Fire has always been a part of the forest cycle, but the natural clearing has been disrupted, first by loggers interested only in short-term profit (erosional scars from before and after 1900 can still be seen in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado and I am sure, many other areas) and secondly, later, by the extreme preservationists.
There is no clear policy on forest management, taking into consideration local conditions. This is needed immediately but I have little hope of the current administration taking effective action.
ArtBrooks, I just got back from Santa Fe; the watershed looks to me like a disaster waiting to happen. There was a scare at Los Alamos; the fire was bad but it could have been much worse. I expect problems in the Reno area in Nevada-California before long.
Massive clearing without regulation in the boreal forest of northern Alberta has disrupted wildlife and created large areas that will take several lifetimes to recover, if they ever come back as boreal forest. Good management could have prevented this and still permitted a healthy harvest of the boreal timber.
We long ago lost the white pine and oak forests of the east. The Appalachian Trail will never see again the massive hardwood trees that our ancestors found. The coast cedar and redwoods are mostly gone, and policies on them are still inadequate. Will the Ponderosa and spruce forests of the west follow into history? Even the lowly (but important) piñon has been the victim of moronic policies.