worst case scenarios when they attempt to flood irrigate. Such deep tillage and later light tilling with smaller plows afterwards are necessary for the soils to restore back to that fluffiness of structure for not only better water percolation, but also crop plant root development. This Southern California valley is a major industrial farming area where a single corporate farm entity may may own land in the 1000s of acres. There is no life to these soils in the healthy microbiological sense. Such industrial farming strategies and practices are what destroy the soil microbial community. Advertisements from Tillage implement companies extol the wonders of their soil ripping products to their potential farmer customers by illustrating how they can prevent stagnant water build up from heavy storms or common flood irrigation practices which no longer percolate into impervious soils. But there is far more that keeps the soils lifeless other than constant regular tillage, that would be the overuse and abuse of synthetic chemicals. 

Image: Blue-Jet SubTiller advertisement

image: business recycling Australia

For decades the soils of this ancient lake bed of Imperial Valley on both sides of the border between the USA and Mexico have been drenched in synthetic fertilizers of all kinds. Herbicides, fungicides and insecticides applied either from the ground or the air also contribute to this damage. Taken altogether, these too kill the healthy soil biology as does excessive uses of plowing and other deep subsoil tillage. This is why these desert valley soils are mostly sterile and strictly mineral based in their structural make up and colour. Pick up a handful of Imperial Valley soil and you will not find any of the rich black soil common with most natural systems. Chemicals, like excessive plowing also help to favour noxious weeds by eliminating the very checks and balances nature has used for 1000s of years to keep weeds under control. Interestingly, all these industrial farm mismanagement practices are identical to other irresponsible land mismanagement practices used by the US Forest Service and Timber Industries. Take the photo  example below of this ridgeline in the Trabuco Ranger District of Cleveland National forest in the Santa Ana Mountains of Southern California which has been stripped of it's mycorrhizal hosts (chaparral) and completely replaced by weeds which thrive in a bacterial system of soil creation. Destroy above ground mycorrhizal hosts and you destroy the underground mycorrhizal grid and allow a bacterial system to replace it which favours weeds, particularly those weeds we call Ruderals. 

Image - Chaparral Institute

Image: Chaparral Institute

Somewhere back in the 1960s-70s, it was ignorantly assumed that stripping most all major ridgelines of their chaparral was a great idea for a major firebreak to control any future wildfire event. However, this replacing of the chaparral plant community (which is host to mycorrhizal fungi) by these regular control burns, vegetative mastication, synthetic chemicals, and/or bulldozing actually allowed a bacterial underground system to be created which favoured invasive grasses and other noxious weeds like cheatgrass, mustards, radishes, star thistle, etc. This turned out to be a huge backfiring mistake. Oddly enough those ignorant irresponsible practices are the exact mirror image of industrial farming methods which create far more problems than they were originally meant to solve. The result for the forestry was not stopping wildfire, but rather the creation of a mismanaged landscape scenario which actually fed worse wildfire condition scenarios than preventing them. If the idea was to slow down wildfires, the true reality resulted in speeding up their spread. From that point the domino effect gets worse. Take for example the usage of slurry type phosphate based fire retardants used in stopping fires. Would you believe this actually spreads Cheatgrass and other runderals ? Take a look below.

Photo by Jed Little

A year after the Fourth of July fire on Mount Jumbo, a long green line of cheatgrass is visible where fire retardant was dropped. The red slurry retardant allows some exotic weeds to replace native grasslands, according to preliminary results of a study by Salish Kootenai College and the University of Montana. Now read this portion I've quoted below from the online journal, The Missoulian:

"The study raises the possibility that the red slurry, while helping to slow a wildfire's advance, could ultimately worsen grassland fires by promoting the growth of cheatgrass, one of the most flammable invasive weeds in the West."

"According to preliminary results, the retardant's fertilizerlike nutrients significantly increased cheatgrass and tumbleweed mustard, both exotic annual species, at the expense of native perennial grasses on the mountainside."

"The invaders benefit from the jolt of nitrogen and phosphorous in the slurry, which native and exotic perennials largely ignore because they are accustomed to nutrient-poor soils. Cheatgrass and tumbleweed mustard didn't spread where the fire burned alone, but they exploded in areas that were burned and hit with retardant, the study found. The two invaders have spread from 51 percent to 88 percent on Mount Jumbo since the retardant was dropped, although two perennial invaders, spotted knapweed and Dalmation toadflax, decreased."

