Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 7 82 deny fire a "ladder" for climbing up tree—all this and other simple steps can make a dramatic difference. Lest you doubt this, consider that during Colorado's devastating Black Forest Fire in 2013, one subdivision that had done nothing to diminish wildfire risk lost 61 out of 67 homes; next door in the Cathedral Pines subdivision, which had made fire-oriented master planning and prevention a priority, only four homes were lost. And yet at this point only about 3% of the 70,000 communities in the wildland- urban interface have taken such steps. For information on how your community or neighborhood can get superb no-cost assistance in wildfire prevention through a program developed in part by Headwaters Economics of Bozeman, visit www.planningforwildfire.org County-level governments need to start adopting common sense building codes for new subdivisions in the wildland-urban-interface: • No houses less than 30 feet apart in order to limit flash ignitions • Adequate water supplies for local fire departments • More than one way in and out of the development • Creating what firefighters call "defensible space" around homes • Using open space and recreational trails as natural fire breaks. Should county governments fail to enact such rules, it's increasingly likely that taxpayers elsewhere in the country will start pushing to make local counties re- sponsible for a larger share of wildfire suppression costs. at's a sobering thought, considering that in just two weeks of a major fire the Forest Service alone can spend over $200 million. It's time to start taking climate change seriously: fully embracing alternative energy; phasing out the refrigerants that are especially damaging to the atmosphere (as 197 countries agreed to do in 2016); planting trees and supporting regenerative agriculture, the latter which helps sequesters carbon by leaving cover crops in the ground. We'll also need to provide funding for thinning and prescribed burning—two strategic forest "treatments" that, when used appro- priately, can help create healthier, less flammable landscapes. ose of us who choose to keep living in Montana, with its big skies and bright mountains and hushed forests, will increasingly find ourselves needing to make some measure of peace with this new world of wildfire. I have my fingers crossed that things will change for the better, that one day we might get ahead of the mas- sive fuel loads we've created, as well as finally find the courage to do what's necessary to ease this rapidly warming climate. But for now and for a great many decades to come, the lives of Montanans will unfold in the midst of a beautiful, yet increasingly daunting landscape. A turbulent, and often overwhelming land of fire. Yellowstone Fire, 1988 Yellowstone National Park's Alder Creek Fire in 2013 Lolo Peak fire running, 2017 Yellowstone Fireweed after fire MARK CLARKE

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