This series of photographs was taken from the same location on the Bitterroot National Forest, a typical western pine forest, in 1909, 1948, 1958, 1968, 1979 and 1989 and illustrates how similar forests in the Sierra have increased in density over the years.

We need future forests more like past forests

The forests of the future must become more like the forest of the past. There should be open stands of large trees, so that when fire comes, as surely it will, it burns lower and slower. Wildfire need not destroy old growth trees, wildlife and local communities in a well managed forest.

A Campaign - in forest time

Restoring the entire forest to its former safer state, with fewer trees and less underbrush, would be a gargantuan task. Right now, protecting communities, old growth trees and wildlife through better managing how and where wildfires burn, is the goal.

Campaigns are often considered short efforts, but in "forest time" we are looking at decades, adapting our approaches and measuring results over the next fifty years. The next three to five years are critical, however.

Good fires, bad fires

Fire is natural to the forest. But not the kind of fire that burns so hot, and shoots up so high, it destroys everything. That kind of intense fire, laying waste old growth trees and wiping out the precious places where wildlife lives, is not natural.

Historically the forests of the Sierra Nevada had fewer trees and less underbrush. When wildfire came, it burned low and slow, removing small vegetation and "clearing" the forest "floor". This kind of fire was a natural part of the ecosystem, helping old growth trees to survive.

[Illustration]: Two forest fires, a good fire and a bad fire. The good fire is spreading slow and low across an open forest, and the bad fire is spreading hot and quick through the canopy of a dense forest.

Today's forests, dense with green, may seem beautiful, but in fact are deadly. Fire suppression over many decades has allowed vegetation to grow into a dense dangerous mess. Our old growth forests are choking with brush, tinder-dry debris, and dead trees which make the risk of catastrophic wildfires high.