(Source - Missoulian)

I literally hate going for a hike and receiving the nasty end of an assault of stickers from walking through a mismanaged field infected by a  Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion. These stickers in boots and socks are so incredibly annoying that you need to stop periodically to take the boots off and clean both boots and socks to regain your sanity. They can also be dangerous to your pets and other domestic animals. If that is true, then it is also true that their overwhelming presence is not good for wildlife either. Now there were a couple of interesting things referenced in that article by the Missoulian. Notice that these annual plants [ruderals = Cheatgrass, Mustards, Radishes, Tumbleweeds, etc] thrive in a nutrient enriched soil from the presence of excessive amounts of synthetic inputs deliberately applied to soils [for whatever reason or purpose], while the perennials that were   referenced in the article like Spotted Knapweed & Dalmation Toadflax have actually decreased. So why was that ? Are not those two plants also noxious invasive weeds ? Yes they are, but they are not ruderals, they have mycorrhizal roots and mycorrhizal fungi will disconnect in the presence of excessive synthetic nutrient inputs. They are invasive weeds in the sense that they originate from eastern Europe and Asia. Minus the checks and balances from their former ecosystems they then thrive and spread in North America. But they are also mycorrhizal hosts. Clearly human ignorance which breeds irresponsible decision making in so many areas of life have snowballed to the present out of control domino effect we find ourselves in. We are battling Nature instead of working with nature for a solution with an elite few making a profit off the misery of others. Nature has always had the most efficient solutions for balance and high yield success through it's genetic programming for 10s of 1000s of years irrespective how anyone says it originally got that way. Now take a look at another area [land restoration projects] which once again illustrate the how the overuse or reliance on mechanized innovations and synthetic chemicals cause setbacks and delays in plant community restorations. This example below comes from the Coachella Valley which is also located in Southern California just north of Imperial Valley. About the year 2001 a report came out on the success of ridding a desert oasis area known as 1000 Palms of an invasive tree called Tamarisk which dried up the streams and ponds and ruined the environment for the native palms and other desert oasis plants and animals which depended upon them for food and shelter. There were several methods and techniques employed like bulldozing, synthetic Chemicals and old fashioned hand clearing. There were two outstanding references of an observation which serve to illustrate the two superior & inferior methods for success from a single sentence in that whole report at the bottom in the last paragraph that spoke volumes to me. As far as I know, I am the only one who has ever caught this important gem of an observation:

"Most areas were cut by hand, thereby selectively cutting out the tamarisk while leaving the native shrubs unharmed. Only a 7.5 acre (3 ha) section that was heavily infested (> 95%) was cleared using a bulldozer."

"In the 7.5 acres (3 ha) that was bulldozed, natives established much more slowly than in the hand-cleared areas."

(Source)

So two main techniques employed at this restoration site. One was the commonly used conventional mechanized version by way of large industrial piece of equipment we call a Bulldozer with rippers and the other was the use of volunteers to hand clearing and selectively cut out the cancerous invasive plants within the ecosystem and leaving only the healthy native ones. Okay I get the Bulldozer because it is fast and efficient at eradication and the clearing by hand takes recruiting otherwise busy volunteers and a lot of sweat. But okay so what ? It's the long term goal that we are looking at here if indeed there is a noble goal. One leaves a healthy intact mycorrhizal grid under the ground with cover and the other sterilizes the landscape as some sort of clean slate or blank canvas ready for natives to be replanted by spreading seed on the ground and raking it in to germinate and rebuild the ecosystem. One fixes the situation more permanently with little maintenance afterwards and the other being a quick fix will have to be revisited again and again, year after year and still not get it correct. I immediately recognized the differences and reasons for both success and failure [or delay]  because of my own practices on my acreage up in the San Jacinto Mountains which tower over the Coachella Valley. Prior to moving onto my land in 1985, the previous owner had cleared with Bulldozer two large patches of chaparral down to the clean decomposed granite. Other areas were cut and cleared by hand. In all those 20+ years of living there, the cleared areas by Bulldozer always experienced a fight with weeds and attempting to plant any chaparral natives back over the cleared patches of land was always a lengthy process with only a few ever making it. However, in Chaparral area where some places required removal by hand, the ground never suffered. In fact where I would remove a single shrub to make room for a tree seedling to be planted, establishment success was always 100% as opposed to maybe 20%-30% on the bare soils. The reason of course was that the new seedling was instantly inserted into a healthy mycorrhizal grid which hydrated and nourished the young delicate seedlings and the other area had no grid for successful tree establishment which left seedlings to their own struggle for survival, hence the highest failure rates. This was the same method I followed after helping my former landlord Ken Dawson of Terwilliger establish a forest in the chaparral a few years previous. His property was in the Terwilliger part of Anza Valley and considered at the edge of high desert. It was mostly Chaparral covered [Manzanita, Sugarbush & predominently Redshank or Ribbonwood]. 

