James Doerfling Out of Red Bull Rampage, Bas Van Steenbergen In
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In an unexpected turn of events, James Doerfling has removed himself from the upcoming 2017 Red Bull Rampage. Doerfling, who lives in Williams Lake B.C., has been fighting the fires that saw the town evacuated earlier this summer and while the evacutation order was lifted in late July, fires are still blazing around the area.
 | It has been one hell of a summer for me up here in Williams Lake, Canada—with the wildfires burning around my hometown. Throughout the last few weeks, I have been helping fight the fires alongside my community, and I haven’t been able to ride my bike much. I am going to pull out of this year’s Red Bull Rampage. Probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I hope you understand the situation. I hope to come back for 2018. |
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It sucks that we won't get to see what Doerfling would have come up with for the 2017 contest, after all, who can forget some of the insane features on his line from 2015? Nevertheless, it's an incredibly admirable thing that he is doing for his community up in Williams Lake.
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Bas van Steebergen In
With Doerfling stepping aside to help the community that he grew up in, Bas van Steenbergen has been called from the reserves list and will now suit up to take on the challenging terrain. Bas's last time at the event was in 2015 and his run included some unique takes on the use of the available land, mid-run crankflips and all.
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"Old growth" forests are amazing, however they are not prime examples of forest sustainability. Naturally, forests would burn down in forest fires sparked by lightning. This would reset the eco system, and completely re-vitalize the soil. New vegetation would start growing, creating habitats for a lot of different animals such as deer, bear, rodents, etc. As the forest grew up, it would bring new habitats for birds, and other forest type animals. The deer and bear would move to the next fledgling forest, and the cycle would repeat.
Now days we are so efficient and effective at stopping forest fires, that there isn't enough "recycling" going on. This leaves forests susceptible to other plagues such as the pine beetle epidemic. Thankfully, a lot of our forest fires lately have been burning these useless dead forests down.
To replace the naturally occurring forest fires, logging is the next best thing. When a forest is cut down, all of the branches, roots, stumps, foliage, and cut offs are left to decompose, which puts good nutrients back into the ground. Then the forest cycle can reset from there.
In the old days, clear cutting was a thing, and obviously bad. Modern logging cuts down forests in "patches" almost like a 3 level checkers boards. This leaves forests standing ready to be cut, next to patches of forest mid way through it's regrowth cycle, and then freshly cut forest, all layered throughout the area. This gives all of the wild life great habitats to live in, while refreshing the soil. After a cut area has had a chance to rest for a bit, new trees are planted. This, combined with the natural seeding from the fully grown forests nearby, allow healthy new forests to grow up quickly. A large area of forest is permanently left around any creeks/lakes etc or any special habitats for fish and other wild life. All of this leads to healthy, sustainable logging.
If you've ever spent much time in any old growth forests, you would notice that, while the trees are bigger, they are generally dying. If you cut down an old growth tree, most of the inside is rotten and dead, while just the outer foot or two is actually alive. These trees end up just falling down, or get hit by lightning and burning anyway because the rotten wood inside isn't full of moisture.
The fact is that that we need wood. We need it for so many things its crazy. Things we don't even think about. This wood has to come from somewhere, and BC is bristling with forests that would otherwise burn or be infected with pine beetle or whatever else. They are a renewable and sustainable resource, so why not use them? Most of the forests that are logged and everybody complains about, will only ever be set foot in by the people logging them. I would far rather use our forests well, than be pumping the earth full of chemicals and burning away our ozone layer with a "use once and discard" resource such as oil.
Some of the most beautiful forests around BC, a lot of which the general population think are either old growth or second growth, are actually more like 3rd, 4th or even 5th growth. There are huge misconceptions around logging and forestry, but the reality is that BC forests are some of the best managed forests in the world, and something to be proud of.
-Fresh forests burn faster than pine beetle ravaged forests. So that bio fuel theory is under speculation now.
-One ecosystem if very valuable and precious because of the "dead decaying old growth forests" and it's rarity. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is "too much" 2nd, 3rd, etc. regrown lumber patch forest ecosystems all over the province.
-People would know that they are not looking at a 'old growth forest' if they ever got the chance to see a real one.
My point was. California is commendable for being able to keep more of it's "old growth forest/ecosystem" (which has not burnt down yet according to your theory) than BC. And Canada needs to do a better job to make sure BC logging does not cut that remaining 1 percent of "old growth forest' down in BC, which is still under threat because of the ignorant pro BC forest opinions seen here.
On a side note - what's with the photo of him charging down the mountain? It looks completely mutilated. People are climbing all over the place and trails just end.
@thejake why don't you whine a little more, it really adds to the conversation. RichPune didn't understand why there were people climbing all over the mountain so I reminded him.. It's Rampage...
Does anyone know if there is a list of alternate riders ? with a event like the rampage, many times riders get hurt preriding the event and new riders get a shot last minute , just was wondering whos on that list.
.....Doerfling, you need some extra hands out there fighting those fires?? We will send you all the piece of shit useless NFL players who take a knee during our national anthem. Put em to work, and feed them your leftovers.