Here's how we get our skies back

We're lucky.

Smoke-filled skies increasingly make our summers miserable, yet we've avoided the death and destruction experienced by some western communities over the past few years.

Ask anyone from Paradise, Calif. — several survivors did at least temporarily take up residence in Coeur d'Alene — and you'll have a better understanding of the devastation that is one match-flick or lightning bolt away for North Idaho.

This is a drum pounded by Press editorials for the past 20 years, yet very little has actually been done to actively reduce the personal and economic threats of wildfire on a national level. Still, it's not too late to heed the call of Idaho Sen. Jim Risch.

In a recent opinion piece he co-authored with Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, Risch correctly points out that there's a place at the table for long-term climate change solutions. But what's needed right now are on-the-ground changes to reduce and prevent fires.

U.S. Forest Service fireshed maps show 71 percent of Bureau of Land Management lands and 89 percent of Forest Service lands "have the potential for wildfires to ignite and spread to communities."

More than 80 million acres of national forest lands are overgrown, making them prime targets for disaster. So, with the public's support, what can be done?

Risch and Westerman say those in forest management should use proven science to identify high-risk areas, clear hazardous brush, thin dead and decaying trees, and provide ample room for healthy trees to grow with plenty of space around them. That space would reduce the chance of canopy fires that race across treetops at terrifying speeds.

Congress should simplify and expedite environmental analyses, remove barriers of frivolous lawsuits and bureaucratic red tape, and give land managers the resources they need to win the war against wildfire.

Focusing on reducing fuel loads — a known but widely underused solution for decades now — would in itself make a broad, immediate impact.

Risch and Westerman, the only two foresters in Congress, are calling for bipartisan unity in battling this common enemy. Ignore them at your peril. Follow their advice and celebrate healthier habitats for man and beast, a stronger economy and, yes, blue skies in August over North Idaho.