image mine: 2013

Large specimens of all three chaparral species were left intact by use of a small scale one man backhoe [the size of a small garden Kubota tractor] which was expertly used to surgically remove any unwanted vegetation to allow space for bare root tree planting without damaging other healthy shrubs. All the San Bernardino National Forestry officials & the Nursery at L.A. Moran up at Davis where we purchased those bare root pines said it would never work, especially if we didn't strip clear the land bare from competing brush. The reality of course is that the responsible science-based research being done today has found that the "Survival of the Fittest" religious dogma no longer holds water. The truth is that in mycorrhizal networked ecosystems, there is a mutual cooperation of all the organisms to ensure the health and survival success of all the members of the plant community system.  The chaparral plant community also has some of the deepest plant roots known to bore through impossible soils. They perform an amazing biological function of physics called hydraulic lift and redistribution of soil moisture which I'll reference below. The ONLY time this is  found in conflict is when the wrong soil conditions allow ruderals to invade a mycorrhizal system which has been destroyed through bad land management. Tilling, synthetic inputs, excessive use of fire, and last but not least irresponsible overgrazing by domestic animals with no wild instinct smarts to move on all contribute to long term damage.

image: mine 2013

As you can see the Chaparral, in this case Redshank or Ribbonwood is still intact and thriving, yet so are the Jeffrey and Coulter Pines. The soils on this particular property are extremely shallow with many boulders and fractured rocky soils under the ground. Still the system is a giant success because of replicating nature, even if we didn't realize the full impact and knowledge at the time in what we had done. I later went back and inoculated some areas with an ecto-mycorrhizal fungi from Plant Health Care Inc called Tree Savor Injectable which contains only a single species of Pisolithus tinctorius, which is an ectomycorrhizal fungi. The needle holding capacity of most all those pine trees were 4 or five years which is excellent proof of the system's self-sustaining function even during this present west coast drought which has hit all of California. I'll post a link below in references.

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Collective Intelligent of the Enlightened Higher Lifeforms versus the Primitives ???  

Image Dr Wendy Taheri

So what is it exactly that is going on under the ground that makes these specific instances either a  success story or miserable failure ? It is the practices that either a landscaper, gardener, farmer or forester chooses to employ along with other methods of sound or irresponsible land maintenance. Many believe that the Scientific advances of our modern world are the only thing that will save mankind. But the exact opposite is true. Take for example the image at the right here of agricultural soil which has been worked decades utilizing all the modern day science-based tillage practices coupled with Synthetic inputs. The round spheres are fungal spores and these were culled from 25 grams of industrial agricultural soil. The photograph was taken by Dr Wendy Taheri who is a Research Microbiologist who today spends time educating and helping American Farmers who are hungering for a change. BTW, those tiny white round dots are not spores at all, but nematode eggs. Now compare that photo with the photograph below.

Image Dr Wendy Taheri

This photograph here at left is a mere one gram of healthy natural prairie soil as compared to the contrasting photo above which you may remember was 25 grams of industrial agricultural soil. Notice the difference in spore biodiversity count and the high density concentration ? This could also be illustrative of most any forest soil or holistically managed farm commercial soils where large diversity of perennial cover crops are used as hosts which encourages diverse numbers of these endo-mycorrhizal fungi. The above result is where no tillage was practiced and no chemical inputs were ever touching this soil. The bottom soil photograph is the result of supposedly primitive microbes [according to the religiously driven scientific dogma] and the top photograph is the result of science-based industrial agricultural practices of intensive plowing, synthetic chemical inputs [fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides & insecticides] and last but not least the GMO plants which are believed to be improvements on nature's flaws by the Biotechnology industry. All of these brought to us by superior higher collective human intelligence. I can only imagine that the ongoing choices by the majority of farmers, landscapers, foresters and the average home gardener is the imaginary misunderstanding & assumption that the holistic biomimetic practices are more work and sweat with little results to show for the hard work. The reality is that it's the exact opposite. To conclude, let's go back to Dr Jerry Glover's National Geographic Gallery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now the Gallery below of the art show I opened up with Dr Jerry Glover and National Geographic

National Geographic & Dr Jerry Glover

Here, Dr. Jerry Glover works in a soil pit at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas with a garden host fitted with a jet nozzle to expose what the rooting structure on two entirely different plants look like. On the left, we see the deeper roots of a perennial wheatgrass are displayed, while on the right we see the more shallow roots of an annual wheat are visible. Notice the side by side contrast below ? The exhibit theme was to demonstrate how the bulk of a prairie grass plant exists out of sight, with anywhere from eight to fourteen feet of roots extending down deep into the earth. Now why should any of that matter ? Besides being incredibly larger in size, these hidden root mass infrastructures accomplish a lot in storing carbon, nourishing soil, increasing bioproductivity, and preventing erosion.  Unfortunately, most of these productive, perennial grass functions of the past are more rare than they once were. This is because they have been replaced by ruderals (annuals) which live a mere few months (six months if lucky).

