Don’t blame national forests for America’s massive wildfires

National forests often get the blame for wildfire conditions in the West, says Christopher Dunn, a fire ecologist at Oregon State University. But more importantly, the Tamarack Fire isn’t representative of the fires that threaten most Westerners. According to recent research co-authored by Dunn, and published in the journal Scientific Reports, fires beginning in national forests are “a rare occasion.” Instead, “those ignitions are more likely to come off private land and move into national forest or into communities,” Dunn explains.