SCOUTING the Northwest By Scout Arnone A human problem We don9t have a wildfire problem. We have a human- made structure problem. The war on fire is the longest continuous war in the United States. After the devastating fires of 1910 that claimed many lives and many mil- lions of acres, the Forest Service fought any sugges- tion that fire may be benefi- cial to our forest; they went so far as to adopt adorable fire-ravaged mascots like Bambi and Smokey Bear to place the guilt on society for something which happens naturally. After 1910, the Forest Service9s fire exclusion policy became the law of the land based on the prem- ise that fire was unneces- sary and destructive. But the Indigenous peoples of the Western United States had an intimate knowledge of fire regimes (the local pat- terns of forest fire frequency and intensity) and knew that fire was necessary in order for the serotinous cones of lodgepole pine (Pinus con- torta var. latifolia) to open up and drop their seeds on charred, fertile ground. As the West became overrun with settlements, agricultur- alists, and miners, forest fires became increasingly viewed as a threat to Manifest Destiny. Naive settlers fell in love with the lush forests of the West and decided to set up shop without prepar- ing for the inevitability of fire. Then, with increasing exploitation of forests in the Progressive Era, the United States launched itself into a crusade against fire to pro- tect the logging industry. When we start a dialog about forest fires, we need to remind ourselves that there was nothing tragic or destructive about them until we, as settlers, arrived and assigned them this value. I don9t mean to say that fire is a neutral player in the ecol- ogy of our environment. It would be far more accurate to say that fire is an incom- parable force of good sweep- ing through our forests. Woodpeckers (family: Picidae) are wildland fire Wednesday, September 2, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon specialists. After the fires have passed, they gleefully make their homes in the charred snags that were once ponderosas (Pinus ponder- osa) and feast on the bugs that have come out to devour the swarm of bugs munching away on downed logs and sapling sprigs shooting up through the soil. The olive- sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), mountain blue- bird (Sialia currucoides), chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina), and mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus), too, achieve their highest abun- dance in the decades that follow a freshly burned snag forest. The media doesn9t work in the interest of small for- est-dwelling creatures. The Eagle Creek Fire that burned 50,000 acres in 2017 was a dream come true for fire- suppressionist members of the media who dramatically painted an image of Oregon that was forever marred by the foolishness of a minor and his fireworks. However, ecologists have noted that the whole scenic area of the Columbia River Gorge was long overdue for a stand-replacing burn, as dictated by its historical fire regime, and the only tragedy is that the foolish- ness of man had prevented it from doing so for so long, because fire would threaten OUR DINING ROOM IS NOW OPEN! Sun-Thurs 11-9 • Fri-Sat 11-9:30 Menu at SistersSaloon.net 541-549-RIBS | 190 E. Cascade Ave. — Kindling — — — SISTERS FOREST PRODUCTS 541-410-4509 SistersForestProducts.com CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S NUGGET INSERT! WINNEMUCCA, NV OCT. 16-18 | $124 PPDO Date change! Ray’s Food Place Chicken Hindquarters, Value Pack 69 ¢ per lb. New Crop Gala Apples $1.69 per lb. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats, 8 ct. $1.99 Late July Organic Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips $2.99, 11 oz. selected Minneola Tangelos $2.79 per lb. Receive $15 slot play, $15 food coupons! LEAVENWORTH, WA NOV. 29-DEC. 1 | $669 PPDO Includes 2 nights Enzian Inn, 2 dinners, 1 sleigh ride and more! BRANSON, MO NOV. 3-10 | $2,399 PPDO Includes air, taxes, transfers, 7 nights Lodge of the Ozarks, 13 shows/14 meals. HOLIDAY RIVER CRUISE DEC. 6-14 STARTING AT $2,999 PPDO New Orleans to Memphis. Includes air, taxes, transfers port charges, 1 pre-night, complimentary shore excursions. BRANSON, MO IN THE SPRINGTIME! TH APRIL 13-20, 2021 Plan for A 2021! $2,424 PPDO Includes l air, taxes, transfers, 7 nights, 14 meals. During the Country Music Fest weekend! It’s a HUGE weekend for entertainers with 10-12 shows each day! ALASKA CRUISE M 23-JUNE 2, 2021 MAY STARTING AT $2,899 PPDO Plan for 2021! Includes air, taxes, transfers, 3 pre- nights, free gratuities, free premium beverage pkg., free on-board credit! Connie Boyle 541-508-1500 Box 615 Sisters, OR 97759 PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON Woodpeckers are wildland fire specialists. to burn human-centric cul- tural sites like Multnomah Falls Lodge. The result of that suppression was a fire that burned much larger and hotter than it might have, had we not interfered. As Westerners, we love our forests; approximately three million of us reside in or adjacent to forests. Our forests are active, breathing, moving, changing beings flush with life that are reliant on fire in the same way they are reliant on water, topogra- phy, and wildlife. When we consider the best way to care for them, our plan of action should include adopting a new wildfire mascot, the woodpecker, whose more ecologically responsible slo- gan might read,