Paul Hessburg: Why wildfires have gotten worse -- and what we can do about it
Пол Хессбург: Почему лесные пожары становятся сильнее — и как мы можем их остановить
Paul Hessburg studies very large forest landscapes and what makes them tick. Full bio
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of western forests have burned
лесов на западе погибло
is actually why my family and I live here.
выбора места жительства для моей семьи.
что останется после нас
about what we're leaving behind
than the state of Oregon has burned
штат Орегон, в результате пожаров
have been destroyed.
и разрушенных домов
have steadily increased
последних трёх десятилетий.
than 100,000 acres --
более 40 000 гектаров земли.
результаты наших действий
we've managed this western landscape
за последние 150 лет
которые мы сейчас наблюдаем,
that we are currently seeing
studying these western landscapes,
изучению западного ландшафта.
of our fire-management habits,
of our beloved forests.
наших любимых лесов.
в течение нашей жизни
на жестокую правду о лесных пожарах
some tough truths about wildfires,
to learn to better live with them
их появления в наших лесах.
to talk to you about today.
какими они были 100 или 150 лет назад
of 100 or 150 years ago.
were taken in the 1930s
были сделаны панорамные фото
mountaintop lookouts,
тех лесов — это «лоскутные».
these forests of old is "patchy."
was this constantly evolving patchwork
и разновозрастных лесов,
canopy forests of all ages,
былых пожаров.
by today's standards.
незначительными по сегодняшним меркам.
that this landscape was open,
что это был открытый ландшафт,
of the open forest
shaping this historical patchwork:
историческую пестроту лесов.
whether a place faces north or south
южный или северный склон,
or in a valley bottom;
расположен лес,
gets a lot of snow and rain,
и тепла получает лес.
shaped the way fire behaved
between the patterns and the processes.
структурой леса и процессам в нём.
на расстоянии друг от друга.
and fairly far apart.
and when they occurred,
и пожары случались реже.
and fires were less frequent,
they were quite a bit more severe.
the environments that they grew in
they all worked together
распространения пожара на местности.
across the landscape.
of fire across the landscape.
дальнейшее распространение пожара.
помогают остальному лесу
helped the rest of the forest
жившие на этой территории,
lived on this landscape,
и довольно масштабно.
огнём определённые леса,
and to thin certain forests
чтобы увеличить площадь пастбищ
and the bison that they hunted.
на которых охотились.
fires of summer.
стихийных летних пожаров.
much later, in the mid-1800s,
намного позднее, в середине 1800-х,
grazing was in high gear.
приобрёл массовый характер.
the cattle and the sheep ate the grasses
коровы и овцы съедали траву,
распространения исторических пожаров,
for the historical fires,
from thinning out trees
прореживать лесса
и железнодорожные пути,
and they acted as potent firebreaks,
они препятствовали распространению огня.
across this landscape.
вызвавшее переворот
which caused a sudden pivot
of the state of Connecticut.
Вашингтона до западной Монтаны
to western Montana,
почти 1 200 000 гектаров земли,
three million acres,
и погубив 87 человек,
and it killed 87 people.
became public enemy number one,
стал главным врагом государства
that we would think about wildfire
к лесным пожарам
существовавшей на тот момент 5 лет,
just five years young at the time,
of putting out all wildfires
государственных земель,
борьбы с пожарами
ability to put fires out,
it was now fire suppression
методы ликвидация пожаров,
shaper of our forests.
лесозаготовки переместились на запад,
got going in the west,
the large and the old trees.
столетия лесных пожаров.
of centuries of wildfires.
small trees filled in the gaps,
с тонкой корой заполнили промежутки
with trees so layered and close together
by roads and railroads,
дорогами и железнодорожными путями,
and logging, removing the big trees,
лесозаготовки уничтожили больши́е деревья.
the current epidemic of trees.
современную эпидемию деревьев.
для естественного равновесия системы.
looked like 100 years ago and today,
леса 100 лет назад и сейчас,
были созданы небольшими
sculptured by mostly small
так близко друг с другом,
so close together,
tree sizes and ages
гектар за гектаром,
from acre to acre,
and insect outbreaks,
или нашествию насекомых,
on the forest floor,
are getting hotter
увеличивается на 40–80 дней ежегодно.
40 to 80 days longer each year.
climatologists are predicting
климатологи предсказывают,
происходили пожары с 2000 года,
in the middle of this.
of all new housing starts are being built
всех строящихся жилых объектов
исчезнут в дыму пожарищ.
the power of the patchwork.
преимущества лоскутного леса.
сильных пожаров в будущем.
the severity of many of our future fires.
that we have tools
управляемого пожара для прореживания леса
to intentionally thin out trees
reduce them and keep them reduced.
для предотвращения пожаров.
уже сгоревшие участки леса,
patches on the landscape
распространению огня в будущем.
with some of these treatments
с механическим прореживанием,
some of these treatments,
гарантируя безопасность,
is that prescribed burning produces
плановые пожары создают меньше дыма,
законодательством о качестве воздуха,
regulated under air quality rules
можно избежать.
(Смех)
in the summers
чтобы изменить ситуацию.
to get this changed.
и избавлять лес от валежника.
of the patchwork.
эффект лоскутного леса.
and climate explanations,
с точки зрения экологии и климата,
and it will take us humans to solve it.
и для её решения нужно привлечь людей.
таких методов очень слаба.
не поддерживаются должным образом.
are not well-supported.
to magically go away
магическим способом исчезли сами по себе
with them, don't we?
этот надоедливый дым, не так ли?
пожаров и дыма от них.
without lots of fire and lots of smoke.
даже не рассматривается.
make it our high priority
не сделаем решение этой проблемы
the current situation,
нести убытки от мегапожаров.
continued losses to megafires.
to our lawmakers,
нам управлять пожарами
are burned black?
будут сожжены дотла?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Paul Hessburg - Research ecologistPaul Hessburg studies very large forest landscapes and what makes them tick.
Why you should listen
Paul Hessburg is a research ecologist who builds models of historical and modern era conditions in large forests and studies what factors make them behave as they do. In fact, much of his research is trying to decipher what is normal. In his research, Hessburg wants to know how the forests we inherited worked before we changed them. What did "natural" look like, and what specifically did we change about naturalness? What's still working well, and what could use a hand down?
Hessburg has spent most of his adult life (35 years) in his dream job. He works for the USDA, Forest Service, at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, where he is stationed at a field laboratory in Wenatchee, WA, US. That's located about five blocks just east of heaven, he says. He has a doctorate in Forest Pathology from Oregon State University, and he has been working in forestry for 40 years. He's also an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
In 2017, Hessburg was awarded his Research Station's Distinguished Scientist Award, and he will be awarded his Agencies' Distinguished Scientist Award for 2017, in February of 2018.
Over the last two years, Paul has traveled and spoken to over 100 western US communities about the new era of megafires and what we can do about it. As he says, "Unless we change a few of our forest and fire management habits in the US, we will lose many more beloved forests; some won’t recover in our lifetime."
Paul Hessburg | Speaker | TED.com