Here is the text (part 2) to my current article on this topic that was just published in Oregon Fish & Wildlife Journal. Because it is pretty long, I have posted the illustrations, captions, tables, and a map separately, as “part 1.” Here is the complete published version of the text: http://nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Articles/Magazines/Oregon_Fish_&_Wildlife_Journal/20250401_Burned_Out/Zybach_20250425.pdf

Burned Out: Deadly National Forest Fires Now Entering Towns

 The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires caught everyone’s attention because of their size and affected population: 29 people died, more than 18,000 homes and structures were destroyed, and 57,800 acres burned. The location, politics, litigation, and insurance claims associated with this catastrophic event will likely be in the news for many years to follow for those reasons.

Compare this with the 25+ towns, 124 fatalities, 31,000+  homes and structures lost, and 4,327,600 acres burned from 2018 through 2024 in northern California and western Oregon within the bounds of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP). And consider these were not the only acres and structures burned during those years in NWFP lands — just the ones that burned into towns.

More towns have burned in National Forest wildfires in the last seven years — and mostly in NWFP territory — than had taken place in the entire US over the previous 100 years — a lot more. How did this happen? And how to fix?

This article is not intended to be a memoriam for these towns and affected residents; rather, it is a much hoped-for action plan to help repair these communities and to resume active management of our public roads and forests to reduce wildfire damage for their benefit and for the benefit of all US citizens.

1897 Organic Act: In The Beginning

In 1897 Congress passed the “Organic Act” to manage and protect the recently created US Forest Reserves. The bill was signed into law by President William McKinley and has never been repealed. The guiding principal of the Act remains fairly well-known to this time, and has been the stated theoretical basis to all subsequent US Forest Service (USFS) planning:

“No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States.”

A lesser-recognized portion of the Act also states it was “for the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and promoting the younger growth on forest reservations” — and, in that regard, authority was given to “designate and appraise so much of the dead, matured, or large growth of trees found upon such forest reservations” for sale at “not less” than the appraised value, under the sole condition it couldn’t be “exported” to another State or Territory.

In a nutshell, “living and growing timber” was intended to be “preserved,” “younger growth” was to be “promoted,” and a “continuous supply” of “dead, matured, or large” trees were to be sold at market value: “For the use and necessities of citizens of the United States.”

In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt created the USFS by transferring 56 million acres in 60 Forest Reserves from the US Department of the Interior (USDI) to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). His good friend and collaborator, Gifford Pinchot, was put in charge of the new agency as its first “Chief.”

Roosevelt signed HR Act 460 on February 1, 1905. On the same day James Wilson, the Secretary of Agriculture, sent Pinchot a letter outlining the basic principles and public-service policy the new “Forest Service” was to follow. Key excerpts included:

“In the administration of the Forest Reserves, it must be clearly borne in mind that all land is to be devoted to the most productive use for the permanent good of the whole people and not for the temporary benefit of individuals or companies . . . You will see to it that the water, wood, and forage of the Reserves are conserved and wisely used under business-like regulations enforced with promptness, effectiveness and common sense.”

And, “. . . Where conflicting interest must be reconciled, the question will always be decided from the standpoint of the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run.” By 1910, Pinchot had been able to expand the agency to 150 National Forests covering 172 million acres when everything changed.

 1910 Fires: Course Change

The year 1910 was when the mission, focus, and budget of the USFS was dramatically changed. An estimated 1700 spot fires were driven together with unexpected hurricane-force winds for six hours and burned and uprooted 3 million acres of forestland, destroyed several railroad towns from Montana, through Idaho, and into Washington, and killed 86 people — mostly firefighters under the direction of the new US Forest Service.

The 1910 Fires galvanized the new agency into action and its mission became “fire prevention” above all else. Funding, research, and a great expansion in personnel took place. In 1915 the first fire lookout tower was built on Mt. Hood, and by the 1930s nearly 8000 were in operation across the US, connected by a functional network of roads, pack trails, and telephone lines.

The mission and focus became to spot and extinguish wildfires in USFS lands as quickly and completely as possible. By 1935 the “10 a.m. policy” was firmly in place, with the “rule” that all fires were to be extinguished by 10 a.m. the following day. With the advent of WW II, airplanes and smokejumpers were added to the firefighting effort.

This system became remarkably effective over time. From 1952 until 1987, only one forest fire in all western Oregon was greater than 10,000 acres; the 1966 Oxbow fire was 42,000 acres in size, and it took place on USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land, not USDA Forest Service.

But things began to change in the 1960s and 70s. Forest fires were increasingly seen as past events from earlier times and focus changed to Wilderness areas, endangered species, riparian buffers, critical habitat, and Deep Ecology. In 1964 the Wilderness Act was signed into law and created 54 areas over 13 states, including the Kalmiopsis in southwest Oregon.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted in 1966. On December 22, 1969 Congress enacted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and a short distance away on the same day, 50 other lawyers were incorporating the Environmental Law Institute (ELI).

In 1973, Congress passed a completely rewritten ESA, revised to “protect critically imperiled species from extinction” and including “the ecosystems upon which they depend.” The new law distinguished”threatened” from “endangered” species; allowed listing threatened species in just part of their range;allowed listing of plants and invertebrates; authorized unlimited funds for species protection; and madeit illegal to kill, harm, or otherwise “take” a listed species. In effect, “the law made endangered species protection the highest priority of government.”

In 1978, the Forest Service officially abandoned the 10 a.m. policy, marking a significant shift in strategy from fire suppression to “fire management.” This approach included “allowing naturally caused fires to burn” and “the use of prescribed fires.” The stated intent was to “return fire to the land.”

The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) was enacted in 1980  to authorize the payment of attorney’s fees “and other expenses” to a prevailing party in legal actions against the United States. The Act was initially designed to aid very small businesses and poorer citizens, but an odd loophole allowed wealthy “nonprofit” environmental organizations to hire costly legal teams to sue the government at taxpayer expense. Which they did, in dozens of subsequent “environmental” lawsuits.

NEPA, ELI, the ESA, and EAJA had formed the perfect strategy for environmental organizations to file series of lawsuits to “stop clearcutting” and “preserve old-growth,” and “save spotted owls” by ending logging on public lands. The lawsuits, funded by taxpayers, were generally successful and the “Timber Wars” soon developed between litigious environmentalists and the forest industry, creating bitter feelings between the factions, and widespread unemployment and business failures in affected rural communities.

Then, in 1987, more than 42,000 acres of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness burned in the Silver Complex Fire in the Siskiyou National Forest. More than 96,000 acres burned in all, making it the largest forest fire in western Oregon since WWII and the 1945 Tillamook Fire; fully two generations of residents earlier. Lawsuits followed.

In 1990, the northern spotted owl was listed as “threatened” under the ESA. A federal judge placed an injunction on all timber sales in spotted owl habitat until forest managers could “produce a plan to ensure preservation of the entire ecosystem.” More lawsuits followed.

 1993 Clinton Plan: Environmentalism

In the 1980s and 90s there had been a lot of interest in such concepts as “preserving old-growthforests,” “maintaining spotted owl habitat,” and “riparian enhancement.” These concepts were typicallyrationalized by untested “ecological” theories of “steady state ecosystems” and idealistic descriptions of such circumstances as “non-declining, even-flow, naturally functioning” forests and grasslands.

The conflict initially involved commercial sales of old-growth trees on public lands in the Douglas Fir Region. A principal claim was “endangered” spotted owls required old-growth trees to survive. Logging old-growth should therefore be illegal.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton held an all-day public “timber summit” in Portland to address the ongoing “timber wars” between environmental activists and the forest industry. In his opening speech, Clinton told the crowd he wanted to move beyond confrontation and build consensus “on a balanced policy to preserve jobs and to protect our environment.”

Clinton’s summit resulted in the formation of FEMAT, or Forest Ecosystem Management Team: a small group of like-minded scientists from Oregon State University and University of Washington: forest ecologists, wildlife biologists, GIS technicians, and economists — but no foresters, planners, Americans Indians, or affected industries.

Clinton challenged FEMAT to achieve “a balanced and comprehensive policy” that recognized the importance of rural jobs and economies to the region, while preserving “our precious old-growth forests.” The single, regional plan was to protect spotted owls and local economies for “100 years,” and was based on “five principles”:

Clinton’s  first principle was to “never forget the human and the economic dimensions of these problems,” that timber sales be based on “sound management policies,” and “where this requirement cannot be met, we need to do our best to offer new economic opportunities for year-round, high-wage, high-skill jobs.”

Second was to protect our forests for future generations; third, use sound science; fourth, a “sustainable level of timber sales”; and fifth, “make the federal government work together and work for you.”

The FEMAT scientists sequestered themselves for 90 days and produced 10 reduced-timber-sales management options. The President’s choice then became the “Clinton Plan For Northwest Forests,” and then the NWFP. The selected plan stipulated one billion board-feet of timber sales a year to support rural communities. Today, less that 10% of the amount is, or ever has been, actually sold.

