In this article, a commercial forester explains why Forest service policies need urgent reform, to avoid a repetition of the 2000 and 2002 Western wildfires.
Environmental activists have worked long and hard (and successfully) to marginalize industry in this debate. They don’t want us involved in finding a solution to the forest-health crisis because, let’s face it, they just don’t like us. But like us or not, our forests don’t burn. Not like public forests do. Is it because we are better at fighting fires? Is it because our trees are inflammable? Is it that lightning never strikes our land? Are we just really, really lucky? It is, of course, none of those.
The real reason our land doesn’t burn like public land is we actively manage our forests. We manage them like they are an investment because they are. Not just an investment of dollars, but of blood, sweat and tears and not just for us, but for the countless species who depend on the forest for their homes, and for the communities who depend on forests for clean drinking water, clean air and recreational opportunities. These are the very values I now see going up in smoke.
He makes a lot of sense to me.