Video: This Trail Will Never Be The Same After the Caldor Fire
Presented by PEARL iZUMi
Video and photos by Drew Boxold
Video and photos by Drew Boxold
Wildfire photos published with permission from Max Whittaker. 'Soul Riders' was filmed a month prior to the Caldor Fire.
For brothers Dane and Zach Petersen, the trails are more than a place to ride—they’re an anchor to past and present. Mixing gold rush history and high-speed hijinks, a typical day for Dane and Zach could just as easily involve cutting logs as it does jumping them. Based in northern California, the brothers have a unique devotion to developing new trails in their local community, as well as dusting off ones soon-to-be lost.
The Caldor fire began on August 14, 2021 deep in the Middle Fork Cosumnes River drainage in El Dorado County. Over the next few days, the uncontrollable blaze exploded to over sixty-two thousand acres, taking with it the town of Grizzly Flats in the middle of the night. Thousands of people in the surrounding communities of Pollock Pines, Somerset, Pleasant Valley, Omo Ranch, and Fair Play would be forced to evacuate as the fire continued its rapid growth. The fire spread East across the County and burned through Kyburz, Strawberry, and Meyers. Many homes were saved, but over 800 structures have been lost. At over 215,000 acres, the fire will severely impact El Dorado County’s vast outdoor recreation opportunities, which are sources of pride for its residents as well as a draw for millions of annual visitors. The vast network of trails, alpine lakes, river canyons, and impressive mountainous terrain have been drastically altered. Many of the trails featured in this video were burnt by the Caldor Fire. It’s shocking that filming this video was the last time we would ride or see some of these trails the way they have always been for us. Some trails might slowly disappear, and some will live on; possibly better than before. That is part of a trail’s life cycle.
Trails are living and breathing entities that grow and coexist with all other organisms in the forests. Over the years they may become straighter and wider with more traffic, or narrow and tight as the vegetation reclaims the corridor once again. The forces of nature erode the soil and combined with boots, tires, and hooves they expose more rocks and roots. Storms may drop trees on the trail and builders make the decision to either cut out the obstruction, reroute the trail, or even incorporate the log into a trail feature. Sometimes the log will never move, slowly decomposing as users walk or ride over it. Trails are not static; they are in a constant state of change.
Fire is another part of a trail’s life cycle, burning away the old and giving way for the new. Fire can remove the overgrowth, opening a trail once again. Or it may scorch the landscape, reducing everything in its path to ash. After a fire, numerous trees will fall on the trail. Sometimes there are too many trees for even the most committed trail user to jump over or cut out, and the trail dies. Fire also has power to bring our community together, to unite with one another rebuilding and reestablishing what we lost, whether it be the homes, businesses, forests, or trails. With the El Dorado National Forest severely underfunded, it is up to local trail users to repair the damage. If you’re looking to enjoy these trails once again, be prepared to pitch in and have some initiative. There are many avenues to support your local trails, but don’t wait for someone else to invite you out to go work. Grab your tools, friends, and go.
With the recent California wildfires, the Caldor Fire, in particular, the of burning homes, communities, businesses, forests and trails has been heartbreaking. El Dorado County, where this video was filmed, is a damn cool place and Dane and Zach are proud to call it home. If you want to help and donate to El Dorado Community Foundation to support the families impacted by this fire it would certainly be appreciated by clicking here.
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So while we can talk about mismanagement, loss, rebirth, how nothing will ever be the same as before…the areas we enjoy via the trails are always changing, always evolving…neither better nor worse, just different. It was there before us…it’ll be there after us…we’re just passing through.
As one who builds, if you truly enjoy it, a trail is never “complete” or “finished”: it evolves with the times and the environment…as will these…it might just take longer than some of us have the patience for…but they’ll be back and awesome as before.
What this means is that the environment is being _replaced_ by something else. Not regenerating or coming back the way it was.
Specifically, the Pine Forests that burned with the hot Camp Fire... are not coming back as Pines. It's a replacement. It's expected to naturally grow back as something more fire-resistant such as Oaks.
