What Looks Like a Game Board May Prevent Wildfire in Idaho

I wasn’t good at checkers, and would probably be even worse at forest management.   I came across a scientific website that featured an anomaly in Idaho geography.  It referenced an eight-year-old picture taken from space.  By an astronaut.  It shows a stretch of land along Priest River that looks like a checkerboard.

An Old Idea Needs a revival

The story explains it’s man-made.  Squares were cut to provide lumber and jobs, but other trees were left standing.  The pattern prevented, or limited, the spread of wildfires.  This was done in the 1800s!  And more than 125 years later, I guess you could say the proof is in the pudding.  The system looks to be working.

I know it’s difficult for a lot of our current great minds to admit people from an era before automobiles, flight, and moonshots may have had a good idea, but can they acknowledge success?  Or would they have to accept someone is also making money from this system, and we know Lefty can’t stand anyone having money if it’s not them.  As Bill Maher has said, they’re just angry because they don’t have what you have.

We Need a New Approach and People Willing to Bear the Criticism

We’ve seen reduced devastation this fire season.  We’re not out of the woods yet, but some of the carnage may have been reduced because the federal government’s executive branch is in the hands of a businessman, and not under the direction of eco-terrorists.  And we have a pragmatic approach, and that includes considering what may have worked in the past.