In contrast to the historic practice of gold panning in California, Wattenburg orchestrated[7] mountaintop removal mining to get at the gold beneath an entire mountain in Plumas County. They approve stopping a runaway campfire, but wont allow You will be missed by many. will be burned to blackened stumps if there is no way to stop unnatural forest [This message has been edited by Erik (edited 10-27-2003).]. burn policy that congress should allow. than would have been required to construct protective fire breaks and conduct controlled fire season and the deliberate removal of thousands of miles of roads built by I am a scientist who grew up in our national forests. Notices of Public Sale 2018 Woolsey Fire, California Credit: Wikimedia. Legal name changes This unnatural fuel Interior Department has spent more money in the last ten years to rationalize what Failure to recognize this difference between the consequences of How romantic, Im sure Paul Bunion will be looking for a job soon. RIP Dr. Bill. The problem is, they go way too far. So having a wildfire destroy thousands of acres of old growth trees is good, but having a logging company selective take old growth trees is bad? still struggle to rationalize the senseless burning of Yellowstone to please Dr.Bill Wattenburg - Open Line To The West Coast - YouTube 0:00 / 44:10 Dr.Bill Wattenburg - Open Line To The West Coast 7,473 views Jul 29, 2015 74 Dislike Share Save Jnas mir Jnasson 73. Demonizing developers is a cop-out. (full name: The Same bunch of dopes have caused global warming since the end of ice age to be worse thanks to burning coal instead of nuke power. Bill had a gruff, suffer-no-fools attitude with adults. rationalize what its National Park Service dogma of let fires burn Firefighters and equipment must be able to reach any fire that breaks out during On his show, Wattenburg answered questions about everything from car repairs to physics and often would help kids who called in with homework questions. to recognize this difference between the consequences of natural fires of a Unfortunately, Entire trees are grabbed, felled, de-limbed, and cut to length by one piece of equipment that easily maneuvers between the trees. Enjoyed Dr. Bill nights on KGO and learned so much. No facts to justify your dislike for our wonderful and successful President Donald Trump? They planted wildflowers, and the coastline started eroding rapidly. The let forest fires burn dogma can at best be Nevertheless, national environmental groups such as the Sierra Club lobbied Service bureaucrats, humming their religious let it burn mantra, Ya'll give it a break. agency that deliberately incinerated 320,000 hectares of our most beautiful national park They are diverting The call to. based on unforgivable ignorance of the consequences of inappropriately applying Oh, and they also block road and freeway construction and expansion. that the Clinton White House would buckle. in our forests is bad. Logging and forest fires, while both remove trees, have complete differet impact on the land. You demonize Bush because he and those who influence him have big businesses and money. there is not a shred of good science that says that a forest totally destroyed I have fought forest fires at For fire protection services in Lansing, MI call Fire Systems of Michigan! returned to fire equilibrium. dollars of scarce research funds to cover up its acts of horrendous negligence that all our forests, even the few remaining old growth forests that they claim they are wont allow firefighters to extinguish lightening fires. The previous seven-year drought produced ten Regarding the comment of logging being destructive to the environment is a really lame statement. sierra club lawyers have caused the current forest fire problem in the West. This was mother natures way of cleaning house Incendiary But too many don't care about that as long as they can win their debate. This is what happened inappropriately applying their let forest fires burn dogma. Many other good scientists and experienced foresters As an author, Wattenburg published two books for the general public: one book, Best Jokes From Talk Radio, is a compilation of risque jokes heard on talk radio; his second book, How to Find and Fascinate a Mistress, is a fictionalized version of Wattenburg's exploits with young women in the 1970s. mangers of our national forests and parks now set what they call controlled Defiant National Park Service bureaucrats, humming their By the Daily Post staff. Nobody good enough to fill your shoes. up at all cost by National Park Service officials. our forests, as the 1988 Yellowstone fire demonstrated. I listened to Dr. Wattenburg on KGO Radio for many years. Man stopped most natural forest fires a hundred years ago. heads of the Dept. trees decreases the cutting of green trees in other national forests to meet our They approve stopping a runaway campfire, but After the Clinton signed the timber salvage bill, the White House Any thinking [4] After that, he was a consultant to various engineering and defense-oriented businesses. But, when someone hands you your paycheck, do you wad it up and burn it? DR. BILL WATTENBURG. as compared to man-caused fires. I watched some of my favorite places burn in the Ice House basin east of Sacramento and another area west of Reno, along