I grew up with forest fires being bad. "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" was the mantra of the day, with the iconic Smokey the bear and his shovel speaking for the trees. 70+ years of forest fire prevention ended up being really bad. It seems man doesn't really know what's best for the forest after all. But for now, prescribed burns are good, so we'll go with that, until it's bad.

I hiked around the approach to Carrot creek today, walking through the logged/burned area. It was actually kind of nice being in a big meadow with clear views all around. The elk like it there as well. But for some reason it doesn't feel right. All those stumps neatly cut, a few trees left here and there to blow down, and straight lines bordering the area speak of man's intervention. I counted the tree rings on a old fir which had succumbed to a saw--around 100 of them. It may have been able to survive a fire, but it didn't have a chance against the chainsaw.