This video shows what happened in Oso, repeated careless clear cutting uphill from the slide area, performed multiple times, each time leading to easily visible loosening of the slope and even a dramatic earlier slide in the same location that changed the course of the river, all of which was ignored. Finally, a pie-shaped clear cut directly above the slide area fed enough mud and water into the slope that it gave way a second time, killing so many people. Clear cutting upslope from houses in one of the rainiest places in North America is risky; failing to replant the pie-shaped clear cut goes beyond that to criminal negligence. In other words, this was not nature killing people, not an act of God. It was negligent homicide, whether or not anyone ever ends up being held accountable for killing these poor people. There are responsible forestry practices that would have prevented this from happening, even in a risky upslope setting like this.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:37:09 +0000