I hiked up to the top of the road where I live and paused to stare southward toward a plume of black smoke about 25 miles away. Another wildfire.
Sure, wildfire is often a natural occurrence. It’s part of living in the West. The Southeast has its hurricanes. Tornado Alley has twisters. Seems like in the era of climate change, everyone, everywhere has at least some impending natural disaster to worry about.
I continued watching and noticed the slurry bombers and bucket-dropper-choppers swarming over the building smoke column like hornets. I thought, “now those people have sheer guts to do what they do.” I thought about the Hot-Shots on the ground, the smoke jumpers, the incident commanders and all the others who almost literally choose to visit burning hell every year to battle blazes throughout the country for a living during the dry, windy months. God bless ‘em all.
Yet, this time, the more I watched, the more I just got angry. You see… this particular fire didn’t start because of a lightning strike. It was caused by a careless camper.
One bad actor can cause irreversible damage
Now, I’ve chosen to live in the West with good reason, and that mostly has to do with the uniquely special opportunity we Americans enjoy as a birthright—to venture into vast swaths of public lands for the sake of recreation… hunting, fishing, camping, climbing, skiing, hiking, biking, birding, rafting, off-roading, and much more. And I think that’s all exceptionally wonderful. We’re simply lucky. Wouldn’t trade that right for the world.
But it also dawned on me that no one person can cause a hurricane, or a tornado, or an earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, a catastrophic flood—or pretty much any other type of natural disaster—simply by being a jackass. No, it seems like wildfire—though many, result naturally—is that one special devastating catastrophe that a single jerk can cause all by themselves.
To wit, you may indeed have the right to venture into the backcountry to go camping. But I’m not sure anymore if everyone should have the right to do stupid things on public land. I’m happy that we can go camp, hunt, fish, and all the other stuff. But I don’t think that should also include the right to sit around a blazing campfire, get wasted, smoke whatever you choose to smoke, shoot off bottle rockets and firecrackers, and as a result, set the landscape on fire. I’m not even sure it should include the right to boil water to make oatmeal in the morning if you don’t know how to properly put out a campfire.
Be educated stewards
These days, you need a fishing license to go fishing. You not only need a hunting license to go hunting, you also must take a hunter’s safety course to ensure (or at least try to) that you don’t blow someone else’s or your own head off.
Truth of the matter is that an awful lot of death and destruction happens as a result of wildfire. And while I’d sure hate to see a day when you need to pass a “camper’s safety” course to get out and enjoy the backcountry, maybe that’s where this is going.
YOU—the angler, the guide, the outfitter, and others—are the key factors now when it comes to seeing that that doesn’t have to happen.
Be stewards. See something, say something. Pass on the ethos. Make fire safety understood, and make it matter to the newbie. Lead by example. Devastating fires kill rivers for generations, and do much, much worse.
You are the front-line ambassadors, and your actions matter. Your influence is priceless.