Yellowstone fires, 20 years later

Today, Monday, and Tuesday the Billings Gazette will have articles looking back at the fires that burned in the Yellowstone area 20 years ago and the changes in fire policy since then. Here is a very short excerpt (that may raise some eyebrows) from today's lengthy article.

Twenty years later, the pendulum has slowly swung back to recognizing that natural fires have a place on the Western landscape. And, once again, the Park Service is seen as a leader in that change.

“The Park Service is really the intellectual vanguard of the fire management agencies and the only ones to manage for ecological values instead of economic values,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “They will lead the other agencies to a more cost-effective and ecologically sound way of managing fires, as well.”

Photo: my friends from Yellowstone, Public Information Officer Al Nash and Prescribed Fire Specialist Tim Klukas discuss fire management near Undine Falls on June 20. Photo: Brett French, Billings Gazette

A conference: The '88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond

The International Association of Wildland Fire in association with the 9th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will be sponsoring a major Conference to remember the events of the Yellowstone area fires of 1988. The Conference will be held September 22-27, 2008, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Thanks to Dick for the tip.