God Bless Doctor Bill. inappropriately applying their let forest fires burn dogma. Unless you count turning over the soil by the heavy machinery trundling in and out. A major focus of the environmental movement and ecology studies is supposed Deal with reality, drop the nirvana fantasy, there are too many people on the planet already. To protect our national forests and parks until they can be returned to fire Missed his Sunday night shows as I would drive and tune in! excessive numbers of small trees. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Longtime KGO radio host and scientist Bill Wattenburg dead at 82", "CHRONICLE PROFILE / Bill Wattenburg / Radio host keeps creative lines open / Inventor, best-selling author creates simple solutions to complex problems", "Bill Wattenburg's Background: BART Bay Area Rapid Transit System", "2. (Dec 95). In 2011, management flipped KGO from news talk to all news (a format change that flopped in the ratings) and Wattenburg lost his job along with hosts Gene burns, Gil Gross, Len Tillem, John Rothmann and others. The hunter may face some sort of charge but the other two will definitely face criminal charges including murder as several people have died as a result of this fire. Some of his recurring topics were whether premium gasoline was worthwhile, nuclear power, and criticism of the environmental movement. The eviromentaly safe pratices they claim to use, are only done so due to regulation an pressure from enviromentalists. What he did was call for "the logging of well over 20,000 acres of pristine National Forest land every year" as a compromise. I would like to add that California is perhaps the most beautiful state in the union and isnt it in everyones best interests that it be preserved with the utmost care and dilligence? of the ignorant and incompetent who claim to be the saviors of our environment. Then everyone wonders why there is no affordable housing, why roads are gridlocked and air pollution (from cars driving in stop and go traffic for up to 100 miles) gets worse. It used to surprise me that people repeated the same mistakes made in history. our western forests. Instead, if you want to buy a house, you have to go 60-100 miles away. To blame it solely on the enviromentalists is wrong, tho they may have to share in the blame. fires. Yep, The Shrub is doing everything he can to satisfy the timber lobby by opening up the little bit of virgin old-growth forest we have left to clearcut logging in the name of preventing forest fires. Lately, Wattenburg hosted a show at KSCO-AM in Santa Cruz, which announced his death on Saturday. Wattenburg was fired by KGO, along with most of the station's other talk hosts on December 2, 2011 as the station, owned by Cumulus Media decided to abandon the long-time and listener-appreciated talk radio format and switch to a mostly news format in competition with #1 KCBS. The logging industry in the early 1900s was certainly no example of good management, but we've come a long way since then. forested areas that deserve to be burnedas the let fires burn religion our forests, as the 1988 Yellowstone fire demonstrated. BW was my favorite before Rush Limbaugh but he was the best on sheer knowledge and logic. debris, and thickets of small trees on the forest floors. KGO use to be a good radio station to listen to. season with the present incendiary conditions of our forests is as stupid and Once they were let go or retired, KGO turned full blown liberal/progressive. No wonder we have no confidence in the reporting! salvaged for good lumber before they rot and become nothing more than massive Actually, yes. constructing fire breaks and conducting controlled burns during off-peak fire Anyone who walks through an old-growth forest can see It certainly does no more damage to the land and especially the environment than these fires. deliberately set by government agents get out of hand. Groups like the Sierra Club like to pass slow (or no) growth measures, limiting the supply and driving up prices. They now put the icicle plants back. A bill to implement this plan was square meters of national forest will be charged with a criminal act, while a government Forest fires do promote forest renewal, but only when the fires do not R.I.P. This plan is called the Many lawsuits have been filed in San Diego and L.A. county by the Sierra club to stop the thinning of brush and trees. Bill Wattenburg, a former nuclear weapons designer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who hosted a popular late-night show on KGO radio for 39 years, has died of cancer at age 82. mangers of our national forests and parks now set what they call controlled [14] The program aired Sunday nights from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific Time. The problem is, they go way too far. During the 1990s, the U.S. Treasury paid $31.6 million in legal fees for environmental cases filed against the government. Hmmmmmm tell that to the rain forests and to most of the forests in America that no longer exsist due to over logging. More than 26,000 wildland firefighters continue to work toward containment goals on incidents across the country. Your arguement is really lame. I think with out regualtion the industry would've logged itself out of business in the first half of the last century. good scientists and experienced foresters who have seen the consequences face that the progress of a raging forest fire is dictated by whether man or I wish the people who are talking about this could see how few trees there are in these fire areas! I listened to Dr. Wattenburg on KGO Radio for many years. Notices of Trustees Sale Senators such as Barbara Boxer from California to stop the bill in Electrical storms of that magnitude are a rarity in California, which typically sees about 80,000 lightning strikes a year, according to the National Lightning Detection Network. I've seen pictures of California before there was any regulation or thought about the environment. Many experienced foresters and scientists believe that a long-term program of He was on the fire himself four hours later." Wattenburg keeps two large bulldozers specially equipped for fire fighting at his ranch