During the U. S. Grant Administration (1869-1877), the vast Crown Jewel of the U. S. Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, home of the geyser ‘Old Faithful,’ was created and has since been a tourist destination for Americans who love the outdoors.

During the Theodore Roosevelt Administration (1901-1909), the U. S. Forest Service was created to manage it.

In the 1950s and beyond, the most prevalent ‘Public Service’ advertisement on television was a cartoon character named ‘Smokey the Bear’ telling Americans:  “Only you can prevent forest fires.”  It was a slight exaggeration.  The worst forest fires were where people were careless with cigarettes and other forms of fire because the foliage was most dense where people were.  Once a forest fire started, it could spread faster – but not likely to be all-consuming.  Natural lightning could start a fire any time.

By the time of Smokey the Bear, the U. S. Forest Service had yet to fully learn two critical truths about protecting the forest from massive conflagration.  In June through September, 1988, 800,000 acres of Yellowstone National Park burned down from many fires started by lightning.  As a consequence, through rational study, the U. S. Forest Service learned the two great truths of forest management.

The first truth was that dead leaves, dead or dying bushes, dead or dying trees were especially vulnerable to become ‘kindling.’  Regular clearing – often by CONTROLLED BURNING – significantly diminished the risk.

The second truth was the creation of a mosaic grid of empty areas by CONTROLLED BURNING to physically limit the spread once started.

Today’s Green Progressive politicians such as the Dick Tracy hair-styled Governor of California, the political Thespian Gavin Newsom, stand in adamant opposition – with criminal penalties for ‘law-breakers’ trying to protect their property – preferring the Pristine Stone-Age Style Green Ideology of Total Human ‘Hands off.’