Fire, Salvage, and the Future of Our Forests

The forests of the West are some of the most breathtaking places on Earth. They’ve shaped our way of life, provided jobs, homes, and memories for generations. But in recent years, these same forests have been burning at an alarming rate. On average over 7 million acres burn every single year. Fires aren’t just reshaping our landscapes—they’re reshaping our economy, our environment, and our communities.

Mitigation and prevention should be at the top of our priorities, but there’s another piece of this puzzle we’re failing to address: what happens after the fire?

The Lava Fire: A Case Study in Loss

We’re standing here in the Little Weiser drainage, inside the Payette National Forest—the heart of the Lava Fire. It’s a total loss. 97,000 acres burned. Every tree is dead. The soil is bare, the vegetation is gone.

Mark Mahon, co-owner of Tom Mahon Logging, lays it out clearly:

“As loggers, we’re some of the true environmentalists. We want to see this land treated and growing again. But first, we need to salvage the timber before it’s too late.”

Right now, policies are standing in the way of even the most basic recovery efforts. Tom Mahon Logging of Council, Idaho is working on a sale that was set up before this fire—but because of current government restrictions, they can only salvage trees within those pre-approved boundaries. Meanwhile, thousands of acres of dead timber sit untouched, losing value by the day.

A Race Against Time

Here’s the hard truth: if we wait too long, we lose everything.

Bennett Lumber in Clarkston, Washington, is trying to process burned logs as fast as possible, but the clock is ticking.

• If we wait two years, there’s virtually no value left in the wood.

• It takes six months just for paperwork within government timber sales, meaning we’re already behind.

Jim Shepard, Bennett Lumber Manufacturing Manager summed it up perfectly:

“We’re still getting bugs in logs that burned only eight months ago. If we had gotten to them three months sooner, we’d have a better product, better value, and fewer problems.”

The longer we wait, the more we waste. To catch these early means more value is extracted and less cost is shouldered by other means. Forest products help offset the cost of forest management. 

Why Aren’t We Fixing This?

This isn’t just about loggers. This isn’t just about sawmills. This is about basic common sense.

We need policies that allow for immediate salvage work. We need processes that move faster than the decay of the wood. And we need to be thinking about what’s next—not just fighting fires, but preparing for the ones we know will come.

A simple, small step? Start with the roads.

Clearing burned timber accessible from road corridors:

✅ Creates a revenue stream to rebuild infrastructure

✅ Reduces hazardous conditions for the public

✅ Gets our forests growing again—faster

Nobody is calling for mass clear-cutting of every burn. We’re asking for the ability to do what we do best—manage the land responsibly.

This Isn’t Just a Job—It’s Our Legacy

To the people who’ve never stepped foot in a burned forest, who’ve never watched a land they love turn to ash—it’s hard to explain what this feels like.

You don’t just see the loss. You feel it.

Mark Mahon puts it bluntly:

“This turns my stomach every single day I drive in here. It’s emotionally disturbing. This isn’t just about economics. It’s about the right thing to do.”

If this was your own backyard, would you just stand by and do nothing?

This isn’t about paychecks. This is about responsibility. This is about ensuring that our children and grandchildren don’t inherit a wasteland of dead timber, erosion, and lost habitat.

The work starts now.

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Let’s start the conversation. Let’s promote action. Share this post, tag your representatives, and let’s push for policies that make sense.

Our forests are worth fighting for.