billion dollars, a 37 percent decline. The
fire suppression budge has increased by
$1.1 billion, a 253 percent increase.
The cost of fighting the 5,000-acre
Clark Fire for three weeks is almost half
the amount of money that the Willamette
National Forest spends to manage the
entire 1.7 million acre forest for an entire
year. In the past 10 years, the Willamette
has already laid off hundreds of employees
and shut down several ranger stations serv-
ing rural areas like Blue River and
Oakridge.
The Next Big Fire
“Oh yeah, once they turn it over to an
incident management team, it’s a big
show,” says Craig Clifton who can barely
be heard over the roar of helicopters shut-
tling water to the Kelsay Fire, burning 60
miles southeast of Eugene. A Forest
Service fire fighter for 14 years, Clifton is
one of hundreds of personnel recently
reassigned to Kelsay from the now-con-
LOWELL’S TENT CITY.
become the public face of “the fire industri-
al complex.”
“Beginning in the ‘80s they began to pri-
vatize a lot of firefighting. Now it’s become
a big business and business is booming.
They’re facilitating these large siege-like
spectacles which are spending millions of
dollars on everything from catering services
to fire engines. A lot of money is going to a
few contractors.”
And federal wildfire budgets are becom-
ing a bottomless pit. According to the
Thoreau Institute, a non-profit that watch-
‘ T H E F O R E S T E V O LV E D W I T H F I R E B O T H N AT U R A L A N D H U M A N C A U S E D , B U T N O T W I T H F I R E
S U P P R E S S I O N A N D C R I M I N A L A R S O N . I T ’ S A B A D S C E N E T H AT W E ’ R E I N . ’ –TIMOTHY INGALSBEE
dogs government land management spend-
ing, the Forest Service is rapidly becoming
the Fire Service. The agency’s total budget
has grown from $3.2 billion in 1991 to $5.3
billion in 2001. But during this same period,
money for the actual National Forest System
— money that does everything from build
trails to sell timber on the 155 National
Forests across the country—has shrunk by a
FA R M E R ’ S M A R K E T
TUE. 11-3
SAT. 9-3
Lots of free parking
2835 Oak St.
284-2825
“The old fire fighting system drew heav-
ily on personnel who had other jobs and
were mobilized during the fire season all
throughout the different forests,” says John
Zapell, one of three Forest Service public
information officers working for the
Central Oregon Interagency Incident
Management Team that is leading this sup-
pression effort on the Umpqua National
Forest.
“The Forest Service has changed quite a
bit,” he adds after a pause.
The agency is changing along with
weather. According to Forest Service bio-
climatoligist Ron Neilson, global climate
change for the American West means more
precipitation, and a corresponding increase
in the amount of flammable fuel. With this
increase in woody material will come a
huge increase in the number and size of
fires.
Approximately 7.2 million acres of the
west burned in 2002 at a cost of $1.6 bil-
lion, just short of the record 7.4 million
acres burned in 1988. Some computer mod-
FARMER’S MARKET
tained Clark Fire.
It’s July 31, at the junction of a dusty
logging road now serving as a “division
break” between fire fighting units on the
Kelsay Fire. The intersection is jammed
with fire engines, command vehicles and
hundreds of sooty firefighters marching sin-
gle file to and from various hotspots along
the line.
els being developed by Neilson and his col-
leagues predict as much as twice as much
forest will be burned annually at certain
points over the next 30 years.
Which means boom years are ahead for
the army of agency personnel, private con-
tractors and suppliers who wage war on the
West’s wildfires.
ew
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S
Renewable Energy
Technician Program
is accepting NEW STUDENTS for fall 2003
28th & Oak St.
PERMANENT
COSMETICS NW
•Eyeliner
•Eyebrows
•Lip color
•Camouflage
15 years
& EXPERTISE
Student Dan Orleck with a photovoltaic solar panel
EXPERIENCE
Student Work
Available
Starting at
$50
(541) 344-7789
2371 Oakmont Way, Eugene
permanentcosmeticsnw.com
14 AUGUST 28, 2003
Lane Energy Management/Renewable Energy
Technician Program is funded by EWEB & BPA
For information about the
Renewable Energy Management program,
call Roger Ebbage at (541) 463-3977.
an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution