Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

b y J. G . Kr ol Well, I tri ed again, bu t n ot with much b ette r lu ck th an o n previous a ttem pts, Y o u'd thi nk that w ith the hundreds of govemme n t agencies involved, w it h th e tens of m illions of tax dollars spent annually to "fight" forest fires; wi th th e extensive prop aganda p rograms d esign ed to crea te in th e p u blic m ind a p er fec tl y identi ty betwee n forest fire and evil (Incl uding the S moke y Bear program that the Office o f Emergency Planning enthusiastically described in its re p o rt to Congress as having "marked impact p a r tic ul arly w ith chil dren and thro ug h th e childre n to the p a ren ts" - Chairman Ma o, a re you takin g n o te s?), you'd thin k that with all this government activity n oth in g wou ld b e easie r th an ge tting h o n est a nswers to so me basic ques ti ons: I ) What good is accom p lishe d by th e seve ral mi llion d oll a rs p er y e ar th at m o t o rcy cli sts a re fo rce d to spend o n spark a rreste rs? 2) H ow m an y fire s are prevented, and w hat p roportion o f the total d o e s th is rep resen t ? 3 ) How man y ac re s a ren ' t burned b ec a u se of mo t orcycl e sp ar k arr e ste rs , and what d o es t h is me an in te rm s o f d oll ar lo sse s an d th e ecologic a l b al an ce of na ture ? Bu t th e legio n s of fe de ral , sta le, c ou n ty an d lo cal fun ction a rie s seem fa r more in t ere sted in en fo rci ng sp a r k arres te r laws, viola ti on of wh ich ca rries a w h opping fin e , than in consi dering wh at good, if any , these laws actually d o. Accord ing to federal data, we ll over h alf o f all forest fires in the R oc ky Mountain and Pa ci fic Coast sta tes arc ca use d b y lightnin g. In th e South e ast, ab o u t o ne-third of all fores t fires are due to w h a t th e Fe ds choose to ca ll "in cendiarism " . Sounds terrible, d o esn "t it? All those p yromania cs run ning aro u n d starting fires . Awfu l. Of c o u rse . wh en the Fe d s the mselves decid e to star t fires t hey d on 't call it b y th at nam e. T h ey c all it "pre scrib ed burnin g" and say , as the Department of Ag ricu lt u re d o cs , th at th e concept is sanc ti fie d b y "labo ra t ory programs" inclu de "highly te ch n ical, w hic h th e o retical and sca le m o d el rese ar ch conce rned with th e s tu dy o f fir e itself" , Highly tec hnical ? Wh a te ve r th at phrase m ea ns. yo u r tax d o llar s paid for it . so . . enjoy, enj oy. The p lain fac t is th at S o u th ern er s we re regularl y burnin g o u t ac cum u lated fo res t d eb ri s lon g b efore th ere wa s a Bureau o f Land Ma n agemen t o r a U. S . Fores t Service, a u sefu l t rick th e y learn e d from th e In d ians w h o d id it for th ousands o f yea rs b efo re th e re was eve n a Rig Brothe r. l t wo rks. T h at 's wh y the Feds a re slo w ly b egi nning t o talk about " presc ribe d burning", an a nc ierlt p ractice en do we d wit h a cl u msy bure a ucra tic n eolo gism . T he on ly point in con flict - is wh e th er the decisions wh e re an d wh en to b um sha ll h e made by the peop le wh o h an : w orked t hc land a n d h a ve lived on it for genera tio ns, or b y federal ap poin tees. lsn" t it j u st a bi t o d d th aI th e fir s t heavy b low s shou ld b e stru ck against m ot or~y cl ists in the ve r-y region whe re, ::,ccor d m g 10 thc Fe ds' own a rgument , such impositions ma ke the le ast sense ? Other rati o n al · arguments fav oring spark ar resters tum a u t to be similarl y d o u b t ful. S ou th ern California's highest" fire risk c,:,me s at the en d o f th~ dry season , J ust b efore th e an n u a l m on so o n s, and when a fire d oes occu r on .h illsid es,. it is inevitabl y foll owed by seri o us e ro sio n and mudslides. But ·th e nearby X ational Forests n eed fea r n o wh e re moto rc ycl es are still a llowe d to operate d u rin g th e fire seaso n . Some of the arg umen ts are d e cid edly circular. For e xa m p le , if you c o m p u te th e loss due to fire as a ratio o f th e ex p en se o f preven tion and c on tro l divided by th e number of fir e s, an d ta ke a hi gh valu e o f this ra tio to in d ica te a ne ed for further e xp en d itures on preven tion an d c o n trol, t he in h ere n t logic of yo u r accounting leads you to e x p an d yo u r fun din g towards infin ity. A gain, prote ct in g s u p p osed ly valuable timber is suppo sed t o b e a In Defens'e of Freedolll cycle -ca used con ll agra tions d ur ing this h igh -risk season - sp a rk arresters o r no - for th e b ru tally simp le re ason th a t th e s e m o unt a in ou s reg i ons a re co m p le te ly cl os ed t o publi c usc d u rin g th is p erio d .. .wh ich see ms to Re t lon ger an d lo n ge r each year. T h u s, th e months durin g wh ich sp a rk a rres te rs cou ld be e x pec ted t o have th eir gre atest b enefit a re the ve ry m onth s d u r i n g w hi c h m o t or c y cl e s a re p rohib ite d fro m u sin g th e "p ublic" Forests. A n d th e e ros io n arg u me n t d o es n ot apply t o the few n at de se rt re gion s p rin cipal a im of gove rn me n t, yet . acco rd ing to o n e go ve rn me n t report , t h e ch ief firc h azar d in timbe r fores ts is th e " im m ense q uan tit ies of loggin g slas h ". Why sh o uld m otorcy cl ist s b e b ur d en e d to protec t the im me diate econ o mic interes ts of loggers, wh en the lo gge rs th emse lves crea te th e m a in ha za rd s? Fu r the rmo re . in an oth er e xa m p le of ci rc u la ri ty , lo gger s wh o o wn st an ds o f tim ber th at rea lly a re ec o nomically va l uab le pr ovid e thei r o wn fire prot ection . Sha rp -pencile d acco u n tan ts w ill a llow u p to 99t fire fiRhti nR cos ts for tim ber th a t is w orth a do llar , for tha t le aves a pen n y profit, b u t the y wi ll ce rtain ly n ot spend $ 1.0 I protec tin g timber wo r th o nl y 1.00 , for that means an overall lo ss. Vet th e latter s i t u a rio n seems 10 be th e o n ly ex p lana tio n f or the in ce ssant cla m o r for funds by professional federal fire fighters. If th e tim b e r "resources" really a rc s o valuable, why n o t give m ot orcyclists fre e spark arresters, paid for o u t of loggin g-le ase revenues? U ltim a tely , th e j us tifica ti on for forcing cyclist s to buy spark arresters falls back o n th o roughl y irrational argurnenrs. Quote from the report by Farris Bryant, Dire ctor o f the Office of Em e rgency Planning: "It can be sai d tha t as long as a single fire o ccurs, the re ro om fo r improve ment in is preven ti on ". Recallin g that m o re th an half the Weste rn fires arc started b y lightni ng, does this m e an we sho u ld d evel o p .spark arreste rs in th re e sizes , fo r small, m ediu m and la rge c u m u lo-n im b u s th u nderh e ads? And if this a rgu me n t is lo gic al , wha t ' abou t th e foll o wi n g: A s lo n g as a single w o man di es in c h ild b ir th, th e re is room fo r improve men t in th e p reve ntion o f coit us . A s lo n g as a sing le pe rso n di e s in hi s b a t ht ub, the re is room for im p ro ve me n t in th e pre vention o f b a th . Th e abs u rd ity of su ch "re aso ning" is go o d evide n ce th a t m o torcy cli sts a re b ein g p oin tlessly ripped-o ff fo r spar k ar reste rs. tailor made - Alpina 2SO &350 All brush an d tim ber will b u rn , sooner or la ter, an d later is by no me ans al ways be tte r. Wh en bum s arc re gular, th e y a rc small , d o in g little m ore th an clearing o ut th e d ead wood . Bu t w hen fires arc " p rcven ted" fo r Ion s p eri ods, i.e., d ela y ed b e y ond th e norm a l sch ed ul e se t by n atu r e, so much ve ge ta ti o n acc u m u la tes th at th e eve n tu al fir es is m u ch fierc er - b ad eno ug h t o k ill p lants th a t , th rou gh adap ta tio n , w o u ld merel y lo se th eir le ave s under th e no rmal wa y ofna tu re. S o wh en m oney -h un gry bure a u crats d emand taxes and laws to d e lay th e in evi tab le, i j 's up to th em to prove the ad va n tage o f this cos t ly po lic y . How do th e y do it ? The nu mbe r on e a rgu me n t see m s t o b e the economic va lue of me rc h an t abl e timber, w hi c h n eeds to be p rote c te d as a n atio n al re source. Pla usib le eno ugh , hu t wh at does th at h ave 10 d o ' with th e S ou thern C a lifornia m o un tai ns w h ic h h ave n egl igibl e me rch an table timbe r, o r th e S outh ern Ca lifornia d eserts wh ich h ave n one ? T his region is d istin guish e d as much b y its lack of m e rchantable tim ber as by its p ro fu sion of dir t b ikes, and it was one of th e firs t to b e h it b y pu nitive , vigo ro u sly e n forc ed spar k arrester la ws . In fact , o ne Departme nt of A gri c ul ture p ub lication goes so far as La state th a t th e " fire proble m is re latively light on large a reas of desert an d o pen range", su ch as c o ns titu te m o st of th e popular S ou th e rn Californ ia d ir t ridin g area. AVAILABLE AT ALL FINE BULTACO SHOPS ..... N ,,; " u, ~ ur Z W ..J U >- U

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