Let It Burn fires damage natural resources including flora, fauna, water, air, and soils. They also damage human resources including recreation, scenery, heritage, and land management agency budgets. But the damages do not stop there. We continue our discussion in rebuttal to the recent Idaho Statesman series of articles [here], and for good measure, in rebuttal to an excruciatingly incompetent series of articles in support of Let Burn published in the Los Angeles Times [here].

Let It Burn is illegal, destructive of a multitude of forest and human values, is not cost-effective, and is the worst idea that ever came down the forest pike. Let me count the ways.

11. Let It Burn Has Significant Regional Economic Impact

The Payette National Forest is a leader in Let It Burn. Forest managers incinerated 470,500 acres last year, and in the process crippled the economy of numerous central Idaho towns. Yellow Pine was particularly hard hit as that recreation-based village was shut down and forcibly evacuated all summer. McCall, which is the gateway hub to central Idaho recreation industry, also experienced an economic hammer blow [here].

This summer Big Sur, a resort community on the California Coast, was closed for a month during peak season, and partially incinerated to boot, in a fire that could have been put out at a few acres but instead was encouraged to burn (via backfires) until it became a quarter of a million acres.

As I type, a whoofoo (WFU or wildland fire use fire) named the Gunbarrel WFU Fire [here] has burned nearly 20,000 acres in Wyoming and has caused the evacuation of Elephant Head, Absaroka Lodge, and summer cabins in Moss Creek. The Gunbarrel WFU Fire Fire is out of control, a raging firestorm/canopy fire causing 100% mortality to the forest. It is pluming and creating it’s own weather although seasonal Palouse winds are fanning it as well. Despite the destruction of natural and human resources, the Shoshone NF has announced that WFU is still main strategy.

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