The Arizona Sentinel

Well folks here we are again. In 2002 we had the then worst fire in Arizona’s history, just under five hundred thousand acres of prime timber and many homes destroyed. But it doesn’t end there, the economy here in Heber/Overgaard took a major hit and except for the temporary  fraudulent mortgage bubble it’s never recovered. This community would be dead if it weren’t for the baby boomers that moved here, I’m one of them, and of course those that are moving here now taking advantage of the real estate meltdown. But that’s not the end of the story either. The heat from that fire in 02 has over time taken its toll on remaining timber that suffered sever heat exposure. So we have lost thousands of additional acres of timber.   This  is just one more example, that you can not continue making the  same mistakes over and over ,expecting different results.  We lost  billions of dollars not just  fighting that fire, but the revenue stream that should have been available, if we had an ongoing logging economy.  Remember , we  would not be having these wild fires if the forest was properly managed.  DUH!

The community of Springerville/Eager will suffer the same. In fact it will be worse because first this fire is a long way from being over.  And second the only reason visitors (myself included) went there was the forest . The area south of Eager was like no place else in the world. Unbelievably beautiful.  So what happened and, why will these two areas continue to experience runaway fires going forward. 

Its simple. Going back decades, there has been an agenda, by the Sierra Club and others to destroy the timber industry and ranching on state and so-called federal land in the west.  They have used the federal government,BLM,the forest service to implement their agenda.  The result has been a massive overgrowth of trees, and the pine needles and brush that has accumulated on the surface over the past twenty plus years are nothing short of a bomb waiting to explode.

Then you have to understand the motives of the forest service,  money and budgetary increases every year , year over year.  They start these control burns that ultimately get out of control, or some fool from the city will go out there and set off a camp fire, and then of course there is lightning.  The problem then is they dilly dally around with the fire until it reaches a point that it becomes out of control.  In short they wait to long to kill it. Hit it with everything you’ve got and kill the fire within a matter of  hours!!!!  Lets just look at this wallow fire, can you see that we would have saved hundreds of thousands of acres had we launched all the weapons available within the first three to five hours. Another idiotic thing they do is they drop slurry/water in the middle of the day , rather than at day break when the humidity is up, thermals are virtually non-existent, and the smoke has laid down. With the heat seeking equipment we have to-day , the pilots don’t even need ground crews to direct a drop. But that would save money and time, we can’t have that .  We are currently working with  certain members of Congress on these issues.  We are gaining traction, and due to the current federal debt some are listening.  We should be seeing positive results  in the near future.

American Heros in  action.  http://www.flickr.com//photos/apachesitgreavesnf/show/

Conserving taxpayer dollars is not on the Dept of Ag,Dept of Int,or the USFS radar. Every year since I’ve been paying attention, they ask congress for a ”supplemental” to get them thru the fiscal year.  And of course the brain-dead congress , gives it to them. Unless we have these massive wildfires,they don’t get the federal promotions and ultimate atta boys for fighting these fires,.  Here’s a fact , if the wind had not changed in 2002 , this whole mountain would have burned up.  They didn’t put the fire out, mother nature did. Same thing with the Potato fire north-west of here a few years ago.  I ’ll bet you the biggest steak in Amarillo Texas, that this wallow fire and the horseshoe fire down in Cochise county will burn until there is some dramatic change in the weather , rain , wind or a frontal system.

As many of  you know , I with the help of former Senator Karen Johnson here in Arizona , ran a “right a way” bill. The issue was the active closure of roads trails and two tracks in the forest. The forest service has this agenda titled “Travel Management Rule” . Code for restricting access by humans, resulting in less access for the fighting of wild fires.  One of the arguments in promoting that bill was the obvious hampering of fire suppression, that would result from these road closures. The only group that opposed our bill was the Sierra Club and the Forest Service, are you getting the picture?  There were two reports in the national media this past week that pointed out that one the problems the fire fighters were dealing with , was ACCESS .  Again are  you getting the picture?

Now let me illustrate another element of these wild fires.  Over the years the forest service /with sierra club blessings, have done everything they could to remove,restrict, hamper , and in some cases even going on  private property, stealing a ranchers cattle, selling them , keeping the money, in short running that rancher out of business.  I’ve personally met or talked to a few of these ranchers.  This policy is actively going on today all over the west. 

The results of these actions has been one of the drivers in the growth of what is commonly called a CAFO, Confined Animal Feeding Operation.  For those of you that are concerned with what your stuffing your face with, let me suggest you read the following books. First “Animal Factories” by David Kirby, second “Storm over RangeLands” by Wayne Hage.  These are a must read if you really want the complete picture of what is going on in the west.  Then :http://www.takepart.com/foodinc,,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I

Since these federal agencies and state agencies driven by Sierra Club, and forest service, department of ag, and interior, have created these agendas.  We’ve seen the ranchers, small livestock farms, local locker plants virtually disappear from the land. We’ve seen the small family farm virtually disappear.  And lets not forget the Corporate Ag subsidies that have played a major role here as well.  A few years ago it was determined that there were 30,000 small farms that closed up shop just in that one year.  Now with unemployment were it is today, just imagine where we would be if those production farms were back in business.  Not to mention the healthy products they would be providing to a nation.  We would no  longer have to be importing undocumented beef.

Now you have to ask yourself . Would you prefer to have your animal proteins produced on thousands of acres of free range lands or in the Confined Animal Production facilities.  And which do you think produces a healthier animal, steroid and anti biotic free.  The interesting note here is the idiots at the Sierra Club are consuming, animals loaded with these steroids and anti biotics. Wait I forgot they all eat grass.  

It’s important that you understand why and how the Forest Service was created. Read the Hage book and you will .  I call it “Welfare in a Green Uniform” .  Another interesting book ,just out , “trouble in a green truck” by Charley McCarty, published in 2010 , from Reserve New Mexico. 

I’m hoping that America will understand that who ever we elect as president in 2012.  He or she must have a wealth of respect for our land and natural resources.  ” Sara Palin comes to mind. But she’s not running ::)).  If we are going to turn this countries economy around , we are going to have to get back to basics, the land and natural resources are our best source of new jobs.  

At the end of the day , these devastating wild fires can be prevented.  My recommendation is this. States should take control of all currently federally managed lands with in their borders. The timber industry must be brought back , and livestock grazing on those lands is a must. 

Fire Map, shows the results of mismanagement, a lack of land stewardship, failure of federal policy:http://www.inciweb.org/state/3/    ,,

Sites that you can visit for more info:::  (www.takepart.com/foodinc – Similar) ,,, (www.southwings.org)  ,,(www.blackwarriorriver.org)  

Stand up America, don’t expect others to do your lifting.

We are waiting for some aerial pictures of these CAFOs. As soon as we have them they will be posted below. So check back in a few days.