Don’t use their language!
I read this AP brief on page 3A of today’s Reno Gazette-Journal:
INCLINE VILLAGE (AP) — Fire officials plan more fuel-reduction projects this year to reduce the wildfire danger on Lake Tahoe’s north shore.
North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District officials are hoping to reduce fuels on about 500 acres of forest around Incline Village and Crystal Bay.
Plans call for the clearing of fuels in untouched forest to slow the growth of wildfires, and fuels maintenance in previously-thinned areas.
Officials are hoping to complete clearing of untouched forest around the two communities next year.
Fire officials have stepped up such projects since the Angora Fire.
My question: Is the Fire Protection District planning to get rid of some trees? Remove brush? Both? Who could tell from this brief? The brief uses words like “fuel reduction” and “fuel maintenance” over and over again. Here’s the closest the brief gets to saying any trees will be removed: “clearing of untouched forest.”
Here’s a link to the district’s Fuels Management Division Web page, where you can find more details about what fuel reduction and maintenance mean. “Fuel” means “something that burns in the environment.” It sounds like crews remove trees and brush by hand or with heavy equipment, and those actions are sometimes followed by prescribed fires.
I think it would be clearer if the brief’s lead was, “Fire officials plan more brush- and tree-removal projects this year to reduce the wildfire danger on Tahoe’s north shore.” And I’d like to know what “clearing of untouched forest” means. It sounds to me like crews are going to go in and chop down all the trees and other plants in certain areas. If that’s true, the brief should say so. If that’s not true, then I’ve just been misled by the AP’s choice of words.
This may be a case of jargon being used in a news story because a reporter was too busy or too lazy to be more precise. Or it could be more sinister. Does the district use “fuel reduction” because it sounds less controversial than “chopping down trees”? If that’s the case, the reporter is aiding in the district’s obfuscation.
Whatever the reason, it’s just bad journalism.
