Why are the skies filled with smoke again?

Early morning Sunday, fishing with my son at Hyatt Lake. The beautiful sunrise, and red glow on the water was a sight to behold. We settled in to enjoy the morning and catch a trout for lunch. The freedom to enjoy the outdoors (and being able to breath without wildfire smoke) is very precious to us. I am thankful for the Jackson County Commissioners, who wisely listened to concerned citizens and applied a simple and ingenious solution.

Wildfire management “policy” allowed for naturally ignited fires to burn in order to accomplish land management objectives. The problem is that during the hot, dry months of summer, those small fires grow out of control swiftly and became catastrophic wildfires.

Our environment was illegally polluted with dangerous particulates in the air making breathing difficult. Wildlife and their habitat, the health and wellbeing of the residents of Jackson County, and businesses, including those that rely on tourism have been harmed. Jackson County commissioners did a fantastic job of putting a stop to that practice and prohibiting the use of “prescribed burns” during fire season.

Now, overwhelming  smoke from the easily recognizable “naturally ignited prescribed burns” originating in California is filling our air with health threatening levels of smoke and particulate, doing unimaginable harm to our environment and “choking” us again. All of these events are the result of “flawed policy” brought to us by literal intruders into our land management procedures. 

We have the answer, during fire season simply do not let fires get out of control by using them for land management. We must in all regions adopt a uniform, commonsense policy of a quick response and put naturally ignited fires out before they are allowed to grow into “catastrophic wildfires” and threaten the Health, Safety, and Welfare of our communities.