Dry forests a disaster waiting to happen: Forest fire index 'right off the scale'
Copyright 2001
The Ottawa Citizen
August 17, 2001
By Kelly Egan
It's so dry in Calabogie these days, an oldtimer reported yesterday, that two trees were seen fighting over a peeing dog.
Even the wit has gone dry in August, as Eastern Ontario spends another week in a prolonged drought that has touched every aspect of the natural world.
The leaves on many city trees are yellowing, curling up, and readying for final surrender. Along country roads, the corn looks terrible. The Ottawa River, the second-longest in Ontario, is within 11 centimetres of its lowest level in 50 years.
The Mississippi River watershed, meanwhile, is experiencing a Level 2 drought, meaning it is being stressed to meet existing demands.
And in the forests, in a 150-kilometre radius of Ottawa, there has been a tripling of small fires, some of them stubbornly burning underground along a web of dried-out roots.
July brought 38.6 millimetres of rain, instead of the average of 88.1. August -- and the Ottawa weather office admits this fell sporadically -- has had 23.8 millimetres, way off the monthly pace of 92 millimetres.
In all, we're owed close to 73 millimetres of rain, or almost three inches. Rain is forecast for today but it likely won't amount to much more than 10 millimetres over a 36-hour period.
"What we really need is a steady rain over several days," said Environment Canada weather specialist Marc Beauchemin.
Hans Werner-Mackeler is a fire management technician in the Kemptville district of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
He reports that, so far this year in Ontario, we've had 1,274 fires, compared to 419 in all of last year. He took a peek at the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index, which crunches such factors as the quantity and state of fuel on the forest floor.
"It's right off the scale," he said, about the highest he's seen it in 23 years. "So far, we've been very fortunate. There hasn't been anything disastrous."
The Ministry, however, has had to water-bomb at least two fires in Eastern Ontario, including a blaze at a bog in Newington, outside Cornwall.
"Because of these dry conditions, the fires are burning deep. Just when you think they're out, they can pop up again."
The Quebec side has been just as bad. In August alone, there have been 100 fires fought in the area south of Maniwaki -- eight fires still on the go -- a figure that includes small blazes in Gatineau Park and near Mont-Ste-Marie.
John Wilson, a private land forester with the ministry, says a large, mature tree can consume several hundred litres of water a day.
He spends a lot of time advising private woodlot owners about management of their forests. Lately, he hasn't liked what he's seen in the bush.
"We are actually starting to see that the trees are experiencing what we call 'die-back'," said Mr. Wilson. "This mean the tree is pulling back its resources from the edges."
Trees in poor soil or accustomed to swampy feet are particularly hard hit, he added.
A crop advisor with the Ministry of Agriculture expects corn yields to be down roughly 15 per cent this year. Scott Banks admits, however, that about five per cent of the crop never actually produced a cob of corn.
This has been a frustrating year, Mr. Banks explained, because it began with such promise. Farmers were able to get on their fields in good time and there was adequate rain in May and June. The first cut of hay was satisfactory and spring wheat was also solid, he said.
The dry spell has been so prolonged, however, that cows can no longer rely on pasture grasses and are already being fed food from the barn.