Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
The featured presentation at last night’s Goldendale City Council meeting was not a slick deck of Power Point slides, just straight talk from a knowledgeable guy with a well-behaved toddler in his lap. The guy was Lucas King from Mount Adams Resource Stewards, abbreviated MARS. His number one priority was to reduce wildfire in light of increasingly dangerous fire seasons.
“Prescribed fire is kind of the most effective tool we have to reduce surface fuels post mechanical tool treatment, whether that’s logging, thinning, chipping, mastication, etc. I’ve been working with the conservation district to plan, and hopefully implement some prescribed burns on the Simcoe’s, east of Highway 97. And then thinking about how we use prescribed fire closer to Goldendale, including some initial conversations around the Observatory Hill property.”
That the danger is real was not lost on the council, prompting Steve Johnston to express his concern about the vegetation along the Little Klickitat River as it winds through the town:
“If fire ever started on the west side, with a good wind blowing, it would take out half the town. And then all the worries of the Department of Fish and Game and all the other guys they’re all concerned about, will be a moot point.”
Lucas said he understands why people get a bit nervous around the idea of setting fire to woodlands that other people have spent lifetimes try to prevent,
“I think as soon as kind of neighbors see the benefits of prescribed fire and kind of how moderate it is when we’re burning in these mild conditions, as well of kind of the green up afterwards and that we’re not totally burning the forest down, that can be super helpful.”
That was not the only topic at the meeting, which lasted just shy of one hour. Councilors also approved a three year contract for probation services from the county. And Chief Mike Smith gave his report:
“We had 315 calls for service, we had 20 arrests made, one theft, two violations of court orders, two domestic assaults, one drug charge, 11 warrant arrests, three traffic arrests, so we’ve been pretty busy in the month of April.”