In 2002, the Kalmiopsis burned again, in the 500,000-acre Biscuit Fire, which remains the largest forest fire in Oregon history. Then it burned again in the 190,000-acre 2017 Chetco Bar Fire, and a fourth time in the 175,000-acre 2018 Klondike Fire.

In each instance, salvage logging, site preparation, and reforestation were either severely limited or entirely stopped  by litigation from environmental groups, whose lawyers were then well compensated by US taxpayers. And in each instance, the fuels left behind through these actions only made the following fire burn hotter, create more smoke, and kill even more old-growth and wildlife.

2018 California: Paradise Lost

About 15 years ago, retired USFS forester Bruce Courtwright became very concerned about increasing wildfires and wildfire risks to the communities of northern California, so he helped gather a number of other wildfire experts to collectively address the problem. This group eventually became known as the National Wildfire Institute (NWI).

In 2016 NWI wrote a formal letter to incoming President Donald Trump expressing strong concerns regarding the increased wildfire risk, and with expert recommendations on how to fix the problem. The paper was titled, “Our Dying National Forests: A Disaster or Perfect Opportunity for Bold Action by a New President.” The paper was widely distributed, published by Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, and then ignored and not even acknowledged.

The following year, 2017, California suffered the worst wildfire losses in its history as more than 3,000 homes burned in the city of Santa Rosa, more than 191,000 acres burned in the northern Sacramento Valley vineyards and farmlands, and 42 people were killed.

In 2018 things became worse.

2018 Camp Fire. The 2008 Butte Lightning Complex burned 50 homes in Cancow, but the town had been largely rebuilt. Ten years later, on November 8, a wind-driven wildfire came out of Feather River Canyon and within six hours totally destroyed Cancow and Paradise, killing 85 people and doing heavy damage to Maglia, Pulga, and Butte Creek Canyon. More than 153,000 acres burned, Pacific Gas & Electric was held liable, paid $13.5 billion in damages, pled guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter, and went bankrupt.

2018 Carr Fire. The Carr Fire started near Whiskeytown Lake on July 23 when a trailer had a flat tire and the wheel’s steel rim began sparking on the asphalt, igniting dry weeds along the highway. Three days later it burned into the town of Redding, causing the evacuation of 38,000 people. The fire caused a 143 mph, 18,000-foot “fire whirl” to develop in town, causing heavy “tornado-like” wind damage and further spreading the fire. The town of Keswick was completely destroyed, Old Shasta State Park heavily damaged, and six people died, including two firefighters.

2020 August Complex. The August Complex began as 38 separate lightning fires on August 17 that combined to burn over a million acres, making it the largest wildfire in California history. The fire primarily burned in the Mendocino National Forest but also burned the small communities of Ruth and Forest Glen. One firefighter was killed and two injured.

2020 North Complex. The North Complex also started as 21 separate fires ignited by the August 17 lightning storm. A USFS “firing operation” backfired on September 8 when strong winds caused the fire to “blow up” and leveled the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls. More than 318,000 acres burned, 16 people were killed, and more than 100 injured. Toxic fumes from the fire inundated Quincy and other nearby communities for weeks.

2021 Dixie. The Dixie Fire began in Feather River Canyon on July 13 and eventually burned more than 963,000 acres. It is the first wildfire known to cross the Sierra Nevada and leveled the towns of Greenville on August 4, Canyondam on August 5, and Warner Valley on August 12. An ex-criminal justice professor, Gary Maynard, was arrested and convicted for setting arson fires in conjunction with the Dixie Fire and sentenced to a five-year prison term.

2022 McKinney. The McKinney Fire started on July 29 in the Klamath National Forest, burned 60,000 acres along the Klamath River, and destroyed the town of Klamath River. The fire burned through areas previously burned in the 1955 Haystack Fire and the 2014 Beaver Fire. The fire killed four people and “tens of thousands of fish” in the river and its tributaries.

2024 Park. The Park Fire started on July 24, possibly as a result of arson by Chico resident and ex-convict Ronnie Stout II, who set his mother’s car on fire and rolled it over a cliff. The fire burned more than 429,000 acres, more than 700 homes and other structures, and heavily damaged the town of Cohasset.

2020 Oregon: The Labor Day Fires

While California towns have been burning in NWFP wildfires since 2018 at a frequency of every one or two years, all of the Oregon towns damaged or destroyed by National Forest wildfires the past 20+ years took place in just four days. With three days of sustained east winds beginning on the evening of Monday, September 7, 2020, nearly a dozen major wildfires in western Oregon burned through more than a dozen towns, killed 11 people, destroyed more than 4,000 homes, caused 40,000 emergency evacuations, killed millions of wild and domestic animals, and blanketed much of the state with a thick, acrid smoke that obscured the sun for days.

Because September 7 was a Labor Day, these tragedies became known as the Labor Day Fires. The fires also burned more than a million acres of land, much of it in old-growth and merchantable timber, making them the most catastrophic wildfires in Oregon history, by a very wide measure. The destroyed towns were burned in five of the named fires, described below, and located in five different counties within four National Forests: Rogue River/Siskiyou, Siuslaw, Umpqua, and Willamette.

When the towns, counties, fatalities, and NWFP Forests that burned in the 2020 Labor Day Fires are considered in combination with 2020 California’s North Complex and August Complex Fires, the numbers are startling: 28 deaths, at least 16 towns destroyed or severely damaged, and nearly 2 1/2 million acres of burned forestland — in only two months, seven counties, and seven National Forests.

When considered in combination with all of the other fires in the NWFP region and in the rest of the US, 2020 must be considered one of the worst Fire Years in the Nation’s history — on par with the 1910 Fires and 1881.

Santiam Fire. This was the deadly convergence of three fires that had started with August 16 lightning strikes on the Warm Springs Reservation and on the Opal Creek and Mount Jefferson Wildernesses in the Willamette National Forest and blew up with the Labor Day east winds [Note: an Oregon Department of Forestry report on this fire claims there was no indication of lightning for 30 days before thiese fires, yet lightning clearly started major wildfires in California]. The fire devastated the towns of Detroit and Gates, with roughly 80% of homes and businesses burned. More than 1,500 structures in the Santiam Canyon were destroyed, including significant damage to the towns of Idanha, Mill City, and Lyons. A total of 402,000 acres burned and five people were killed.

Archie Creek Fire. Much of the fuel in the 131,500-acre Archie Creek Fire was provided by the standing snags remaining from the 2009 Wiliams Creek, 2015 Cable Crossing, and 2017 Fall Creek Fires. There is evidence the Fire may have actually started in the Williams Creek snags. The resulting fire was so hot that virtually all plants and animals within the fire’s perimeter perished. One person also died and more than 400 homes were destroyed, including several in the towns of Glide and Idleyld Park.

Holiday Farm Fire. This fire started near the Holiday Farm RV Resort in Rainbow on the evening of September 7, ignited by falling powerlines. From there it traveled west down the McKenzie River Valley, destroying or doing great damage to the towns and communities of Blue River, Finn Rock, Nimrod, and Vida. One person was killed, 517 homes destroyed, and 173,000 acres burned.

Almeda Drive. A 41-year old arsonist, Michael Jarrod Bakkela, was arrested for setting fires and possessing meth on September 8, the day the Almeda Drive Fire killed three people, destroyed 2,400 homes, burned 5,700 acres, and did serious damage to the towns of Phoenix and Talent. These were the only two towns burned during the Labor Day Fires that were not associated with a National Forest. Rather, principal fuels were provided with the overgrown “buffer” of Himalayan blackberries along the Bear Creek Greenway, and by aging “trailer parks,” mobile homes, and RVs sandwiched between the I-5 and Highway 99 firebreaks. Bakkela later pleaded guilty and was given 11 years.

Echo Mountain. A large part of the coastal town of Otis burned, along with a portion of the Siuslaw National Forest, but the entire fire was among the smallest of the Labor Day Fires at 2,600 acres. There were no fatalities, but 293 homes were burned, and PacifiCorp settled a lawsuit with 403 plaintiffs for $178 million.

Conclusions & Solutions

Whether intended or not, the US Forest Service has been systematically destroying our public forests and rural communities with fire the past 35 years on physical, economical, biological, and aesthetic levels. Hundreds of people have been killed, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, businesses have gone bankrupt, schools have gone broke, millions of acres of old-growth and tens of millions of wildlife have been killed, deadly smoke has filled our cities for weeks, and somehow there is no accountability — and all expenses have been covered by taxpayers

This can be fixed. Our parents and grandparents showed us how. Put an end to these catastrophic wildfires so much as possible; salvage the dead trees as quickly as possible and turn them into building materials for new homes and fuels to heat them; maintain the roads and trails; plant new trees for the next generation; and pick up after yourselves. Then with the money you make, pay your taxes, buy a home, build a school, donate a park, and take a vacation. All documented in publications, film, video, memories, and photographs.