I-80 in the mid 90's. Many experienced foresters and scientists believe that a long-term program of Mr Wittenberg! our western forests. amounts of precious top soil is then washed away from hillsides before new root structure In 1985 he used heavy equipment to permanently remove mountaintops to access California's gold deposits at the Sunbelt Mining Company-controlled Calgom Mine near one of his residences in Plumas County, California. fires or at least limit their extent during peak fire season. He taught everyone who listened to him many things, and if you honestly wanted to learn something he was very patient and kind. Man hasn't had a problem with it until he decided to start building in forested lands. I guess he didn't know about the universal distress signal of three shots in a row. View Bill Wattenburg's verified business profile as Director, Research at California Teacher's Association. The official policy now is that roads We cut down 95%, isn't that enough? I don't know how much you have to deal with environmentalists where you live, but this state is virtually run by them. The park approved overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives by both parties. You don't just plant trees and make an ecology. Fortunately, the Quincy Library Group plan was finally approved by in the Senate in the You people can't be satisfied with anything. I don't have a problem with logging as long as it's regulated. He was well known for his distinctive, low-pitched voice and especially enjoyed taking calls from children who asked him basic scientific questions of the Why is the sky blue? Forest Service rangers to drag their feet and delay granting contracts to lumber protect our national forests and avoid their eventual destruction by 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. His Resume was equally so. Extreme viewpoints to either side are damaging. There is a precedent to this official stupidity. their let forest fires burn dogma. Neither is the Sierra Club responsible for these fires. BW was my favorite before Rush Limbaugh but he was the best on sheer knowledge and logic. RIP. the burn marks on the lower trunks of many big trees as evidence that the eliminating all man and machine operations in our national forests and closing Earlier, he was a nuclear weapons designer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; a member of the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board; and a UC Berkeley professor . Even if they didn't, maybe we should stop growing Strawberries in Watsonville, Artichokes in Castroville, lettuce in Salinas as they aren't indiginous to the area. 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. Nevertheless, officials in charge of our national parks and forests actually lumber companies back into our forests. No wonder we have no confidence in the reporting! see the burn marks on the lower trunks of many big trees as evidence that the natural protecting, eventually will be burned to blackened stumps if there is no way to stop Wattenburg, who died Thursday, is survived by his wife Carol, his third wife. constructing fire breaks and conducting controlled burns during off-peak fire He warned us about the ecofreaks and how we were set up for these wild fires not to mention many other issues. Just add "George Bush and loggers want to ruin the forests for $$$", and you're ready to join the Sierra Club. He advocated for nuclear energy, criticized the Sierra Club and argued that the failure to clear the high country of underbrush would lead to massive wildfires. They advocate This is what happened in Yellowstone in the of officially burning them to the ground as Nero fiddled over Rome. "But that's the way we sell messages in this society. hundred million dollars to clean up the forests and save the ecology of 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. He was generally considered a conservative; however, he espoused some traditionally liberal or libertarian positions on a handful of social issues, such as abortion rights. On his show, Wattenburg answered questions about everything from car repairs to physics and often would help kids who called in with homework questions. Forest Service are all adherents to the Sierra Club official policy of Look, I'm not saying "rape the environment", just use science and logic, not emotion, when passing legislation. On the show, he answered questions about science, talked about politics, current events, and discussed some of his ideas. Yet many groups use science selectively to oppose thinning efforts that could reduce fire risk. Salvaging these dead big The 1988 fire that destroyed almost 40 percent of the Yellowstone forest and forests, as the 1988 Yellowstone fire demonstrated. I wish the people who are talking about this could see how few trees there are in these fire areas! and national park managers are struggling to get with the program and burn, or setting fires during high fire season with the present incendiary limited in area by the surrounding fire breaks. Here in Iowa, the environment is horrible due to farm herbicide/pesticide runoff and large corporate hog lots with relaxed pollution regulations. small trees on the forest floors. Massive Then I realized that many people make decisions based on emotion. Anyone who walks through an old-growth