“To let fires burn in July and August is ridiculous.” — Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus in the New York Times, Sept. 22, 1988
Rich Fairbanks walks a forest trail through a stretch where two wildfires have burned in the last six years.
The ground is mostly bare, and the tree trunks are striped with black, scorched bark.
Fairbanks has worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a wildland firefighter and as a wilderness advocate. He is thrilled by all this. He points up at the green crowns of the trees with delight.