Free Republic

In the last essay, titled "Paul Bunyan Meets Sierra Sue Happy and the Democrats," we learned that Paul Bunyan, as well as many other American folk heroes, were being deconstructed and then reconstructed into politically correct social icons by leftist groups like the Sierra Club aka Sierra Sue Happy. We found out that the Democratic Party has become the legislative arm of the radicalized environmental movement. We learned that 6 million acres of Western forests have burned to the ground, some of it to bedrock. This will ensure that some of those forests may take generations to grow back. That...

WINDS PUSH BISCUIT FLAMES OVER LINE Published: August 31, 2002 By Bill Lundquist, Pilot Staff Writer Chetco Effect weather conditions pushed the Biscuit Fire Wednesday afternoon over a contingency fire line near Tolman Ranch, but no structures were lost. Alaska Incident Management Team Information Officer Bill Beebe said crews were moved back and helicopters dropped water. Mike Frazier, with the U.S. Forest Service, said the area around Tolman Ranch has been cleared and protected, so there should be no danger to structures. Due to the increased fire activity, the estimated containment date has been moved to Sept. 6. In North...

Fire-It's Coming to A Forest Near You Mariah Wilson (c) 2002 mariahwilson@yahoo.com Do you love the Mountain West? The incomparable scenic vistas? The incredible parks? The way the wind rustles through the trees? Do you have special forest places that you like to visit again and again? Do you love it so much that you live in the mountains? That you built your whole life around the experience of living with trees, flora and fauna? Well, take a good look at it while you can. In fact, better take a trip this summer. Don't put it off. Don't wait. Take...

 The federal government is great at bothering the American people with a never ending barrage of laws, rules and regulations. Yet, they cannot seem to take responsibility for anything, no matter how much they mess up. This year alone, due to a mishmash of very stupid environmental laws and regulations, the federal government is responsible for allowing over 6.2-million acres (9,688 square miles) of good timber to burn. That's about double the annual average and this is still just August. The federal government took possession, unconstitutionally, of 196 million acres (over 306,000 square miles, total -- for comparison, the State...

New mapping drops Biscuit fire below half-million-acre mark By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press 8/30/02 12:32 PM GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Based on closer mapping, the size of the massive Biscuit Fire dipped below the half-million-acre mark Friday as firefighters built the last bits of containment lines to securely encircle the blaze. Burning since July 13 when lightning raked the Siskiyou National Forest, the Biscuit Fire stood at 499,780 acres, down from 500,068 acres, and remained 90 percent contained, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Miera Crawford. Full containment was projected for Wednesday. The delay in full containment was caused...

<p>"While visiting the west coast this week, I saw the destructive effects of one of the worst wildfire seasons in history," Bush said in his weekly radio address.</p> <p>"As we work to put out the fires and bring relief to their victims, we also have a responsibility to prevent the devastation that can be caused by future fires," he added.</p> <p>Bush said U.S. forest policy needed to focus on thinning out trees to reduce the incidence and damage from wildfires. He characterized the current U.S. forest policy as a, "hands-off approach" that was "devastating to our environment."</p>

Fires burning across Oregon The Associated Press, 8/18/02 11:20 AM Major wildfires were burning on about 540,699 acres in Oregon on Sunday. About 9,801 firefighters were working in the state. The Northwest Interagency Communication Center is tracking six major fires in Oregon. Top priorities for fire officials Sunday were the Biscuit fire, covering 435,654 acres, the 53,900-acre Tiller Complex, and the 1,953-acre East Antelope Fire, east of Ashland. BISCUIT FIRE (formerly called Florence Fire; name changed on 8/11/02) Started: Florence fire started 26 miles west of Grant Pass, 07/13/02; Sour Biscuit started 17 miles southwest of Cave Junction. Size: 435,654...

Hot, dry weather concerns Oregon firefighters The Associated Press 8/12/02 10:28 AM Firefighters battling the giant lightning-caused Biscuit fire in southern Oregon and northern California watched nervously Monday as hot, dry and windy conditions moved into the fire zone. A new fire, this one human caused, sprang up Sunday in eastern Oregon. "This one has potential. If we don't catch it today, it's going to be a biggie," said David Widmark, spokesman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland. The new fire, named the Bald Green Butte fire, was burning on 100 acres near a Ponderosa forest and rugged...

