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There is too much land under Federal control; it should be auctioned off and or homesteaded, because a private owner will take interest in maintaining the property.

Leaving aside the discussion of Federal control of forest lands, it's not at all clear to me that "owner interest" would have prevented this fire.

First off, the prevailing approach over the past several decades has been to prevent fires. There's no reason to expect that private owners would have done any differently, especially if they were under the misapprehension that fires = loss of timber income.

Second, even if the value of controlled, small burns were known, it would probably be too expensive for small land owners to do it on a large scale. (This leaves large corporate land owners, with which I have a different set of problems.)

And third, it's so damned dry here this year that probably nothing would have helped. Yesterday the humidity in the fire area was in the single digits.

Second, even if the value of controlled, small burns were known, it would probably be too expensive for small land owners to do it on a large scale.

The Los Alamos fire a while back was the result of a controlled burn gone awry. OTOH, they would *never* have conducted a controlled burn in the sort of conditions that currently exist in Colorado.

Tuor

I take it that you're in Colorado too from your post. Yesterday, I made a trip to Florissant to deliver a truckload of stuff for the firefighters.

It was such a humbling experience, driving through Woodland Park, seeing the great effort of all those fighting this thing. Red Cross vans and trucks all over town; buses in the Safeway parking lot there just for the evacuees in case the line breaks; firefighters scrambling every which way...

But, when I got to the volunteer fire station in Florissant I was not prepared at all for the scene. Firefighters with burns, a huge support staff refueling them with supplies and stuff, firefighters in desperate need of rest going back out on their trucks.

Like I said, a lesson in humility. These guys and gals are incredible heroes.

The tone up there re: Ms. Barton was an unspoken outrage. You could cut the air with it. They simply were in disbelief that one of their own could do this.

Seeing the fire up close- I'm at a complete loss of words to describe the devastation. Like you (I'm sure), the biggest feeling is just one of sadness- almost depression of all that we've lost and that which is now very threatened. Going back up on Tuesday with another load.

Hope you and yours are safe.

Private landowners have a strong tendency to "bush-hog" their land, especially the areas around building, roads, and level places.

I think private owners would also have harvested a lot of firewood.

I grant that private owners' practice of burning brushpiles has stopped largely due to fear of government fines and confiscation threats. Just as the government has decreed no removal of gravel or rock without THEIR permission regardless of previous right of ownership.

It is my firm belief that ownership usually leads to taking better care of the thing in question. Common ownership leads to let somebody else do it.