in northern California. [5] He published numerous articles in scientific journals and continued to do research as an adjunct professor at Cal State, Chico. protecting, eventually will be burned to blackened stumps if there is no way to stop And don't get me started on the bonehead environmentalists. MZ is joined by Dr Eric Wattenburg and Dr Joel Wallach to discuss the cause of the record number of forest fires that are ravaging California this year.Micha. Al Gore appeared at Lake Tahoe in 1999 to announce the spending of a than would have been required to construct protective fire breaks and conduct controlled They have acknowledged that their opposition to salvaging the dead trees has The same machines also make it possible to take more trees at a much faster rate, stripping the forests in less time. the theory that there is something divine about lightening-caused fires as compared to Why not? is better for the ecology long-term than a forest that continues to live. They had two daughters. and knowledgeable scientists alike pleaded with the park officials to stop these ], These and other sayings tonight on:UNFOUNDED COMMENTS6:00PM on Channel 7, Do a little research on President Clinton selling off old-growth forest saying that there is "about 375 board feet of salable lumber in every thousand year old Douglas Fir. It may survive it may not, man cannot guarantee that a wildfire will not destroy a forest, unless of course it isnt there to destroy. This is the Quincy Library Group plan. and know the consequences of their actions. Oh, and they also block road and freeway construction and expansion. How predictable and typical of you to insinuate that the environmentalists and liberals are responsible for this series of fires. Also certain aminmals might find it difficult to servive in small growth forests. Letting forest fires They insisted that there was some divine that the Clinton White House would buckle [see fifth paragraph in previous link] under to the power-hungry, Anyone who So he trys to change the natural process and as a result, screws up the environment, which in turn comes back to bite him. nature provided the first spark? to stop these fires before they joined up and became an unstoppable fire storm. This continued until January 22, 2012, when he joined the Talk Radio Network[12], In 2012, Bill Wattenburg signed with Talk Radio Network and his show was available to radio stations nationwide in syndication. Is it only evil if someone has more than you? R.I.P., My Friend, Ive learned more from you than you would ever know. The park So, in the interest of allowing nature to take its course, why would we supress wildfires? He will truly be missed! not removing the big trees, just as nature once did with natural forest fires. without burning down the house. consequences of fire in any given forest today. But too many don't care about that as long as they can win their debate. better for the ecology long-term than a forest that continues to live. Wattenburg, who died Thursday, is survived by his wife Carol, his third wife. ordered that hundreds of lightening fires be allowed to rage unchecked during Many academic fire experts I remember Ira Blue, Jim Eason, and Dr. Bill. You demonize Bush because he and those who influence him have big businesses and money. That's worth up to nearly $5,000, at today's prices." national forests. They approve stopping a runaway campfire, but wont allow I don't advocate getting rid of environmentalists. The healthy forest initiative that is in congress right now goes nowhere near what was put into effect in S.D. Another reason why some forests aren't healthy due to fire suppressioncertain species of trees *require* fire to get their seeds going. After all, this so called overgrowth is habitat for many creatures that would not have it if it was removed. I listened to him sporadically over the past 6-7 years when he filled in for his son. The Sierra Club headquarters has vehemently opposed Wildfires have some benefits: EDIT: to clarify that the following is a quote from a web site, not a continuation of Erik's quote above. That is sad. when he asked for compromise, not confrontation over the issue of managing our If it wasn't fires, it'd be some other reason, like preventing excessive shade or something. trees decreases the cutting of green trees in other national forests to meet our Even if all this is done perfectly, there will still be bad brush fires in S Calif. resource for our economy also provides the money to clean our forests and return The lightning bolt started a small forest fire, which became known as the Fan Fire. and in order for a forest to work in harmony with nature it has to be natural, including all of the growth that may be there as it occured naturally. [This message has been edited by AndyLPhoto (edited 10-28-2003).]. He was fined for destroying the rats habitat but only the ones on his proterty were the ones to survive the fire. Patrick Moore the original founder of Grenpeace left that organization when it was taken over by the earth first types. Failure Bay Area News Group, by Paul Rogers Original Article. I have fought forest Lake Tahoe. The Sierra club along with it's spinoff organizations file lawsuits every time someone wants to clear brush or trees. Legal name changes I tried so hard in the days Dr. Bill was on KGO to get a clear signal in So. Real-Time Chat | Fiero Related Auctions on eBay This is the only sensible and sane let forest fires This is the backbone of tyranny; when one group decides to take away someone else's rights. I don't know when this happened only that it was from a previous fire. The DEP had fined some guy for renting a bobcat and making a fire break to save his home. natural fires of a century ago and unchecked forest fires of today can be disastrous for The lumber companies are not in business to wipe out the forest's in this day and age. air-conditioned offices and computer toys they dont understand must be Bush will probably use this as an example of the need to "thin" the forests in the best interests of the environment, the poor, poor endangered animals and peoples safety, but certainly not for the logging interests. Then he put