Burning the forests ahead of wildfire season

MARCH 17, 2023

THE BIG STORY

Ahead of wildfire season, firefighters burn the forests

Debris from Black Hills National Forest is piled up throughout the year until the weather conditions are safe enough to control the burn outside Hill City, South Dakota, on Feb. 2, 2023. Jenn Ackerman and Tim Gruber

For many forestlands all over the US, spring is when firefighters intentionally set fires. During the seasons when there is a lower chance of wildfires, forest services conduct controlled burns, also known as prescribed burns or low-intensity burns, in which they create planned fires to maintain the health of the forest and prevent future wildfires.

Practiced for millennia by Native Americans, prescribed burns allow for a "natural pruning, it does a cleansing of the forest," Jason Virtue, a fire officer at the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, told BuzzFeed News. The burns help maintain the "resiliency of the forest so it can sustain fires and [people do] not have to worry about fires taking out thousands and thousands of acres," he added.

Prescribed burns have made a comeback in recent decades, after nearly a century of the federal government banning the practice. Federal fire policy prioritized fire suppression for most of the 20th century. But as destructive, uncontrolled wildfires — like the ones seen in California over the last several years — grow in frequency and intensity due to decades of fire suppression, climate change, and other factors, policy is once again returning to the Indigenous practice of controlled burning.

Black Hills National Forest fire managers conduct pile burns in the Black Hills National Forest outside Hill City, South Dakota, on Feb. 2, 2023. Jenn Ackerman and Tim Gruber

Buffalo roam in Custer State Park outside Hill City, South Dakota, on Feb. 2, 2023. Jenn Ackerman and Tim Gruber

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Russia's war crimes in Ukraine

A new UN-backed report released Thursday concluded that Russia was guilty of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws. "The Commission is concerned with the number, the geographic spread, and the gravity of human rights violations and corresponding international crimes which it has documented during its mandate," investigators wrote. "These have affected men, women, boys and girls of all backgrounds and ages."
- Investigators also found a few instances of Ukrainians violating international law, either by using cluster munitions and rocket-delivered antipersonnel land mines or by torturing at least two members of the Russian armed forces.
The report is likely to have little practical effect on Russia, but it will increase pressure for the country to be held accountable by the International Criminal Court.

SNAPSHOTS

Pregnancy is getting more dangerous in the US, new data shows, especially for Black people. The US has the worst maternal mortality rates among high-income countries; they're more than double those of the second- and third-worst countries (France and Canada), according to the Commonwealth Fund.

A Florida man is accused of hiring someone to kill his wife's ex-husband. Mario Fernandez Saldana, 35, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, child abuse, and murder.

Once a cheater, always a cheater? Inspired by the Scandoval, we asked experts on the psychology of infidelity about what drives people to cheat — and if relationships born out of affairs can last.

People are eating dog food for protein gains and I'm frightened. Dog food does not meet the nutritional requirements of human food, just as human food does not meet the nutritional requirements of dog food. Eat some lentils for crying out loud.

PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA

Ten people have been charged with murder after allegedly smothering a Black man to death

(Upper row from left to right) Wavie Jones, Darian Blackwell, Sadarius Williams, Brandon Rogers, and Dwayne Bramble (Lower row from left to right) Jermaine Branch, Kaiyell Sanders, Randy Boyer, Tabitha Levere, and Bradley Disse Meherrin River Regional Jail via Virginia State Police

Seven sheriff's deputies and three Virginia state hospital workers have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a 28-year-old Black man who died in custody after deputies allegedly pinned him to the ground for 12 minutes while his hands and legs were shackled.

Irvo Otieno died while he was being admitted to Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, on March 6, while Henrico County sheriff's deputies were transferring him from the county jail to the state mental health facility. Otieno was initially taken into custody on March 3 when his family said he was experiencing a mental health crisis.