Common annual variety of annual Wheat here are contrasted next to perennial Wheatgrass. Notice perennials, which come back year after year have a root system which will grow to a depth of few meters, while the annual varieties perhaps a mere foot. This is also illustrative of all ruderals versus perennials in the wild setting. A farmer or rancher with a pasture of abundant diversity of perennials is going to weather the dry season or even drought much better than say those common western states pastures where short lived ruderals such as cheatgrass and other annuals [runderals] reign supreme. This is why many western rangelands and pasture can only have a limited use early in the year. What is most important to a pasture is having a large biodiversity of perennial plants dominating the vast area which encourages an underground  microbiological community of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi and healthy nitrogen fixing  bacteria to allow the soils to breathe. Any rainwater falling on such a landscape will fully percolate into the earth as opposed to running off. This is important to underground storage of water to be tapped into later in the dry season. In times of heavier rainy seasons, several meter deep root infrastructures may also facilitate a process called hydraulic descent which may also help restore underground aquifers and replenish natural springs. The other being hydraulic lift & redistribution, but more on that below. Again, these are also things which even many farmers who do practice  biodiverse perennial cover crops may be completely ignorant  themselves of the full line of services being accomplished by perennial plant root systems other than mere water percolation through healthy aggregated soil alone. More on that phenomena below. But here is a link to the root system galley:

(National Geographic Deep Root Gallery)

Now take as another example the common picturesque California Oak Savanna settings that are often romanticized in photos. 

Image - Mine (2013)

Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve (Oak-Grassland Savanna)

This photo above is in my home San Diego County in Southern California. While it is picturesque, the historical view with these Englemann Oaks would have had low interior sagescrub or chaparral growing all around it as opposed to these nonnative grasses. These grasses were created by ranchers in the early years to raise cattle. But land management practices from northern Europe and back eastern United States just never worked out here in the west. Africa had the same problems with Europeans ignorant of local ecosystem functions imposed northern European land management practices with domestic livestock which had disastrous consequences. The Cheatgrass dominance in the west also has negative implications in the fight against climate change. Cheatgrass and other ruderals are the worst in terms of carbon sequestration. In 2006, researchers found (Here) that the invasion of cheatgrass in the West had turned some areas from carbon sinks to a net source of carbon. The invasion of cheatgrass and all nonnative ruderals altogether have released up to nearly nine million tons of carbon into the atmosphere and will likely release far more as time goes on. Throughout the California Savannas where Cheatgrass and other ruderals now dominate, many areas often burn annually and actually thrive as a result of this constant burning, whether prescribed, accidental or intentionally set fires. They also have a lousy shallow root system which means that far less carbon is stored in underground root systems than was once true of the native perennials like chaparral or even biodiverse species of prairie plants in true Savannas. There is something else the ruderals cannot assist in accomplishing and that is both hydraulic life & redistribution of water for the beneficial function of the entire system. Aside from the loss of a mycorrhizal grid underground network there is something else missing. These two subjects are mostly a mystery of sorts to most people, but they are important phenomena to have an understanding of if your farm, ranch landscape, gardening or habitat restoration project are to be a success. Admittedly, even scientists do not discuss much about the phenomena to the public in general.

Importance of Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution

This is one natural phenomena which most likely no longer functions properly if at all in most modern day farm pastures and Ranch grasslands and sadly there is not a lot of discussion about it. Those old growth plant root infrastructures provide an invaluable service in the summertime of hydraulic lift and redistribution of water resources from deep in the earth up to the surface layers. But only certain specific plants with the deepest root systems can perform this task of drawing up water, sending it laterally toward other plants by means of the mycorrhizal grid for the night time benefit of other shallower rooted plants. This is the reason some holistically maintained pastures, even in traditionally dry western geographies have a healthy green even during the dry season. The animated illustration below often used by Professor Todd Dawson reveals how the system actually functions.

But there is even more than hydraulic lift at play here. Some way somehow the water has to be driven deeper than mere soil percolation would allow. This is where an reverse in hydraulic function of root systems must come into play.

What has happened to Hydraulic Descent ???