For too many years we’ve been fed the political propaganda (“science”) that a “healthy” forest is full of big snags, big logs, and a “multi-layered canopy” of biodiversity connecting the earth to the highest old-growth canopies. Endangered plants and animals everywhere, safe at last. In such an “idealized” environment, man is a pathogen — a transitory visitor who leaves no trace and only visits occasionally.

This is one of the most misleading, deadly, and costly falsehoods imposed by a central government on its rural populations since Russia had Lysenko take over wheat production. Maybe not as deadly for people, but certainly worse for wildlife, and far more costly. And the same “science”-driven process.

Dead and dying trees are signs of a dead and dying forest, as has been clearly observed and documented the past 35 years. For thousands of years before then, the surest sign of a healthy forest was one that was regularly visited and inhabited by healthy human populations.

This can be fixed. We just need to follow the law by returning to the Organic Act of 1897, the Forest Service principles and mission of 1905, the 1935 10 a.m. policy, and the Multiple-Use, Sustained-Yield Act of 1960. And go from there. Start with a clean slate and fix this mess for future generations.

We can start by returning to active management of our roads, trails, and forests, with a focus on preserving the remaining old-growth, restoring our ruined forests, and carefully monitoring our wildlife populations.

The experts on rebuilding our damaged towns, restoring our dying forests, and maintaining our roads and trails are the people rebuilding the towns, managing the local forests, and keeping our roads and trails in good shape. They’re the experts — not the university professors, government bureaucrats, or even the elected officials that have steered us to this result.

In my world, our schools, roads, forests, and visitors should all be managed at the county or river level, with local businesses and residents. There is a lot of work to be done, it will take thousands of people to do it, and long-term, local contracts could be the start.

https://forestpolicypub.com/2025/04/28/burned-out-deadly-national-forest-fires-now-entering-towns-part-1/

My current article on this topic was just published in Oregon Fish & Wildlife Journal. It is pretty long, with a number of illustrations, captions, tables, and a map, so I am going to post in two parts, with these illustrations first and the body of the text to follow.Here is the published version: http://nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Articles/Magazines/Oregon_Fish_&_Wildlife_Journal/20250401_Burned_Out/Zybach_20250425.pdf

1-Title_Page. Historic downtown of Greenville, California, which burned in 30 minutes during the Dixie Fire on August 4, 2021. Photo courtesy of Doug Stoy and Green Ribbon Report.

2-Repeat_Photos. These before and after pictures show the destruction to historic Greenville buildings; several more than 100 years old, and some even having survived the 1881 Greenville Fire 140 years earlier. At that time the town had a population of 500; before the Dixie Fire it was 1100. Greenville was founded as a Gold Rush town in the 1850s and acquired a trading post in 1862. Principal occupations transitioned from mining to logging in the mid-1900s. Photographs courtesy of Doug Stoy and Green Ribbon Report.

3-Greenville_Aftermath. The remains of Greenville, following the Dixie Fire, with Indian Valley and unburned portions of Lassen National Forest in the background. These photographs of Greenville were originally published in the Green Ribbon Report, the newsletter of the Family Water Alliance, Inc. (FWA), based in Colusa, California. They are selected from a series of photographs taken and collected by Doug Stoy, who lost his home in the fire. Permission to republish the photos was given by the newsletter editor, Nadine Bailey, who is also Chief Operations Officer of FWA.

4-Paradise_Compass. Frank Carroll, Professional Forest Management, took this photograph of the remains of a business on Main Street in Paradise, California, using the Solocator app on an iPhone 14, which records the exact time, location, and direction of documentary field photos. While surveying and recording the destruction of Paradise, Frank noted: “The Camp Fire burned the town in a single burning period. Homes, businesses, schools, fire stations, community buildings, restaurants, and government buildings burned to the foundations across the city. Cleanup and PFAS soil mitigation had not begun. Surveying the destruction, we were struck by the uniform sense of PTSD among residents, government workers, service workers, and emergency personnel. The Camp Fire was a fire bomb cyclone, impervious to suppression efforts and moving so quickly people died in their homes and their vehicles and were killed when the fire caught them isolated and on foot. Much of the overhead tree mast in large conifers survived intact, indicating a fast-moving ground fire with radiant and convective heat moving horizontally to the ground. Planned emergency egress and warning systems utterly failed to protect residents, as did an almost universal disregard for Firewise planning and zoning, which appears to have been disregarded today as people rebuild traditional structures and inadequate emergency ingress and egress.”

5-Detroit_Market. The Detroit Highway Market with Gene’s Meat Market and gas pumps was a popular local landmark on Highway 22 at the corner of Breitenbush Road. It was a well-known stopping place for many of the hunters, boaters, fishermen, and other recreationists who regularly visited Detroit. The market was destroyed in the Santiam Fire on September 9, along with most of Detroit and Gates, and with significant portions of Idanha, Mill City, and Lyons. Photo by McKenzie Peters, NW Maps Co., November 21, 2020.

6-Phoenix_Trailer_Park. There was a total of 18 aging “trailer parks” and more modern “mobile home estates” destroyed in the towns of Talent and Phoenix between Highway 99 and Bear Creek Greenway during the Almeda Drive Fire on September 8. This videoclip by McKenzie Peters, NW Maps Co., shows the remains of Rogue Valley Mobile Park on October 26, 2020.

7-McKenzie_Street. McKenzie Street and Library sign in Blue River, destroyed in the Holiday Farm Fire on September 7. On November 16, 2024 the Grand Opening of the rebuilt and volunteer-operated Frances Obrien Memorial Library was held in a new location. It marked a very significant day in the recovery of Blue River. Video-clip by McKenzie Peters, NW Maps Co., October 6, 2020.

https://forestpolicypub.com/2025/04/28/burned-out-deadl…ing-towns-part-2/ ‎

Editor Chuck Sheley has compressed my current article, “Burned Out: Deadly National Forest Fires now Entering Towns” into a succinct one-page editorial for the current issue of Smokejumper Magazine. I will post the entire article, with color photos, map, and tables when I get my copy — it was supposed to arrive a few weeks ago, but western Oregon USPS is seemingly going through troubled times lately.

I posted this on a couple of forestry Facebook pages as two JPEGs, the Smokejumper cover and my editorial. Chuck did his normal great job of editing — he has been doing this for 25 years — but I didn’t want to try and re-create  his edits from draft, so I’m also going to post as JPEGs here. The entire article is more than 3500 words, but Chuck catches the essence and key summary conclusion perfectly well. Details to follow [Here is the original post: https://forestpolicypub.com/2024/10/02/burned-out-us-forest-service-is-destroying-our-western-towns 

There has been no Executive Order (EO) regarding wildfires that has been issued yet, but the National Wildfire Alliance (NWA, formerly NWI) submitted a proposal several weeks ago, including a cover letter and request to President Trump signed by 15 wildfire experts, including several with many decades of USFS and wildfire fighting experience.

(Note: I can’t control the bolded text or acronyms. Here is the link to the referenced and indexed 37-minute video of the edited testimonies of 15 NWA experts, several of whom have also signed the following cover letter to their proposal: https://youtu.be/UPg61jDRd94)

To: Donald J. Trump, President of the United States

Dear President Trump,

The National Wildfire Alliance (NWA) is a coalition of experts with decades of experience in wildfire and forest management. Our affiliates include organizations and citizens who share our concerns about the accelerating degradation of our nation’s forests, prairies, rangelands and rural economies.

In recent years, US wildfires have killed hundreds of citizens while countless thousands more continue to die from deadly smoke toxicity. Billions in taxpayer dollars have fueled the destruction of trillions in public and private property, including 100 million forested acres and thousands of homes. These fires also damage critical wildlife habitat and key watershed needed for clear water supplies. This devastation was predictable, documented, and largely preventable.

In response to the continued escalation of unrelenting fire, NWA has declared a National Wildfire Emergency in 2025 to advocate and implement real and lasting solutions. This video testimony features insights and critical information from NWA leadership.

The following executive order is crucial for the restoration of rational wildfire policy and operations across the nation. Decades of politically driven agendas have led to soaring economic costs and human suffering. This crisis will only escalate unless we take urgent action now!

Mr. President, your recent visits to the Southern California fires and the Camp Fire underscore the urgent need for an Emergency Order to protect our federal lands and ensure nationwide commitment to prioritize: First put out the fire!

NWA stands ready to provide data-driven insights and essential guidance in support of effective forest restoration and wildfire emergency response. Our commitment is to help regenerate healthy forests through proven strategies that mitigate risks.

In service to our great nation,

National Wildfire Alliance (NWA)*

/s/William A. Derr, President, National Wildfire Alliance (NWA)* USFS, Special Agent in Charge [ret.]

/s/ Michael T. Rains, Deputy Chief, USDA Forest Service [ret.]

/s/ Ray Haupt, Siskiyou County Supervisor CA RPF #2938, USFS District Ranger [ret.]

