Barb Haley, Watershed Watch Chair

My Observations
Date: July 11, 2024 @1800pm
Area: Glen Lake Fire “Post Fire Rehab”
Temperature: 39C
Weather: Gorgeous day
Visibility: Sad
Conditions: HOT HOT HOT
Observations: So the PWPA Executive and I took a drive up to the Glen Lake “Post Fire Rehab” area….
Several things to note:
We observed the deciduous trees that survived the fire that swept through the area!
The overgrown, poorly managed coniferous sections…
How the latest fire still burned the “unburnable” cut block areas (so much waste materials made for excellent ground fuels)
Gormans was supposed to harvest the burned and damged trees, from our observations, more than that was harvested, and yet stands of damaged trees were left.
No due care was given to water sources, all of which feed into our water supply. The “bridges” were a joke
So many slash piles left behind in areas that now have roads which are “decommissioned”. This appears to look like that no one will coming back to tend to these slash piles later. Also noted, huge slash piles from previous deforesting operations were still there (there is a 3 year window allowed in which these piles must be burned, and yet, they sit). One of which was clearly burned adjacent to neighboring old piles, which leads us to believe that maybe this particular one ignited from an ember during the last fire that swept through.
One area has been replanted…..yes! you guessed it! with baby pines. We took a closer look at the fresh slash pile burn and saw that baby tree were planted right in the ashes of the slash pile! Take a look around and notice how the ground all around the slash pile has been recovereing naturally with lots of fresh new growth, and yet, not a single thing was found to be growing in the sterile ashes of the slash pile, except for the sorry little seedlings….
Many more observations were made, it was a great idea to do a check up…..but my question is: Who and how are the parties involved being held accountable? I fear there is no accountability at all, a freaking free-for-all! (shit-show). This needs to stop, there are better and more sustainable ways, albeit maybe less lucrative in the short term, but if we continue with the present process, beliefs and trains of thought, though money is flowing now, what will these industries do whn there is nothing left?