budthespud
07-26-2005, 08:56 AM
Figure could be much higher, officials say
By Andrew Silva, Staff Writer
The Grand Prix, Padua and Old wildfires of 2003 cost at least $1.2billion, according to an analysis released Monday by the U.S. Forest Service, and that doesn't include factors such as lost income and habitat.
It's one of the first times the Forest Service has tried to look at the regional, national and societal costs of a wildfire.
A look at those costs should encourage a commitment to more intense and long-term forest management, said Gene Zimmerman, supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest.
Projects to thin the forest with chain saws and prescribed burns to prevent such fires from raging out of control need to be done in perpetuity, he argued.
"The vegetation isn't going to stop growing and neither will the population. If we get to a point and think we are "done' and stop treating the forest, we risk being in the exact same situation down the road," Zimmerman said in a statement.
The 18-page report also discusses the increasing human presence in areas that once were wild.
The San Bernardino National Forest is one of the most urbanized in the nation. The report argues that in such areas, humans must be considered part of the environment.
Growth and development make forest management more difficult and often increase the danger to the ecosystem, the report said.
As stunning as the $1.2billion figure is, the report's authors readily admit it's an incomplete picture.
There was no attempt to calculate how much money businesses and individuals lost during a lengthy evacuation when access to the mountains was shut down.
And no attempt was made to attach dollar figures to lost habitat and lost recreational opportunities.
"If we were to include the costs we did not calculate, the number would be a lot larger," said Alex Dunn, a planning specialist for the San Bernardino National Forest who worked on the report.
He was surprised at the size of the number just from out-of-pocket-expenses by insurance companies and numerous state, federal and nonprofit agencies.
The cost of actually fighting the Old, Grand Prix and Padua fires, which burned more than 150,000 acres in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains in October and November 2003, was $61million. That accounts for only 5percent of the estimated total cost.
Insurance claims for losses in the fires total $576.2million. Southern California Edison estimates its eventual expenditures will hit $100million. The American Red Cross estimates it has spent $2.6million with $1.2million to go.
Regionally, the soil left bare by the fire along with tons of ash and debris has affected water quality as far away as Orange County, the report states, using information provided by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.
Those water-related costs have already hit $45.4million with $401.3million possible, the report states.
The report was prepared by the Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station Fire Laboratory in Riverside.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2981480,00.ht ml
By Andrew Silva, Staff Writer
The Grand Prix, Padua and Old wildfires of 2003 cost at least $1.2billion, according to an analysis released Monday by the U.S. Forest Service, and that doesn't include factors such as lost income and habitat.
It's one of the first times the Forest Service has tried to look at the regional, national and societal costs of a wildfire.
A look at those costs should encourage a commitment to more intense and long-term forest management, said Gene Zimmerman, supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest.
Projects to thin the forest with chain saws and prescribed burns to prevent such fires from raging out of control need to be done in perpetuity, he argued.
"The vegetation isn't going to stop growing and neither will the population. If we get to a point and think we are "done' and stop treating the forest, we risk being in the exact same situation down the road," Zimmerman said in a statement.
The 18-page report also discusses the increasing human presence in areas that once were wild.
The San Bernardino National Forest is one of the most urbanized in the nation. The report argues that in such areas, humans must be considered part of the environment.
Growth and development make forest management more difficult and often increase the danger to the ecosystem, the report said.
As stunning as the $1.2billion figure is, the report's authors readily admit it's an incomplete picture.
There was no attempt to calculate how much money businesses and individuals lost during a lengthy evacuation when access to the mountains was shut down.
And no attempt was made to attach dollar figures to lost habitat and lost recreational opportunities.
"If we were to include the costs we did not calculate, the number would be a lot larger," said Alex Dunn, a planning specialist for the San Bernardino National Forest who worked on the report.
He was surprised at the size of the number just from out-of-pocket-expenses by insurance companies and numerous state, federal and nonprofit agencies.
The cost of actually fighting the Old, Grand Prix and Padua fires, which burned more than 150,000 acres in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains in October and November 2003, was $61million. That accounts for only 5percent of the estimated total cost.
Insurance claims for losses in the fires total $576.2million. Southern California Edison estimates its eventual expenditures will hit $100million. The American Red Cross estimates it has spent $2.6million with $1.2million to go.
Regionally, the soil left bare by the fire along with tons of ash and debris has affected water quality as far away as Orange County, the report states, using information provided by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.
Those water-related costs have already hit $45.4million with $401.3million possible, the report states.
The report was prepared by the Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station Fire Laboratory in Riverside.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2981480,00.ht ml