| Book Review | Environmental History, 8.1

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| Book Review | Environmental History, 8.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Forests Under Fire: A Century of Ecosystem Mismanagement in the Southwest. Edited by Christopher J. Huggard and Arthur R. Gómez. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, 2001. xxxiv + 307 pp. Illustrations, maps, photographs, abbreviations, list of contributors, bibliographies, index. $40.00.

In May 2000, a "controlled burn" proved to be anything but, as a fire set by National Park Service personnel at Bandelier National Monument nearly devastated Los Alamos. By the time 1,100 fire fighters managed to get the blaze under control, 18,000 people had been evacuated, 405 families had lost their homes, and nearly 48,000 acres had been charred. The fire burned over 9,000 acres of the Los Alamos National Laboratories site, coming within a mile of the main nuclear facilities and radioactive waste storage units. 1

Not surprisingly, a political frenzy resulted, with blame quickly focusing on the National Park Service. Park Service personnel defended themselves by arguing that they had just been trying to correct the unfortunate ecological results of decades of forest change. Fire suppression, combined with grazing, road building, logging, and urbanization, had led to drastic changes in forest structure and function across the southwest. Controlled burns, the Park Service claimed, would restore the health of the forest, reducing the risk of catastrophic fire. . . .

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