In “Wildfires scorch parts of 5 Western states” (News, May 31), you wrote that “hot dry weather left huge sections of the region vulnerable.” It is true that dry weather is feeding the fires raging across America’s West, but the article failed to mention the veritable feast of wood on which the fires have been gorging. Though weather is part of the problem, its root lies at the feet of federal land management policy, which has allowed fuels to accumulate.
A century of fire suppression has resulted in dense forests. Where once there were about 20 to 55 large, healthy trees per acre, now there are 300 to 900 trees per acre. These crowded trees are smaller and more vulnerable to disease, drought and fire. They become fuel for a hotter fire, and serve as a ladder carrying the fire up to the larger trees.
