Thanks to Matt Koehler for linking to the Middleman EA. I briefly ran through the EA and noted the photos.. they help a lot for us folks from California, Oregon, New Mexico or even North Carolina to understand what the forests and treatments look like in Region 1. Shout-out to the Districts for the photos! I copied them via screenshots from the EA, so to compare before and after, you have to look at the figure # plus the before and after treatment description. 
Hi Sharon: In the spirit of giving credit where it is due, I got the link to the Middleman EA directly from your previous post (here: https://forestpolicypub.com/2024/07/18/horse-gulch-fire-and-middleman-project-more-montana-late-litigation/) in which KC provided it. I don’t believe I looked at this EA until today. Also, the link you provide in this post for the EA doesn’t work. Also, not even sure what the photos prove or are attempting to show as the before/after photos aren’t even from the same location and it’s unclear if they are even from the project area.
I’ve been reading the comments on Nadine Bailey’s recommendations of “managed wildfires”. I was going to add my comment there, saying, “it looks like we know what to do in managing wildfire!” We know what it takes to recognize our forests have changed; we’ve built up tremendous amounts of residual and operations fuels. We have Regionality in timing and intensities, managing risks to use managed fires wisely. We know it, why don’t we do it……
As a “dirt forester”, I sometimes get tangled up in the planning (being an RPD probably didn’t help 🤠) and legalities managing complex natural resource program areas. However, I really like the before and after photos of the Region 1 work! That’s something I can readily get behind to support because of the visualization that supports the actions and get my hands dirty in doing so!
But my question, who is minding the store? Are we so stovepiped in the fire organization that fire is driving policy, instead of ecology (I call it silviculture) driving our actions? In the old days, foresters performed all the treatment planning. When I came up as a presale forester, we did have true interdisciplinary planning, including a fuels planner. Imagine that, successful integrated resource management…..
I have learned so much from this group!
Those are giant piles. There is a way to make biochar from hand-built piles now (and greatly reduce smoke in the process) that I think is much better ecologically. It involves burning the piles from the top down and then quenching them by raking (or with water if it is available). Much less soil impact and it creates long-lasting biochar instead of ashes. Hope we can see this put into practice on a wider basis.
Air curtain burners offer a way to burn slash, doing with less smoke, and create biochar.
https://airburners.com/technology/principle/