Now almost 20 years later, we have trees that are 20 feet tall. |
The larger fires we have now will give us smaller fires in the future. We could easily have a 10,000-acre fire right now, had we not had the Helen Creek fire in 1994. |
We're already seeing the benefits of larger fires keeping new fires smaller. |
We're suppressing about 50 percent of our fires, and there are good reasons why we are suppressing them. |
When you look at the mosaic of fires that have burned over the last 20 years, it's probably very similar to what occurred in the 1800s. Not a whole lot of fires occurred in the wilderness from 1929 to 1985. |