Right after I posted Steve’s op-ed, I was sent a piece by the editorial board of the East Oregonian media group along the same lines. That’s what peacekeeping leadership looks like. Local journalism is more than just coverage of local issues; it’s the people involved. They can be voices in the community who are interested in its well-being, not stoking resentments, or finding the shortest distance between the facts and a narrative such as “incipient Bundys.” People in communities need to get along over time; people in our country do, too, but, sadly, some national media seems to see their role as furthering divisions and encouraging outrage. It’s not their fault in a way, it’s a business model that works, but we can support local journalism and journalists to the best of our ability. Here’s a link.
There comes a time during a controversial situation where public officials need to step back, take a deep breath and start acting like adults.
A good case in point is the current hullabaloo around the U.S. Forest Service and Grant County regarding a 2022 prescribed fire that spread beyond its start on the Malheur National Forest onto private land owned by the Holliday family.
On Oct. 19, 2022, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrested Rick Snodgrass, a Forest Service employee, while the prescribed fire that Snodgrass was in charge of was still burning south of John Day.
On Feb. 2, 2024, a grand jury indicted Snodgrass on one count of reckless burning, a Class A misdemeanor.
The entire case should leave most readers with a slight distaste on the palate.
On the big picture level, the case is in some ways a classic local versus federal dispute, but why this incident has been drawn out for this long is a mystery.
Snodgrass was doing his job, a job delegated to him by his superiors. The arrest is believed to be the first case of a Forest Service firefighter being arrested in the course of his normal duties.
Anti-government sentiment is nothing new to Eastern Oregon. As a culture, we tend to be suspicious of the federal government and hold dear the concepts of personal land ownership and dislike interference from federal and state governments. Those sentiments are ingrained into our culture as Americans.
Yet this case in Grant County remains baffling on many levels. Local and federal officials are at loggerheads while an individual who was following orders and adhering to established protocols for prescribed fires is left holding the bag.
This incident should have been handled in a totally different way and through appropriate channels.
The prosecution of this case only serves to exacerbate already existing tensions about federal land management in Grant County and Eastern Oregon. Feeding and stoking anti-government feelings may be convenient for some but hardly qualifies as problem-solving.
Instead it looks absurd. Worse, the prosecution could impede efforts to find common ground and solutions to the growing danger that wildfire poses.
Prescribed fire is a vital tool, but not always a perfectly precise one.
Legitimate concerns or disagreements regarding prescribed burns or other land-use issues should be addressed through proper legal channels and in a manner that is in line with our system of laws.
The fire ignited by Snodgrass and his crew torched some trees during the afternoon, when the wind picked up, and embers spread onto land owned by the Hollidays.
The ember started a fire that burned an estimated 20 to 40 acres of the Hollidays’ land.
If the Hollidays can show that the fire damaged their property, or reduced its value, then they have legitimate grounds for a civil suit against the federal government.
That, rather than a criminal case, is the appropriate legal venue for trying to punish the Forest Service.
What this matter needs is some adult leadership to bring everyone to the table to find a viable solution. Indicting people isn’t the answer. Compromise is.
Glad to see that someone is saying what needs to be said. Thanks for sharing this one.
Yes, but compare the sentiments with the residents of New Mexico, where in 2022, hundred of thousands of acres were torched and homes and businesses were lost. The public perception is the government is running with reckless abandon, and stomping the Rights of everyday Americans. Not everywhere, but in many places, especially in the West.
You take prescribed fire; Lord knows the South has a handle on it because everywhere you look these days, a smoke plume rises – and that’s a good thing! The South (and East and Lake States) know how to manage prescribed fire. That knowledge comes from many, many years of practice, in ecosystems and weather that responds (most often) in predictable ways.
It works, it pays multiple dividends and it looks good. However, you take that snake, put it west of the 100th Meridian, and it will bite ya! All the posturing and pandering to the folks on the ground will not make up for the multitude of complexities, purposefully burning out West.
Sure, we need to continue to learn to tame that beast, but we also need to “man up” when a burn goes over the hill! The FS used to be that Agency; I know, I was a burn boss in Oregon, and each time we lit that torch, one of the check marks we instinctively (and silently) marked off was “if I do this, will I have a career tomorrow?”
Puts a little different spin on the old decision matrix…..
Jim Z, As for your comment about New Mexico, Funny story. My Buddy lives there and we jumped in Alaska back in the day. Jon attended a lot of the FS fire camp briefings and witnessed night after night of no resources going direct, just engines parked on roads. Jon wrote an editorial to the New Mexican in which he said, “I attended some of the briefings for these fires and at one it was explained where crews were being deployed. All except for the Pecos Wilderness part, no crews were being put in there because the ground was Too Steep and Too Rugged. Jon laughed to himself, and thought, someone should write a book about that but, Oh wait, my Buddy Murry Taylor already has. The title of my book: Too Steep and Too Rough. Jon also said, I was a wildlife biologist in New Mexico for 25 years and I NEVER saw any ground that a good hotshot crew couldn’t work effectively. True story.
Good luck on bringing “people to the table . . ” Bob. For years, as you likely know, a fairly large group of retired fire managers have tried and tried to get the Forest Service to address this big fire issue. As far as I can tell, it’s been a waste of time. I wrote a book about it, Too Steep and Too Rough. That came from the FS mantra excuse for why some fires weren’t more aggressively initial attacked. I’ve been on Duzel Rock, a state lookout, for the last 20 summers and I’ve seen fire after fire burn one, two, even three days without any action taken. Several went big and now the Klamath has burned about half it’s land in the last 15 years. Since 2000, the national cadre of smokejumpers have ONLY jumped an average of 4 fires a year, less than half of what was once the average. Many years I jumped more than 15. I watched these fires burn while the Redding smokejumper base set on its’ ass doing nothing. The FS is an agency now without bold leadership. It waited too long to correct itself, so now we have these lawsuits. And it’s their own damn fault.