You didn’t need to fly into Ontario International Airport this past week to know that Southern California’s fire season had begun. But the view from 10,000 feet offered a unique perspective on how wildfires impact the region

Miller, Char

Scholarship@Claremont

Claremont CollegesScholarship @ ClaremontPomona Faculty Publications and Research Pomona Faculty Scholarship6-24-2016Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts to TameChaparralChar MillerPomona CollegeThis Newspaper - Section, column, etc. is brought to you for free and open access by the Pomona Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. Ithas been accepted for inclusion in Pomona Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For moreinformation, please contact scholarship@cuc.claremont.edu.Recommended CitationMiller, Char. "Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts to Tame Chaparral." The Press Enterprise 24 June 2016: Opinion. Web.8/31/2016 CHAR MILLER: Fire inevitable, despite attempts to tame chaparral ­ Press Enterprisehttp://www.pe.com/articles/fire­806690­san­chaparral.html 1/4Top Workplaces  UnidosSC.com  WeatherPress-Enterprise RewardsEditorials Editorial Cartoons Local Views Election Editorials Letters to the Editor Submit a LetterNEWSRemains of 5 adultsfound a䎲埔er fire atTemecula-area carefacilityNEWS'Baggy Eyes Bandit,'suspected in Norco,Rancho Cucamongabank robberies, hasbeen arrestedNEWSRiverside teen getsprison for brutallystabbing woman todeathHOMESign up for The Press-Enterprisenewsletters, specialo䎲垂ersSubscribe Today    Customer Service    P-Edition    Advertise  Search Website  CARSJOBSHOMESDEALSCLASSIFIEDSTweet   OPINIONCHAR MILLER: Fire inevitable, despiteattempts to tame chaparralLike ShareBy CHAR MILLER / Contributing writerPublished: June 24, 2016 Updated: 9:58 p.m.You didn’t need to fly into Ontario International Airport this past week to know thatSouthern California’s fire season had begun. But the view from 10,000 feet o䎜컌ered aunique perspective on how wildfires impact the region.Descending through the Cajon Pass, my flight cut through a slipstream of smoke ridingthe strong westerly winds that sweep along the front face of the San GabrielMountains. The connection between the Southland’s prevailing air currents andtopography means that any fire burning in the Angeles National Forest will extend farbeyond that fire’s precise location.That’s true for the Reservoir and Fish fires that erupted on June 20 and haveconsumed more than 6,000 acres. Their reach far exceeds their physical size. Thoseliving within the basin that extends from the San Gabriel Valley east to Riverside andSan Bernardino could not miss the smaze hanging overhead, white ash dri䎜컌ing downlike snow or an acrid burning in our throats.This bitter a䎜컌ertaste even penetrated the jet that brought me home the day the recentfires ignited. As it made its final approach, the pressurized cabin filled with the stenchof burnt wood. A flight attendant had to calm out-of-state passengers by assuringthem they weren’t smelling engine failure but forest fires nearly 30 miles away.Locals may have smiled knowingly at our seatmates’ initial distress, but we are notany more discerning about another consistent aspect of fire season – how we talk(and argue) about wildland conflagrations.For the U.S. Forest Service, CalFire and county firefighting agencies, these blazes seemto have a single cause: the density of what they call “fuel.” Since the majority of our News Sports Entertainment Business Life Opinion Blogs Photos Obits8/31/2016 CHAR MILLER: Fire inevitable, despite attempts to tame chaparral ­ Press Enterprisehttp://www.pe.com/articles/fire­806690­san­chaparral.html 2/4THINGS TO DOAcoustical Ceilings909-985-5613Riverside Yellow Pages  CHILD DEVELOPMENT HIRINGEVENT SEPTEMBER 1, 2016San Bernardino County Preschool Services…read moreSee AllMost Popular EventsSep 9Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa90s Remix Tour feat. Blackstree…forests in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains are composedof chaparral, that “fuel” consists of such shrubs as ceanothus, sage, chamise,manzanita and related species. It is an indigenous ecosystem that when healthy growsthick, forming an impenetrable, clothes-tearing habitat that naturalist John Muir oncepraised as “thornily savage.”Fire agencies have never shared Muir’s love for the prickly chaparral. Since the early20th century, they have tried to get rid of it. Yet every attempt has failed to supplantthe endemic biota; every e䎜컌ort to convert it to grassland has proved just asunsuccessful.Its competitiveness has not stopped public lands managers from fighting back. Theirlatest strategy is arguing that chaparral poses an extreme fire danger, so much so thatit must be cleared away by mechanical and/or chemical means. Huge machines calledmasticators chew up acres at a time; various herbicides are then sprayed to keep itfrom re-sprouting. For those who finger chaparral as Southern California’s fireproblem, shredding and poisoning it within the wildland-urban interface and deep inbackcountry are the only ways to save life, limb and landscape.Not so. The historical record indicates that chaparral wildfires can be large but arealso infrequent; and ecologists a䎜컌irm that neither the age of the forest nor its densitydetermines when these fires will erupt or how they burn. Rather, chaparral fires areweather-driven phenomena: high heat, low humidity, Santa Ana winds and deepdrought are the necessary preconditions for such fast-moving burns as the Fish andReservoir – and every other significant fire in the region over time.Fire, in short, is inevitable: that’s the big picture, whether looking down from 10,000feet or studying this region’s fire history. Yet that is not what we tell ourselveswhenever flames sweep up canyon and over ridgeline. Instead the agencies speak ofbattling enemy fire, and the media o䎜컌er eye-catching images of soot-stainedfirefighters and orange-red fire retardant raining down.To challenge this frenzied narration is itself a signal that a new fire season has arrived.Another is captured in the haunting words an acquaintance uttered while peeringthrough a window at the smoke-filled sky: “It’s like death outside.”Char Miller is a professor of environmental analysis at Pomona College in Claremontand author of “America’s Great National Forests, Wildernesses and Grasslands” andthe forthcoming “Not So Golden State: Sustainability vs. the California Dream.”Sign up to get breaking news updates delivered toyour inbox.Enter your email addressSign upWRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Letters to the Editor: E-mail to letters@pe.com.Please provide your name, city and telephone number (telephone numbers will not bepublished). Letters of about 200 words will be given preference. Letters will be editedfor length, grammar and clarity. 

Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts to Tame Chaparral

Keck Graduate Institute

Claremont Colleges
Scholarship @ Claremont
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research Pomona Faculty Scholarship
6-24-2016
Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts to Tame
Chaparral
Char Miller
Pomona College
This Newspaper - Section, column, etc. is brought to you for free and open access by the Pomona Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Pomona Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more
information, please contact scholarship@cuc.claremont.edu.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Char. "Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts to Tame Chaparral." The Press Enterprise 24 June 2016: Opinion. Web.
8/31/2016 CHAR MILLER: Fire inevitable, despite attempts to tame chaparral ­ Press Enterprise
http://www.pe.com/articles/fire­806690­san­chaparral.html 1/4
Top Workplaces  UnidosSC.com  Weather
Press-Enterprise Rewards
Editorials Editorial Cartoons Local Views Election Editorials Letters to the Editor Submit a Letter
NEWS
Remains of 5 adults
found a䎲埔er fire at
Temecula-area care
facility
NEWS
'Baggy Eyes Bandit,'
suspected in Norco,
Rancho Cucamonga
bank robberies, has
been arrested
NEWS
Riverside teen gets
prison for brutally
stabbing woman to
death
HOME
Sign up for The Press-
Enterprise
newsletters, special
o䎲垂ers
Subscribe Today    Customer Service    P-Edition    Advertise  Search Website  
CARS
JOBS
HOMES
DEALS
CLASSIFIEDS
Tweet   
OPINION
CHAR MILLER: Fire inevitable, despite
attempts to tame chaparral
Like Share
By CHAR MILLER / Contributing writer
Published: June 24, 2016 Updated: 9:58 p.m.
You didn’t need to fly into Ontario International Airport this past week to know that
Southern California’s fire season had begun. But the view from 10,000 feet o䎜컌ered a
unique perspective on how wildfires impact the region.
Descending through the Cajon Pass, my flight cut through a slipstream of smoke riding
the strong westerly winds that sweep along the front face of the San Gabriel
Mountains. The connection between the Southland’s prevailing air currents and
topography means that any fire burning in the Angeles National Forest will extend far
beyond that fire’s precise location.
That’s true for the Reservoir and Fish fires that erupted on June 20 and have
consumed more than 6,000 acres. Their reach far exceeds their physical size. Those
living within the basin that extends from the San Gabriel Valley east to Riverside and
San Bernardino could not miss the smaze hanging overhead, white ash dri䎜컌ing down
like snow or an acrid burning in our throats.
This bitter a䎜컌ertaste even penetrated the jet that brought me home the day the recent
fires ignited. As it made its final approach, the pressurized cabin filled with the stench
of burnt wood. A flight attendant had to calm out-of-state passengers by assuring
them they weren’t smelling engine failure but forest fires nearly 30 miles away.
Locals may have smiled knowingly at our seatmates’ initial distress, but we are not
any more discerning about another consistent aspect of fire season – how we talk
(and argue) about wildland conflagrations.
For the U.S. Forest Service, CalFire and county firefighting agencies, these blazes seem
to have a single cause: the density of what they call “fuel.” Since the majority of our
 