/s/Jen Hamaker, President, Oregon Natural Resource Industries

/s/ Philip S. Aune, Retired USFS Research Program Manager

/s/ Ted Stubblefield, [ret.] Forest Supervisor Fire Quals: Type I Command

/s/ Nadine Bailey, COO Family Water Alliance                                           J

/s/James A. Marsh, e -PEAK LLC “A Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business”                                        “

/s/Anton R. Jaegel, USFS District Engineer [ret.] County Supervisor, Trinity Co. CA [ret.]

/s/Bob Zybach, PhD. Program Manager, ORWW

/s/ Jim Petersen, Founder, Evergreen Foundation

/s/ Chuck Sheley, Editor, Smokejumper Magazine

*National Wildfire Alliance, Formerly NWI

Cc: Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency Secretary of Agriculture

National Wildfire Alliance Executive Order 2025*

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. [INSERT NUMBER]

BOLD ACTION TO COMBAT CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRE & REFORM FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT POLICIES

 By the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in recognition of the unprecedented wildfire crises devastating communities, natural ecosystems, and economies across the country, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy and Purpose

Wildfires have grown in frequency, intensity, and destructiveness, endangering the lives, properties, and livelihoods of countless Americans. This crisis demands immediate, bold, and coordinated federal action to mitigate risks, prevent disasters, and ensure the resilience of our landscapes and communities. Inefficient federal land management practices, coupled with the accumulation of hazardous fuels, have exacerbated this crisis. To protect public safety, preserve natural resources, and mitigate environmental degradation, this order establishes a framework for swift and decisive action.

Section 2. Reinstating the 10 a.m. Rule

(a) Federal agencies, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), shall immediately adopt wildfire suppression strategies prioritizing containment of wildfires by 10:00 a.m. the morning following detection, wherever feasible. (b) Agencies shall employ advanced technologies, satellite-based detection systems, and modern firefighting techniques to achieve this goal.

Section 3. Active Forest and Rangeland Management

(a)The USDA and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) shall implement a comprehensive hazardous fuel reduction program within 90 days, which shall include:

• • Identification of all lands that have been deforested by wildfires in the past 25 years;
  • Development and implementation of programs to remove remaining hazardous fuels;
  • Responsible thinning of overgrown forests;
  • Mechanical and hand-fuel treatments;
  • Restoration of site adaptive vegetation on lands damaged by wildfire; and
  • Targeted grazing and invasive species management;
  • Utilization of controlled burns in previously treated areas where fuel loads have been reduced;
  • Implementation of prompt salvage and restoration of burned landscapes.

(b) Federal land management agencies shall work collaboratively with state, tribal, and local governments to tailor these measures to regional needs and ensure rapid implementation.

Section 4. Advocacy for Legislative Reforms

(a) The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall propose amendments to the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Tucker Act within 60 days, enabling victims of federally linked wildfires to seek appropriate compensation for damages and losses.

(b) Federal agencies shall review and recommend changes to existing policies that hinder effective wildfire prevention and suppression, ensuring that state and local expertise is prioritized.

Section 5. Emergency Resource Allocation

(a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), shall allocate additional federal funds to enhance wildfire suppression, evacuation readiness, post-fire recovery, and disaster resilience in affected states. (b) Federal agencies shall prioritize infrastructure hardening projects and ecosystem restoration efforts to mitigate long-term wildfire risks.

Section 6. Public Awareness Campaign

(a) The Department of the Interior and USDA, in partnership with state and local governments, shall launch a nationwide public awareness campaign within 60 days. (b) The campaign shall educate Americans about wildfire risks, prevention strategies, and emergency preparedness, with an emphasis on the role of federal land management in wildfire mitigation.

Section 7. Establishment of a Wildfire Resilience Task Force

(a) A Wildfire Resilience Task Force is hereby established, chaired by the Secretary of the Interior and co-chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture, to coordinate federal, state, tribal, and local efforts. (b) The Task Force shall include representatives from state forestry departments, tribal governments, professional foresters, wildfire suppression experts, and scientists. (c) The Task Force shall submit a report within 120 days detailing innovative, actionable strategies to reform federal land management and address wildfire risks.

Section 8. Accountability and Transparency

(a)Federal agencies shall report quarterly to the President on progress made under this Executive Order, including measurable outcomes related to wildfire suppression, prevention, and recovery. (b) The Office of Management and Budget shall oversee the allocation of funds to ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively.

Section 9. General Provisions

 (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

• • The authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
  • The functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

Section 10. Effective Date

This Executive Order is effective immediately.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this [Day] of [Month], [Year], in the year of our Lord [Year], and of the Independence of the United States of America the [Year].

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States

*Formerly National Wildfire Institute (NWI)

Chuck Sheley just published my editorial “Hoot Owl Biology and the US Government” in the April issue of Smokejumper Magazine: http://nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Editorials/Smokejumper/Zybach_20250401.pdf

This editorial had been published previously in the October 30, 2024 Salem, Oregon Capital Press: http://nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Editorials/Salem_Capital_Press/Zybach_20241030.pdf

This current editorial is based on a series of articles, editorials, and presentations I did on the topic in 2013 titled “Spotted Owls and the Spotty Sciences that Spawned Them,” including a post to this blog on June 19 of that year, which got 33 Comments: https://forestpolicypub.com/2013/06/19/spotted-owls-the-spotty-sciences-that-spawned-them-5-questions-2/

Here is the Text:

In Charles Darwin’s 1859 Origin of Species, he describes “race” as members of the same species that typically develop different characteristics when separated geographically over time. Human races were the common focus and “scientific” discussions reflected the bigoted prejudices of that time.

In 1942 a German ornithologist, Ernst Mayr, defined animal species as “genetically distinct populations of individuals” capable of mating with one another and producing viable offspring.

These were the definitions my classmates and I were taught in public grade schools in the 1950s, and in public high schools and colleges in the 1960s.

When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was adopted in 1973, 36 birds, 22 fish, 14 mammals, six reptiles, and six amphibians were initially listed: 84 animals in all, and each a distinct species. Today there are more than 1770 designated ESA species listed as threatened or endangered in the US, and more than 635 foreign species: 2,400 total!

Of these totals, only 57 species that have been considered “recovered” and 11 considered “extinct” were delisted in the past 51 years. This is a success rate of less than 3%; and an average of listing more than 47 new ESA species a year, while removing only one. The cost to taxpayers can be measured in the billions or trillions of dollars, depending on accounting method.

The barred owl is the most common brown-eyed owl in North America and has been popularly known as a “hoot owl” for many generations. Sometime by the 1950s these birds began expanding their range into the Pacific Northwest and breeding with native spotted owls, producing viable young called “sparred owls.”

The spotted owl had been listed by the ESA as endangered in 1990 and the supposed cause of its low population numbers was claimed to be logging. This determination resulted in dozens of successful “environmental” lawsuits being filed from that time to the present with the specific focus of stopping the sale and harvesting of commercial timber, and particularly on public forestlands.

In 2007 US Fish & Wildlife hunters began systematically killing barred owls and sparred owls on an “experimental” basis. The sole purpose was to control the breeding process in order to maintain genetic purity. Only these were wild owls, not domestic plants or animals, and ethical concerns were raised immediately. And then ignored.

A little over 10 years ago I wrote about this problem in a lengthy article that I also posted to a national blog of (mostly) retired US Forest Service professionals for discussion. I then presented this perspective in two lectures to graduate students, staff, and professors at the College of Forestry and then the Department of Fish & Wildlife at Oregon State University.

These efforts resulted in some meaningful discussions in the public forums, but immediate and adversarial claims of being a racist during my university lectures. Which was my whole point.

I had used polar opposites of the human species — a Pygmy and a Swede — to compare their differences in physiology, vocalizations, diet, coloration, appearance, and preferred habitat with those of spotted owls and barred owls. I was challenging current scientific theory and government policies with documentation, but my work could be safely ignored because someone called me a name.

The cost to US society for the purpose of keeping these brown-eyed cousins from having sex has simply been too great for too many years. The massive economic damage from spotted owl lawsuits — almost entirely funded by taxpayers — is generally well recognized: tens of thousands of lost jobs in the forest industry and US Forest Service; hundreds of sawmill closures; billions of dollars in lost revenues to the US Treasury, states, counties, and schools; and the resulting degradation of our rural communities, roads, parks, and services.

And, as predicted, millions of acres of so-called “spotted owl critical habitat” have gone up in flames, killing millions of wildlife and polluting the air with deadly smoke.

My thought remains that we need to stop playing God with hoot owls and let nature take its course. As Darwin pointed out, nature favors the “survival of the fittest,” and in this instance that seems to be sparred owls.

