Happy birthday, Smokey Bear! Let’s fight forest fires the right way

Smokey Bear, the famous US Forest Service (USFS) mascot, celebrated his 81^st birthday this past Saturday, August 9. Smokey Bear was created in 1944 and emphasizes the importance of preventing human caused wildfires from things like untended campfires and hot chains dragging on the forest floor. Most people know his signature catchphrase – “only YOU can prevent forest fires.”

Smokey Bear’s message is reflective of the zeitgeist of the time from when he was born. Back then, it was believed that all fires on the landscape were bad. As a result, USFS’ wildfire management strategy was one of all-out suppression. In fact, around this time, the USFS had a policy that aimed to control wildfires by 10am the day after they were ignited.

Today, most people are starting to understand that the 10am policy was bad for many reasons.

To start, such a policy puts firefighters in unnecessary danger. Firefighters develop their strategies for how to manage a wildfire in part due to the weather and other environmental factors. It could be dangerous to force firefighters to contain a fire by a certain time if such factors present unsafe conditions.

Additionally, when the government tells firefighters how to do their job, it undermines their experience and expertise. Personally, I’d rather have a 30-year, career-long firefighter making fire management decisions than a politician or bureaucrat in Washington, DC.

Further, fires have historically played an essential ecological role in forests. For example, fires can help prevent overcrowding and create fertile soil, among other benefits. However, policies like the 10am requirement, contribute to the cessation of fires performing their ecological functions, leaving our forests in disarray. Most notably, United States’ forests have become very overcrowded. This means that there is more fuel for fires to burn through which is what causes fires to be so large and destructive today.

The good news is that firefighters have tools they can use to restore forests to their natural state. One of these tools is prescribed burns. These are intentionally set, low-level controlled fires which perform multiple duties such as filling fires’ historic ecological role, achieving land management objectives, and other goals. Importantly, prescribed fires help to mitigate the disastrous megafires by burning through fuel that is built up over the years, things like twigs, leaves, young invasive trees and shrubs, etc.

Yet, prescribed burns aren’t being done to the extent they need to be. Congress can help get more prescribed burns completed by removing the red tape that gets in the way of completing them that exist in statutes such as the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

People didn’t fully understand the complex role of fire in the 1940s. That’s why we had the 10am policy and why Smoky Bear never advocated for prescribed burns. Today we know how to manage forests better and we have a duty to do so. Congress needs to help by voting against legislation that is similar to the 10am policy and thereby removing obstacles that get in the way of firefighters best managing the forests.