As May drew to a close the Dixie National Forest was mobilizing massive amounts of human and financial resources to put out fires on the Escalante Ranger District that were burning very near the site of a proposed 15,000 acre prescribed fire. The U.S. Government also needs to get out of the ranching business. Livestock devour the grasses and flowering plants that compete with young saplings for light, water and nutrients. By removing these natural competitors over the past 150 years, livestock have created an explosion in the amount of woody material growing and dying within our national forests. Periodic cool burns kept the fuel loads from getting to the point where such fires are even possible.
Fire is a natural part of a functioning forest environment.
By putting out every fire, no matter how small or far away from human settlement, the Park Service, Forest Service and other agencies have helped create numerous disasters that are just waiting to happen. Similarly, by allowing livestock in arid forests within the interior west these agencies are disregarding years of science and putting the forests at risk of the very thing Smoky the Bear is dedicated to preventing, wildfire. The government has known for years what it should be doing.