An ounce of prevention

The fire season is upon us. And perversely, the campfire season is also upon us. 

Every year, our fire-fighting budgets hope to cover the inherent costs of wildfire management. And every year, merry little blazes once attended by happy campers become fierce monsters of destruction. 

Humans have proven themselves to be largely untrustworthy when no one is looking, so we need more official eyes on the ground. Aside from the millions we spend on fires caused by lightning, surely the cost to taxpayers for fighting huge human-caused forest fires well exceeds the costs to employ individuals who are tasked to patrol our Crown Lands, especially during the fire season. 

Unattended campfires are always a problem and accountability for them is a big problem. Issuing free but registered permits to anyone who wants to have a campfire on Crown Lands would mean that theoretically, every campfire would have its own guardian. Properly trained and armed forestry officers would be a necessary part of this program, and heavy fines would be issued to anybody who lights a fire without a registered permit. With more eyes on the ground, those who think it's fun to flaunt the law are more likely to be caught, and the simple fear of being caught without a permit will act as a powerful deterrent for others whose ignorance is more of a threat than anything else. 

Complaining is not doing, and we need to do something! 

Climate change will bring more grief, and if we humans don't get engaged doing what we can to eliminate human error, what chances of survival do we give our forests?

Bet de Bosch Kemper