For years, Davey Pitcher pushed federal foresters for permission to protect trees just outside of his family’s Wolf Creek Ski Area from the invasion of the spruce beetle. The West Fork complex of wildfires bore down on Wolf Creek this summer. Davey Pitcher wants the Forest Service to change rules to let foresters fight things like the beetle kill that caused such a huge fire.
Even though local employees of the U.S. Forest Service thought it was a good idea and wanted to help, they never were able to clear the project through environmental and bureaucratic hurdles.
When the West Fork complex of wildfires bore down on Wolf Creek this summer, foresters were there quickly with resources and fast decisions to handle the emergency, Pitcher testified Tuesday to a U.S. Senate committee. “What struck me was how differently the U.S. Forest Service performed when operating under rules that allowed decision-makers to apply resources in what had to be a timely manner,” Pitcher said.
Pitcher is calling for a paradigm shift in Forest Service rules that would allow front-line foresters more freedom to lessen hazards before wildfires break out.
Every summer, Congress and the Forest Service find themselves stuck in an intensifying wildfire dilemma that demands more money for firefighting, at the expense of fire prevention. This year, the Forest Service had to rely on $600 million in “fire borrowing” – raiding its budgets for recreation, logging and science in order to pay firefighters and contractors.
From The Cortez Journal: https://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20131107/NEWS01/131109882/-1/news&source=RSS