Rocky Barker’s blog today fleshes out what a lot of people are talking about right now in Idaho, Nevada, Montana, and Utah — the coming forest fire season.
The winter had below normal precipitation and the spring was generally dry. Dry springs actually reduce the range fire potential because the flammable seasonal grasses don’t grow as tall, but the the heavy fuels — logs and standing trees, will be very flammable beginning in mid-June. Couple this with the many insect attacks on the forests, and things could explode.
Rocky Barker’s blog: Don’t plan on a lot of campfires this summer.
Barker wrote an excellent book on forest fires and their role in the development of the public land agencies and their philosophies. I used it in my public lands politics class one semester. A review of his book and similar ones appeared in the Washington Post.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
