{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"New alliance of firefighters, environmentalists, plans to restore forest health","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"April 5, 2022 — A new alliance of environmentalists, fire departments, and landowners in northern Mendocino county is seeking to make forest resilience a priority for changes in the climate, economy, and social structure. About fifty people showed up at the kickoff event for the Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance at Tan Oak Park in Leggett on Sunday. \r\nKerry Reynolds is the Organizational Development Director for the Trees Foundation, which is the fiscal sponsor of the new Alliance. She notes that a lot more state money has recently become available to forest health projects, now that heavily populated areas are suffering the impacts of wildfires.“The funding is available,” she noted. “Finally. Even the Bay Area was having that total smoke-out and red skies, so there’s no place in California that’s not impacted by wildfires, obviously.”\r\nWill Emerson is the chief of the Bell Springs Fire Department and chairman of the board of the new Alliance. Prescribed fire will be a big part of the strategy to prevent raging infernos. Emerson says he hopes restoring the health of the forest will also provide paid work for his volunteers. “Firefighters are realizing that every time they put out a fire, they’re creating a debt,” he explained; “that really, the land needs to burn at some point, but you don’t want it burning in August when it’s a hundred degrees and the wind’s blowing. So, better to burn in the winter. All these forests are adapted to fire, if we let them. And all the suppression that’s happened in the last hundred years has just meant that there’s this huge buildup of fuel, and we’re paying the price now…we formed this organization around the three local volunteer departments of Piercy, Leggett and Bell Springs. Fire departments, especially volunteer fire departments, are great community organizations. It’s like our community is centered around them.”\r\nDuring the morning session, Emerson told the group that he can “hear the air hissing out of the...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}