Are the ways forest fires are fought and prevented wise?
As summer advances, debate over the handling of forest fires, is one again on the front burner.
Are the ways forest fires are being fought and prevent “firewise?” By Heath Druzin and Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman. “We spend billions attacking almost every wildfire, but scientists say that’s bad for the forest, can put firefighters in unnecessary danger and doesn’t protect communities as well- or as cheaply – as we now know how to do.”
Reporters Druzin and Barker cite USDA’s inspector general who concludes that too many Americans who live to areas prone to forest fires do not join with their neighbors and/or accept personal responsibility to construct and landscape their homes in a way to reduce the danger of being burned in a wildfire. This is due in considerable measure to the federal effort to put out every fire and throw billions into wildfire suppression with no constraints.
– – – – –
I believe their has been a decline in personal responsibility, but then I might be criticized as sounding cranky.
Note: please read the sidebar on rangefires. They are quite different the forest fires, and there are far too many of them. The result and the cause is mostly the spread of the flammable exotic cheatgrass.

Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years 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.
One Response to Are the ways forest fires are fought and prevented wise?
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Recent Posts
- “Stick to the Facts”–How Green Groups Fail to Protect the Gallatin Range May 23, 2022
- Bi State Sage Grouse Reinstated As Proposed Threatened By Court May 19, 2022
- BLM Fails To Protect Public Patrimony Through Renewal of Grazing Privileges Without Environmental Review May 17, 2022
- Conservation Groups Threaten To Sue On East Paradise Grazing Decision May 12, 2022
- Gratitude for National Parks May 11, 2022
Recent Comments
- Maggie Frazier on “Stick to the Facts”–How Green Groups Fail to Protect the Gallatin Range
- Maggie Frazier on “Stick to the Facts”–How Green Groups Fail to Protect the Gallatin Range
- Ida Lupine on “Stick to the Facts”–How Green Groups Fail to Protect the Gallatin Range
- Ida Lupine on “Stick to the Facts”–How Green Groups Fail to Protect the Gallatin Range
- Nancy Ostlie on “Stick to the Facts”–How Green Groups Fail to Protect the Gallatin Range
- Jannett Heckert on Conservation Groups Threaten To Sue On East Paradise Grazing Decision
- Rich on Bi State Sage Grouse Reinstated As Proposed Threatened By Court
- Jannett Heckert on BLM Fails To Protect Public Patrimony Through Renewal of Grazing Privileges Without Environmental Review
- rastadoggie on Gratitude for National Parks
- rastadoggie on Bi State Sage Grouse Reinstated As Proposed Threatened By Court
- Megan on Bi State Sage Grouse Reinstated As Proposed Threatened By Court
- Ida Lupine on BLM Fails To Protect Public Patrimony Through Renewal of Grazing Privileges Without Environmental Review
- Ida Lupine on Bi State Sage Grouse Reinstated As Proposed Threatened By Court
- Robert Raven on BLM Fails To Protect Public Patrimony Through Renewal of Grazing Privileges Without Environmental Review
- Martha S. Bibb on BLM Fails To Protect Public Patrimony Through Renewal of Grazing Privileges Without Environmental Review
From the looks of the dead forests of central Idaho, not the way it lokked ten years ago… they should have let it burn.
The bark beetle infestation is devastating the forests of Idaho and a lot of this is due to forest fire suppression policies for the sake of timber harvests and trophy homes;
Thank you Larry Craig, Mike Crapo, Dirk Kempthorne and many others.