I took pictures. I don't

always take pictures, but I did this time.

I was so awestruck by the beauty of the Bitterroot Valley that I drove

up from Sula to Hamilton to buy several disposable cameras since I had

forgotten to pack mine.

Of course, I found out the next day that the little store in Sula had

the cameras. In fact, they had just about everything. A real country store,

it was. I hope it's still standing.

It was Memorial Day weekend. This year. I tried to drink in as much of

the beauty as I could, and record what little would allow itself to be

recorded on film. I resolved to go back in the fall, just a few weeks

from now, in fact, and climb the mountain I didn't climb.

But that mountain is no longer accessible to me, or you. The long and

winding forest service roads I had the opportunity to travel have now

been closed. And the most beautiful place I have ever seen is on fire.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of acres are in flames.

I love trees. And more than one tree has stood taller than a lot of people

I've known. So I'm angry and you should be, too.

I have no patience left in me for idiots at the federal Bureau of Land

Management who would dish out the funding cuts that have put our forests

in such jeopardy, and the lives of exhausted firefighters on the line.

We keep up with the news and follow what's happening in other parts

of the world to some degree. But we are safe. Right? It's there,

not here. So, why am I so upset today?

Get real. Surely we must realize how close we have been this year, right

here in Georgia, to experiencing devastating forest fires. And, even if

we do escape such a disaster, how can we think the fires in the west will

not affect us? It's the same air, people. The same air.

We need to be furious. All of us.

You don't have to go walking in the woods, as I often do, to prove

you love our forests. You don't have to enjoy wildlife, as I do,

even if it means sharing your roses with the deer, to prove you love our

forests. You don't have to make time to lounge in the luxury of the

shade of a tree on a hot summer day, as I do, to prove your love for our

forests.

Surely you must love our forests. You can't help it. You may not

think about the land and the trees as much as I do, but surely you appreciate

this land of ours.

And if we want to protect this land, its forests and the air we all breathe,

we better never stand still for another cut in funding that results in

inadequate training for firefighters who can help to prevent this kind

of wildfire devastation. We must not tolerate staffing levels that are

too low to do any good in a crisis.

I never hear, or see, a fire engine enroute to a scene that I do not whisper

a prayer for those on board, and for those to whom they are about to give

aid. I pray that their long, grueling hours of training will be enough,

that God will give them wisdom and courage and strength for that moment,

hour, day, week, month or year in which they will have to perform.

Please pray for the men and women on the lines out west. Pray for their

raw and burning feet. Pray for their aching lungs. Pray for their fatigued

muscles. Pray for their families, for their lives.

And get in touch with Washington! Call or write to your senator and representative.

Know in advance how prepared your community is for fire. One more summer

like this one and it could be us. And we are already running out of water.

Also, I understand that the Red Cross needs money, not supplies or extra

hands, out west. Staff and supplies are not needed at Missoula-area shelters

for wildfire victims, according to Phyllis Christensen of the Western

Valleys Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Hundreds of Bitterroot Valley residents who have been evacuated from their

homes because of fire danger are staying at shelters. At least 51 homes

are confirmed as lost. Christensen said the shelters are running out of

money to provide families with basic necessities.

Send donations to: American Red Cross, Western Valleys Chapter, 1001 E.

Broadway, Missoula, MT 59802.