On Sept. 7, 1988, author Rocky Barker stood with a
fellow journalist near Old Faithful and witnessed this scene:
“Coals were pelting his back and I could see fist-sized firebrands
by my head. We jumped a small stream and stumbled through the
forest toward safety. The entire area turned black as night and the
howling wind sounded like a jet engine … the forest we had
just left ignited as if someone had lit a match to gasoline.”
Barker was covering the fires for the Idaho
Falls Post-Register, among other newspapers. Now, in his
new book, Scorched Earth, he describes firsthand
the chaos of the Yellowstone conflagration. He draws on archival
research to reveal how the National Park Service’s fire
policy — and fire policy throughout all federal and state
agencies — has its roots in that park. For it was in
Yellowstone that forest fire was first seen as a threat to the
visitor experience, and it was there, in the late 1800s and early
1900s, that the federal government developed its militaristic
approach to fire suppression.
As Barker’s story
reaches the present, he juxtaposes the complexities of ecology and
public policy by introducing Yellowstone fire ecologist Don Despain
and then-Park Superintendent Bob Barbee. As millions of Americans
watched the fires on TV news and the flames heated up, so did the
political pressure on the leadership of Yellowstone and the
National Park Service.
Now an environmental journalist
for the Idaho Statesman and a contributor to
High Country News Barker wields a steady and
unbiased pen as he discusses the ongoing debate about the necessity
of fire in forest ecosystems. Scorched Earth
will likely be recognized as a seminal work in the West’s
fire history — poignant historical analysis, told with a
storyteller’s flair.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Yellowstone fires still ignite controversy.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