Thanks PB and Pearl Izumi for shining a light.
(I've been personally impacted by wildfire, and sat on the recovery commission for a few years. Have amassed some great info, like this above)
phys.org/news/2017-12-invasive-weeds-wildfires-hotter-frequent.html
It's worth noting that when these fires happen (human or lightning caused) the CalFire firefighters do a fine job protecting structures, and they frequently succeed in halting a fire at towns and populated areas. The USFS on the other hand — and this is borne out by any casual glance at the fire footprints — has a policy of letting fires burn and trying to "manage" the fire, as the USFS policy for the past 50 plus years has been "try" to allow fires to burn "naturally".
This is a loosing strategy, IMO, as the elimination of logging in the 90s has made such a policy yield only disastrous results, as we are witnessing these past few years. Whatever one thinks about climate change, it is not occurring at so rapid a rate that fires should be worse now than they were in say the 80s, when California had summers as hot as they are this past decade. Drought coinciding with heat this past 10 years has certainly exacerbated the more directly man-made problems resulting from bad forest policy. But climate and weather are unpredictable for the most part. Last year's (2020's) fire season was sparked mostly by dry lightning storms.
What is needed is a new approach to fire management ("the definition of insanity..." and all certainly applies here).
First, Federal and state governments need to allow targeted logging in our forests, especially those that have been neglected.
Second, the USFS needs to try to put fires out ASAP and not adhere to the now failed strategy of letting fires run their course for the "health of the forest".
Third, state governments like California need to spend tax dollars to follow a plan like the one that current gubernatorial candidate John Cox — politics aside (he's not my guy) — has suggested, viz. that we keep (and maintain for ready dispatch) an air armada that can be deployed within an hour to any hotspot in the forest, which is now possible with satellite technology. It is irresponsible that we do not have this already.
In 2018 and 19, Gavin Newsom promised $5 billion to address fires in California (according to a scathing NPR article — NPR, mind you! — which is no enemy of Newsom and his party, Newsom has spent just 10% of that promised response), and instead we have seen inane policy affected in the state — things like bathroom conversions to gender neutrality (i.e., ripping urinals from the walls in men's bathrooms on state university campuses, and government buildings in general), and the like. We, in all of our leisure and affluence, fight over stupid things, and meanwhile nature and the worst forces in the world are going unchecked, and none of it is due to climate change as our politicos insist. Climate change has become a convenient scapegoat for negligent governance.
wildfiretoday.com/2021/08/24/there-is-very-little-fire-history-in-front-of-the-caldor-fire
this area was managed, despite the many comments here that say it wasn't. How much of the forest were they supposed to burn on purpose so it didn't burn on accident?
wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Caldor-Fire-History-with-haz-red-2000-2021.jpg
So yeah, some logging is part of the solution. So is burning. Pre-contact, some 4 million acres burned in CA every year. The tribal elders talk of times when you could see through the forest because the brush and small trees burned every few years, leaving an open canopy without enough ladder fuel to get to the crown.
Maybe those times are coming back?
My prediction? This is what we have for say, the next 5 years. The intensity of fires gradually decreases as the accumulated fuel load burns off, firefighting moves to structure preservation, and we learn to live with a more natural fire cycle.
Read this. Written by a friend who knows what she's talking about, unlike us.
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2021/07/19/california-fires-fire-advisor-wildfires/ideas/essay
Of course the Caldor Fire was not in a part of California that was hard hit by Bark Beetle (though tree mortality, while not as bad as 30 miles south is indeed a factor), but the basic premise of my post remains apposite.
In any case, my main point is that "climate change" — however it may be — is not the driver of these fires (not yet, at least), though it is held up as a primary narrative — by posters such as iSawThat, to whom I directed my initial comment, and politicians, who fail to do what they promise. No, climate change is not responsible. Rather it is mismanagement. Heavy-handed, politically charged environmentalism is just the most recent chapter in a long story of a series of episodic mismanagement.
firepowermoney.com
Mountain Enterprises has entered the chat.
firepowermoney.com
your imposed sarcasm actually shows how uninformed and ignorant you are.