I once read where researchers once discovered something interesting about the common Mesquite Tree of the deserts in the southwestern United States. When the tree is dormant and not visibly growing above ground during the winter rainy seasons, they perform a phenomena called hydraulic descent where their root systems collect as much surface rainwater percolation as possible and pump it deep into the earth. Now, Mesquite & other desert trees and shrubs have some of the deepest taproot systems known in the world. They can actually bore through the earth down to a depth of a couple hundred feet. Please take note of the animation above. What effect has the loss of this phenomena had on large aquifers and natural springs ? How much does such a phenomena have on actually benefiting groundwater recharge beyond helping pasture to maintain green ecosystem viability during the dry season ? What practical applications can be applied in biomimetic inspiration in creating technological innovations such as irrigation systems which save water as opposed to the present wastefulness we have now ? My reasons for bringing the subject of hydraulic lift - descent & redistribution into the discussion is that they cannot be ignored as a naturally occurring phenomena either in the wild, farming, landscaping & gardening. When w landscaper prepares a design on any new project, all such consideration of these remarkable mechanisms alone with the microbiological nanomachines we've looked at earlier should be considered for the long term viable life sustaining system you are wishing to establish. Same with the farm, ranch or habitat restoration. People need to think in terms of their projects being a living mutually cooperating biological machine. While it's wonderful that farmers, professional landscapers and your average home gardener are thinking in terms of practicing a holistic biological approach minus the chemicals, it's also important to widen out and have a peripheral view other other factors that provide checks and balances into the system. For example attracting the beneficial predators both large and small. I'll provide more links below in references. 

So let's recap what we know!

All plant ecosystems basically work and function identically with a little a little tweaking taken into account for climate and geography. The purpose (don't look at the term as a dirty word) of annuals is important in that when land is disturbed they quickly cover the ground. Most of their capabilities are offensive with very little resources being used in defenses against predators. Creating an abundance of seed to replicate themselves is what they do, but irresponsibly land manage and you provide an out of balance scenario for them to explode upon the landscape. All Tree, Shrub and Prairie systems are heavily mycorrhizal. Mycorrhizae in all systems of management dislike over fertility or nutrient abundance. Bacterial systems limit root infrastructure and in farming excessive synthetic nutrient inputs are nothing more than a numbers game where it is hoped that 20-30% sucks in somewhere around the plant. Because mycorrhizae is mostly absent from such systems, weeds (ruderals) thrive and more synthetic inputs are needed to rid the system of unwanted plants that nature would have otherwise kept in check. Excess synthetics end up percolating into the earth polluting groundwater or as runoff into aquatic systems during the heavy part of the rainy season creating further pollution and ecosystem disruption. All areas of human endeavour when it comes to plant system management like habitat restoration, forestry, farming, ranching, landscaping right down to home gardening either benefit or suffer depending on how closely you mirror your techniques to how nature really works. Tillage is also another limiting and damaging practice to mycorrhizal soil structure. Limiting tillage as much as possible will maintain this life sustaining system underground which in reality is not so primitive after all as science would have you believe. Take all of these micro-organisms away and see how time we higher lifeforms have left to live. If life truly is a mere mistaken bundle of compromises, then what the heck, maybe the Biotechs and Agro-Chemical companies are doing nothing wrong and we should just accept the consequences of putting our faith and trust in these toxic know-it-alls. 

In Conclusion: The Winners & Losers

New technological advances by mankind's Elites have seemingly made life easier for the rest of us when we only look at them from an on the surface viewpoint. These bio-innovations created in some high security lab however have put mankind and the natural world at risk. The fate of the world is being placed into the hands of unaccountable elites in bed with powerful political interests who speak from one side of their mouths of their products being the result of ethical responsibility while at the same time being obsessed with the pursuit of fame and personal enrichment out of the other side of their mouths. The problem is our messed up world is the result of a gross lack of Bioethics. These people know full well what their products are doing, but their strategy is to play the dumb card. When a newer consequence strikes, they simply create another synthetic solution to treat the symptoms while totally turning a blind eye to the cause. The pharmaceutical industry works the same way, but hey, are the also not related ? So from a short term monetary, fame, glitter and glory standpoint there are certainly those who appear to come of the winners. Farmers are also the real losers, not the agro-chemical corporations. If any farmer actually becomes truly informed, educated and understands that most of their success is in changing practices as opposed to spending vast amounts of money on synthetic inputs along with magic seeds, these giant corporate entities would fold. Can you now understand the reasons for vast amount of financial resources being funneled into these damage control public relations lobbying by corporate business interests ? The vast majority of other lifeforms including humans will also lose out in the end. I know of no real solution as far as implementing or reversing the damage done on a massive global scale. You all read the News lately, so you tell me. That doesn't mean the information and understanding on how to use the clean viable information doesn't exist. It does. But there always seems to be something powerfully negative out there to throw the proverbial wrench in the works. The best that can be done is for those few individuals who actually get it to make practical application of what they know to use out on the farm, ranch, landscape or garden and allow the light of success to do the talking for you.

