Anybody Got a Match?

     I took up smoking again this summer. I didn't want to, it's just that smoke is all there was to breathe for a while and I am powerfully addicted to breathing. The Northwest had a rather dry winter, very dry spring and hot, early summer, so it is no surprise that there were lots of forest fires also. That is a natural consequence of dry weather in forested areas. The part I am angry about is the natural consequence that can be helped. For decades now our national forests have been managed, not by the people who live among them, nor even by the government agencies paid to do so, but by environmentalist litigation. Their perpetual protests of virtually every timber sale are the reason our forests are piled high with combustible deadfall. Those who claim to love trees have protected our forests into fuel filled infernos waiting for a match. Talk about tough love.
     Since many environmentalists live in big cities far removed from the property they are trying to protect, I would like to pass along my observations:

• It is hard to hug a tree when it is on fire. 
• On TV "Orange is the New Black"; after forest fires, black is the new green. You might need to change the name of your movement.
• Forest fires have done more damage to both animal and human habitat than logging, even clearcutting, ever did.
• Protesting salvaging of burned, but usable, timber impedes those rejuvenating benefits of fire you talk about.
• Didn't you people used to stand for clean air?
• It is easy to have convictions when it is not your skin in the game. Learn how to fight fires, come breathe our smoke, post a bond if you want to protest.
• Saving the planet is God's job, not yours. Try not be one of the things he has to save it from.

       We recently had a big fire in Evergreen that started on the property of apparent hoarders. They lost everything. Sounds like they should have. One of the things they hoarded, besides appliances, is wood. A homeless guy living on the property was careless with a cigarette on an unwatered lot full of old wood. He is charged with the legal version of criminal stupidity. That situation made me contemplate the crime of arson. Is it considered arson to cover an area with accelerant and wait for someone else to ignite it? I live most summers with the results of environmental arson, although I'm sure they will blame it on their beloved scapegoat--global warming. Humans may distinguish whether the fire is lightning or man caused, but I don't think the forest much cares who provides the match.