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Transcript/ScriptMUSHROOMS FIGHTING WILDFIRES HEADLINE:
Mushrooms Can Help Cut Wildfire Risks TEASER: Degrading dangerous biomass organically PUBLISHED AT: 11/12/2023 at 5:53 pm BYLINE: Shelley Schlender CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Boulder, Colorado VIDEOGRAPHER: Shelley Schlender VIDEO EDITOR: ASSIGNING EDITOR: Stearns SCRIPT EDITORS: Stearns, Mia Bush VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Storyblocks, Boulder Mushroom PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_ TRT: 2:35 VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath TYPE: EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO:))
[[In the Western United States, foresters are working to minimize threats from wildfires by thinning nearly 20 million hectares of forests. From the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado, Shelley Schlender reports on how scientists are using mushrooms to reduce wildfire risks organically.]] ((NARRATOR)) Wildfires around the world are growing more destructive. In the Western U.S. state of Colorado, forest crews work to reduce the risk. ((NATS)) Female forester: “We are thinning the forest.” Male forester: “I am currently limbing up this tree.. …" ((NARRATOR)) Left behind in a forest, wood chips and thinned out logs can still burn. Hauling them out is expensive. So foresters outside the city of Boulder are testing a more natural way to make deadwood quickly disappear. It’s a fungi way.
((Aaron Cropley, City of Boulder Forester)) “Some of these wood chips that you see behind us, we’ve actually donated for the inoculation projects for mushrooms to help with fire mitigation.” ((NARRATOR))
At the mycology center Boulder Mushroom, founder Zach Hedstrom tends dozens of small petri dishes that hold local, wild mushroom fungi.
((Zach Hedstrom, Boulder Mushroom))
“We culture these strains out of our environment and bring them into our lab and isolate them. And then we study the ways that they can be used.”
((NARRATOR))
For instance, a super-hot wildfire can sterilize land and leave it prone to mudslides. Hedstrom says new seedlings have a better chance of stabilizing burned out areas if fungi are mixed with their planting soil.
((Zach Hedstrom, Boulder Mushroom)) “Mycorrhizal fungi help plants share water, share nutrients.”
((NARRATOR)) ((Courtesy: David Pratter))
Restoring one hectare of forest can take a ton of fungi.
((1:09.26 - 1:14)) ((BROLL: DRONE SHOT OF FOREST))
To make enough, ((end courtesy)) Hedstrom’s team adds tiny doses to hundreds of bags of growing mix. Within days, the bags fill with fungal “roots” — mycelium — ready for wildfire mitigation.
((Zach Hedstrom, Boulder Mushroom))
“The solid state inoculate…
((1:26:27 - 1:28:04)) ((BROLL: FUNGI BEING TORN IN BAG))
is either ((Courtesy: David Pratter)) spread by hand. … And then we also ((end courtesy)) utilize a liquid inoculant, which is a slurry of mycelium that can be sprayed.”
((NARRATOR))
Wood chips are a frequent target for mushroom mitigation. In Evergreen, Colorado, piles like these can increase wildfire risks for decades. Forester Jeff Ravage walks to a mound that used to be another giant wood chip pile. He sped up its decomposition with wild, local fungi.
((Jeff Ravage, Coldfire Project)) “It took two years to do what would take nature 20 to 50 years. So it's over a 10-time acceleration of natural forces.”
((NARRATOR))
To avoid invasive species, Ravage says it’s crucial to use local, wild fungi. Done correctly, the payoff is something unlikely to burn and so beneficial that Ravage scoops up a handful of the decomposed chips and breathes them in.
((Jeff Ravage, Coldfire Project)) “That’s the stuff! It’s not rancid. It’s not woody. Smells like beautiful soil.”
((NARRATOR))
Mushroom mitigation pioneers are hoping to expand their efforts to help people anywhere who are threatened by wildfires.
((Shelley Schlender, VOA News, Boulder, Colorado))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Boulder, Colorado
Embargo DateNovember 12, 2023 18:33 EST
Byline
Shelley Schlender, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