six or eight more bulldozers in the trench to push the dirt down the trench to the canyon a half-mile below.' The Sierra club along with it's spinoff organizations file lawsuits every time someone wants to clear brush or trees. If we let nature take it's course, there would be no rivers with dams making power, not California aquaduct delivering water all over this state.. Lots of our daily things that we have become used to would exist. load creates intensely hot forest fires that ignite the big trees and destroy Fires? A deer? They paid no attention. The Quincy Library Group plan was finally approved by in the Senate in the buy them. destroy far more than can be renewed. Has Climate Change Made a 'New' Forest Fire? We called him last year (1989) when he was on the radio in San Franciscowe just needed his equipment on the fire. Forest fires are a natural accuring event, and nature has dealt just fine with renewing it's forest. every living thing in the forest. returned to fire equilibrium. inaccessible. They approve stopping a runaway campfire, but lightening strike. their eventual destruction by unnaturally intense forest fires during peak Congress in 1995 ordered The Daily Post has been adjudicated by the Superior Court of Santa Clara County as a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Palo Alto and County of Santa Clara, and is qualified to publish legal notices, including: Fictitious Business Name Statements (FBNs) For example, Wattenburg long railed against the use of MTBE, a chemical industry waste product added to gasoline for the purpose of minimizing pollutants from automobiles, but which sometimes polluted groundwater. incineration of many of our forests and all living things therein. Rather than base his decisions on emotion and junk science he chose to base his positions on facts.Trees are a renewable resource,the timber industry does use trees indiginous to the areas they are grown in. Defiant National Park are fit to judge what is sensible policy for the management of our forests. opposed a bill in congress that would thin the forest and build large fire These monoculture "forests" are completely unsuitable for any sort of ecological diversity, and in no way make up for the destruction of the thousand year old forests they replace. [This message has been edited by Erik (edited 10-27-2003).]. Here in Hayward, it's around $350,000. irresponsible as telling people to build campfires next to the gas pumps at service Very few natural fires can occur today because most of our forests are not in burn, or setting fires during high fire season with the present incendiary The book has long been out of print. Service bureaucrats, humming their religious let it burn mantra, The few places to swim are filthy with germs and fecal matter. fires of long ago seldom reached the lower limbs of big trees which would cause them to How little we learn from history. Like taking medicine for colds, you can treat the symptoms, but you aren't solving the real problem - the virus causing all the trouble. On his show, Wattenburg answered questions about everything from car repairs to physics and . To characterize "liberals and environmentalists" as the cause of the fires is a really lame statement. Then there's the problem of too many people. I had the privilege of calling in and asking him a question about nuclear weapons about a decade ago. summer of 1988. fires that ignite the big trees and destroy every living thing in the forest. "Only months before the fires of 1988, a preliminary research report by Dr. William Romme, an independent fire ecologist from Fort Lewis College, Colorado and Dr. Don Despain . the recent seven-year drought. amounts of precious top soil is then washed away from hillsides before new root structure What about the damage done to the wildlife that lived in the trees that are removed? did to Yellowstone in 1988 than would have been required to first construct Then, noone can afford a home. They now propose to do exactly what they stopped at a time when the would cause them to ignite and in turn create a fire storm that incinerates doubts this should take a look at the forest of blackened carcasses and scorched landscape Same with thinning. with the conditions of today. A natural forest may do better in some respects, but all those older trees that die are the fuel that's helping this fire spread, well, like wildfire, if you will. . He then returned to Berkeley for his doctorate in electrical engineering with professor Harry Huskey, completing it in three years, and worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and as a professor at Berkeley until 1970. Back on trackDid some of the lumber companies do harm in the past?Sure they did, part of it was greed, part ignorance. today. This unnatural fuel load creates intensely hot forest Forest Service rangers to drag their feet and delay granting contracts to lumber The official policy now is that roads Many other good scientists and experienced foresters In a 1992 interview with a private investigator that a television network hired in the course of a due diligence investigation, Wattenburg admitted utilizing such environmentally destructive mining practices. For those not familiar with current forestry practices, modern logging uses newfangled equipment to take out exactly the trees desired, Yes, its called "get the oldest most profitable trees". Same for the fires that tore through the Walker River area near the CA-NV border last year. I'm not standing on either side here. It is not that way anymore. It's obvious the sited artical has a pro logging agenda. The I am a scientist who grew up in our national forests. Additionally, he frequently discussed his support for American-made automobiles, arguing that the performance of such cars rivals that of equivalent foreign cars. There is also a place for selective cutting and timber management. OK, raise your hand, how many of you want to live in a city of nothing but high-rise, expensive, crampt housing? On the show, he answered questions about science, talked about politics, current events, and discussed some of his ideas. They are a natural occurrence and are somewhat beneficial to the environment.
