By Tom Kuekes, Former Mt. Pinos District Ranger

If my name is familiar to you, it’s probably because I was your District Ranger for the Los Padres National Forest Mt. Pinos Ranger District during the devastating Day Fire of 2006.

In a forestry career that spanned 32 years and five states, that was the signature event. If you know me, you probably remember the passion I had for our National Forest, and for trying to keep people safe.

I’ve been retired for eleven years now, but I get to spend more time hiking now than I did when I was working, and I still try to keep up with goings-on in the Mountain Communities.

So, I’ve been following, at a distance, the controversy about proposed tree thinning projects on the Mt. Pinos District. There is plenty of heat, but the light seems to be scattered.

I learned a lot about forests and fire during my career, and I continue to learn by keeping up on today’s ever more ferocious fire seasons. I follow a number of environmental and wildland fire sites on…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Ranger Tom Kuekes in 2006, during Day fire

Prescribed, controlled burn treatment on Frazier Mountain in 2019 clears the forest floor of invasive grasses and shrubs that are more flammable than trees. Invasives often take hold after logging occurs in forests.

Wildfire and “forest fire” are not synonymous. This Gorman wildfire burned across grasslands and chaparral in 2014. The majority of lands burning in California now are often like this.

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This is part of the October 9, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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