News Sports Entertainment Business Life Opinion Blogs Photos Obits
8/31/2016 CHAR MILLER: Fire inevitable, despite attempts to tame chaparral ­ Press Enterprise
http://www.pe.com/articles/fire­806690­san­chaparral.html 2/4
THINGS TO DO
Acoustical Ceilings
909-985-5613
Riverside Yellow Pages
 
 
CHILD DEVELOPMENT HIRING
EVENT SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
San Bernardino County Preschool Services…
read more
See AllMost Popular Events
Sep 9
Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa
90s Remix Tour feat. Blackstree…
forests in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains are composed
of chaparral, that “fuel” consists of such shrubs as ceanothus, sage, chamise,
manzanita and related species. It is an indigenous ecosystem that when healthy grows
thick, forming an impenetrable, clothes-tearing habitat that naturalist John Muir once
praised as “thornily savage.”
Fire agencies have never shared Muir’s love for the prickly chaparral. Since the early
20th century, they have tried to get rid of it. Yet every attempt has failed to supplant
the endemic biota; every e䎜컌ort to convert it to grassland has proved just as
unsuccessful.
Its competitiveness has not stopped public lands managers from fighting back. Their
latest strategy is arguing that chaparral poses an extreme fire danger, so much so that
it must be cleared away by mechanical and/or chemical means. Huge machines called
masticators chew up acres at a time; various herbicides are then sprayed to keep it
from re-sprouting. For those who finger chaparral as Southern California’s fire
problem, shredding and poisoning it within the wildland-urban interface and deep in
backcountry are the only ways to save life, limb and landscape.
Not so. The historical record indicates that chaparral wildfires can be large but are
also infrequent; and ecologists a䎜컌irm that neither the age of the forest nor its density
determines when these fires will erupt or how they burn. Rather, chaparral fires are
weather-driven phenomena: high heat, low humidity, Santa Ana winds and deep
drought are the necessary preconditions for such fast-moving burns as the Fish and
Reservoir – and every other significant fire in the region over time.
Fire, in short, is inevitable: that’s the big picture, whether looking down from 10,000
feet or studying this region’s fire history. Yet that is not what we tell ourselves
whenever flames sweep up canyon and over ridgeline. Instead the agencies speak of
battling enemy fire, and the media o䎜컌er eye-catching images of soot-stained
firefighters and orange-red fire retardant raining down.
To challenge this frenzied narration is itself a signal that a new fire season has arrived.
Another is captured in the haunting words an acquaintance uttered while peering
through a window at the smoke-filled sky: “It’s like death outside.”
Char Miller is a professor of environmental analysis at Pomona College in Claremont
and author of “America’s Great National Forests, Wildernesses and Grasslands” and
the forthcoming “Not So Golden State: Sustainability vs. the California Dream.”
Sign up to get breaking news updates delivered to
your inbox.
Enter your email address
Sign up
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Letters to the Editor: E-mail to letters@pe.com.
Please provide your name, city and telephone number (telephone numbers will not be
published). Letters of about 200 words will be given preference. Letters will be edited
for length, grammar and clarity.
 


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Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts to Tame Chaparral

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