SOS Forests

Napalming Old Growth In Oregon

Well, not napalm actually. The chemical used by the US Forest Service to incinerate 10,000 acres of heritage “protected” old growth ponderosa pine on the Deschutes National Forest last week was potassium permanganate injected with nitroglycerin.

The explosive chemicals were encased in polyacrylate “Ping Pong balls” and ejected by AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, and other combat-ready attack helicopters.

Just like Viet Nam!!!!

Only in this case the lousy gooks targeted by the Feds were Americans and our priceless heritage forests.

The original stated “purpose” of the Shadow Lake Fire was to “allow nature to take its course in the wilderness”. That eco-babble was jettisoned when the napalming began.

The new “justification” for burning 10,000 acres is “public and firefighter safety”. Of course, back when the Shadow Lake Fire started (Aug. 27th), the fire could have been put out by five firefighters in two days (that’s 10 man-days total). But in order to ensure “safety”, the fire was expanded by napalming to 10,000 acres with 600 personnel “fighting” it for three weeks (that’s 12,000 man-days and still counting).

So “safety” was enhanced by expanding the risk a thousand times over.

“Let nature run its course” is not an actual mission of the US Forest Service. Their actual mission is to care for land and serve the people. But that crapola is just for propaganda purposes. The US Forest Service is napalming old growth. That’s their de facto mission. Kill, kill, kill. Burn baby burn.

Slaughter forests, especially old growth. Kill every living thing. Convert old growth to tick brush with snags (they call it “early seral with structure”). Murder forests. Leave a legacy of scorched earth moonscape.

There was no NEPA process. The Deschutes NF didn’t do any EIS or EA before they determined that catastrophic holocaust was the treatment of choice. No “survey and manage”. Fork the law. The USFS doesn’t need no forking laws. They have badges. They ARE the law.

Do you need some links? Here you go:

KOHD [here]: Crews are letting the fire run its natural course, but they are fighting the fire with fire by spitting out thousands of little ping pong balls out of a helicopter.

SCIENCE WATCH [here]

THE National Forest Service reports that it has successfully used common Ping-Pong balls filled with an incendiary chemical mixture to start a controlled forest fire in central Utah. A spokesman said the little chemical firebombs proved to be more effective than the jellied petroleum generally applied by spraying from helicopters, because the table-tennis balls started fires on the forest floor rather than in the treetops. The Ping-Pong bombs are also considerably cheaper than the napalm-type igniter jelly.

Small holes are pierced in the balls, and the balls are filled with a combination of common chemical, the spokesman explained. Before each firebombing mission, several hundred balls are loaded into the hopper of a dispensing machine aboard a helicopter. When the helicopter reaches its target, the dispensing machine pumps one of the chemicals into each ball and launches it down a chute toward the ground. Soon after the ball hits the ground, its contents burst into intensely hot flame.

The target of the recent experimental incendiary attack was a 1,300-acre stand of alpine fir trees deemed a hindrance to the growth of more desirable trees. The Forest Service plans to replace the burned forest with spruce and grass, thereby improving grazing for elk and deer.

PremoFire [here]:

PremoFire Aerial Ignition Devices provide a safe and reliable ignition source for your fire operations. Containing potassium permanganate, only PremoFire Spheres release enough heat energy and deliver enough burn time to light difficult fuel sources in variable moisture conditions.

It’s a war, waged by the Fed, with us as their target. The purpose is to destroy our forests, watersheds, economy, livelihoods, and kill us if they can. The purpose is to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible. The purpose is to jam the big Federal boot heel down on the necks of peasants. The purpose is annihilation and blitzkreig.

The reaction from urban folk:

Shadow Lake Fire: Passersby marvel at orange sun, thick smoke

By Janie Har, The Oregonian, September 04, 2011 The Oregonian [here]

SUTTLE LAKE – As promised, what was wimpy, barely visible smoke from the Shadow Lake Fire this morning had turned into a thick, wide gray column that had dozens of onlookers at the Mt. Washington viewpoint transfixed.

By 2 p.m., more than two dozen cars were parked at the viewpoint off U.S. 20. People crowded around fire information officers posted there since morning and asked questions, snapped photographs, and marveled at the tiny orange sun in the sky and the smoke about five miles away.

The haze cast an angelic light.

“It’s incredible being able to witness this,” said Chris Thomas, who had her photo taken with Christina Cole. The two had been in Sunriver for the last week and hadn’t paid much attention to the wildfire until today as they headed back to Portland.

Cole was thrilled with the cycle-of-life nature of the burn. For others, the spectacle was both beautiful and a little scary. …

So there you have it. The USFS firebombs old growth, and the urbanites marvel at the “angelic glow”. My guess, and this just a guess, is that if Portland was firebombed by the Federal government, the residents would not be transfixed by the “angelic glow” of the smoke.