Every year during fire season it’s the same thing... We spend tens of millions of dollars in futile efforts to try to control the damage. We also lose tens of millions of dollars worth of viable timber, create erosion corridors in fire lines and roads, and ensure lack of vegetation as a food source and cover for numerous creatures. This haphazard approach to forest and land management has to be re-evaluated.

Like most Montana natives, I cringe every time I see or hear of an environmental group using overblown or unsubstantiated theories to stop harvesting timber or minerals. To subvert the law to create legal delays or hamper professional management of our lands is not how a democratic republic operates. How a minority of environmentalists can sidestep a majority of a population goes a long way in showing how the rule of law no longer applies in America. No mining, no logging, no mills, no revenue for schools or state use. The sad part of it all is that since we can’t use our own native resources, we have to shop for them overseas, and most of these foreign countries have no EPA or controls. We therefore contribute to the world problem of pollution and the wholesale stripping of lands in Third World countries by fiat. A country that won’t utilize its own natural resources is guilty of violating a host of moral and ethical standards.

Forest fires can be mitigated by several factors. The first tried-and-true method is managed logging and reforestation. We don’t log whole mountains or clear-cut like in the old days. Timber harvests are now well-thought-out and deeply planned, and all environmental issues are anticipated in the process. Potential fire hazards are also a part of the process.

The Copper King fire near Thompson Falls has cost $15 million. How many millions in lost timber are we at now? How much bighorn sheep, elk, deer and other wildlife habitat is gone?

We have the resources and capabilities to mitigate fires. Helicopter and horse logging could remove vast amounts of logs when it is determined they are endangered. Air logging could be accomplished by using AWACS military planes to oversee traffic between retardant drops and helicopter logging flights. We pay for these military planes and personnel, like the P3 Orion and crew that fly over the Flathead and practice touchdowns at Glacier Park International Airport several time a week, all year.

The assets, knowledge, and experience are there. We need to harvest this timber and recoup some of the monies these fires cost the majority taxpayer. —Clifford Nielsen, Kalispell