Still, the frustration of local people was evident throughout Montana and Idaho. How Fires Happen Government policy indeed played a large part in the size of fires this year, but critics missed the point by blaming relatively recent proposals that have reduced the timber harvest on National Forest lands. The real problem arises from the long-term effects of a hundred years of fire suppression. It is a great irony that the more effective fire suppression is, the more fuels accumulate, resulting in more intense fires next time. This buildup of brush and downed material combined with a severe drought created forest tinderboxes that were ignited by the many dry thunderstorms that rolled across the Rocky Mountains this summer.
Fires are natural, but six million acres is a lot of forest to burn in a single year.
They are of particular concern in areas that sociologists call the Urban-Wildland interface. Populations are soaring in the Western states, and the rapid growth seems to be largely driven by folks seeking a place in the woods. More people of course means a greater risk to life and property from the same kind of wildfires that burned in 2000, and the huge cost of protecting private homes with public funds will likely be a contentious issue in the future. Return to Top Article Simon Dyer, 2000. During the summer of 2000, he thru-hiked the Continental Divide Trail with fellow GORP correspondent Darryl Riches .