If you read only one book about wildfire issues, I recommend that it be Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate (University Press of Kentucky, 2021) by Dr. Chad Hanson.... [Hanson] interweaves his own personal experiences with exploration of many exciting scientific discoveries, making for an informative, accessible, and engaging read.
Dr. Chad Hanson exposes problems with so-called 'forest management' that has been systematically destroying species and ecosystems in our national forests at taxpayer expense for decades. Reading Smokescreen is like attending a fascinating wildlife biology/political science/language class taught by someone who cares deeply about wild nature, explains complexities conversationally, and increases our understanding with personal anecdotes and photos.
It's desperately important we finally get forest policy right. I hope this book is mandatory reading for the new administration—they have a lot of damage to undo, and a lot of good new thinking to implement.
A leading expert on wildland fire ecology, policy, and politics, Chad T. Hanson is in perfect position to craft a new narrative about the interplay between natural and human systems as they relate to the management of US forests in a climate-changed environment.
Smokescreen is effectively the wildfire equivalent of Klein's Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism—and should be read by one and all.
If you're scared about town-destroying wildfires; if you cherish forests as a refuge for rest and recreation; if you hope that forests can help fight climate change; and if you're worried about the extinction crisis, this book is for you. Here you will learn how corruption, overexploitation, and gross mismanagement of our forests are connected to all those concerns and more. It is not a pretty picture, but we need to see it clearly.
A must-read for anyone that cares about countering one of the biggest threats to public lands in our lifetime—the misguided, pro-logging agenda masquerading as fire restoration. Dr. Hanson busts through Orwellian fire-management myths to get to the truth: forests rejuvenate from wildfires but die from too much logging.
"A leading expert on wildland fire ecology, policy, and politics, Chad T. Hanson is in perfect position to craft a new narrative about the interplay between natural and human systems as they relate to the management of US forests in a climate-changed environment." — Char Miller, director of the Environmental Analysis program at Pomona College
"A must-read for anyone that cares about countering one of the biggest threats to public lands in our lifetime — the misguided, pro-logging agenda masquerading as fire restoration. Dr. Hanson busts through Orwellian fire-management myths to get to the truth: forests rejuvenate from wildfires but die from too much logging." — Dominick A. DellaSala, author and editor of Conservation Science & Advocacy for a Planet in Peril: Speaking Truth to Power
"It's desperately important we finally get forest policy right. I hope this book is mandatory reading for the new administration — they have a lot of damage to undo, and a lot of good new thinking to implement." — Bill McKibben, educator, environmentalist, and author of Falter
"If you're scared about town-destroying wildfires; if you cherish forests as a refuge for rest and recreation; if you hope that forests can help fight climate change; and if you're worried about the extinction crisis, this book is for you. Here you will learn how corruption, overexploitation, and gross mismanagement of our forests are connected to all those concerns and more. It is not a pretty picture, but we need to see it clearly." — Anne H. Ehrlich, coauthor of The Annihilation of Nature
" Smokescreen is effectively the wildfire equivalent of Klein's Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism — and should be read by one and all." — Maya Khosla, former poet laureate of Sonoma County