State police investigators were told that Otieno had become combative during the intake process, officials said. But, according to Otieno's family and their lawyers, video of the incident shows that the 28-year-old was not violent or aggressive and posed no threat. "Mental illness should not be your ticket to death," Caroline Ouko, Otieno's mother, said during a news conference Thursday. "And I don't understand how all systems failed him."

"Why would anybody not have enough common sense to say we've seen this movie before?" asked civil rights attorney Ben Crump, one of the lawyers representing the family. "If we continue to put pressure and weight and a knee while a person is in a prone position, we know how this movie is going to end."

IMAGE OF THE DAY

Saype / Handout via Reuters

A view of Swiss-French artist Saype's giant painting, for which he used biodegradable pigments made out of charcoal and chalk to paint the desert sand, at Ibri solar farm, Ibri 2 IPP Project, in Al, Mazim, Oman.

BELIEVE

Ted Lasso Season 3 will annoy or delight you — just like its past seasons

Courtesy of Apple TV+

Ted Lasso is still Ted Lasso, Olivia Craighead writes. How that makes you feel is between you and your god; fans of the show can rejoice, and its haters will have something to tweet about.

AFC Richmond is back in the Premier League after a tie at the end of last season, and every prognosticator is expecting them to finish in last place. Meanwhile, Nate, who we can tell is an antagonist because his hair is silver now, is thriving as the coach of West Ham United — but embargoed episodes suggest his villainy hides a misguided yet kind heart. Rebecca, who is now desperate to beat Rupert and has the entire internet laughing at her football club, implores Ted to "fight back." And in classic Ted fashion, fighting back means staying optimistic.

Even though the show has changed over the course of its run, at its heart it is still a series whose thesis hangs above the door to Ted Lasso's office: Believe. In yourself, in others, in the beautiful game — you just have to believe.

reSEARCH

If you have a favorite corner of the internet that you'd like to share, send it my way at hellomobile@buzzfeed.com with the subject line "reSEARCH." We may feature it in a future newsletter. —Alexa

Ice Spice Mark Von Holden / Variety via Getty Images

Revisiting

"Dear Sugar, the Rumpus Advice Column #98: Monsters and Ghosts." Been going through a bit of a tough time, and it's been helpful to start my mornings rereading Cheryl Strayed's advice for someone who "can't seem to escape the past and the memories."

While it may seem bizarre to return to the same 2012 article on a daily basis, reading Strayed's guidance has been an oddly affirming ritual. "While it's true you're haunted by your past, it's truer that you've traveled spectacularly far away from it. You swam across a wide and wild sea and you made it all the way to the other side," Strayed writes. "That it feels different here on this shore than you thought it would does not negate the enormity of the distance you traversed and the strength it took you to do it."

Obsessing

The Abhidhamma. Lately I have been doing a lot of meditation practice and studies of the Abhidhamma (a field within Theravada Buddhism). The meditation practice results in a clear and still mind with a calm body and a deeper knowledge of oneself and how one's own mind works. It benefits me as well as people and animals in the near vicinity, as they'll experience a peaceful and more mindful listener. —Thomas

Streaming

"In Ha Mood" by Ice Spice. Dubbed "the people's princess" in a new Dazed profile, venerated rap rookie Ice Spice told the magazine, "I only keep supportive people around me, motivated people around me." Thankfully that didn't stop her from releasing "In Ha Mood," which contains some of the best burns I've heard since Nicki Minaj said "couldn't get Michael Kors if you was fucking Michael Kors" in 2011.

The whole track is a stunner, but it's the line "If I was bitches, I'd hate me a lot" that has me ready to pledge my sword to Spice. In a nine-word declaration of confidence wrapped in faux empathy, Spice conveys an ethos I urgently seek to embody. "In Ha Mood" is her umpteenth reminder that she's not a one-hit wonder, and she's just getting started. It's a dismissal of her insecure haters. It's a whole fucking mood.

Don't let the imperfect outcome stop you from trying,

Alexa

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