Californians are shutting off their irrigation systems to reduce water consumption amid a devastating, climate-driven drought. In Yosemite National Park, sprinklers were turned on in hopes of slowing the climate-driven Washburn fire from threatening the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias.
The differences are instructive. Embracing brown lawns is a proactive commitment to a more climate-resilient landscape. The Mariposa sprinklers, deployed to protect such iconic trees as the Grizzly Giant, are a denial of the climate realities that have made the Sierra increasingly vulnerable to wildfire.
The same kind of denial is evident in two problematic ideas that frame the concerted effort to stop the Washburn blaze — preservationism and fire suppression.