Jim Petersen just published this Evergreen Magazine profile of the new Chief of the Forest Service. He gave me permission to repost here without editing or paraphrasing: https://evergreenmagazine.com/tom-schultz-big-picture-thinker/

Schultz has been a topic of interest to this blog, naturally, and it will be interesting to see what others think of Jim’s insights and perspective.  Here is the text and most photos to his article, but without direct links to related Evergreen essays:

Tom Schultz: Big Picture Thinker

Money doesn’t grow on trees…
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On February 27, Tom Schultz was named the twenty-first Chief of the Forest Service. Many of my friends know Tom from his 14 years with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and his years as Director of the Idaho Department of Lands and, more recently, Vice President of Resources and Government Affairs for the Idaho Forest Group.

I know him best from his IFG years. We visited at several conferences in Boise. He is a big picture thinker who brings exceptional leadership skills to the Forest Service at a time when both are desperately needed. He possesses what Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush called “that vision thing” when a Time Magazine writer asked him if there would be an over-arching theme  in his 1988 run for the White House.

Schultz is only the third Forest Service Chief to be hired outside the ranks of the agency’s executive chain. The first was Jack Ward Thomas, an elk biologist in eastern Oregon before President Clinton picked him to lead the development of the controversial Northwest Forest Plan. He worked so impressed Clinton that he talked him into accepting the Chief’s post. The second was Mike Dombeck, a fisheries biologist, who was working for the Bureau of Land Management when President Clinton named him Chief in 1997, after Thomas resigned.

Jack and I got to know one another well during the years I was living in Bigfork, Montana. He had quit the Forest Service and accepted a Boone and Crocket-funded chair in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. I wanted to know why he quit. His answers led to many heated conversations at his home in Corvallis, Montana, but we remained friends. We had planned one last get together before cancer killed him. I still have the message he left on my cell phone a few days before he died.

Apart from his excellent book, Journals of a Forest Service Chief, Thomas has more than 600 articles to his credit: chapters in other books, essays and articles on everything from elk biology to land use planning. He was a strong advocate for zoning national forests based on eco-types. We have many of his writings in our library, along with dozens of books that trace the history of the U.S. Forest Service.

Of these books, the most comprehensive is Harold Steen’s book The U.S. Forest Service: A History. Steen held a PhD in History and was the Executive Director of the Forest History Society during its rise to prominence after Steen moved it to Durham, North Carolina in 1984.

The Forest Service also published several books of its own that chronicle its progress following its founding in 1905. Among them, 100 Years of Federal Forestry, aka Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 402, a picture book assembled by Forest Service retiree, William Bergoffen in 1976.

My personal favorites were written by Forest Service Chiefs who had lived their stories. These include Bill Greeley’s 1951 book, Forest and Men. Although he was Chief from 1920 to 1928, his book opens on the fire lines in western Montana and northern Idaho during the Great 1910 Fire, still the largest forest fire in our nation’s history.

Bill Greeley, Third Chief of The U.S. Forest Service

This is the Greeley profile written by the World Forestry Center

GREELEY-WILLIAM-B..pdf

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Greeley was then the District Ranger for District No. 1 which included federal forests in western Montana, northern Idaho and northeast Washington. Among his post-fire responsibilities was the identification and burial of the 78 men who died in the three million acre conflagration.

The tragedy haunted Greeley for the rest of his life and had much to do with his significant behind-the-scenes role in ratification of the Weeks Act in 1911 and the Clarke-McNary Act in 1926. Clarke-McNary put the Forest Service in the firefighting business alongside a series of privately-funded cooperatives assembled by the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company following the 1902 Yacolt Burn. The fire leveled 239,000 acres of virgin timber in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. Thirty-eight people were killed.

Greeley also wrote a lesser known book in 1953 titled Forest Policy, a three part compendium based on his years at the helm of the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association. He left the Forest Service to join the deeply-troubled association in 1928. He had concluded that WCLA was in dire need of a major course correction that would align it with Forest Service reforestation and conservation interests.

Gifford Pinchot’s Breaking New Ground also well worth reading. It was published by his estate in 1947, the year following his death. The Forest History Society published Jack’s Journals in 2004.

Both men were held captive by political events of their time. With Pinchot it was wildfire and his belief that regulation was the only way to control the harvesting excesses of private forestland owners. With Jack it was the northern spotted owl and wildlife habitat conservation.

President Theodore Roosevelt named Pinchot the first Chief of the Forest Service at its founding on February 1, 1905. They had been friends and confidants since Roosevelt’s years as New York Governor. On that same day, Roosevelt signed the Transfer Act, moving 63 million acres of designated Forest Reserves from the scandal ridden Department of the Interior to the newly formed Forest Service. About 500 employees answered to Pinchot.

Those 63 million acres were in Forest Reserves designated by Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland – most of them in the West.

Tom Schultz’s Forest Service includes 154 national forests, about 30,000 mostly demoralized employees and 193 million acres. About 180,400,000 of these acres are located in 84 National Forests in the West and about half – some 93 million acres– are dying, dead or burnt to a crisp.

I have been flooded with questions from worried westerners who want to know what Schultz thinks or how he might tackle the mess he faces. My guess is that he will first hire a Washington Office staff he trusts, then he will turn his attention to the regulatory impacts of the Supreme Court’s Chevron Deference ruling. More on this in a moment.

We are fortunate to already know a few things about Schultz’s 30,000-foot view of the Forest Service and its tattered relationships with states, counties, and stakeholder collaborative groups because he joined three other big picture thinkers who were asked to pen their thoughts in an essay that appeared in 193 Million Acres: Toward a Healthier and More Resilient U.S. Forest Service, a 2018 book published by the Society of American Foresters.

Their essay was titled Cooperative Federalism, Serving the Public Interest: A Policy Analysis of How the States Can Engage Local Stakeholders and Federal Land Managers to Improve the Management of the National Forests.

Cooperative Federalism

An essay co-authored by Forest Service Chief, Tom Schultz

Schultz Cooperative Federalism – FINAL.docx

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Schultz’s co-authors were Holly Fretwell, then a research economist with the Property and Environment Center [PERC] in Bozeman, Montana, Dennis Becker, then Director of the Policy Analysis Group within the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources, now Dean of the College of Natural Resources and Kelly Williams, a natural resources lawyer and Adjunct Professor at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.

The essay is long, but it will tell you what Schultz and his big picture colleagues saw when the looked at the struggling Forest Service eight years ago and asked themselves what could be done to help the agency get back on its feet again.

It seems inconceivable to think that Schulz ever thought the task of rescuing the Forest Service would fall to him – but he is now at the helm of a shell-shocked agency that is in real danger of tumbling off the crumbling cliff it has occupied since the federal government added the Northern Spotted Owl to its list of threatened species in June 1990.

There is no point in rehashing the history of how the world’s most admired natural resource management agency became one of the most reviled.

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Far more important are the tasks that Chief Schultz faces now and in the near future….Here is a brief summary:

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Terminate the Forest Service’s Overreaching “Managed Fire for Ecosystem Benefit” Policy

This is one of the most controversial, perplexing, and misled practices the agency has embraced in its 120-year history.

The concept of “managed fire” as a standalone approach is misleading – as it neglects the crucial need for regular thinning and prescribed burns under the right conditions – to restore balance to our overstocked public lands.

New Mexico’s 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire is a prime example. It started as a prescribed burn on long-neglected land, despite conditions being too windy and too dry—directly contradicting the Forest Service’s own guidelines for a “managed burn.”

The fire quickly escaped its handlers. Some 341,400 acres and several hundred homes were burned.

Taxpayers have thus far paid more than one billion dollars in damage claims. This recurring scenario across the West continues to leave devastation in its wake.

How much more destruction must occur before the Forest Service’s reckless “managed fire” practices are abolished?

Chief Schultz can do it in a heartbeat with his own executive order aimed at forest-to-community health – a holistic, mutually inclusive approach to management, stewardship, ecosystem stabilization, and conservation.

Decades of scientific studies support the necessity of periodic thinning and prescribed burning in overstocked forests. When evidence-based science is applied, there is no safer or more cost effective way to reduce the risks associated with insect and disease infestations – and inevitable wildfire.

Just ask our First Nations citizens—they successfully managed the land long before science recognized the wisdom of Indigenous knowledge.

States, tribes, and private landowners regularly thin and burn to reduce biomass, manage debris, improve soil health, promote a healthy forest ecosystem, improve tree propagation, and mitigate insect and disease infestations. The Forest Service once did the same, but after the spotted owl was listed in 1990, it abandoned these practices. Too often now, the Endangered Species Act is used as an excuse for inaction.

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Recasting the Wrecking Ball: Reforming the Equal Access to Justice Act

The EAJA was created to help ordinary citizens stand up to the government overreach, but elite environmental groups have hijacked it into a weapon for their own agendas.

Well-funded organizations, backed by wealthy donors, file endless lawsuits – to block responsible forest management.

They claim to be committed to justice, but they exploit a law meant for the underprivileged, forcing taxpayers to pay for their legal battles.

They claim to fight for conservation, yet their legal obstruction to thinning and prescribed burns has led to more devastating wildfires, insect infestations, and diseased forests.