 How long can people really keep trusting these fallible researchers to be bio-ethically responsible ? Ask yourself, what's been their track record thus far during this modern age of enlightenment ?

Some Further Reading References

http://www.californiachaparral.com/threatstochaparral.html

Dawson Property Forest Establishment 1983

Hydraulic Life & Redistribution - Hydraulic Descent

Roots: 'Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution'

Hydraulic Descent: An Ecosystem's Tool for Filling Vast Underground Reservoirs

Why Streams still flow in California's officially designated "Exceptional Drought" zone 

Deep Root Irrigation based on Hydraulics Behaviour in Ecosystems

Deep Irrigation Methods for Training Deeper Rooting networks

This area below will remain open for any updates to add

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Historical Observations on Fire Ecology both Past through the Present

Controlled burns are essential to promoting healthy  pine growth and to prevent unwanted wildfires.

Wikipedia

Grave of California Governor
Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga

Well that's not only a Theory, it's also the prevailing conventional industrial  science-based practice which has the power over and ability to trump the Science of discovery and wonder. In these modern times with so much research and information gathered on the actual way Nature really operates  and maintains itself, you'd think that this newer understanding would replace the old outdated thinking and archaic land management practices based on the Historical past's ignorance. But it hasn't. Incredibly though, not all historical figures of the past were so ignorant. Some had the ability to observe and see first hand the fallacy of just such a practice and during a time when most of us would have called such a time in California as Nature in it's perfect pristine state. The man's name was, José Joaquín de Herrera, and he was once the Spanish Governor of California and only one to my knowledge who is buried here. He listened to complaints of many who were upset by the practice by both Spanish Settlers and the Natives who were burning the landscape for no doubt the commercial ventures of the time. No doubt with any lack of controls, or as Richard Minnich calls it, "Shepherding" of the fire, these fires most likely got out of control, though maybe not in the megafire way we experience them in our modern times. It's really hard to understand fully what this Spanish Governor saw, but clearly he saw the use of fire in both domesticated land management and out in the wild as reckless and childish as he put it.

“With attention to the widespread damage which results to the public from the burning of the fields, customary up to now among both Christian and Gentile Indians in this country, whose childishness has been unduly tolerated, and as a consequence of various complaints that I have had of such abuse, I see myself required to have the foresight to prohibit for the future …. all kinds of burning, not only in the vicinity of the towns but even at the most remote distances.

Therefore I order and command all commandantes of the presidios in my charge to do their duty and watch with the greatest earnestness to take whatever measures they may consider requisite and necessary to uproot this very harmful practice of setting fire to pasture .: I order that this decision of mine be published by proclamation in the presidios as well as the missions and towns of this province which is in my charge …. with the full understanding that whatever lack of observance may be noticed in this matter [which is] of such great interest will be worthy of the most severe punishment.”

May 31, 1793 -  Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga

( Source )

The above source has some fascinating reading and observations from those early exploring pioneers who wrote about life in the past. Though in some places, it's really hard to interpret everything they observed and their take on the actual observation. Wonder what a person in modern times would think if transported back in time to that era and unshackled by the ignorance of those times[not to mention the biased assumptions of these times], and what questions do you suppose he/she would ask the Natives ?What would be the actual TRUTH of what actually happened and why back then ? Hmmmm!

What triggered my thoughts again on this subject was a post by the Chaparral Institute on Natural Fire return interval (meaning normal effect prior to Human influence) in which it was mentioned about interval time frame of fire effects as being between 30 to 130 years. He referred to the available study data in which oldest Manzanita found have averaged 130+ years. Incredibly though, I have found Manzanitas which appeared 100+ year old growth on numerous hiking and other exploration outings which had died, but without fire. [logically it's easy to tell if fire was at fault] Actually I've found not one, but several, one of which were on my property and died for no visible reasons in what appeared to be healthy pristine surroundings in wild settings. Rick Halsey calls such long held beliefs about reasons for Fire Management in which Prescribed or Control Burns are based on "conventional wisdom". There others like Jon Keeley who have also bucked a lot of conventional wisdom when it comes to outdated understanding still found in many modern day textbooks which influence policy in land management practices.

Image - Springer - "Obligate Seeders"

But I've spent a lifetime bucking the conventional wisdom of this world's leadership, especially where it is glaringly wrong. I admit, I do question things quite a bit, but only because many times I have observed things behaving contrary to the supposed wisdom Conventional Authority[who as a general rule, resents having such authority questioned] when I've spent hours in the field over a period of 30+ years. For example, take the image from 'Springer Images' on the right. It is an example of plants said to ONLY germinate as a result of Fire and these plants are called "Obligate Seeders". Upper image: (left) serotinous cone of Pinus halepensis; (right) Pinus halepensis seedling. Lower image: Cistus creticus seedlings massively appearing on the burned ground. Yes, and as the story goes when the justification of Prescribed Burns is promoted, many plants cannot survive and/or propagate without fire and because there has been historical fire suppression, these ecosystems are in danger of going extinct otherwise. This has also been said about Tecate Cypress in a research papers and other Cypress are also "Obligate Seeders"

[PDF] A framework for assessing adaptation strategies for plants ... 

