Forest Service stresses prevention for residents in fire-prone areas
It's time for West Texas residents to embrace the inevitability of fires, a Texas Forest Service specialist suggested at a fire preparedness meeting Monday. In doing so, they can learn to live with fires the way other parts of the state have learned to prepare for tornadoes and hurricanes.
Patrick Allen, wildland/urban interface specialist, sought to answer questions Monday afternoon regarding wildfire preparedness, the process of how different agencies become involved with fighting a fire, and why Texas is having its worst wildfire season in recorded history. The event was hosted by the Sibley Nature Center as part of the center's Concho Resources Brown Bag Luncheon series.
"Wildland fire has a natural role in the ecosystem," said Allen. "Agricultural producers use it to bring about the good, green grass. Unfortunately, with all the population and all the people moving into rural areas, we've waged a war against it."
As more people build their houses out in wildlands, more fires abruptly are stopped to protect structures and lives. This, combined with reduced grazing and controlled burns, allows tall grass to build up, providing future fuel for fires. Having houses more spread out in rural areas also can provide a challenge to many local fire departments.
"To have a house here and a house there, they have to spread out their resources, where if there's a community they can make a stand outside the community and battle it from there," he said.
Allen came to Midland two months ago through the Texas Forest Service. He shares temporary trailer offices, which are located by the Midland County Fire Marshal's office on Highway 80, with Lori Hazel, who has been the assistant chief regional fire coordinator since February. The Texas Forest Service currently is hiring task force personnel to maintain heavy equipment and bulldozers based out of Midland for wildfire response.
Traditionally, the Texas Forest Service's efforts have been based in East Texas, which has more heavy timber. This year's fires have shown the organization that there is also a need for its continued presence in the western portion of the state.
The Hickman fire that destroyed 19 buildings south of Midland on April 9 marked the two-year anniversary of an outbreak of 208 wildfires in several communities in northeast Texas. Hundreds of firefighters worked to battle flames that charred 140,000 acres of land, killed four people and destroyed 114 homes. Weather conditions, referred to as the Southern Plains Wildfire Outbreak pattern, were largely to blame for the large firestorm, which weather forecasters generally refer to today as extremely critical fire weather.
Plants In The Leaf Litter Community - News
Leaf litter provides kindling, and a wooden deck or roof may act like logs of a campfire. Allen said he's seen people dangerously store firewood on their decks or against propane tanks. Landscaping wisely in fire-prone areas doesn't necessarily mean
The concern was that excessive leaf litter resulting from the poisoning could cause water contamination. But since a permit was not required at the time from the CWB (new regulations may require a permit for shoreline herbicide use in the near future),
Other preventive measures include keeping grass mowed; removing leaf, brush and weed litter from around your home; and using deer resistant plants to deter deer from your yard. Check your pets for ticks after any time outside and check with your pet's
But the 898-acre park has its limitations, too — areas where there are conflicts between dogs and wildlife, a lack of signs and trail maps, invasive species that block views and take over native plants, and limited pedestrian and bike access to the
The Butterfly Plants spread like wildfire. A weeping Cherry creates a white umbrella in the spring. A split leaf Japanese Dwarf maple shades the continuously pumping water element. The plants were selected to attract the birds and the bees.
Indians discover world's most heat-resistant fungi
In a significant discovery that can be a major breakthrough in biotechnology, Indian mycologists have discovered fungi spores, considered as being able to withstand a temperature of 100-115 degrees celsius.
Spores are reproductive cells capable of developing into a new individual without fusion with another reproductive cell. The team of fungi researchers found the heat-resistant spores in dead leaves.
"It took us around one and a half years to arrive at our conclusion. It is a preliminary but significant finding. It is reported for the first time that fungi spores can survive even 115 degrees Celsius," T.S. Surayanarayanan, director of the Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology (VINSTROM), told IANS in an interview.
The fungi are among the most heat-resistant eukaryotes (organisms with a membrane-bound nucleus) on record, he said. They have been named 'Agni's Fungi' after the Hindu god of fire.
VINSTROM is part of the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith that runs the famed Vivekananda College and other institutes here.
The fungi were particularly found in leaf litter isolated from tropical semi-arid habitat in the Western Ghats in southern India.
The spores may have adapted to the environment as the region is known to have forest fires, Suryanarayanan said.
Along with bacteria, they degrade dead leaves by breaking down their molecular structure as opposed to other fungi that damage living trees and plants.
Among the 25 species of fungi isolated from leaf litter, spores of nine of them were able to germinate after incubation in drying oven for over two hours at 100 degrees Celsius.
The spores of Chaetomella raphigera and Phoma survived two hours' incubation at 110 degrees Celsius and the spores of Bartalinia - the more heat-resistant - survived an exposure of two hours at 115 degrees Celsius.
Longer exposure of Bartalina spores to lower temperatures was as lethal as shorter exposures to temperatures higher than 115 degrees Celsius.
The heat resistance of fungal spores is a function of both time and temperature, Suryanarayanan said.
The research paper was authored by Surayanarayanan along with M.B. Govindarajalu, E. Thirumalai (VINSTROM), M. Sudhakara Reddy (Thapar University, Patiala) and Nicholas P. Money (Miami University, Oxford Ohio, US).
"There are heat-loving fungi. Hitherto the reports were that fungi are thermo tolerant up to 60 to 70 degrees Celsius. But these fungi spores tolerate high levels of heat not seen previously," Suryanarayanan told IANS.
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