[AlGone2001]

Let's take this time to thank the envirionmentalists for making this the fire season we all thought it could be.

[Muleteam1]

Oh yes. As a retired USFWS biologist, I could tell you some tales to make your hair curl.

Muleteam1

[jrawk]

I will rail with you against what has happened to forests across the country any day. But as someone who lived in New Mexico for 25 years, I am afraid this does not fall into that category.

The Bosque is areas of dense brush, dogwoods, and more recently (well relatively speaking 100 yrs?) Salt Cedars. This is more akin to grass fires in Australia, or the Brush fires in the mountains around L.A.

This kind of growth will be back next year in the same density. The fire was literally in the city, hence the commotion. These fires are very, very common in New Mexico. I remember seeing 3 or 4 of the black plumes suddenly erupt a year in Las Cruces far into my youth and less frequently in the more developed area of New Mexico's largest city Albuquerque in my college years.

Now head north and west a little from Albuquerque, towards Los Alamos and you will find land destroyed by Forest Service Fire and Logging policy mis-management. A shame that is. You can actually drive a great road from Los Alamos to Cuba NM and pass through National Forest Service, BLM, Indian, and Private Forest and see the effects of the different management policies. From Now Barren scorched Federal Land, to healthier forest of the BLM and Indian Lands.

-- lates
-- jrawk