During 1999 we lost 1.5 million acres of our forests and during 2000 the losses will increase. Many of these forests have not been managed as a source of timber and are void of logging roads so vital in the movement of equipment and personnel involved in fire fighting.
When we see the personnel traveling to the fires, generally they are walking and climbing hills carrying their equipment. Keep in mind that the only way a fire can be extinguished is by hand. Burning embers must be dug up, sprayed with water and/or covered with soil.
Our bomber aircraft can carry about 4,000 gallons of retardant, but that amount dropped from 500 feet at 140 mph can help suppress the crown fires but the surface fires easily restart the fires. Their turn-around time is considerable while fire-fighting water trucks can most often drive to local streams and creeks, refill, and return in a fraction of the time. They also fully utilize the water by spraying on the most critical parts of the fire.
The objectives of our present administration to prevent the people of this country from the use of our forests and parks, and to destroy our timber/lumber industry, also has the obvious result of increasing the highly combustible material that covers our forest floors. Fires in these materials are nearly impossible to contain.
Forests that are properly utilized as timber sources have the considerable benefits of providing funds for the management of the forests and also the added benefits of reducing and utilizing the trees while eliminating the highly combustible ground cover.
The logging and access roads provide a quick response capability for emergencies, including the personnel and fire fighting equipment, many of which are large bulldozers and water trucks.
Let us hope the voters will return the control of our forest environment back to our wonderful, highly qualified U.S. Forest and National Park Services personnel.
MEL E. DENNEY
Dayton