Firefighters are often hampered by the inaccessibility of the rugged burning areas that lack roads. Air support is often used to reach flames that cannot be reached by any other means.
Rep Scott Tipton recently wrote an article called “Firefighting with law.” He proposes we reduce the forest’s fuel load of downed timber and dense growth by increasing the amount of ranchers grazing livestock on public lands. I have not heard of cattle that eat timber and graze on steep slopes. Possibly goats, but I don’t think many permits are filed by goat ranchers for public land grazing.
Then there is the problem of inaccessibility to these wild areas that have few to no roads. How would a rancher get livestock to the areas most in need of “fuel reduction”?
This solution of increasing grazing of public lands to solve our wildfire woes sounds a bit like someone is trying to blow smoke up our public-lands assets.
Jo Ann Kopke
Bayfield
