Local View: Redesignate burned area

Six years ago this September, the Eagle Creek Fire burned nearly 50,000 acres in and adjacent to the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Ninety percent of the fire burned within the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness Area, also starting fires in Washington.

One hundred and twenty-one years ago, the Yacolt Fire started along Eagle Creek and, after jumping across the Columbia River, burned over 500,000 acres, mostly in Washington.

A series of blazes known as the Tillamook Fires burned massive areas in Western Oregon during a period of 20 years, with major fires in 1933, 1939, 1945 and 1951 burning 350,000, 190,000, 180,000 and 32,000 acres, respectively.

Starting in 2008, then in 2012 and again in 2015 around the southern area of Mount Adams, a series of three fires burned from 8,000 to over 50,000 acres, with the 2012 and 2015 fires reburning a portion of each of the previously burned areas.

All of these fires produced tremendous volumes of smoke, degrading air quality and visual range. (The Yacolt fires killed more than 60 people.) All of them deposited tremendous amounts of ash in the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan areas and disrupted travel.

The burned area of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire is ready to burn again, along with the Mount Adams areas.

Much as the Mount Adams and Tillamook burn areas, the Eagle Creek burn area is recovering with abundant vegetation. The thousands of snags are beginning to deteriorate. Some of the trails have been reopened.

Fire potential is high

With climate change, drought conditions seem to be more severe and occurring more often. Lightning and people offer abundant sources of ignition, strong dry east winds blow down the Gorge, and the potential for a disastrous wildfire occurring in the next few years is high.

Little can be done to decrease the likelihood of a major reburn occurring, primarily because of the wilderness designation. The unprecedented risk associated with a reburn and the high potential for fire spreading outside the wilderness area into the Bull Run Watershed, Bridal Veil, Hood River and Mount Hood areas and/or across the Columbia into Skamania and Clark counties suggests that action is needed now.

Along with limiting access during high fire danger conditions, the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness Area should be redesignated as a national recreation area, which would allow for mechanized removal of some of the snags and construction of key firebreaks.

The Wilderness Act allows for redesignations to take place when the risks of managing an area as a wilderness are judged to be too extreme. This is a prime candidate.

Darold Ward of White Salmon has a Ph.D. in fire science from the University of Washington and is retired following a career with the U.S. Forest Service.