CENTRAL MAINE • February 10, 2025
According to an expert in the White House, the best way to prevent forest fires is to rake all the combustible materials from forest floors. That couldn’t be done before the Maine forest fire of 1947 and it can’t be done now. The forest floor is covered with vegetation as well as dead, dry plant material — including trees. To remove all of this would be an unsustainable cost in any budget. The devastating fires in the Los Angeles area were not solely the result of unkempt plant life. Drought and hurricane-force winds made any ignition source unstoppable. I guess we’ll have to get rid of the wilderness. This would be of particular concern in Maine, where so much of the economy depends on the regeneration of its woodlands and maintaining an environment that attracts those from away. ~ Doug Yohman, East Waterboro