The EAJA must be reformed to ensure our forests are managed with science – not endless litigation that hurts communities, damages our forests, and squanders public funds.

Reform will take time – but until it is done – all of the current Administration’s forestry-related executive orders will be challenged by serial litigators. This is an ongoing cycle, regardless of the administration – because they risk nothing.

While Congress is unlikely to exempt federal lands from the EAJA, it could replace litigation over forest plans with binding, baseball-style arbitration.

In this process, serial litigators and stakeholder collaboratives would each present their case, and arbitration judges would determine which proposal best aligns with the goals and objectives of the disputed forest plan.

Some experienced advisors suggest that the Equal Access to Justice Act could be improved through executive orders that reverse specific changes made during the Clinton Administration.

These modifications, introduced long after Congress originally passed the Act during the Reagan years, expanded its misuse – allowing well-funded groups to exploit taxpayer dollars for endless litigation.

Restoring the EAJA to its original intent through executive action could help curb these abuses and ensure the law serves those it was meant to protect, rather than elite litigators and obstructionist organizations.

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Return to Evidence-Based Forest Service Culture

A profound cultural shift is underway within the Forest Service, driven by a sharp decline in the quality of forest science education at U.S. universities.

This decline stems from universities prioritizing federal research funding tied to political agendas, leading to an education system that promotes selective science rather than comprehensive, evidence-based forestry practices.

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Decentralize the Forest Service’s Organizational Structure

Decision-making about our public lands must shift away from Washington and Regional Offices and return to District Ranger Offices. Local staff—who understand the land, have community trust, and can foster collaboration—are best equipped to make informed decisions.

However, given shifts in education and experience, some Ranger Districts may need support. Recent Forest Service retirees and qualified mentors can help by completing essential NEPA documents, including Environmental Impact Statements, Environmental Assessments, and Categorical Exclusions.

Jack Ward Thomas likened NEPA’s regulatory process to a ‘Gordian Knot,’ suggesting it was nearly impossible to navigate without facing lawsuits – lawsuits often used as a delay tactic to stall timber salvage after wildfires.

However, successfully navigating NEPA without litigation is possible. A retired Forest Service expert on our Evergreen Foundation Board has done so multiple times.

With intention and a commitment to collaboration, we can reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, disease, and insect infestations while maintaining environmental balance and strengthening the connection between forests and communities.

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Align Forest Service Regulations with New CEQ Standards Under the Supreme Court’s Chevron Deference Decision

In Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo [Gina Raimondo was the Biden Administration’s Secretary of Commerce from 2021 to 2025] the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Loper Bright, a New Jersey Fishing Company that sued the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Chevron Deference was established in 1984 by the Supreme Court in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. Justices ruled for NDRC, requiring lower courts to defer to the agency’s interpretation of a statute if the statute was ambiguous. Justices assumed that the agencies were experts in their subject matter areas and that Congress intended for the agencies to fill in gaps in statutes.

By a 6-2 margin the Roberts-led Supreme Court overruled Chevron Deference, citing the 1946 Administrative Procedures Act. APA spells out the process that federal administrative agencies must use to  propose or establish administrative laws or regulations. It also grants federal courts oversight over all agency actions.

The upshot of the Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ruling is that CEQ – the Council of Environmental Quality – must now revisit and revise decades of federal regulatory overreach involving federally-owned natural resources.
To wit: Jack Thomas’ Gordian Knot.

Once CEQ finishes its work, it will be Chief Schultz’s job to lead the same effort within the Forest Service. My guess is that he is up to his eyeballs in this process.

CEQ’s draft regulations are expected to be released soon. A 30-day comment period will follow, then a 45-day timeframe for implementation. It will be Chief Schultz’s responsibility to bring Forest Service regulations into alignment with new CEQ standards.

What we have here is a significant opportunity to loosen the “Gordian Knot” by adding much needed efficiency to the National Environmental Policy Act,

NEPA has become a tangled mess after 40 years of improper court rulings and excessive agency regulations. However, the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo has undone much of this bureaucratic overreach, providing an opportunity to restore clarity and proper implementation of the law.

The Supreme Court has shredded the litigation-based business model that opportunists and obstructionists have relied on to push a false narrative about public land management.

They only make money if the public believes that conservation and management are mutually exclusive – that any form of active management is harmful – and that humans cannot play a responsible role in maintaining balanced ecosystems.

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Chief Schultz is going to need his own chorus – composed of conservationists, forest scientists, stakeholder collaborative groups – everyone who enjoys the environmental and economic benefits that flow from well managed forests…

Clean air, clean water, abundant fish, bird and wildlife habitat and the very long list of year-round outdoor recreation activities that can only be found in healthy, thriving forests.

As I’ve said before but it bears repeating…
It’s time to saddle up and ride hard. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there.

I’ve written about the history and background of the National Wildfire Institute (NWI) in this forum before — a few months ago in regards to all of the towns being burned in USFS wildfires since the creation of spotted owl “critical habitat”: https://forestpolicypub.com/2024/10/02/burned-out-us-forest-service-is-destroying-our-western-towns/

In late November, Lake Tahoe writer Dana Tibbits arranged three videotaped panel discussions with a consortium of more than a dozen NWI wildfire experts for the purpose of declaring a National Wildfire Emergency. These statements totaled 2 1/2 hours of recordings, more than 36 pages of transcription, and have been summarized into a 37-minute video (below). Here is the YouTube Index of the individuals and topics on the video for brief or selective review purposes:

00:10        National Wildfire Institute (NWI) history

00:54        Dana Tibbitts, National Wildfire Emergency introduction

02:32        Bob Zybach, US Forest Service wildfire history

05:44        Joe Reddan, NEPA regulations & DEQ questions

10:04        Wayne Knauf, 1897 Organic Act & local communities

11:43        Ted Stubblefield/Phil Aune, Threatened & Endangered Species

13:41        Chuck Sheley, Wildfire smoke, public health & safety

16:09        Nadine Bailey, Spotted owls, logging & wildfire management

19:07        Court Boice, “Nuclear” wildfires & wildlife mortality

20:02        Tope Knauf, Manufacturing infrastructure & forest economics

22:48        Jim Petersen, Federal lands as a national treasure & Oshkosh

24:32        William Derr, The 10:00 AM Policy & current need

25:50        Phil Aune, NFMA, salvage logging & subsequent wildfires

28:56        James Marsh, NWFP, wildfire risk & environmental litigation

31:24        Roger Jaegel, Managing public forests for future generations

33:44        Frank Carroll, Three reforms needed for US Forest Service

36:33        Dana Tibbitts, Concluding remarks

36:54        NWI Recommendations (four)

37:20        NWI Contact information

This documentary of the 1962 Bel Air Fire presents a better analysis of the 2025 Fires than anything I’ve seen currently. The warnings of unmanaged chaparral and Santa Ana winds coupled with wooden buildings and inadequate water pressure seems to have been ignored — in fact, it appears that the fire and police departments 60+ years ago were better prepared for the unprecedented event than their modern counterparts, who should have learned this lesson and been able to avoid much of this disaster.

The predictions were accurate, the recommendations ignored. Maybe this time people will pay better attention. Our forests and shrublands need to be actively managed — particularly in residential areas — if we are going to, again, limit the frequency and severity of these predictable catastrophic events.

This is “A Book Review and Associated Thoughts” regarding Christopher Burchfield’s 2014 book, The Tinder Box – How Politically Correct Ideology Destroyed the U.S. Forest Service. It was written by Karl Brauneis, posted here with his permission, and published last year in Smokejumper Magazine. Karl is a retired USFS Forester and Fire Management Officer and “Missoula Smokejumper Class of ‘77” member.

Here is a link to Karl’s new book, The Blackwater Fire and the Men Who Fought It: How Firefighters Turned Tragedy into New Beginnings: https://warnercnr.source.colostate.edu/karl-brauneis-blackwater-fire-book/

Here is his review of Burchfield’s book:

The Tinder Box is a must read for those who struggle to understand what happened to the U.S. Forest Service in our lifetime. Burchfield begins with a short background of the why and the how. He breaks open the Bernardi Consent Decree (1981) that required the Forest Service to reach the goal of a 43% female work force in just a few short years.

This is how, in part, Chief Max Peterson and his Pacific Southwest (California) Regional Forester Zane Grey Smith destroyed the U.S. Forest Service. There was no need for the Bernardi Consent Decree because the Forest Service had done nothing wrong. The Justice Department, representing the Forest Service, could have easily won the case brought by plaintiff Gene Bernardi. However, Max Peterson wanted to re-make the Forest Service and he certainly did. Once a stellar organization it is now ranked among the worst of the federal agencies to work for.

As an older man I feel some compassion for men like Zane Grey Smith. The consent decree made life a living hell for not only those who were affected by it but by those who proposed and initiated it. Burchfield uncovers the trauma experienced by so many.

