In the last several years we have seen massive, extremely destructive wildfires in the west which have destroyed millions of acres of National, private and state forestlands. These wildfires have cost the taxpayers billions of dollars to fight and have destroyed other billions of dollars of private property, homes, investments, and communities. In this year alone, 21 fire fighters also lost their lives battling these blazes.

In this program we want to look at the causes of these wildfires and why they are growing larger and burning so hot and intensely.

It was announced this past summer, In a Department of the Interior news briefing, that as much as 190 million acres of additional National Forest and rangeland is at further risk of catastrophic fires. This is an area the size of the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. This is not only forestland, but farms, communities, vacation properties and hundreds of thousands of homes that are also at high risk to wildfire, both within and next to these forestlands.

The estimated cost to clean up our National Forests and reduce the risk of catastrophic fire is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars... in other words it is cost prohibitive to tackle such a program with only federal taxpayer monies.

So, what is responsible for these catastrophic fires? Why are they happening?

Environmentalists say logging has over cut the forests and left huge slash piles on the ground. Many people say it is because we directed the Forest Service and others to fight fires and suppressed the natural role of fire in the forest.

Others claim that it is because we have allowed the fuel loads in the forest to reach catastrophic proportions, AND, many blame the Forest Service for not putting up enough timber and fuel reduction sales.

Still others now blame environmental groups who have appealed or sued to block almost every timber, salvage and fuel reduction activity in the National Forests over the last 10-12 years.

This program examines these important questions and seeks to determine what must happen if we are to save our forests.