Homer Fire, Problem Trees with Bugs and Cleaning up themselves in Tanana

Rain in Anchorage and outlying parts is a great thing. We are in dire need of it considering how high the fire danger is right now for south central. Unfortunately, Homer isn’t getting this much needed rain, in which they need more then us in Anchorage need at this moment in time.

But the spruce bark beetles are the reason why everything is shooting up in flames as you sit there, reading my article. These pesky little insects kill the tree from the inside out and you can see it dieing. I wrote a little bit about the fire danger a few days ago, but no one seems to have noticed.

I do not understand why we do not implement some type of State and City (no matter what city) group effort in cutting these trees down. They are a complete fire hazard, as after the tree dies its decomposing trunk with the old sap still clinging to it’s brittle dry branches is just tinder for the next lightening storms or flicked cigarette butt or someone not paying attention to their burning… which I think is the case in Homer. But either way there are these dead trees all over Alaska. Why not cut them down and give them to people for fire wood? It lets other baby trees grow and is better for the environment at time then just letting them rot or having a fire, which kills everything in its wake. Including animals, birds and people.

The Kuskokwim and Yukon have been taking up much of Palin’s time, which is good as it does show she does care about Alaska and the Residents. Even if you think she does not. A Tanana Elder said that they are just going to start and rebuild without waiting for help. Good! Why wait? I am in total agreement with her. If you do not do for yourself, you will never get anything done. Good for Tanana! I hope that the fuel is also cleaned up. But that may take some time.

Fire Season is high and the Yukon isn't helping.

I sat last night looking over my little park that I live by and thought to myself, this seems familiar. The weather is dry, not at all like the soggy and cold summer South Central got last year. Why does this seem familiar? Then it hit me, this is going to be a summer that is very dry and we may have a fire like the Big Lake/Miller Reach fire, but closer to Anchorage and further north such as Talkeetna and Trapper creek and possibly Denali area.

Now, if you aren’t from Alaska it was a very serious fire. Unlike California that has those scrub brush bushes; South Central Alaska has insect infected Spruce trees that explode if they are on fire. Willow and Alder doesn’t explode, but based on the time of year that a fire starts, the sap they produce make a great torching effect and burn hot. Also, there are homes that have heating oil for their energy needs to warm water or keep the houses warm. Heating fuel in their containers is a huge hazard when a fire breaks out.

Why does this bother me? For the last few years, Alaska has been in a wetter then usual spell and we haven’t had the fires that we would normally have. That is normal actually as South Central up to Denali, The Panhandle of Alaska and quite a few spots in between are actually rain forest. But the Spruce Bark Beetle goes in cycles just like the weather. I had noticed them more last year as they were migrating out to look for new food sources (trees) and they were all over. But I never really thought anything of them as they do not bite you. But they were very large, so I know their cycle is about to explode again.

There were very few fires last year. The Caribou Fire in Kenai wasn’t huge, just smoky at best. I was fishing at the Russian and you couldn’t escape the smoke, but at least it wasn’t raining that day. There was a small fire up towards Fairbanks, but closer to Delta Junction that I remember. But it wasn’t big enough to worry about as the Rail Road was dealing with Fairbanks and Nenana flooding and the bridges closing.

Why is it I am worried about Wildfires right now, when Eagle and Fort Yukon are pretty much destroyed and Tanana as well as other villages are about to flood or are flooding now. It is a hazard to rebuild to begin with, but under the danger of possible wild land forest fires, this might be bad. These people have gone through enough, I don’t want to see them have to rebuild due to a freak lightening storm or a careless cigarette thrown on brush.

It is a good idea to keep an eye on the weather, not just the water. This is the start of Fire Season in Alaska.