“Our clients are going to be nervous, thinking that everything’s burnt and there ain’t nothing there," said Cameron Lee, hunting outfitter for the Wilderness Lodge. “[Game animals] are not going to be there in a lot of places. A lot of that land is burnt to black toast.”

"He noted that the day after the fire blew up, the road between the two trailheads was littered with the charred carcasses of deer, a testament to the speed with which the Bear Creek Fire tore through the area."

Wildlife in the millions are killed in these megafires, however, the gruesome images are never as conspicuous as the death of Cecil the Lion. These photos from the Canyon Creek Complex fire in Oregon illustrate the tragic nature of how these animals are burned alive.

Federal land managers hands are tied by the morass of regulatory edicts imposed by federal bureaucrats thousands of miles away that they themselves call the "Process Predicament." Common sense land and forest management is also ground to a halt by the unending lawsuits by environmental extremist organizations.

Thanks to the unintended consequences of federal legislation passed by members of congress, many of whom don't even know what BLM or PILT stands for, these organizations collect their legal fees for their lawsuits from U.S. taxpayers. This "analysis paralysis" and "management by litigation" that characterize federal land management have created catastrophic wildfire conditions throughout the national forests. More than 7 million acres have gone up in smoke already this year alone. These record-setting megafires burn wildfire in the millions, pollute the air and destroy water supplies and habitat for decades. This is the most preventable environmental disaster of our time.

Sadly, it seems that organizations that extract taxpayer dollars for gumming up local, common sense land management in endless lawsuits, and federal bureaucrats that get more money with no accountability for creating greater catastrophic conditions, actually have a perverse incentive to maintain this environmentally disastrous status quo. 

It's time for more effective, local control of our lands before there are no forests left to burn...