Ely BLM Wilson Creek PJ Forest Chaining Area
Ely BLM has long sought to wipe out the beautiful PJ forests in the Mountain Wilson landscape. 20 years ago, litigation limited that effort to some extent. But BLM came back with smaller project after smaller project. This chaining was one of the projects. Much of this landscape was labeled as “Pine Nut forest” on the 1870s General Land Office map surveys. But federal agencies ignore documented history. They use their bogus vegetation models and false narratives about “invasion” and fire-fearmongering to promote landscape-level deforestation.
Beautiful old growth PJ forest has been destroyed far from the summer home enclave in the Wilson Creek area – under the guise of stopping “catastrophic” wildfires. First, grass burns more readily than shrubs. Shrubs burn more readily than PJ forest. So clearing the forest actually worsens the fire situation by producing hotter, drier, windier weedier and longer fire season sites. Second, but most important -you can denude the landscape all you want 5 or 10 miles from your summer home, but it will do nothing to keep the home from burning. To prevent home ignitions — create defensible space, focus on the area very close to the house, and fire-proof the house.
Ely BLM has authorized a massive new Pinyon-Juniper and Sagebrush destruction project in this landscape. Separately, but interconnected, BLM finalized a livestock grazing EA for >800,000 acres with more barbed wire, water developments, extreme cow and sheep grazing “flexibility” – without clear controls on livestock use.