Reply #53: if he's doing it for land improvement reasons ....

[Lisa]

... I don't think he's thought things through. I put my resource management students onto the problem, and they found out that there are various techniques, e.g. biological control or off-season burns, which he could use, if he's serious about wanting to open up the landscape and alter the local hydrology. These would be more efficient, and not need to be re-done constantly.

Plus, if it's really a restoration project -- he hasn't shown us any sign of preliminary ecological studies, experimental treatments, or all the "homework" which a serious effort would require (to avoid messing up the habitat and at the very least wasting a bunch of time and effort). This is especially important in his area, to avoid harming populations of the endangered golden-cheeked warbler -- the bird needs mature stands of "cedar" (Juniperus ashei) to build its nests. He shouldn't be able to have it both ways, going on about how he has only the best intentions for the environment and is trying to "improve" it -- yet for all we know, he's making it up as he goes along (sort of like some of his other policies).

I like the aesthetics quote you posted. Isn't it interesting that the landscape he's hoping to end up with -- artificial fishpond, open woodlands with flowers and mature trees but minimal scrub understory -- look a lot like an Eastern deciduous woodland? The type of well-manicured setting which would be familiar to him from prep school grounds and estates in Connecticut, for example? And he always seems to be down in the canyons where the water is, along with the big trees ... not the arid uplands and grass balds, which are much more characteristic of the local environment.

As it is, he will be lucky if he doesn't bring down an entire hillside due to careless overcutting. And there are plenty of published studies and reports which suggest that it's an overgeneralization to conclude that removal of brush from all areas will result in an increase in available runoff (particularly in the long term). But it's consistent with his approach, rushing in without knowing what he's getting into.