The perceptive Mr. Skinner might have added that the FSEEE based their “standing” in the case as “fire retardant might harm the fishing experience of USFS employees.” Meaning that FSEEE-ers want to do the fish killing on their own, not that that they wished to protect fish.

Which begs the question, what is the effect of fire retardant on fish? It’s apparently a little-known fact that forest fires kill fish, with the sluicing of ash and eroded soil into streams and lakes following fires, not to mention the occasional boiling of streams during catastrophic burns. A short list of fire effects on streams:

Changes in infiltration due to collapse of soil structure, increase in bulk
density, removal of organic matter, reduction in soil porosity, clogged
soil pores, and increased reaction to rainfall droplet kinetics, and

Decrease in soil wettability (hydrophobia), concretion, increased water
repellence, increases in surface flow, increase soil particle transport,
rilling, gulleying, and increased erosion, and

Substantial changes in stream water chemistry, solid and dissolved
material transport, pH, bacteriological characteristics, sediment influx
and transport, dissolved sulfates, nitrates, nitrites, chlorides, iron, and
other cations, and turbidity, and

Increases and decreases in discharge rates and seasonal streamflows,
peak flows including flash flooding, minimum flows, as well as total
annual streamflows, and

Degradation of aquatic habitat, aquatic biota, spawning gravels, fish
populations, cultural resources, and human health and safety.

When fire retardant is used to stop forests from burning, fish actually benefit, and ergo the “fishing experiences” of FSEEE-ers do too. Their lawsuit is absurd to the max.

By the way, the 20,000 fish killed in Central Oregon in 2002 were hatchery-raised rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout in Fall River. The Fall River Hatchery, which produces millions of fingerling trout and eggs every year, was not affected by the retardant spill, and is still in operation. Fall River is only 12 miles long and is fully stocked with trout today, in case anybody from FSEEE wants to go fishing there.

And another thing. When Missoulian reporter John Cramer touts “another decade-long campaign” to stop “the war on fire,” what is he really talking about? In my opinion those who seek to “stop the war on fire” are more or less arsonists, just as those who seek to stop “the war on drugs” are generally users and crackheads, n’est-ce pas?

Dave,  thank you for writting this column. Your last paragraph perfectly puts the balance of issues.