The root of destruction is found in the Frankfurt school of Germany and its quest to spread their neo-Marxist philosophy throughout the world. In short, communism could claim only limited  success in countries where the masses attempted an overthrow. The only true success had been in Russia with the Bolsheviks.  And it was bloody.  The neo-Marxist philosophy taught that the destruction of western civilization could only be accomplished through the elites via an insidious takeover of western institutions. A demolition from within. From the top down. We see this everywhere today from the destruction of the middle class and open borders to a 32 trillion dollar national debt.

The Frankfurt school of thought was first imported to Columbia University in the 1930’s and soon spread to other institutions of higher learning. We might call this the same spirit that sparked and drove the Nazis in their quest for world domination.

When reading The Tinder Box my thoughts affirmed the psychological study of the Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials. An Army psychologist assigned to the trials arrived at this secular conclusion: “Evil is the absence of empathy.” This also confirmed what I experienced in my forest service career. I began under a Christian culture and set of norms. A strong Judeo-Christian work ethic existed. This was soon taken from us and replaced with neo-Marxist dogma. Their tenants violated not only the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution (equal protection of the law) but also the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title VII), as passed by the US Congress, and the Civil Service merit promotion standards. But the law was ignored and twisted in policy by our leaders. Their absence of empathy only accelerated. Discrimination against white males became a corporate manifesto. Part way through my career, candidates for promotion were no longer evaluated by their knowledge of forestry, fire and range but rather by their adherence to affirmative action and multiculturalism. Consideration for promotion was now based on race, color, sex and creed. Females were given privileged and preferential treatment. When I left the agency all of the forest supervisors and park superintendents in the greater Yellowstone area were female.

Christopher Burchfield writes about the Plutonium Rule:

“Implicit with the extralegal incorporation of 43 % (Females by Consent Decree) was the extinction of the Golden Rule, the universally accepted premise, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Dead too was the notion of reciprocity – that everyone has a right to just and equal treatment and a responsibility to ensure that others receive the same just and equal treatment.

In their place the agency introduced a lethal plutonium rule. Incoming employees would not be required to adapt to their senior employee’s expectations or traditions – so essential to meeting mission objectives. Rather, the new employees would see to it that the seniors adapted to their expectations and innovations.”

Then there was the clandestine back room development and enforcement of quotas by the agency, unknown to Samuel Conti the federal judge presiding over the case. When he learned that the Forest Service had gone behind his back the judge had enough. He then held the agency to their arrogant stupidity and labeled it “consent decree as amended”.

In contrast? Hubert Humphry vigorously declared when addressing the wealth of Civil Rights laws passed by congress:  “I will start eating the pages of the law, page by page, if anyone can find a clause that calls for quotas or preferences of racial balance in jobs or education.”

Pete Barker was one Forest Service fire engine captain interviewed in the book. Asked about the performance of the Forest Service from when he began in 1977 until he retired in 2007. His answer? He guessed the agency was running at 50%. Later, Randal O’Tool in “The Rot Starts at the Top” would evaluate the agency at 20%.

This is my second reading of The Tinder Box. Burchfield explains so much in detail that I had to read the book again.

Christopher writes; “It was not simply the numbers Stewart (Pacific Southwest Regional Forester replacing Smith) and Chief Forester Robertson (replacing Peterson) were seeking to transform. Lace curtain radicals almost without peer, they were determined to uproot by trencher, bulldozer and front end loader, every last vestige of the forest service culture advanced by Pinchot, Silcox and McArdle.”

The women of the forest service even filed a class action suit separate from the men against the leaders of demolition de-construction. The women were then called in a very condescending way by court monitor Jeannie Meyer “good old boys in women’s clothing,” There was no end to their arrogance and subterfuge.

Burchfield surmises;

“Postmodern forestry’s real mission was the tree by tree, acre by acre, employee by employee destruction of a male dominated institution that since its inception had performed with such striking success. If dismantling that male institution injured the interests of more women than it benefitted, that was unfortunate but incidental to the task.”

When the South Canyon (1994 – Death of 14 Firefighters on Storm King Mountain) tragedy unfolded the subsequent investigation brought new concerns to congress. Why was so little of the money allocated to finance fire preparedness ever seen on the ground? Tired of lip service congress forced the agency to develop a fire budget process that would ensure that the money sent from Washington went to the field. Our small fire budget on a “cowboy ranger district” in Wyoming went from $7,000 to $77,000 dollars overnight. The bureaucrats had scammed 90% of the districts fire budget to finance their social agenda. I was not alone. A hot shot superintendent told me that 60% of his operating budget had been siphoned off the top. It was an eye opener for me.  But the betrayal only continued.

Arlen S. Roll of the Northern Rocky Mountain Region was bold in his zeal to usurp federal law with forest service policy.  He seems more a patron of the Goering – Goebbels inner circle than a forest service official. Already the agency had lost 500 cases in court that required backpay and promotion to individuals suing the agency for discrimination due to affirmative action quotas. The costs alone in California for these losses ran at around 2 million dollars. It is estimated that another 500 cases were settled out of court in favor of the plaintiffs. But Arlen pressed on claiming there was no such thing as reverse discrimination and that employees must follow policy or find another job. While others worked in the shadows to break the law Arlen was bold in his proclamations. Christopher Burchfield states “What is so astonishing about him was his Hitlerian bluntness.” The real power in government no longer resided with its elected officials or in the rule of law.

It was the dawn of an agency weaponized against its own employees. Policy would now usurp the law. But the new Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas cried foul when he took over. He told his employees to tell the truth and follow the law.  The entrenched ignored Thomas and continued to undermine their own chief. The culture change was now complete and further sealed with the early buy outs of the late 1990’s that gutted the agencies’ remaining resource management expertise. When Jack Ward Thomas left he noted nine matters he never wanted to deal with again. The top of the list included political correctness, the violation of civil rights and dismissal of equal employee opportunities.

A deep state, a shadow government or fourth branch of the government was now reality. While the agency consolidated field units and closed ranger stations, guard stations,  forest fire lookout towers and some forest supervisors offices it also added 300 new employees to the Washington headquarters. In Wyoming I counted six small town district ranger stations closed. Two forests and one national grassland (Routt – Medicine Bow – Thunder Basin) were combined across the Colorado and Wyoming state lines and their respective congressional districts to promote centralization. The forest service soon became irrelevant in rural America as the Washington office seized more power to promote their policies of social re-invention, environmentalism and off forest hiring practices.

Local individuals who knew their communities became difficult to hire under a new national and regional employment and review system focused on multiculturalism. This further separated the agency from what rural roots might have been left.  Forest service engine captain Tom Locker stated that the agencies subversive goal was to, “Out and out culturally cleanse the small towns of America.”

I have worked with some outstanding women in the forest service and fire. Woman that will be the first to stand up for civil rights and merit promotion. I have coached boys and girls in high school (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) cross country and track. I have sons and daughters and nine grandchildren so far. So, why should I write this review? Because I want an even and fair playing field for all of them. Discrimination based on race, color, sex and creed is against the law and has no place in our society. “Content of character” is what counts. We must also be confident that our federal agencies follow the law and not contrived policy.

We live in the present and not yesterday. Our actions speak for today. I also know that we are bound to repeat yesterday’s mistakes if we do not study the past. What happened to the U.S. Forest Service is history that should not be swept under the rug. In history you take the bad with the good. You learn from it.

The individual tragedy for many of us is that our boy hood dreams in the calling of  conservation at a once premier forest service lay dashed upon the rocks. As a hot shot, smokejumper and forester I went from the “golden boy” to the “black sheep” in a few short years. I never changed. But the agency did. I loved a forest service that I soon came to distrust. Tragically, I experienced the change from a highly decentralized conservation learning organization to a highly centralized politically correct environmental bureaucracy.

In closing. There are agendas and then there is reality. When the agenda does not match reality we call its proponents delusional. Thank you Christopher Burchfield for exposing the delusion of the Great Betrayal in The Tinder Box.

This is the second part of the second article in a two-part series regarding fire management by the US Forest Service near the towns of Oakridge and Westfir, Oregon. The first article focused on forest restoration and prescribed burning on Jim’s Creek, in the Willamette National Forest, and was linked and discussed here: https://forestpolicypub.com/2024/11/01/jims-creek-restoration-a-burning-opportunity/

This second article regards wildfire management and reforestation planning on the Cedar Creek Burn, also in the Willamette National Forest, is 3500 words, has eight photos, a map, and a detailed table, so I have posted in two parts. Here is Part 1: https://forestpolicypub.com/2025/01/09/the-2022-cedar-creek-fire-the-1897-organic-act-part-1/

Both articles are part of a 13-year series I have been writing for Oregon Fish & Wildlife Journal, and the complete current article can be found here:   http://nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Articles/Magazines/Oregon_Fish_&_Wildlife_Journal/20250108_Cedar_Creek/Zybach_20250108.pdf

Fig. 5. Industrial Plantation. Following WW II, most reforestation in the Douglas Fir Region has been to industrial standards, with a focus on fiber production and future jobs. Planting seedlings in rows following logging or wildfire, or converting old meadows, prairies, and berry fields to trees, results in a significant loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat, while creating increased opportunity for deadly crown fires. Russ Sapp and Dave Sullivan in Preacher Creek plantation in Lincoln County. Photo by author, April 5, 2024.

