Re: Los Alamos fire

You are exactly right, Fred. The report released just this week blames the policies, not people. My question is, do policies appear as a result of some immaculate conception? Roy Weaver, the now retired Supt. of Bandelier Nat'l Monument, apparently did follow the existing procedure, but it turned out to be a big mistake.
In today's ABQ Journal there is an article quoting ex-Secy of the Interior Babbitt as being furious over the release of the report. As recently as last Jan. before he left office, he had labeled the report as being "fundementally flawed" and had sent it back for revision. The present Secy.' Gail Norton, released it anyway.
But the real culprit, as has been pointed out, is the long term, wrong-headed policies toward logging and selective thinning of overaged forests. I lived in Los Alamos for many years, and I had always had the thought in the back of my mind that a catastrophe such as this could easily happen. And it did.
In my mind, even the ongoing policy of allowing Christmas tree cutting was flawed. We used to cut our own every year. Great family outing. But the trees that you would look for were those which were out in the open by themselves (read, nice a full), not the ones crowded together cheek by jowl. But the Forest Service ballyhoed this program as being beneficial for the health of the forest. Poppycock.
CJ