Do you even research any of this or just assume daddy Gavy has your best interests in mind? I swear some people would walk willingly into the gas chamber.
firepowermoney.com
Is global warming real? Absolutely. Is it causing these fires? Nope. The majority (and we're talking 95%+) of the wildfires we've had in the past two years are from negligence or arson. Sure global warming makes conditions more primed for fires, but to blame global warming is to ignore our part in prevention.
Before you downvote or ignorantly call me anti science, please view the content below.
www.wsj.com/articles/only-good-management-can-prevent-forest-fires-11545090601
www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a29623250/california-fires
wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/14/californias-government-solely-responsible-for-states-forest-management-and-wildfire-debacle
Firepowermoney.com
#recallnewsom
My point is that there is something we can do, right now, every day, about the overgrowth and forest mismanagement.
So if we have two courses of action, one that is potentially years away from physically materializing, and the other we can begin enforcing tomorrow if we wanted, why wouldn't we act on the immediate plan?
Honestly insisting that these fires are from global warming is actually dangerous because we're refusing to acknowledge the input we are having due to our involvement or lack thereof, and leaving the door open with our inaction for these fires to happen again.
firepowermoney.com
I think the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate there is a greater correlation between climate change and these wildfires, than overgrowth mismanagement and arson.
From my point of view if we were managing the forests better and lifting some of these restrictions on private brush abatement, we would immediately reduce the risks of lives being ruined lost. Sure we'd still have arsonists and global warming, but neither of those are as easy a fix as the other option.
This is currently NOT the popular "think" amongst the unwashed, but it's not out of nowhere either. Below are some links. One beomg a paper on the correlation between solar activity and large earthquakes. An interesting quote from one of these is...
"But unlike during the Maunder Minimum, there’s a twist this time around; we modern humans have another cosmological factor to contend with: Earth’s magnetosphere –a key line of defense against incoming Cosmic Rays– is waning at an increasing rate as north and south magnetic poles continue their wander.
The field is expected to be considerably weaker by 2040, and, as with previous magnetic excursions/reversals, these events can lead to an uptick in volcanic/seismic activity, solar outbursts, and even the onset of ice ages."
Global Cooling? NOAA Confirms ‘Full-blown’ Grand Solar Minimum
21stcenturywire.com/2020/09/05/global-cooling-noaa-confirms-full-blown-grand-solar-minimum
On the correlation between solar activity and large earthquakes worldwide
www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67860-3
ALL of the above are factors. @TotalAmateur is correct to point out the lack of care being taken regarding forestry as are you (@Jackhowser ), but we also need to remember that Earth does't exist in a protected bubble. Forces withing the solar system are in play and possible affecting the Earth in ways normally not talked about on morning talk shows.
We have take on the main cause.
Sure, we can improve how we operate and do preventative measures in recognition of our climate scenario, but to blame the fire not doing enough mitigation is the disingenuous part. You can cast blame and want to recall newsom, but he's not blame for this. These large fires happened before he was elected and will happen when he's gone. The blame is with you, me and everyone else who contributes to climate change.
"Sure, we can improve how we operate and do preventative measures in recognition of our climate scenario, but to blame the fire not doing enough mitigation is the disingenuous part." can you not read? I said climate change is very real, but WE DON'T HAVE A SOLUTION!! So what are we going to do wait year after year until it's solved and just roll the dice on how many lives are lost.
"You can cast blame and want to recall newsom, but he's not blame for this" except he literally is, if you're actually curious you can see how here firepowermoney.com
"The blame is with you, me and everyone else who contributes to climate change." I agree, which is why I stopped flying. But I'd argue there is more blame with those who choose only to discuss part of the issue in which they can't affect, and ignore the parts they can change.
and yes my main point is just that we're essentially taking the first easiest answer and saying "Dyatlov did it, blame him" and not looking any further, and in the meantime we're getting prepped for a second Chernobyl.
do we have a plan for the symptom. yes.