1897 Organic Act

 In 1897 Congress passed the “Organic Act” to manage and protect US public forestlands. The bill was signed into law by President William McKinley and has never been repealed.

The guiding principal of the Act remains fairly well-known to this time, and has been the theoretical basis to all subsequent USFS planning:

“No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States.”

A lesser-recognized portion of the Act also states it was “for the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and promoting the younger growth on forest reservations” — and, in that regard, authority was given to “designate and appraise so much of the dead, matured, or large growth of trees found upon such forest reservations” for sale at “not less” than the appraised value, under the condition it couldn’t be “exported” to another State or Territory.

In a nutshell, “living and growing timber” was intended to be “preserved,” “younger growth” was to be “promoted,” and a “continuous supply” of “dead, matured, or large” trees were to be sold at market value. “For the use and necessities of citizens of the United States.”

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt, working closely with Yale-educated forester and close associate, Gifford Pinchot, transferred management of the Forest Reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture, creating the US Forest Service.

Pinchot became the first Chief of the new agency and wrote that its mission would be: “Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.”

Theoretically, that has remained the mission of the Forest Service to the present time, and all subsequent forest planning laws and regulations are based on this vision and the 1897 Organic Act; including the “expanded purposes” of  the 1960 Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act (MUSY) and the 1976 National Forest Management Act (NFMA).

The 1960 Act included the considerations of range, water, recreation, and wildlife, along with timber, as renewable resources, and the 1976 Act changed forest planning by requiring the Forest Service to use an “interdisciplinary approach” to resource management — and to include “public involvement in preparing and revising forest plans.”

Fig. 6. Crevice Creek Plantation. This 60-year-old  industrial-type plantation along Crevice Creek experienced 100% mortality. Despite the relative small size of these snags, they will remain very flammable and an increasing risk of wildfire if they are not removed. Although they no longer have value for lumber production, they can likely be used to produce commercial fuel pellets for several more years. Note the two-year understory of invasive grasses and brush that have replaced the green trees and shaded ground. They will form volatile flash and potential ladder fuels for the thousands of tons of dry, pitchy firewood that has been created. Photo by author, October 28, 2024.

Local Effects: Smoke & Jobs

 Bryan Cutchen is the Mayor of Oakridge, and he says wildfire smoke for the past four years, from the Cedar Creek Fire and others, has done great damage to the town’s recreation and hospitality businesses. Others in the community point to the 2015 and 2017 fire years as a major beginning to these events.

The combination of reputation and reality, smoky air, road closures, and burned campgrounds have kept people away from Oakridge in recent years. The discomfort and poor health associated with breathing smoke and the reduced visibility and public access following the fires has caused serious economic damage to the community.

 Rob DeHarpport was the third generation of his family to live in Oakridge. His grandfather worked for the Forest Service and his father owned a store in town, and that’s where he graduated from High School in 1977 and has lived most of his life. After graduating, he spent a summer fighting fires with the Oakridge Ranger District, and from 2012 to 2015 he became Mayor of Westfir, before retiring and moving east of the Cascades.

During the years he was growing up in town, and for many years after, he can only recall a few times when Oakridge became smoky — typically for a day or two when smoke would drift into town from field burning in the Willamette Valley or from fall slash pile burning in the woods.

In 1975, when Tim Bailey began his career as a Forester for the Oakridge District Ranger Station, the town had eight gas stations, eight bars, two jewelry stores, two florist shops, a movie theatre, bowling alley, skating rink, and 400 people working at the Pope & Talbot Mill. Today there are three gas stations, up from just one a few years ago, and a one-man firewood cutting business.

Bailey’s memories are similar to DeHarpport’s regarding the general lack of smoky summers and falls. At that time Oakridge considered itself  the “Tree Planting Capital of the World” and still has an annual festival to recall those years.

When the 9,000-acre Shady Beach Fire burned in 1988, the 195 million board feet of snags and surviving trees were quickly sold and harvested — creating an estimated 200 local jobs — and the land was then planted. Today, it is a healthy stand of 35-year-old trees nearing merchantable size.

Bailey wasn’t directly involved in the Shady Beach Fire but was the silviculturist for the subsequent Warner Creek Fire. The starkly different histories of the two fires characterized the dramatic change in USFS management philosophies that took place with the arrival of spotted owls in the Douglas Fir Region in 1990.

This Table with shows all Air Quality Index (AQI) numbers and PM25 measures for Oakridge, Eugene, Sisters, and Bend during the smokiest days for those communities during the Cedar Creek Fire. All days that reached an AQI of 100 are listed; those above 200 are bolded; and all above 300 are also made red.

The highest PM25 readings for those days are also given, and because Sisters was only impacted for a few days, progressive fire sizes are also listed in that column.

These data were provided by Ryan Porter, who authored the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) report on Oregon statewide air quality for 2022. DEQ AQI numbers are based on a scale of 0-50 (Good); 51-100 (Moderate); 101-150 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups); 151-200 (Unhealthy); 201-300 (Very Unhealthy); and 301-500 (Hazardous).

Compare these numbers to those given earlier for September 10 in Seattle and Portland to better understand the localized severity of this problem.

PM25 numbers represent particulate matters in the air that are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter. Readings above 35 are considered “unhealthy for short-term exposure,” and the National Institute of Health states that “people with respiratory diseases” account for a “large proportion” of “non-accidental deaths” in the US. The stated reason is because PM25 pollution “causes asthma, respiratory inflammation, jeopardizes lung functions, and even promotes cancers.”

A recent public health study concluded that more than 10,000 people a year in the US die from wildfire smoke pollution, and recent University of California research indicated PM25 exposure from wildfire smoke likely killed 55,000 Californians alone in the 11 years from 2008 to 2018.

Fig. 7. Second-growth Douglas fir progeny competing with ancestral old-growth for sunlight, water, and soil. The original wide-spacing of the older trees is indicated by the large stobs that remain from lower limbs lost to competitive shading along their trunks. These remaining old-growth are now at increasing risk of a crown fire, in addition to direct competition from younger trees. Removing the second-growth to protect the old-growth could be accomplished at a good profit, as well as greatly reducing risk of crown fire and resulting loss of remaining old-growth. Photo by author, April 5, 2024.

Recommendations

What can be done to fix this deadly, costly mess? It took 35 years for the Willamette National Forest to transform itself from an increasingly unpopular actively-managed clearcutting marketplace to a seasonal inferno, causing massive air pollutions for weeks, killing millions of wildlife and old-growth trees, bankrupting local businesses, ruining the scenery, ending recreation, blocking our public roads with gates, and charging US taxpayers billions of dollars to make it all possible.

Even though significant fault can be found with the design of previous timber sales and reforestation projects, a course correction rather than a complete reversal would have been a more reasonable approach to spotted owl politics. Subsequent planning processes and environmental lawsuits have been allowed — and even encouraged through favorable rulings and legislation — to transform our once beautiful and productive National Forests into ugly, costly, and deadly firebombs. How to fix?

These photos, and millions of others, clearly show the problem. Passively managed conifer forestlands and plantations don’t somehow magically transform themselves into “critical habitat” for obscure animals, or into 400-year-old stands of trees teeming with “biodiversity.” No, some grow old, they die, and if nothing is done, they burn and are replaced with a new generation of plants, often the same species, but in different configurations.

The real problem began in the 1970s and the deep ecology movement, when the woods became “wildlands” and people were pathogens and the enemies of “nature.” Then the academic myth of the “healthy forest” containing “big, dead, standing trees,” large logs scattered around on the ground, and a “multi-layered canopy of diverse species” was invented.

To these “New Forestry” ecologists, life appeared to exist in a terrarium, where the ideal was a “non-declining, even-flow, naturally functioning ecosystem” teeming with endangered species and incredible biodiversity. Their computers “proved” this ideal could be achieved “again” — if only we’d eliminate people, their matches, and their wildlife-disturbing road systems.

Environmental activists, their lawyers, and politicians attempted to transform this fiction into a vision for our public lands, and it has never worked. Instead, death, fire, smoke, and poverty has resulted — as clearly predicted by actual foresters and knowledgeable residents.

If this fire had happened 40 years ago, in 1982 instead of 2022, many things would have been different. Tens of thousands of fewer acres would have burned; millions more wildlife would have lived; thousands more old-growth would have survived; there would have been only a fraction of the smoke for far fewer days; and the wood would have been immediately salvaged — and at a profit to local families and to American taxpayers. Then the land would have been reforested as well as possible, based on the best intentions at that time.

A concerted effort to return to the common sense purposes of the 1897 Organic Act, Pinchot’s fundamental mission statement, the 10:00 AM Policy, and the 1962 MUSY would be wonderful. That would be my best recommendation.