Editor:

Many years ago, when I lived in Wyoming, our national forests and state forests were considered a resource. I assume this was the case throughout the country. Now, it seems the forests are considered preserves. This change has resulted in more frequent, larger and more destructive wildfires.

As a resource, the forests were open to logging. Logging roads were developed into remote areas to selectively harvest the resource. Well managed clear-cutting harvesting operations were also common in the early 1970s.

This human development into the forests would often provide access to firefighting operations either by utilizing the logging roads or the clearcut areas. Hot shot smokejumpers often utilized clearcut areas in their operations.

The point is that responsible forest resource harvesting is good for the forest. Not just for firefighting, but also for a variety of biodiversity benefits as well.

Considering forests as preserves has severely limited or outright banned logging within the national forests and many state forests. Without the human logging development within the forests, access to remote areas is often difficult, if not impossible, to fight fires.

Reaching the fires in remote areas takes longer as a result, and the reliance on aerial firefighting efforts to drop fire retardant or water is often hampered by proximity, availability and weather. The result is more acres burned.

The current national forest management practice of treating the forests as preserves does nothing to preserve the resources. Nationally, over half of all wildfires occur on federal lands, while in the west the figure is over 63%.

From 2013 to 2022, there were an average of 61,410 wildfires annually and an average of 7.2 million acres impacted annually on federal and state lands. The U.S. Forest Service estimates fighting wildfires costs over $3 billion per year.

Given the number of acres burned annually, and the valuable timber resources destroyed, treating forests as preserves really doesn’t preserve the forest at all. Well managed, sustainable, forest timber harvesting could be one addition to forest management to assist in the prevention and spread of wildfires on federal and state lands.

Timber harvesting operations could also create “fire break” areas within the forests as part of their planning goals. 

One item to seriously consider in thoughtful forest management planning is the role of juniper trees in wildfires. Junipers are part of the cypress family and are one of the hardiest, most versatile and drought-tolerant shrubs.

They are also one of the most fire prone species and are sometimes referred to as “gasoline bush” by firefighters. Junipers are highly combustible plants due to their volatile oils, dense growth, and retention of dead plant material beneath the plant which make junipers highly susceptible to ember ignition. 

Considered an invasive species, juniper trees’ increased encroachment from rocky cliff sides into low lying sagebrush and grass environments allows wildfires to rapidly transition from low surface fires to large canopy fires.

Once the canopy stage is reached, junipers make it possible for wildfires to rapidly extend into the mountainous pine tree region, often resulting in larger, sometimes catastrophic fires.    

Sound forest management practice must move away from treating forest lands as preserves and once again integrate managing forests as a resource. If only a portion of the $3 billion used to react for forest fires was instead used to enhance prevention efforts, such as responsible logging operations and  juniper suppression, the national and state forests would be considerably less prone to wildfires.   

Without this change, the forests will surely suffer from increased wildfires and become desolate, blackened landscapes.

Joe Locurto

Salt Lake City