End of discussion.
Here are the realities: California's population has doubled since the last time a reservoir was built. So, water shortage? Yes, of course. Climate change? Maybe, maybe not. California has gone through dryer spells than this in human memory.
Many of the heatwave records are just slightly greater than earlier records (1930s, and most recently 1984), and heat measuring stations have been enhanced and relocated, so the the idea that we have heat records is not proof that we are witnessing climate change before our very eyes.
Flash flooding is in many cases the result of burned areas (reasoning is circular), and there is no evidence that there are more flash floods in California than in earlier decades. Maybe you don't remember them, but wherever flash flooding is high risk, it has been a historical problem, excepting recent burn scars (see above).
I have wondered what has happened to Shasta and Oroville reservoirs. Might it have something to do with letting too much stored water flow into the Pacific Ocean?
Climate change, to the extent it is affecting California, is not something we can just stop. The worst violators are China and India, and they do not plan to slow down their economies for compliance with a Paris Accord or the like. If we are going to have to live in a warmer world, which I concede may well be the case, then we need policies to address that circumstance. Grumbling about the climate and trading carbon credits is not going to do it. This is a policy problem; scapegoating the climate is not going to solve the problem of these fires or much else.
* - except for when it does, check also increased lightening storms.
Honestly, are you trying to troll by posting stupidly?
The forest is a dry tinder box largely in part to the fact that year after year, despite the desperate pleas for action from environmental bodies and forestry services, our government does NOTHING to abate brush and mitigate a potential burn. Do I really need to link all of the sources again for you or can you just go to my other comment?
You have yet to provide ANY proof for these claims. And please tell me where in the rest of the world they're experiencing fires due to global warming, and not rampant mismanaged overgrowth.....I'll wait.
SO again, you have NO PLAN for how to curb global warming, nor any evidence that it actually CAUSES fires despite saying that global warming is a cause not a symptom. So you have no evidence, nor action plan. YOU COULD RUN FOR GOVERNOR!! lol
literally nothing you have said changes the fact that Gavin nitwit isn't doing anything he could/should be doing, and that we should be focusing on what we CAN immediately affect, and not what will take 15 years of research to even begin to solve.
wildfiretoday.com/2021/08/24/there-is-very-little-fire-history-in-front-of-the-caldor-fire
Is climate change happening? Yes. Is it anthropogenic? An objective answer falls somewhere within the realm of plausibly and maybe, with definitive "no" and a definitive "yes" being outlying extremes. Climate "science", after all, is based on models, and as with all models, the data used to build the model determines — in part — the data the model produces, which by definition is not, sensu stricto, Science. Models can, of course, be predictive. But science is empirical and requires a controlled/controllable and reproducible environment, which the earth with all of its variables is most definitely not.
By profession I am an historian, and, as it happens, an historian of, inter alia, science. I know science well, both good and bad — better than many, if not most, scientists. I know of no evidence showing that whether of any kind is more severe now than it has been in the past. Might it get more severe in the future, as a result of climate change. Possibly, maybe even probably, if the models predicting as much are correct. But one thing is certain: Climate changes. That is why we call it climate.
Climate means change. It comes from the Greek word klinein (κλίνειν), which means "a thing that leans variably" (e.g., a ladder), and this is why we use the word in geography and cartography for topo maps (i.e., declination North), because magnetic North is always changing. So, when someone says climate is changing, they are necessarily correct. But the speed at which it is changing has at most a negligible effect on forrest fires in the window of our narrow life experience.
And while we should be good stewards of our land, we should be wary of those who claim to "know" with certitude that increased "extreme" weather is due to climate change. And even if it is, there is little we can do about it, given that the worst greenhouse gas omitting offenders (viz. China and India), with their massive populations and stubborn reluctance to change, are going to keep on keeping on. Our best bet is to figure out how best to live in a warmer world on the assumption that it is coming. This means a serious reworking of policy for fire management, while still allowing responsible people to use our resources, because the policy(s) we are now using are clearly not working.
