Eagle Creek or Los Angeles?
Usually we have wonderful clean air and clear sky. Not today. It is almost 11:00 and I haven’t saddled a horse to ride cattle – pretty near a record. I fed my horse early- came back and cooked breakfast- stalled some. Checked barn – came back and did paperwork. Stalled some more. In all I have made 5 trips up to the barn and still not caught a horse.
The reason is dense smoke. The USFS is doing a prescribed burn North of us and the smoke is funneling down the valley. My eyes are burning and it is hard to breathe. I don’t have the heart to make a horse carry me up and down canyons gathering steers. They can’t breathe either. Plus it would be hard to find any critters in this gloom.
The prescribed burns are a good thing – although that is hard to believe today. It reduces the pinion/juniper encroachment on the forest. Many open areas all across the SW have become overrun with juniper. They reduce the water table, shade out habitat for wildlife, lessen plant diversity, and have been the cause of a few wrecks and lots of cussing as I try and ride through the brush. Juniper has eaten slickers, sweatshirts, wool shirts and vests right off the cantle of my saddle. When I have needed one of the above items and discovered that the juniper fairy stole it, I don’t even go back and look anymore. I have yet to recover anything dropped/pulled off in the brush. It vanishes – maybe some little critter makes a nest of it.
We have had controlled burns on over 10,000 acres of this ranch in the last 3 years. It has made a huge difference. Grass production and diversity has increased due to this conservation work. The amount of bare ground has been reduced. Mearns quail and other birds are in record numbers. Turkey particularly have had a great year. I understand prescribed burns are an essential part of maintaining rangeland health. But this smoke!!
How do people live in LA or Mexico City? Yuck!
Leave a Reply