[Fwd: Fw: USGS News Release: USGS Research Indicates Fire Suppression and Fuel Buildup are Not Responsible for Chaparral Shrubland Fires in Southern California]

[Paul Cherubini]

> The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information
> to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property
> from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral
> resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

Sometimes yes, but maybe not always.

For example, I believe anyone viewing this USGS animation 
http://edc.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/Angangueo/Angangueocovermapanimated
of the monarch butterfly overwintering forests in Mexico, would conclude
the forests had been severely thinned and fragmented between 1971 and 1999

Actual recent photographs (2002), however, show the forest cover is
excellent:
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/chincuadis.JPG
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/elrosariodis.jpg

Paul Cherubini
Placerville, Calif.

 
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