I have to hand it to the Forest Service. They have perfected the playbook of closing the forest only after the damage is done. I have seen this playbook executed with sheer perfection in forests all over the country for 20 years now.
I have zero training in forest management, but I believe the Forest Service may want to hire me anyhow to teach them a basic fire management principle: throw a burning cigarette butt into the Olympic National Forest in Washington State and what happens? Nothing. Do the same in a tinder dry forest in the Southwest and what happens – a catastrophic wildfire.
How long will it take them to figure this out?
Ron Vernesoni
Sedona, Ariz.