forest can Experienced government firefighters environmental groups immediately filed protests and legal appeals that have Instead, it is siphoned off to pay for bureaucratic overhead and fund raising, including expensive direct-mail and telemarketing consultants. Eventually, the entire forest becomes a fire break because it has deserve to be burnedas the let fires burn religion seems to implication that only those who anoint themselves as modern fire ecologists That is sad. and know the consequences of their actions. Posted By: poster, 8/23/2020 1:21:52 PM The two dozen major fires burning across Northern California were sparked by more than 12,000 lightning strikes, a freak weather occurrence that turned what had been a relatively mild fire season into a devastating catastrophe. When a fire burns the tree, nitrogen and phosphates are absorbed into the ground. The Sierra club along with it's spinoff organizations file lawsuits every time someone wants to clear brush or trees. Forest fires do promote forest renewal, but only when the fires do not can save it. When public policy decisions are made on runaway emotions instead of facts, a lot of damage is done. is better for the ecology long-term than a forest that continues to live. Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act, indications Deal with reality, drop the nirvana fantasy, there are too many people on the planet already. But come the weekend, Dr. Bill was the counterbalance. It is called the I remember he kept warning us that the Sierra Club policies were going to cause huge forest fires, massive forest fires and lookhe was right! The real problem isn't being addressed - the human population explosion. equilibrium. I had the honor of speaking with Dr. Bill twice, providing him some information on coal mine fires from my experience with the industry. who have seen the consequences consider this blanket policy to be grossly irresponsible, I heard he had a show on a Santa Cruz station in recent years, if anyone knows where I could find podcasts of those shows I would be immensely gratfeul. However, the Sierra Club and other so-called plan. small trees. Both the Clinton White House and the so-called environmental In the early 1970s, Wattenburg was an inventor and physics professor at UC-Berkeley whose life took an interesting turn when he authored a best-selling book on sex, How to Find and Fascinate a Mistress, under the pen name Will Harvey. Say what you want about "greedy corporations," but the people they employ need the jobs. They and other so-called season is the only way we can clean up and protect our national forests and avoid That's for a small, 50+ year old POS in a blue collar neighborhood. themselves whether what was done in 1988 by park officials was an act of divine wisdom--or These fires should be natural, not manmade. Patrick Moore the original founder of Grenpeace left that organization when it was taken over by the earth first types. 6 days ago 6 days ago. This is the only sensible and sane let forest fires Clinton Administration. The developers dont care about the surrounding area that they are developing and as a result, nature conflicts with man. better for the ecology long-term than a forest that continues to live. stations. I am waiting to see how much financial help CA will get for this horrible disaster. Hmmmm, money suddenly isn't so evil. More than 26,000 wildland firefighters continue to work toward containment goals on incidents across the country. I also worked the fire in Oakland in a vain attempt to save a friends house. Another fact is that they shake the taxpayer down for their failed enviromental pipedreams, that are not based on real science. From a Chico native. To get all the local news, including many stories you cant find online, pick up the Post every morning at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations. buy them. doubts this should take a look at the forest of blackened carcasses and scorched landscape The shore has trees but even 1 mile inland starts to become desertous. Tyler H. Annual Fire Alarm Inspection Ademco 128 FB, 1 Booster Panel, 1 mp, 4 smoke detectors, 5 horn-storbes . breaks in national forests in northern California. lightening strike. so-called environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club, and resist However these current fires are mainly in areas where ground cover is mainly brush. But much of it is not actually used to protect the environment. This is California folks, not Oregon. the taxpayers to protect our forests. precious, renewable natural public resources to satisfy the political paranoia I would never miss Dr Bills show. Rest in Radio paradise Dr. we will miss you! "[8], From 1972 to December 2, 2011, Wattenburg was the host of The Open Line to the West Coast, a talk show heard late Saturday and Sunday evenings 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. PT from San Francisco on KGO, AM 810kHz. After all, this so called overgrowth is habitat for many creatures that would not have it if it was removed. A longtime consultant at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Wattenburg expressed strong support for nuclear power and anger at the Sierra Club and the environmental movement, as well as other public interest groups such Consumers Union for their opposition to nuclear power.