wildfire risk washington state

Wildfire smoke and Washington workers. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. In the northwest, this crisis is prompting something of a truce. Copyright © 2019 NPR. SIEGLER: Washington is coming off some historically bad wildfire seasons. VAAGEN: We're creating better, healthier forests that we're leaving out there, leaving the biggest and best trees behind to be in a natural spacing that would've been here, you know, had we not fought the wildfires or logged the forests in the past. SIEGLER: But Russ Vaagen, the mill owner in Colville, sees it as a potential model for reviving rural economies. Environmentalists are conceding they can't stop all logging, and the timber industry is realizing they can't just cut all the big trees that make the most money. People here have felt left out of the tech boom in cities while watching their jobs get moved overseas. As you drive up 395 through the Colville Valley, you'll see burned parts. SIEGLER: For sure, there are still fights over the forests here, and Franz's plan has been criticized by those who worry it gives the state and industry too much say over what's going on in national forests. It said, if you want to invest in cross-laminating timber, you should come to Washington state 'cause we're going to guarantee you supply. But when you get down to it, people want what's best. The state of Washington is moving to aggressively thin forests to reduce the worsening wildfire risk. SIEGLER: There's emerging consensus this is part of the solution to the worsening wildfires, which are threatening homes and people and emitting even more CO2 into the atmosphere. Another one is in the planning. RUSS VAAGEN: People want eco-friendly building materials, and we have an opportunity to make them here and to do something different in the forest that hasn't been done before. This is a remarkable turn of events. We see it politically. PETERSON: What I find is that people who don't want to collaborate typically throw darts from a distance. We Insist: A Timeline Of Protest Music In 2020. They chewed through mountains east of the Cascades, where forests are stressed by climate change and overgrown from a legacy of suppressing natural fires. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. SIEGLER: Two of these mills have opened in the past few months. All rights reserved. Franz is that rare liberal politician from the Seattle area making inroads in conservative eastern Washington, where she's widely respected as someone who listens and follows through. Accuracy and availability may vary. SIEGLER: Sue Richart echoes a common local refrain. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. Now, what's different here - he's milling all the smaller-diameter younger trees that are densely packed into the forests. The state of Washington's Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz considers it a win-win for the environment and the economy. And I've seen the growing urban-rural divide. That removes the biggest fire risk and turns them into a marketable product. SUE RICHART: The fires have forced everyone to relook how they were doing things. Click on icons to find current wildfire infomation. FRANZ: I think leadership and leaders have to start really being able to lead and change the language that is used that is about division. KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Diesel trucks rumble up Highway 395, headed for nearby mills. ... risk for employee symptoms can increase. VAAGEN: That's good advice if I ever heard it. During one week this past winter, 54 fires were burning. The Inciweb website provides information on large wildfires burning throughout the nation, including Washington. Thousands lost jobs. They ignited in rainforests. SIEGLER: It's what amounts to the morning rush in Colville, a small timber town sandwiched into the remote mountains near the Canadian border. She's helped enact an ambitious plan to thin and treat nearly 3 million acres of forest over the next 20 years. They don't read the science, or they selectively pick science. SIEGLER: Vaagen says what's best is getting past the divisions and reducing the threat of wildfires. SIEGLER: This is Russ Vaagen. ... Workers entitled to Washington State's paid sick leave protections may be entitled to use accrued paid sick leave to care for themselves or a family member whose health has been affected from exposure to wildfire smoke and/or high temperatures. VAAGEN: What we're seeing in front of us is cross-laminated timber and... SIEGLER: The idea behind cross-laminated timber is that you mill and glue the smaller wood together and turn it into big beams and lumber boards without having to cut down a bigger tree. The state of Washington is moving to aggressively thin forests to reduce the worsening wildfire risk. VAAGEN: Well, I grew up here, and I lived here my whole life. After a rain, the smell of freshly cut wood hangs thick in the air. Everyone knows clear-cutting is bad, but putting out every fire or stopping all cutting is also bad, even dangerous. And then there's the dull roar of the Vaagen Brothers' sawmill dominating the skyline on the edge of town. Or, click the logo or here to link to a full screen version. As the threat of wildfires worsens, environmentalists are joining forces with loggers in parts of the rural Northwest. SIEGLER: Environmentalist Mike Peterson (ph) is on board. They don't get out on the ground. He's hiking through a proposed forest-thinning project he helped broker. He's standing on the floor of his brand-new sawmill next door to the family's old sawmill built in the 1950s. As crews work to contain this summer's devastating wildfires, there is new scrutiny over how well state officials are managing the forests to reduce these dangers. Click on the map and use the + and - keys to zoom in and out. RICHART: It's the large fires, which is totally frightening. SIEGLER: For the first time in decades, lumber mills like this are expanding. The initiative signals a rare truce between loggers and environmentalists. OK, in these times of sharp political divisions, we now bring you a story about bridging divides. Because of climate change, Washington is at risk for more intense, severe wildfires.

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