Dear HCN,
After the forest fires in
New Mexico and Colorado, I had to write. This could be nature
getting back at the hobby ranchers and interlopers. On the Front
Range in Colorado and New Mexico, you don’t have corporate tree
farms, so most of the interface lands from the Plains to the U.S.
Forest Service lands are BLM, state lands and
private.
Having lived in Denver 16 years and
being a USFS smokejumper for 10 summers, I have an overview. When
was the last time you saw the BLM, state Department of Natural
Resources or private ranches selective cut, chip brush or control
burn their lands? I don’t think it has
happened.
Yep, the big burn will occur on the
Front Range of the two states on a regular basis. I spent 18 years
with Weyerhaeuser and I know clear-cuts do not burn! If you don’t
cut it, you better chip or burn it. Nature never stops working and
thus we have dog-hair stands of juniper, piûon, lodgepole and
spruce – not to mention the sagebrush, snow brush, oak, mesquite
and manzanita!
I hope the insurance companies
triple homeowners’ rates on homes and outbuildings if they are
outside an incorporated town or city in Colorado and New
Mexico.
Also, it’s time each county put in fire
restrictions, and did rural homesite inspections for fire
prevention and safety.
Anthony
Peiffer
Bellevue,
Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Expect the big burn.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