"Tecate Cypress (Cupressus forbesii) Threatened by altered fire regime ▪ Obligate seeder – time for seed bank" 

"Longer average fire return intervals better than shorter Fire Return Intervals, with 60 – 80 year average fire return intervals being optimal"

(See the link: What We Need Here is Wildfire to Propagate )

Again with Tecate Cypress, as I've written about before [see link above] and given directions where to view Tecate Cypress seedling Germination in old growth Chaparral/Tecate Cypress settings on Guatay Mountain between Pine Valley and Descanso CA right on Old U.S. Route Hwy 80. Then there was always my easiest example where I used to collect Tecate Cypress cone at Wildcat Spring on Boulder Creek Road below the western face of Cuyamaca Peak. 

See link to WildcatSpring

Image - San Diego Trails

Tecate Cypress seedlings were always common every year when I came to collect cones off those large trees. They were not only under the canopy of the Mother Cypress Trees, but pioneering out into the Chaparral as well. Sadly, I'm afraid the 2003 Cedar Fire put an abrupt halt to all of that. I'd be curious if any reader would go there and report back to us with any photos. You can identify the spot which has a rock build square shaped reservoir for storage. Fire just is not necessary in many cases. But the strategy of explosive seed germination are necessary 'IF' a fire does plow through an area eliminating entire woodlands, but certainly not a requirement as the conventional wisdom would have you all believe.  Another study [and there are countless others like it], which I reference at the bottom of this post because it deals with research on the age of Manzanitas, also refers to Manzanitas as one of these "Obligate Seeders", which by the definition given by this paper means this:

"These species have been well-studied in CA, and their seeds have been found to require fire for germination – this germination type is called ‘obligate seeder’.  In CA and in other Mediterranean climates, shrubs with obligate seeder germination are generally unable to successfully recruit in the absence of fire."  (uuuun-believable)

( *see link below @ bottom of this post)

Here is something interesting about my experience with Big Berry Manzanita. I had many on my former Anza California property. On the south side of my house I had 5 Manzanita seedlings which all sprouted during or about the same time period of the year 1986 & year after 1987. They were all down slope of two very large old growth Manzanitas which were  along side the dirt road Table Mountain Trail. These five or six seedlings didn't require any fire whatsoever. In fact they all germinated in between some other shrubs what are commonly viewed as competitor chaparral, Chamise or Greasewood and in some of the most impossible soil you would never want to garden in. When I visited my old place this past year, three of the Manzanita shrubs were missing becayse the new owner bulldozed a pad and placed a small singlewide mobile home in it's place, but the rest were still there. This area also always had multiple Coyote scat loaded with seeds as there was always a small narrow game trail running through this location. And that is where I am glad I took these next photos on the South Fork San Jacinto River Canyon trail in early May 2013.

image - Mine

Somehow I knew this would come in handy. This Coyote scat (droppings) are representative of what is part of a predators diet, though most folks would never associate Manzanita berries as part of a coyote's diet. This is a common sight on hiking trails. At different times of year you may also find Holly Leaf Cherry seeds in Coyote scat. In any case, the stomach acid effects can have the similar chemical trigger that may result in prepping the seed for germination. But this proves that fire isn't always necessary as advertised by so-called experts who may have a vested interest in such mythology with great commercial potential. 

Photo: Mine

This young Manzanita was emerging from a Chamise or Greasewood as the Prescribe Burn proponents love to call it. This plant also was along the South Fork San Jacinto River Canyon Trail and about ten yards further up the trail from the Coyote scat. Now I can't say for sure that this small shrub resulted from the Coyote scat, perhaps it could have been even microbial breakdown of the hard seed shell which allowed germination. In any event, what I do know is that it wasn't the result fire as there was no recent evidence of such anywhere.

