Year of the Fires

In the last few years forest fires in the United States have been in the public eye. First occurred the spellbinding Yellowstone National Park conflagration of 1988. Then in 1994 came the tragic deaths of fire fighters in Colorado. The summer of 2000 saw huge blazes in Idaho and Montana, while in the Southwest prescribed burns bolted from “control” and licked at Los Alamos. All those events captivated the nation and, at least with regard to Yellowstone, the world as well. For a good part of the twentieth century, federal forest fire policy prescribed controlled burns sparingly and mandated the suppression of human-caused and wildfires. Beginning in 1968, official governing circles slowly altered their position on fire, having finally realized the benefits it can produce. The resultant newer practices combined with persistent drought in the West have made forest fires, however frightening they always are, seem rather commonplace in the contemporary era

Archaeology · Business · Geography · National park · Position (finance · American Environmental and Regional History · Fire effects on ecosystems · History

• The U.S. Fire Learning Network

  Bruce Evan Goldstein, W H Butler•Society & Natural Resources•2010

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