Dollar Lake Fire

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
Wildthings
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Wildthings » September 4th, 2011, 2:46 pm

We really need to get the Forest Service to be serious about setting intentional burns. On average 5% of the Mt Hood National forest should be lightly burnt each year, maybe as much as 10% on the east side. We need to allow early season natural fires to burn and while setting others, and then hit it again just before the rains come in Sept or Oct. Yes it is going to be dangerous and some fires are going to get out of control, but nothing is more sure to kill more large old trees than maintaining the existing fire fighting practice of fighting all fires regardless of the season. The unneeded control of a minor fire in June can easily lead to a conflagration in the same area come mid August.

We will never stop all lightening started fires in late July and Aug, as some are always going to be all but controllable, but we can burn the underbrush when things are wetter in June and early July, or when the temperatures have dropped in late September.

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Waffle Stomper » September 4th, 2011, 2:52 pm

I feel we are extremely fortunate to still have the south side forest still intact. I wonder when that is going to go too. The dead and diseased trees are evident.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

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retired jerry
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by retired jerry » September 4th, 2011, 3:07 pm

Good idea wildthings

I go through some areas where there is some evidence of recent fire at ground level but the trees above are just fine.

Naturally, occasionally, there were fires that also killed the large old growth trees, so that shouldn't be totally avoided.

In the Ochocos, I noticed interesting patterns of areas where the forest was burned, right next to areas where it wasn't, sort of like Tom's, Adam's, and other's pictures of where the burn is.

One worrying thing is, with global warming, it may be that large areas of timber will become more bare because of fires. But again, this isn't unprecedented historically, so maybe nothing to worry about.

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Koda
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Koda » September 4th, 2011, 7:37 pm

I second Wildthings idea...

Last year, I visited Waldo Lake and hiked thru the burned area, it was quite scenic in its own way. I'm certain I can come to appreciate the beauty of nature taking its course in the Dollar Lake Fire. This is one of my favorite sides of the mountain, to me the north side of Hood has a much different personality than the south side, more majestic. but this fire is so devastating...
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klossner
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by klossner » September 5th, 2011, 7:17 am

While I was grieving over Splintercat's montage, my daughter took a look and said the date's wrong. 2001 instead of 2011?

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Waffle Stomper » September 5th, 2011, 7:27 am

klossner wrote:While I was grieving over Splintercat's montage, my daughter took a look and said the date's wrong. 2001 instead of 2011?
That's observant. Good catch.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

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Peder
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Peder » September 5th, 2011, 11:57 am

Inspired by Tom's idea of watching the fire from Bald Butte, I had my dinner there last night (my wife was working anyhow!). Here are a couple of pictures:
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A lousy picture: Mt Hood on the left and a helicopter above with a bucket of water that flew back and forth.
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The flames were at times visible (with some goodwill in this picture).
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The sunset was lovely with Mt Hood, Mt. Defiance and Mt St Helens from left to right.
As I left Bald Butte it was dark; I could see two cars far away on the road below the powerlines. As I approached the powerline road, I could hear male voices. A large dog came barking at me, so I switched on my headlamp. The dog was friendly, as was its owners, two young men. It turned out that the two young men had been sitting in the grass and the keys to their truck had dropped out of a pocket! They were searching for the keys using the light from a cell phone. They asked to borrow my light and looked for a few minutes before handing back my headlamp. I started a more methodical search and was about halfway through when they found their keys. I wonder what they would have done if they had not found the keys: Would they have spent the night in the dark or called a friend to have him/her drive up a spare set of keys?
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The approximate spot spot where I encountered two young men - here seen on the way up.
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Splintercat
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Splintercat » September 6th, 2011, 9:52 am

Thanks, Klossner -- my editor misses a lot of those typos... I don't think I'm paying him enough... :lol:
I wonder when that is going to go too. The dead and diseased trees are evident.
I noticed that from Devils Peak a couple weeks ago, Waffle -- there's a bug-infested patch due north of Government Camp that I hadn't seen before, and of course, this forest has always seemed on the bring of exploding into fire. That would be a nightmare scenario for firefighters, given the hundreds of homes, businesses, ski lifts and of course Timberline Lodge. It will happen someday, only a matter of time. The Dollar Fire is kind of a wake-up call that even the healthy forests on Hood are vulnerable during fire season.

Tom

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adamschneider
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by adamschneider » September 6th, 2011, 10:00 am

Wednesday and Thursday are gonna be bad: 90°-95°, with east winds fanning the flames and dumping the smoke right into the Willamette Valley. Might be a nice time to head to the beach.

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: Dollar Lake Fire

Post by Waffle Stomper » September 6th, 2011, 10:04 am

Splinter, I think of the possibilities when I some of the very littered forest floors on some of the trails. Just a matter of time. I could only imagine the nightmare of fighting a fire on that side of the mountain.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

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