For those local to the Anza/Aguanga area and interested in seeing for themselves, as opposed to taking my word for it, here is an easier drive to take and you may not even have to get out of your Car. Between Bautista Road and all the way west to the very foothills of Cahuilla Mountain, there are whole acreage patches of pure Manzanita chaparral stands where this fire prescription hasn't been necessary. To make things specific and easy, take Cary Road north from Highway 371 towards the area called Tripp Flatts. In fact I believe somewhere in twists and turns, Cary Rd becomes Tripp Flats Road. At a certain point you will come to a Y in the road where pavement continues to the left, but straight on to the right becomes Woodview Rd which loops around and eventually comes back to Tripp Flats Rd by means of Saddleback Road. There are other loops, but that is a main one. Keep in mind that traditionally this road has been a rough one with rocks, wash board and ruts everywhere depending on recent rains. But that's rural life in Anza. What you will notice in many of the cuts the road takes through hills is that the sloping berms created by the road cuts will have numerous small Manzanitas of varying ages and Fire was NOT a reason they germinated. Anyway, here is a map link to make it easier to find. (Map Loop link) . Even off Baustista Rd, you'll find many roads heading west towards other land development which will offer similar observations. The "Obligate Seed" anomaly may simply be viewed as  a document or file of a genetic programming to be used where immediate recovery on a grander scale is necessary to counteract the effects of a catastrophic event. If these fire events however happen to frequently, even this file or program is made worthless. 

The recent events of the major wildfire tragedies have brought out the Ideologue boys in pimping Control or Prescribed Burn philosophies which are nothing more than Government looking like they are doing something good in the eyes of their citizens, despite the evidence that Nature doesn't work this way. Hence, justification for prescribed burns are said to be necessary because the Native Americans did it. Or the flawed argument that chaparral needs a regular healthy burn because it can't germinate without it. Both these flawed reasonings are parroted by countless ignorant citizens on all manner of discussion boards because they are conditioned to letting the Authorities do their Natural World thinking and research for them as opposed to actually getting off backsides out and out into the field and finding out for themselves. Such strategy by Authorities is nothing new. When Christendom ruled europe for Centuries with an iron fist this was done very effectively for Centuries by indoctrinating parishioners not to question their Authority. So it should not come as a surprise when today's Secular Authorities employ the same information control tactic. You've heard the expression, "If it's not broken why fix it" ? Rulership never changes, just the change of garb. Especially with this latest "Mountain fire" in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs California have many well known ignorant statements been made by people promoting themselves as the infallible authority. Two main ones come to mind. Recent comments by supposed Fire Ecologist Richard Minnich who says old growth vegetation is a bad thing and Politician Harry Reed who had this to say below:

"Reid said the government should be spending “a lot more” on fire prevention, echoing elected officials who say the Forest Service should move more aggressively to remove brush and undergrowth that turn small fires into huge ones."

(Source)

Image - Mine

Cuyamaca Cypress & it's
Chamise Nurse Plant

The sad thing is, the average person will parrot such men or woman in charge of fire policy. Chaparral and old growth Forests are not the problem. Human error however is the issue. The challenge for these Politicians and others in authority, is how do you control human behavior ? Answer- you can't. Aside from creating some newer extremist type of Laws hindering more freedom and strict enforcement of penalties by means of a Scientific Socialism type of Gestapo police state action, quite simply you still won't control people's actions, whether deliberate or the flaws of their own stupid decision making. Education certainly would be beneficial, but let's be honest here, this freedom mentality is a tough nut to crack and rein in. Teaching people that Freedom has limits is not what the majority wants to hear, even though they know this to be true. You all know what I'm talking about, just flick on the Nightly News. For some people like the Minnichs, Bonnicksens or the Reids of our world, they will always cite that often misused and abused term "peer-review". Ever notice that some intellectuals [at least the ones that promote themselves as such] seem to be incapable of believing in something unless it's been "peer-reviewed". It's like a truth of a matter cannot be correctly established unless it has been 'peer-reviewed'. But is there really any guarantee that 'peer-review' translates as 'Truth' ? While peer-review is a wonderful concept and should be used for the purpose intended, it is no guarantee of truth of a matter. Some people use it in discussions and debates as a kind of 'magic pixie dust' for settling an argument on Public Forums.The bottom line here is, you should always test things out for yourself. If you believe you cannot trust something unless it has been peer-reviewed, then you seriously need deprogramming. The obsession with "peer-review" often champions another term called "political correctness, when what is really needed is "common sense." If "peer-review" was actually the silver bullet for success,

"The gullible believe anything they’re told; the prudent sift and weigh every word. Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion; wise realists plant their feet on the ground."

Proverbs 14:15-16 

Don't be gullible and taken in by the Expert's bluff. When you hear the News Reports and the Politicking going on, take everything with a grain of Salt. If you are a private citizen property owner, don't wait and count on the leadership to say and do the right thing before you act on your own land. Historical precedents tell us it'll be a long ride before that happens and the Earth and Natural World under the present system doesn't have the luxury of time.

Interesting Reading References:

http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/FuelsReductionSWOregon/ResearchReports/Research_ChaparralEcology/Research_ChaparralEcologynew.html