VIDEO: Wildfire is recognized to have a cleansing and renewing role in nature, but allowing it to take its natural course is considered too risky in Wyoming.
Most state and federal agencies in charge of public lands have a standing policy to go after every blaze with everything they’ve got, as soon as possible.
“The State of Wyoming, we do not have a let burn policy, we have a put-out policy, immediately,” Wyoming State Forester Kelly Norris said during a recent interview with Cowboy State Daily Show with Jake Nichols.
“The Bureau of Land Management has that same policy, obviously private lands have that same policy,” she added.
In remote areas of vast National Forest land in Wyoming, the U.S. Forest Service has more leeway to allow natural fires to burn.
However, that can have dire consequences if a fire escapes a wilderness area, as did the massive Pack Trail Fire in northwest Wyoming in October 2024, Norris noted.
Cowboy State Daily