Wildfire News/Oregon Cool weather is two-edged sword on Florence and Sour Biscuit Fires By JEFF BARNARD, The Associated Press, 8/6/02 3:17 AM CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. (AP) -- Cool and humid weather that has kept a lid on the Florence and Sour Biscuit fires prevented crews from fire-hardening the southern end of the 40-mile containment line protecting the Illinois Valley. "It's a two-edged sword," said Mike Lohrey, incident commander on the eastern front of the fires that have burned a combined 275,000 acres of the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon said Monday. A few drops of rain fell on the...

Fire Fight Hampered by Cooler Weather 08/05/2002 By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Firefighters trying to get a line around the massive Florence Fire hoped for rain Monday, but said they were nevertheless making good progress on corralling the blaze with a 200-mile containment line starting at the California border. The 240,000-acre fire, located in the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon, increased Sunday by more than 40,000 acres from burnouts alone, said Tom Valluzzi, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman. Burnouts are fires that are intentionally set behind dirt containment lines by crews hoping to rob the main blaze of...

The following is a transcribed portion of an interview aired today on the Lars Larson radio program from Portland, Or., which is broadcast across the Northwest from noon to 4:00 P.M. pacific. There is little I can add to his exchange with the executive vice-president of a company that supplies helicopter service to the US Forest service to show the inept and dangerous policies of this bureaucracy. Please bring these disclosures to your congress people’s attention and demand the policy of silence and media blackout practiced by the Forest Service and environmental groups stop. Our homes, forests and lives are...

Fires burning on more than 438,000 acres across Oregon The Associated Press Major wildfires have burned and are burning on more than 438,000 acres in Oregon on Friday. About 12,000 firefighters are working in the state. The Northwest Interagency Communication Center is tracking at least nine major fires in Oregon. Top priorities for fire officials were the 150,000-acre Florence fire, the 17,000-acre Timbered Rock fire, the 38,000-acre Sour Biscuit Fire, and the 26,850-acre Tiller Complex. LUCKY FIRE Started: 7/29/02, 10 p.m. six miles south of Detroit. Size:87 acres Containment: 70 percent Evacuations: None. Damages: None yet. In heavy timber. On...

Wildfire News! Successful burnout diminishes threat to Illinois Valley, Oregon homes By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press 8/2/02 3:43 AM SELMA, Ore. (AP) -- A shift in the wind allowed firefighters to torch miles of brush in an effort to save thousands of homes in southwest Oregon. Hotshot crews poured fire from drip torches, burning a black swath of safety for the 17,000 people of the Illinois Valley. With each mile of burnout added along the 30-mile front of fire, the threat to the towns of Selma, Kerby, Cave Junction and O'Brien diminished. "I certainly feel better today," Illinois Valley...

Lightning Ignites New Fires in Central Oregon 07/24/2002 By AP and KGW Staff Nearly 1,000 lightning strikes hit central Oregon yesterday afternoon and last night igniting several new fires across the state. Firefighters are now chasing the new wildfires, including one that has prompted the voluntary evacuation of campgrounds on Suttle and Blue lakes northwest of Sisters. Heavy lift helicopters are set to begin attacking the Cache Mountain fire this morning, said David Widmark, spokesman for the Northwest Interagency Coodination Center in Portland. Smoke billows skyward and spreads east near Summer Lake, Ore., Tuesday. (AP Photo) The Cache Mountain fire...

National Guard troops mop up Winter Fire to free experienced crews By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press PAISLEY, Ore. (AP) -- Their cots lined up 12 inches apart, and olive drab tents tautly pitched in a grassy field, National Guard troops tossed footballs, listened to rock and roll and called home on cell phones as they waited to join the battle against forest fires burning across Oregon. Fresh from training after being called up by Gov. John Kitzhaber, 250 members of the 82nd Armored Cavalry out of Redmond were scheduled to begin mopping up hot spots and smoking stumps in...

National Guard troops to join firefighters By BRAD CAIN The Associated Press 7/22/02 7:37 PM PAISLEY, Ore. (AP) -- Touching down from a helicopter tour of fires across Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber urged Congress to boost its commitment to preventing future blazes in the nation's forests. "This is as much a war as the war we are fighting in Afghanistan,' Kitzhaber said at Paisley High School, which houses 814 firefighters hoping to contain the 31,500-acre Winter Fire in the Summer Lake Basin of south central Oregon. "Congress has got to put in a permanent appropriation to keep resources coming" for...