We can and must do better with wildfire prevention

Radical environmental groups, poor or no forest management and climate change are the popular wildfire blame game recipients these days. While all may be part of the problem, blaming them alone ignores other important issues. We the people, responsible government agencies, and our local and state elected officials come to mind.

The first problem is undeniable. Up to 75% of Montana’s outdoor fires (over 2,300 in 2024) are human-caused by fireworks, smoking, campfires, trash, brush-burning, off-roading, and arson, to name a few. We can and must do better.

The second problem is the priorities of the US Forest Service. These include:

1. Permissive camping (everywhere and anywhere).

2. Focus on tourism. Case in point is the current draft of the Comprehensive River Management Plan for the Wild and Scenic Flathead River (www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56536). USFS proposes to grant 136,000 commercial raft launches between Moccasin Creek and Blankenship Bridge.

The Forest Service has too many layers that generate paper—not patrols, monitoring or law enforcement.

Enforcement is the responsibility of one, sometimes two, rangers for over a staggering area: 1 million-plus acres of forest, hundreds of miles of roads, 219 miles of rivers, and 18 launch sites. This meager allocation of resources wasn’t enough to prevent the Robert Fire (57,000 acres) in 2003 or the Glacier Rim fire in 2015, both started by campfires in the Forest Service gravel pit campsite on the North Fork Road.

And finally, our elected commissioners and state representatives have long ignored the issue of commercial development in unzoned areas (most of Flathead County and the state). Almost any business or commercial development is possible—on or off of private roads, in forested areas, and in the urban-forest interface—without regard to human safety, evacuation, firefighting, and

EMS access or availability of water to fight a fire. A subdivision requires considerable review and planning, but a rental business, including campsites, cabins, yurts or houses, almost none.

It’s time for the U.S. Forest Service, our county commissioners and our legislators to step up to enact and enforce some 21st-century protections and enforcement for our disappearing “Last Best Place.” 

We have the responsibility to protect our beautiful forest, but do we have the will to demand it of ourselves and our officials? The alternative is clear—it’s happening in Los Angeles.

Dan Diamond

Blankenship