[AZBillyBoy]

I'm not going to rant about chronic mismanagement of the forests, about "managing" fires instead of fighting them, or about the "let it burn" policy which is a standard FS policy.

I think the pictures say it all. This is the MAIN road to Crown King. Right now!

[stockjeep]

thats sad to see

[AZBillyBoy]

That's the MAIN road too. Can you imagine what the Senator, FSR 89 (my old home) and the Desoto Mine Road look like? A friend of mine and myself tried to go in through the DeSoto on July 4th and ran smack into the burn area there. I climbed around on some of the charred hills.

There was NOTHING left save a little wisp of green here and there trying to come back. What I noticed most was the depth of the ashes/dirt that I slogged through. All I could think was how all that ground cover was just waiting to wash off the hills.

We surveyed the Goat Ranch from the top of the big hill on the DeSoto It looked so serene and untouched yet the burn area was all around it. All the hiking/quad/cycle trails are gone. Well, they aren't gone, but since there is ZERO vegetation left in so many areas, there's no reason to go there.

The DeSoto Mine Road is closed, FSR 89 and 89A are also closed (and I bet they are probably GONE if these photos are any indication. The Swastika cabin is gone. The Peck Mine is isolated. The old oak trees along the War Eagle Trail are gone. The old growth pine and fir in Bear Creek (with trunks measuring 30" or wider) are gone.

I am seething over this loss.

Don't forget the Lane Fire wiped out another massive section of forest just four years ago.

[dzJeepChic]

It's just devastating. I don't really know what "chronic mismanagement of the forests, managing fires instead of fighting them and let it burn policy which is a standard FS policy" mean, but the results completely suck. The same things are happening out here on the east side where we are. All of the trails off Hwy. 87 appear to be closed currently due to unstable ground caused by forest fires. Thank you for posting the pictures.

[AZBillyBoy]

It's just devastating. I don't really know what "chronic mismanagement of the forests, managing fires instead of fighting them and let it burn policy which is a standard FS policy" mean, but the results completely suck. The same things are happening out here on the east side where we are. All of the trails off Hwy. 87 appear to be closed currently due to unstable ground caused by forest fires. Thank you for posting the pictures.

It means:

1. The FS doesn't do squat about thinning or managing growth
2. They don't fight fires unless they endanger residential or commercial sites. Instead they "let them burn." The FS actually has approved an aerosol based napalm like substance to cause faster burns to remove all vegetation.
3. Restoration means close it down and good luck ever seeing it reopen in our lifetime. By the time they reopen it, there won't be anything left to see. So we can all go camp in their designated sites. Next to Mom and Pops with the 14 screaming kids, the six barking dogs, Waylon Jennings on the CD player in their Winnebago.... Boy that's roughing it!
4. I have heard things about the way the Gladiator and Lane fires were handled in the first 24-36 hours that make my blood boil......

These pictures were at the DeSoto, the very EDGE of the burn (before the storms - who knows what it looks like now!). Look at the total destruction. Can you imagine what it must be like further in? (The FS won't let anyone look at that part of the "crime scene.").