This will be my last comment on this, as it does seem that people are all too inclined (there's that word again!) to condescend rather than dialogue earnestly to learn from one another.
the first sentence is literally my entire point: "In order for the spread of the 117,000-acre Caldor Fire to stop or to be suppressed by firefighters, something will have to change — either the weather or the fuel."
Since it may take 10+years to put a dent in the climate change dilemma, do you think we should address the fuel or the weather first? The article even states that the brush abatement measures that I'm saying we should engage in more often, had the intended effect of slowing the fire and reducing the amount of embers produced.
did you even read your own source? Just admit that bleating 'climate change' like some corporate drone was a stupid thing to do. You're embarrassing yourself.
Good question and point, I don't really think that, poorly written on my part. I should have written "check also increased impact from lightening storms." In our current climate, lightening fires quickly get out of control, like last year's Complex fires.
Love how as a historian you can know more about science than many if not most scientists. Super convenient and useful!
As an economist and data analyst by profession, as it happens I study, among other things, history. I know history well, both good and bad — better than many, if not most, historians. ;-)
And how can we begin to believe that mankind is the cause of earth change (see what I did there) when there are earth and solar cycles that are far longer and more powerful than anything we've yet concocted.
AND throw a weakening magnetosphere into the mix.
Why is everyone ignoring the link between sun activity, seismology, volocanism, a fire?
but you couldn't even read an article enough to know that it defeated your argument and supported the one you were trying to defeat. lol.
Climate "science" predicts that weather patterns WILL CHANGE (note the use of the future tense). There is only anecdotal opinion that weather HAS CHANGED (note the use of the perfect tense [action completed in the past and affecting the present).
Look, it's pretty clear you're out of your league here and are trying merely to "win" an argument at any cost. ("what is the 4th word from the ending period in the excerpt you quoted above?" Give it a break! You sound like a 7th grader.)
climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus
www.ipcc.ch/2021/08/09/ar6-wg1-20210809-pr
www.ucsusa.org/climate/science
www.google.com
www.commonsense.com
Same response as I wrote 9/10.
and homeboy isn't denying climate change, he's telling you the difference between natural cycles and human influenced. damn you're thick.
"analyst" lmfao
And again the overall situation is made worse by nitwits that focus on factors like global warming in which there is not immediate course of action, and ignore the obvious immediate course.
You have yet to prove that climate change causes wildfires instead of making them worse, or demonstrate a counter to my suggestion that we need to focus on both plans and not just one. bc all you've done is made an ass of yourself and flip flop into semantic oblivion.
And ya from the sounds of it, it sounds like a really exclusive community college.
The trails will be rebuilt. The forest will grow back, but maybe not in our lifetime to the same grandeur it existed prior to the fire. Life goes on, but our world is changing, and we either accept it, or change our habits to help offset the change. That might mean riding local trails more often and rather than hoping in our gas guzzling rigs to drive 2 hours to ride more distant trails.
Luckily the firefighters did an amazing job in the basin protecting most (if not all) people's homes.
Today is the first day without wildfire smoke since the beginning of July, but it’s probably a temporary reprieve as Dixie snd Caldor continue to burn.
I love riding my mounts bike, we live here for the trails, the lakes, the mountains, the trees, but when you can’t even walk to your car and breathe safely, when you all the beauty is consumed by smoke, it rapidly becomes a trap.
There were tremendous losses this summer, individual, families, communities, and wildlife. We’re not safe, perhaps we never were, but now it’s plain to see.
Trails are just a means to an end, they only exist here because people built communities here.
Don’t forget this ^, the people who live here and the communities we’ve formed are what matter most. When you all return to our communities, be respectful, responsible, snd understanding.
Now is not the time to be in Tahoe unless you live here.